Marketing your products or services in a world filled with smartphones, social media networking sites and online marketing outlets can make your head hurt. I know, because I do this on a daily basis. Recently I joined the marketing team as the Marketing Manager here at Oneupweb. Coming from a traditional marketing background I understand that developing the most effective methods to reach and impact an audience is much more complex today than it used to be. The choices are virtually unlimited. However, what hasn’t changed is crafting the right message, to the right audience through the right media channel, which all takes careful planning. No longer can we reach an audience using only traditional methods. Below are a few discussion points to explore before planning your next big marketing initiative.
First we must understand how people communicate today:
- Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites
- Building and nurturing an email list with give-a-ways, up-sells and cross-sells
- Blogging, landing pages and micro-sites
- Google, Bing and other search engines
- TV, radio, print and online ads
- Mobile devices and the list goes on and on…
Creating a strategy with each of these outlets in mind is a time-consuming initiative with hundreds of tools, experts and services offering to help you. Your mind spins with all the strategies you could and should be using, deciding what is most important, learning the best way to deploy them, getting them to work together, and keeping up with what you are already doing. Sound familiar? Let’s face it; it can become completely overwhelming!
So let’s explore the opposite perspective? What prevents you from achieving your goals? What’s creating the road blocks? I find that sometimes it is easier to attack a problem than it is to pursue a goal. In other words, sometimes it is better to look for what’s holding you back than it is to decide what would move you forward.
Now let’s identify who is managing and measuring your efforts?
Once you’ve got the stellar marketing strategy and budget in place, making sales is simply a matter of getting your message in front of your target audience. Are you fully utilizing all the media outlets available to you today? Are you measuring results and continually looking for better opportunities? Do you know how your competitors are getting traffic? Better yet, do you know how your audience prefers to communicate? If you answer these questions truthfully you’ll begin to see where your roadblocks exists and you begin to gain clarity as to your next steps.
What’s your message…are you trustworthy and credible?
For most businesses this is the foundation of growth. Is your marketing strategy establishing you as the leading solution in your industry? The logical solution to their problem? Does it project trust and professionalism? Is your message clear, consistent and memorable? Are you gathering leads and following up strategically?
Do you have the staff to support your initiatives?
Many businesses are held back or slowed by manpower constraints. It is easy to get overwhelmed simply because you do not have the staff in place to support your initiatives. A business owner becomes overwhelmed, they neglect their marketing and advertising efforts, and as a result, the sales pipeline runs dry. Unfortunately this cycle continues until they begin delegating and or outsourcing effectively. How can you prevent this cycle from happening to you? How can you increase the manpower available during the busy times? How can your marketing and advertising continue when you are swamped with a special customer request?
Do you need to lighten your load?
If you’re like most professionals, you’ve been working long hours and thinking about how to invest marketing dollars wisely to make the biggest impact for your company. Chances are that your thinking has become entrenched in the same thought pattern and new ideas have dwindled. Bringing in an expert with a fresh perspective to analyze opportunities, solve problems and make you aware of potential problem areas can be a powerful catalyst for growth.
