Have a Strategy to Reach Your Goal

“If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail,” is the cheesy catch-phrase of many business coaches, life coaches and inspirational leaders (when addressing us lowly, unorganized individuals).  While it can be infuriating when it is used on you, it is quite relevant and true when it comes to the brutal arena of digital marketing.

A digital marketing strategy is not just something that sounds good to talk about in meetings or something to mumble when your boss asks you what you’re doing on Twitter in the middle of the day. When used properly, a digital marketing strategy can guide you and your business. It can be the Yoda figure that can guide almost every decision you make.

End Goal

This is the whole point of creating a marketing strategy. It’s your strategy’s reason for being. You’d be surprised how many businesses have a marketing strategy ‘because we should have one.’

Thinking about what you want from your strategy is not as simple as it sounds. Like arguing with your partner about who gets the remote control, you’ve got to have a clear idea of what you want and what success at the end of your strategy will look like.

This is no time to be vague. A mission statement of ‘We want to improve sales/make more money’ will absolutely not cut it. You need specifics. Do you want improved sales? How many? From what demographic? By when?

You’re not going to be a billion-dollar business by next Tuesday. Be realistic, focused and perhaps the most important, be honest with yourself.

Everyone on the same page

Your marketing strategy is obviously a secret to your competitors. It’s not, however, a secret from your colleagues. A good marketing strategy that everyone knows and understands can ensure that everyone pulls in the same direction. This can help your branding be consistent and on-message regardless of who is in charge of the Twitter account that day.

Creating a marketing strategy can force you to really analyze your business. What is your personality? How do you want to be viewed? Your brand personality should be genuine and authentic. Otherwise, the public will not want to interact with you. For example, if you’re a small firm of accountants, don’t attempt to be the Ernst & Young of the accountancy world as it won’t appear genuine, nor will it be likely to resonate well with your typical target client. This brings me nicely to my next point.

Do your research

Who are you targeting with your social media strategy? You need to have a clear idea of the demographic to whom you want to market (and a reason why) if you’re going to have a successful strategy. If you’re not entirely sure who this is likely to be, finding out who your customers are is always a useful exercise. There are a number of things you can do to help:

Review your orders: who has been buying from you/using your business?

Assess your followers on social media to determine a ‘typical’ brand advocate.

If it’s a new segment that you’d like to target, do some listening on social media to build up accurate personas of your new targets.

This is important, as your target demographic will dictate which media your strategy should focus on. If you’re going for over 65s, a witty Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram campaign is unlikely to be successful.

Natural Boosts

When you’re creating your strategy, have a look at your calendar. Are there any events that would complement your marketing strategies? A simple example would be a restaurant that wants more couples may naturally gravitate towards Valentine’s Day. Or you could alternatively do an anti-Valentine’s campaign promoting your takeaway services.

The point here is that there are certain events in the calendar that match your marketing strategy. National Beer Day was trending on Twitter on August 4. With some advance planning, a bar could incorporate this into their strategy and offer a promotion based around an online competition.

There is a lot more to a digital marketing strategy than ‘sell more things to more people.’ It takes a bit more thought and strategy, but when you have a solid base, you will find that many of the other elements seem obvious. If you’re still not sure how to build a great strategy, contact SK Consulting. We develop strategies that work for you.  And, just maybe, beer will be involved.  

How’s Your Marketing Working for You?

Do you sometimes feel like your business is missing something?  That your marketing strategy is little strategy and a lot of guessing? Maybe sales leads just aren’t closing, even though you have a great product. Or perhaps your top-of-funnel efforts simply aren’t generating enough leads in the first place.

You aren’t alone. Most businesses — a full 78%  — are dissatisfied with their sales conversion rates.

Regardless of what you’re selling or where your problem lies, there are six key elements of any effective marketing strategy. Marketing strategy doesn’t need to be difficult. Take a look at the following advice on how to make yours effective. 

1. Start with a compelling story. Effective marketing contains all of the elements of an irresistible story. These include characters (target audience); their challenges (pain points) and motivations (desired outcomes); a setting (connecting the dots); obstacles (to the desired outcome); the climax (the value your solution provides); and a conclusion (the delivery of that value).

Once you have these elements in place, you can begin to build the central message that demonstrates how your product or service takes audiences from where they are now to an ideal scenario in which their lives are improved.

Not sure where to begin? Consider tales that captivate you and provide your greater mission in life. Don’t worry if your answer seems silly or overly complex. Get your creative juices flowing, then write.

2. Develop technical expertise. As the number of messaging distribution channels continues to grow, the number of systems required to integrate these channels grows with it. You have to have much more than a passing understanding of the underlying technologies involved in the entire process to successfully establish metrics that enable you to manage a marketing program.

As your marketing efforts mature, be sure to invest in the technology, education, and personnel required to keep them effective over the long term.

3. Coordinate your messaging. All of your marketing efforts should be based on a unified strategy, meaning you should be telling a consistent story across all channels and customer touchpoints.

Disjointed messaging is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving meaningful ROI, but also one of the most common.

People refer to content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization as three different things — as if each is a tactic that can get you there alone.  But, each of these tactics, and any others you use, should be part of a holistic strategy that centers around compelling content.

And speaking of content....

4. Content marketing leads the charge. Content should be the foundation of any modern marketing strategy.  AND your content should be authentic — it should stem from your unique brand story. Unfortunately, many companies still seem to produce content for its own sake, which ultimately gets them nowhere.

Great content is relevant to your customers and your brand, adding value for consumers in a way that aligns with your company’s larger mission.

5. Incorporate employee voices. Authentic content relies on your brand’s unique voice, and your employees are a part of that voice. Empower your employees to become brand advocates.  Have them share their story of why they work for you….and the products or services you offer. Many organizations are reluctant to let go of control in fear of what, or how, the employees will alter the marketing message. Stop it!

Rather than fear what they might say, business leaders and marketers should encourage employees to talk about the services and value their organization provides. If you trust your employees, they’ll typically reward that trust.

6. Focus on branding, not selling. Your marketing messaging should always center on telling your story, not selling your products or services.

Instead of trying to reach everyone, your story will resonate with the customers who share your values and draw them to you.  Have you ever received an advertisement from Apple telling you to BUY their product?  No, because Apple focuses on building relationships.

Apple’s marketing draws potential customers into its brand story, showing them what life is like when they live that story (by using Apple products). The results speak for themselves.

Marketing is both an art and a science, and if you’re struggling to do it right, take your cue from the experts. If you’re not sure where to start or how to implement the above strategies, contact SK Consulting today!  From Concept.  To Creation.  To Implementation.  We’re there with you every step of the way.

Social Media is More than a Promotional Platform

A common mistake that many people make as they're diving into social media is to limit their content to promotional updates. This is reflective of the traditional marketing world, but things have changed; now we build our marketing efforts on trust, engagement, and community.

There is, of course, a time and place for marketing and promotional messages, but don't limit yourself. Broaden your scope a bit. This will make your content more appealing and lessen the burden of creation.

What type of content can and should you post?

Adjacent content: It's a pretty safe bet that if someone is following you they're interested in what you offer and their interests probably don't stop there. Share content that's tangentially relevant to your business or something involving common interests of your audience. If you are a clothing retailer, you could post about up-and-coming beauty trends or news from a major designer.

Tips and tricks: Add value to the conversation by sharing content that will make your customers' lives easier (bonus points for tips and tricks that help them use your products or services).

Responses: Not every update has to stem from original ideas of yours; you can bounce off the ideas that other people are already posting. Social media relies on conversations, so jump in and be a part of them. This is a good way to get your account and brand more visibility.

Non-promotional company information: If your company does amazing volunteer work in your community, don't be shy about sharing it! If there's a rather impressive showing at a company party, you definitely want to share that. Giving a sneak peek into the culture within an organization goes a long way to building relationships by humanizing the brand.

Job openings: Social channels can be advantageous when trying to find new talent and publicize job openings. Job seekers are increasingly using social media as a way of learning about companies and their open positions; it's a match made in Internet heaven. Get those listings out there and be sure to highlight the most important ones.

Jokes: This is a tricky one, and it's more of a branding question than anything else. First, know what your brand is and what kind of personality it embodies. If humor is not a part of that, you might avoid this type of post. It can backfire and be incredibly awkward. Always err on the side of caution with sensitive topics. Once you've made sure the humor is acceptable, make sure it's actually funny, because a bad joke is just embarrassing.

Frequency of updates

"How often do I need to update my account?" is a common question, and there is no right or wrong answer here—no best practice set in stone. It simply depends on your audience, their appetite, and what you have to say. It's best to test and see what works best for you and your audience on each platform.

One universal fact is that social media status updates don't last long. The half-life of a tweet is around 18 minutes for most users. This doesn’t mean you should post that often, but that sending an update out doesn't mean it will remain visible for a long time. Users move on to more recent items in their newsfeeds quite quickly. So, keep an eye on how long your users are engaging and sharing something.

Again, it all depends on what is appropriate for your organization. News organizations or media publications could easily be expected to update multiple-to-many times per day, whereas a clothing retailer may turn off users. You definitely don't want to talk just for the sake of talking; if you don't have anything of value to add, don't post updates just to meet a quota. But, you do want to make sure your account updates regularly enough to entice users to follow along.

Engaging Your Audience

Ask for help: Want your community to help or participate in a particular way? Sometimes it's as simple as asking. If you've earned their allegiance by building value and investment into the relationship, you can ask for survey participation, product feedback, or whatever else you need.

Keep it simple: Too many options may as well be no options. If your audience isn't on a certain network, why would you promote that sharing option on your content? Conversely, if your main focus is B2B, you may (for example) not need to include Pinterest as a sharing option. Look at your social audience and match up your offerings with their behaviors.

Cross-promote for discoverability: There's nothing worse for a user than not being able to find your content. Ensure your blog is linked to your social properties. Keep all of your profile names the same across all social channels. Develop and sell a unique value proposition for each account. Why would a customer need to or want to follow you on Twitter, if they already follow you on Facebook? Make sure you give them a reason.

Monitor and listen: Monitor social channels as frequently as you can. Utilize services that will help push notifications to you so you can ensure you're not missing meaningful conversations across the web. There are countless apps for Twitter and Facebook available, and you can set up alerts, as well. Often the admin tools of various platforms will have this functionality built in. As you monitor, genuinely listen to what your customers tell you and respond accordingly.

Gamify: People enjoy competition and like being rewarded for achievements. Do a like and share contest for a chance to win tickets, a gift card, a free consultation.  Whatever works for your organization.

Social media is a great marketing tool – if it’s done right.  Inundating your platforms with useless information, posts, tweets, etc. is just downright annoying.  Be relevant!  If you need help developing your social media plan, contact the experts at SK Consulting!