What’s the secret to your marketing strategy? Maybe you’ve got your social media down to a fine art or maybe you know your audience inside and out so every direct mailout lands with absolute precision and sees huge amount of take out.
Or maybe you’re struggling, just a little bit, to really get your business off the ground and could do with a push in the right direction.
Look no further. From direct mail to newsletters, there are tried and tested marketing techniques that just involve a little research and some dedication to help steer your strategy in the right direction.
But First…
Underpinning all your efforts is knowing who your customer is. Not just a vague sense of age and demographic but a thoroughly researched piece of work that gives you everything from preferred social media to whether they drive to work or take the train. All of this will equip you with the basic marketing toolset you need to build your strategy.
How do you go about gaining this information? You sit down and analyse your data, if you don’t have the skill set or the time, then you bring in outside help to get that done for you. Without this information you won’t be able to take your marketing any further so any initial outlay is well worthwhile in the long term.
Make A Plan
Now you know what makes your customers’ tick it’s time to tailor some marketing practice exactly for them. Although it might feel like you’re covering a lot of ground by liberally hitting Twitter with lots of advertising, there’s very little point if your customers’ favourite hang out is Instagram. The same goes for any secondary print media you follow up with.
Speaking to your customers where they choose to hang out, in a language they relate to is the first piece of the puzzle. The second is seeing what will transform that interest in your product or service into an actual action.
So what is it you want your marketing to do? Perhaps, initially it’s all about brand raising, in which case plan to get your name about everywhere – commenting on social media platforms, sending out amusing or controversial memes. Anything that gets you noticed.
Or perhaps you’re asking your customer to take up a direct call to action, to open your post and click through to your web page or sign up for special offers. In this case, you’ll want to handle things a little differently perhaps using direct mailout or more personalised promotional postings.
The art of marketing is far more subtle than it appears with much of the work done before even the first email is sent out or the first social media post appears online.
Take your time to get your customer profiling right and you’ll have won half the battle. Get it wrong, or rush in without anything to back you up and you’ll be wasting both time and money.
It’s time to shout about who you are and what you’ve got to offer.
