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A marketing strategy is a fluid approach that needs to be constantly analyzed and adjusted. There are many different factors that can have an effect on your strategy, including what your competitors are doing. Keeping an eye on what your top competitors are doing will help you better understand how to enhance your own strategy. Not because you have to copy everything your competitor is doing, but because it is important to be informed and educated.
New year, new marketing strategy? Maybe, maybe not. Depending on your marketing audience and goals, you may find yourself sticking with the tried and true or shaking it up a little. Regardless, as we head into the final days of the year, now is a great time to consider your business' marketing strategy for 2022.
Here are a few marketing services to consider as we head into the new year.
Before you can implement a marketing strategy or outline your campaign goals, you need to determine your target audience. Defining your target audience will help you select the best platforms to utilize and the right message to send. Understanding which audience you should target can save you time, money, and resources in the long term.
You’ve likely heard the admonition before to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes”. The expression indicates the importance of understanding other people’s experiences, challenges, and thought processes before judging them. This often brings about a perspective shift once we understand a little more about another person.
When it comes to marketing, the expression “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” still applies, but perhaps we can tweak it slightly to say “walk a mile in your customers’ shoes”. The goal is still a perspective shift — this time from thinking like a business to thinking like a customer.
When you think like a customer, you can be more intentional with your marketing. By addressing a customer’s wants, needs, challenges, and desires, you’ll ultimately become a more relevant resource in their lives.
The importance of branding is key to running a successful business. It is the way that consumers identify with you, your product or service, and recall a need for what you offer when the time arises. Branding is essentially your identity in the marketing world and how you leave an impact on consumers. There are several ways to solidify your brand and here are just a few:
Businesses often focus their marketing efforts on obtaining new prospects and leads, but it’s important not to overlook the current customer base. Your current customers are one of the most important assets your business has. Because they are already familiar with your brand, product, and services, you’ve already tackled the first hurdle in marketing of making people aware of your offerings. In fact, studies have shown that the probability of selling to an existing customer is 40% more likely than converting someone who has never purchased from you before.
Now it’s just a matter of engaging those existing customers to form lasting relationships and loyal customers.
Loyalty marketing strategies aren’t new. In fact, the practice of incentivizing customers to make a purchase in exchange for a gift or discount dates back to the 1700s. In 1929, General Mills® brand Betty Crocker™ began offering Box Tops to be collected and used in exchange for discounted flatware. In the 1980s, one of the most famous loyalty programs, the frequent-flyer program, was established. By the mid-1990’s, loyalty marketing programs had become a fixture in mainstream marketing programs.
Today, loyalty marketing continues to be a successful marketing strategy utilized by small, local businesses and large, international corporations alike, offering free gifts, discounts, and exclusive access in exchange for making a purchase, referring friends and family, sharing a post on social media, and more. Here are 5 ways loyalty marketing can benefit your business:
Most marketers today are well-versed in the game of personalized marketing content. For the past decade, we've been told to customize, customize, customize. A reported 86% of consumers say that personalization influences their purchase decisions. So why are we now hearing rumors of undoing those foundations?
The answer is simple: Personalization works, but only if you do it well. The majority of consumers understand that emails, ads, and notifications are sent out automatically and en masse. They will quickly pick up on mistakes like a greeting with their name misspelled or, worse yet, with an [INSERT NAME HERE] still showing. This can have the opposite effect on your target audience and, ultimately, turn them off from your specific call-to-action (CTA).
While it is true that customization works, doing it well is a whole different ball game. Trying to fool your customer base never ends well. Instead, take the following steps to come across more genuinely with your audience.
As the digital age evolves, many words and ideas emerge that leave most people scratching their heads. We could write a dictionary about all the cutting-edge lingo, but today we are going to break down the difference between “Geotargeting” and Geofencing”.
These two terms are commonly used interchangeably, however, this use is incorrect. While both have the prefix geo – meaning earth, ground, global, etc. – targeting and fencing have two distinct goals when it comes to capturing your target audience.
Brand messaging has the power to create lasting connections with consumers. While brand voice is one of the most important aspects of establishing a brand identity, the brand tone is key to executing your message effectively. Unlike brand voice, which should remain constant, the brand tone can and should change. It provides the nuance necessary to appropriately communicate your brand message, in alignment with your brand voice, depending on the context. For example, the way you address a customer complaint should differ from the tone used to announce a new product or promotion.
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