Did you know that marketing is one of the most frequently outsourced business processes? Along with customer services and accounting, marketing is right up there at the top. And, there is a good reason – it’s exclusive. Most ‘experts’ will tell you that there is no way a novice can pull off a successful marketing strategy. In their eyes, it is almost impossible. Well, it turns out that you can make the impossible rather possible. All you need are a few trade secrets, a handful of which you can find below.
Secret #1: Don’t Confuse Advertising With Marketing
Believe it or not, advertising is only a small percentage of marketing. There are at least two other factors that you need to consider for marketing to be successful. For your information, they are product development and effective positioning. And, they need to be in place before you can begin to think about promoting your brand. The mistake is to believe the promotion aspect of marketing is all important. As a result, they forget about the two. If you do that, your promotion won’t go very far.
Secret #2: Don’t Base Your Marketing On Your Opinions
Sure, there are some things that you know to be fact thanks to your experience in the industry. In the future, they will come in handy when it comes to your marketing strategy. However, your entire strategy needs to revolve around more than your thoughts and opinions. For starters, it is corruptible data because it involves your biases. More importantly, it won’t correlate with the target audience. The point of having a target audience is to give them what they want. To do that, you need to understand their thoughts and opinions.
Secret #3: Do Target The Right Audience
Speaking of a target audience, please make sure that you have one. It is amazing how many companies spread the word to an audience that doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter how good the product or service is if it targets the wrong people. Unless they are interested, you won’t change their mind. Customers are stubborn, and you are better off conserving your energy for the ones that care. The key is to break the audience down into bitesize chunks. Start by age, move onto gender, and finish with the demographic that can afford to make a purchase.
Secret #4: Don’t Rely On The New Age
With the current technology, it is easy to think that marketing is all about new age gadgets. However, that is a myth that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The truth is that an effective strategy implements a well-rounded range of techniques. Yes, SEO and email blasts are important. But, so is press release distribution and business cards. Not everyone uses the internet, and that is worth remembering.
Secret #5: Do Value Your Current Customers
It is tempting only to think about securing new customers. But, you have to maintain your current customer base at the same time. Otherwise, they will feel unappreciated and leave. All it takes is a gesture like a price cut to show you appreciation. It is amazing what a financial incentive can do every now and again!
