Consistently taking a fresh approach to your marketing isn’t always the easiest task. Not only does it require being able to seek out inspiration, but be on top of your game with your audience. It can be a fine balance; however, that’s why we’ve compiled a few helpful suggestions on how to turn your marketing up a notch without sacrificing a ton of time. Check them out below:
Be Engaged With Your Brand
A primary step for any marketing strategy, getting engaged with your brand is going to be what defines the rest of your messaging from the top-down. Although branding might sound high-minded to some, it’s the core ethos that represents your brand. According to Kettle fire Creative, 94 percent of respondents to a survey stated they’d highly recommend a brand they’re emotionally engaged with, which goes to show how much value consumers place on branding. Even though it’s not necessarily a quantifiable quid-pro-quo, the amount you engage and invest in your brand will always have a long-term payoff.
One smart strategy is to conduct a brand audit, where you have either someone that’s a designer or brand consultant go over their thoughts on your brand. It’s important to be open and honest with them on the clear intention and message you’re trying to send with everything from your logo to your typeface choices. Every little component is going to be what constructs into the bigger picture of your image, as well as how your consumer base will think of you. Remember, your brand is everywhere your company is, which is why it’s imperative you invest in the foundational elements of it upfront.
Keep Your Messaging Concise
As we touched on above, your brand partly is going to be what determines the rest of your marketing message, but an extension of that is simply keeping your messaging concise. Not only will it be better to help share with others, but additionally will trickle down to those who work with and around you too, which is necessary when trying to spread the word on a company. In fact, according to CrowdSpring, marketing messages reach 561 percent more people when shared by employees rather than the brand, which goes to show how great a simple message and some word-of-mouth can go. However, even if you think you’ve got a good grasp on this, it’s important to have some marketing materials written down as a guide for others.
In formulating your brand and marketing guidelines, decide what type of central message you’re trying to convey to your audience. This is tricky, as excess information can be distracting, which is why you should first start with your elevator pitch (one to two sentence addressing a central message) and work your way up. Have different marketing messages for different aspects of your work, such as a brand mantra (the principles you stands by), mission (what you plan to do in the world), and voice (what it sounds like). The overarching goal is to have a rehearsed message coming from your brand across all channels, giving a sense of consistency throughout it all.
Stay Consistent With Social
Although a lot of businesses are currently on social, they aren’t always the most active they could be on there. While posting irregularly might yield the same results for your social accounts, that’s not the same experience for brands. Why? Because as a business, you’re responsible for not only entertaining and engaging with your audience, but educating them as well.
Take the time to jot down what type of content your business could produce, giving a variation between educational, entertainment, or any updates in between. The goal is to be able to campaign around your objects, with certain items being the core focus. For example, as noted by Omnicore, 64 percent of online shoppers say that a video on social media helped them decide on a purchase more than anything else, which goes to show how much value people place on convenience. Try glancing through some ebooks on different social and content strategies, giving yourself the best position to thrive.
Don’t Forget About SEO
Finally, as one of the best inbound strategies out, SEO is a practice you need to implement early and often. SEO is the practice of search engine optimization or trying to place yourself at the top of the results. The best way to think about capitalizing on SEO is by envisioning a pipeline, which takes on a little bit different an approach than you might be used to seeing.
An excellent example of this is by picking a starting point, and considering that approximately 88 percent of user searches start on smartphones (according to Search Engine Journal), that’ll be our jump off. Most mobile searches come from habit, where people are posed with a question. For example, “Who has water boiled bagels in Cleveland, Ohio?” would probably translate to a search of “water boiled bagels Cleveland.” Try to brainstorm which items like these are going to be best to hone in on for your business, as these are crucial to landing more towards the top of a search.
What are some marketing techniques you’ve found helpful for your business? Comment with your answers below!