Aug 28, 2014
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How to Revamp Your Company’s Marketing
Marketing is necessary, yes. Most professionals acknowledge this. However, marketing is probably the most misunderstood and poorly executed aspect of business. Too often businesses pursue short-term solutions that save money and promise to maybe hit target audiences. Unfortunately marketing will only yield success in the same measure as the thought and effort put into it. Jump into a campaign without understanding key audiences, it will likely miss the mark with its messaging. Similarly, thorough research and planning maximizes the likelihood of success while promising the greatest marketing ROI.
Many bewildered business owners cry out in anguish because good marketing somehow eludes them. Today I will discuss what makes good marketing and how you can leverage these principles to bring more money back to your business.
Marketing is Dynamic
I said it. Marketing is dynamic. This means methodologies that held true twenty years ago don’t necessarily hold true today with younger more tech-savvy audiences. However, this doesn’t mean that principles from the past can’t influence the marketing of the now. It’s important to learn from the past. To make your business marketing more dynamic, be open to using new tools that emerge as well as leverage trends in society. You may have noticed that we live in a digital world. A digital world calls for even more fluidity and dynamics in marketing to keep up with the dizzyingly furious pace of change online. The ‘dynamic’ marketers of today are pursuing marketing using big data and mobile applications to better reach and understand millennial audiences.
Embrace Timeless Marketing Truths
Cliche? Absolutely. Expendable? Absolutely not. Timeless truth number one: all consumers want ‘something.’ That ‘something’ refers to an interest or passion each consumer has–sports, outdoor recreation, reading, etc. Discover what your consumer audience cares about, and fashion messages that resonate with the audiences’ interests. If I’m selling a watch I may market it to my outdoor consumers as an enabling product: a watch that is as tough and active as they are. If I’m marketing to an older group I will say the watch denotes wealth, class and prosperity for a relatively low price. Timeless truth number two: creativity trumps budget every single time. So, don’t overly worry about your marketing budget at the expense of creating creative campaigns that resonate with consumers. There are too many examples of expensive, high profile campaigns that flop because consumers don’t buy into them.
Create an Environment of Collaboration
Collaboration is your best defense against dud campaigns. Collaboration should occur between a business and its employees and between a business and its consumers. In a digital age it is quite easy to crowd-source content from consumers who are already buying into your product or service. Collaboration fleshes out the very best marketing ideas while also challenging presented campaigns. In a collaborative setting, only the very best ideas survive. In an executive-dominated environment some very poor ideas survive and even thrive. Establish regular brainstorm sessions that keep company marketing on the edge while keeping marketing employees engaged and proactive.
Marketing is an ongoing challenge for every organization. Ultimately, marketing exists to enhance the bottom line and produce some sort of ROI for the business. Analytics tools like Marketing Method make marketing more effective and give insight into what good marketing actually looks like. Pick an organization you admire. Chances are its marketing is a good model to follow as you improve your marketing.
