How to make marketing work more effectively for your business
With so many channels and different media now available how can you identify what is the best fit for your business and also what’s the right mix?
Don't despair we asked our team of marketing consultants to each give us a top tip and we've collated them below to get you started on making your marketing more effective and help ensure you use the right marketing which will work for you and your business.
1. Give your marketing an annual review
It’s easy to fall into the trap of repeating the same marketing activities year on year. Schedule time to review what has worked and what hasn’t at the very least on an annual basis (more often if you can). Without doubt things always change not just within your business but also both buying behaviours and the market place are constantly evolving so it’s unlikely the same tactics will continue to be successful. It's also a good opportunity to allocate time in your diary to evaluate new opportunities and emerging technologies as well as to ensure your existing marketing tools such as your website and collateral are still up-to-date and appropriate.
2. Have a plan
Before implementing any marketing, take some time to consider what you are trying to achieve and also what you need to track to measure your success. Most importantly determine your business objectives, try to honestly appraise your strengths and weaknesses and also identify the needs of your market. Once you have that information a plan of marketing activity can then be created which should include realistic timeframes and measures of success including who, what, when, where, why and how.
3. Do your research
When visiting somewhere new you would normally expect to plan your journey so we'd recommend you use the same approach when it comes to targeting new prospects. Research them and their competitors online, review their industry publications to get an understanding of the market, join LinkedIn groups to find out what challenges they are currently facing – that way you can then decide what marketing is likely to work best to attract them as a potential customer.
4. Be consistent and distinctive
You want your business to be the first your prospects think of when making a buying decision and that’s where consistency comes in, because being consistent will improve the memorability of your business brand.
The key is to maintain consistency across all aspects of your brand: from the colours you use, your graphic style such as chosen typography and the tone of ‘voice’ used in communications as well as how often, when and where you share digital and social content.
5. Be heard
There’s so much choice for your customers today which means your message can easily get lost in the crowd. To make your company the easy and obvious choice for your customers, you need to make your marketing unique so ensure you have clear messaging that your audience can relate to and that you can be easily found when they search for a solution to their problem.
6. Reach near and far
To grow your business ideally you want to reach as far as you can with your budget so whilst it’s essential you use specific marketing to attract new customers don’t forget to also regularly communicate with your existing customers to keep them wanting more and coming back.
It's worth noting that on average it costs 5x as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one so maintaining a regular presence will help to keep your business at the forefront of your customers’ minds as well as give you the opportunity to engage with them but bear in mind it’s unlikely the same marketing will be effective for both customers and prospects so create specific plans for each.