When it comes to marketing, you have the choice of deciding how and where you promote and advertise your service. Whilst some may decide that the traditional route – such as using print and direct marketing – is for them, others may decide to use new and advanced technologies, such as social media and mobile.
However you decide to market your service, it’s important that you always keep up with the times. An idea that worked previously may no longer be the best option and you need to be prepared to adapt at short notice.
With so many different ways to position your company, it’s easy to get lost within the crowd and not know where to begin when it comes to finding the right route. We’ve taken a look at some of the most effective ways that’ll help you to deliver a solid and successful marketing strategy.
Find a mixture between traditional and modern methods
Those stuck in the past and choosing to use only traditional marketing methods are missing out a hefty chunk of their audience and the same goes for those only using modern methods.
To achieve success in your business, you need to find the perfect balance between the two. Print advertising remains lucrative for marketers, but so does paid advertising online. When your marketing methods are integrated, you’ll be able to deliver a consistent, clear and well-rounded brand message to your audience.
Think about the marketing methods you’ve used in the past and how they’ve been detrimental to your success. If they’re traditional methods, are there digital alternatives that you could bring in? For example, a company that may have just stuck to copywriting for press releases could also consider incorporating blog writing into their efforts too. This way, they’re touching bases with both the traditional and the modern method.
Integrate multiple channels under one strategy
A recent survey by Forrester found that 86% of marketing professionals agreed that multiple channels under a single marketing strategy was crucial to their long-term success. However, an alternative survey by Signal found that 51% had yet to integrate. It’s no use agreeing that something is crucial but then not following through and implementing it.
Using multiple channels can be pretty time consuming and will require lots of planning, but it’s essential in delivering a concise campaign. Using more platforms to push your content will help to increase engagement from your audience and in turn, will have a knock-on effect with your return on investment.
By using multiple channels, you can target every area that your audience will possibly reach. Some users will be more active on one particular channel and it’s not always going to be the most popular one that brings the most engagement or best results.
Plan ahead to get it right
You can’t just use multiple channels and expect the results to come streaming in. You need to plan ahead and work out a strategy that will create a response from your audience and ultimately result in sales.
Think about the message that you want to present and where you should be presenting it. Get under the skin of your audience by carrying out customer analysis. The results you get from doing such tests will be massively useful when pinpointing specifications for your audience, such as age and income.
If you’re integrating your marketing strategy, then it may be worth considering whether you should also be combining your marketing teams and agencies together, so that everyone is on the same page.
Test your new strategy out
Without testing, you have no idea whether the new strategy will be successful or not and this could result in a chaotic campaign and money being wasted. Once you have properly planned everything, carry out some tests to see whether people respond in the way you want them to.
Be sure to always track your campaigns so you can monitor the success in real-time. This way, if it’s not working effectively then you can change course and tweak minor details until you have the campaign that works for your service.
It’s also crucial to remember that just because something works at first, this doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed to work all the time. You should always remain vigilant and keep your eye on the prize.
Things to remember
It’s vital that you always remember to keep your consumers at the forefront of your mind. Put yourself in their shoes and think about what exactly they’d want to see and where they’d best find it. Take on board everything your customers say and be sure to listen to them at every opportunity you might have.
Make sure you plan and test your campaigns. If something is not right, find out why and tweak it. The last thing you want to do is waste money and deliver a badly organised campaign with no likelihood of success.
If you’re looking for some more tips on how to achieve business results then you should take a look at the integrated business strategy guide from Peppermint Soda.
