“Whether B2B or B2C, I believe passionately that good marketing essentials are the same. We all are emotional beings looking for relevance, context and connection.” – Beth Comstock , Vice Chair, GE
In the article Part 1-Ten Keys to Ignite Marketing Campaigns and Win Customers, I touched upon 10 tips on high-level. In this blog, I expand upon each point.
- Identify customer avatars- Regardless of what type of organization you belong to and regardless of what industry you operate in (e.g. pharmaceutical, retail, non-profit, media, legal, financial, health-care), take time to identify your ideal customer personas or customer avatars. Know them well in terms of their demographics and psychographics, theirs needs, pains, problems and frustrations. The way to overcome any challenge in business is how do you think and how well you understand your customers. It comes down to empathy and compassion and understanding in terms of what is on their minds, how do they feel and how do they want to feel.
- Deploy power of specificity- It is quite ok “not” to be everything to everybody unless your product is designed for the mass markets (e.g. laundry detergents, shampoos, burgers, colas etc). Your marketing strategy should be to attract the ones who will benefit and repel those who are not a good match for your business. It is perfectly ok to filter out the bad fits for your business as it will save you time, money, and efforts. You will get more bang for the buck in the long run. You can do it by crafting meaningful messages (see Point 3 below).
- Craft meaningful messages- Create compelling messages and meaningful campaigns targeted towards specific customer avatars. E.g. For millennials, use fun and cool approaches to your campaigns. For conservative demographics, develop messaging around quality, thrifty, tried and true. For high-end and wealthy, incorporate the branding along the lines of elegance or classic nature of your products or services.
- Respect the medium while crafting meaningful messages- Respect the medium and the medium will offer a payback. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Vimeo, Pinterest,Instagram, Medium, Tumblr, Snapchat (and many others) are becoming powerful channels. Utilize the underlying channel’s peculiarities while delivering the message (aka storytelling). E.g. Twitter peculiarity is about hashtags and conciseness.Pinterest is about curating others’ high quality photos and creating pin-boards using photo sharing. Instagram (www.instagram.com) is about posting your own photos.Snapchat is about photo and video sharing for 10-sec and chat/ instant messaging.Youtube and Vimeo are about posting and sharing videos. Tumblr and WordPressare the blogging platforms. Facebook (www.facebook.com) is about connecting with people in wide variety of ways through photo sharing, messenger, live videos, and status updates. Overall, keep in mind that each channel offers unique context and style to storytelling and influencing the target audience.
- Do not underestimate the traditional media channels- Many companies (small and large) still generate meaningful value out of their traditional marketing efforts such as Direct Mailing and Print Media. Do not ignore them if they are working for you. Compliment it with the Digital Marketing channels as and when necessary.
- Avoid temptation of focusing on medium first- Rather, focus on Market first and Medium later. Online marketing scene has exploded with the advent on digital marketing and social media marketing techniques and content marketing tactics (e.g. blogs, conversion marketing, email marketing, self-service portals, websites, Facebook Ads, Twitter Cards, podcasting, eBooks, webinars). At first glance, it may seem easier to focus on “Medium” first because you might be eager to get started and social media channels are everywhere around us. But, as a rule of thumb, generate good understanding of your customers by studying your market first.
- It’s not about you- Your target market is not interested in you but rather in themselves. Focus more on how your product benefits to them and less on the product features. E.g. customer testimonials videos, inviting satisfied customers or brand ambassadors to become guest bloggers on your company site.
- Go to channels where your target market is- Go to the channels where your customer communicates. Once you know which channels your prospects and customers operate in, build a strong presence. Identify those channels and test it. You’ll learn valuable insights and gain feedback by interacting with them. You can treat them as the extended product team. You can tweak your product and service offerings accordingly. You will earn their appreciation and will improve engagement
- Gratify instantly and continuously by offering massive value- Offer massive value as by employing content marketing techniques in the form of insightful blogs, cheat sheets, how-to guides, videos testimonials, and white papers etc. Offer solutions to your prospects’ pain-points, and problems. This will allow you to develop relationship and build instant trust. It will cement you as the go-to expert in the crowded marketplace. When they are ready, you will be their top choice.
- Develop a conversion strategy to convert prospects into customers- Make sure that you are equipped with a robust conversion strategy. This can come in the form of your website or squeeze page or combination or both. Have attractive lead-magnets in place that generate curiosity and anticipation by offering creative solutions to their pain-pints, offering free incentives in the form of massive value, packaged information offers, testimonials, and clear Call-to-Action (CTA).
Thanks for the read! To Your Success with Gratitude!
