Jun 25, 2018 4:24:41 PM
We all know marketing is hugely important. It is what draws our customers to interact with our products and services – and more importantly, our brand itself.
Modern marketing is about more than just posting some flyers or adverts to promote your offerings, it's about engaging your customer base, creating relationships with consumers and projecting your company values through thoughtful and attractive content. In simpler terms: It's a little more complicated than it used to be.
Modern marketing involves a lot of different moving parts.
While every business will have a unique approach to their own marketing efforts (based on target audience, product offerings, budgetary restrictions etc.), there are some universal standards that all businesses should remember.
With this in mind, the team at Leading Edge put our marketing knowledge together to create a list of the ultimate marketing do's and don'ts. Let's start with the must-do's.
Do make use of social media platforms:
Jayson DeMers, Founder & CEO of AudienceBloom, recently conducted some research into what marketing tricks are near fool-proof. Of the over 350 participating respondents, nearly all commented on the significance of social media in marketing. Most notably, over 90 percent named Facebook their most profitable marketing platform.
Social media channels play a huge role in engaging consumers. They provide an instant connection with your audience and speak to them where they are, and at a low cost.
Do create consistent and commendable content:
Marketing today is all about content. Businesses of all sizes are sharing blog posts, creating videos, uploading pictures – the list goes on. So how do you maintain a solid presence in a world so saturated with content? The key is to create original, high quality content - consistently. You want to maintain a steady presence with your marketing.
This is where a content calendar can be extremely useful. Sit down and map out the content you want to share throughout the week and strategically plan posting times. A lot of social media sites even let you schedule when you want your post to appear – you set the date and the time and the content will go up on your site when specified.
Do pay attention to SEO: More and more marketers across New Zealand are paying attention to search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a strategy that is used to increase the number of visitors coming to your page by securing a high placement on search result pages like Google.
Through the use of keywords, linking and visual content you can improve the placement of your website or content so that it is more visible to prospective customers. According to DeMer's study, SEO is, and will continue to be, a major player in the marketing game – with 94 percent of marketers planning to expand their investments in SEO for their marketing strategies.
SEO is a critical component of modern marketing efforts.
The marketing don'ts
Now that we've got the necessities covered, what mistakes should marketers be avoiding in their strategies
Don't focus only on social media: While social media can be a hugely helpful tool, it's important to keep your marketing tactics versatile. Posting on Facebook and Twitter is great but there is still huge value in other strategies such as email campaigns and direct mail.
We live in a world that values omni-channel experiences. Customers want to interact with your brand in a variety of different ways. Plus – the more channels you use to interact with potential customers, the more likely you are to reach them.
Don't forget to respond: In the age of instant communication, your customers expect near-instant responses to their questions and concerns. Convince & Convert contributor Jay Baer found that more than 30 per cent of social media users are unhappy with the current response rates of businesses online.
Almost 40 percent of consumers want to hear back from your business within 60 minutes of reaching out. Make sure to stay on top of those response times.
Don't overpost: While it is definitely important to be consistent in your posting, it's equally important that you are not posting too much. You don't want your audience to feel like they are being spammed by your content. Once again, a content schedule comes in handy here. Try to space out your posts evenly so that you stay on your customers' radar while not overwhelming them with your content.
How can Leading Edge help?
We know that marketing can get tricky – especially when you're trying to run your business and develop your offerings at the same time. This is where Leading Edge comes in. For almost 20 years Leading Edge has provided custom built sales and marketing solutions to New Zealand companies, including our largest partner Spark. We provide high-performing, locally based sales teams that can help businesses achieve outrageous growth. If you're interested in seeing how sales outsourcing could work for you, contact us here.