Your marketing material can no longer afford to be a loud, in-your-face distraction without any specific purpose or direction. The days of blasting billboards with your logo and taking out a double-page spread in the newspaper are quickly dwindling away. Of course the point is for your message to be heard, but you can’t afford to be annoying. It’s an actual struggle that the everyday person must learn to conquer (in both real life and the marketing world).
Your marketing must be a magnet for your target-audience. Your tactics must be smart, well-thought out and sensitive enough to connect with your audience while rising above the over-saturated “noise”.
So how do we get noticed?
In a world full of endless competition, it’s about creating a brand that is strategically charming and intriguing. The #1 problem companies face with marketing their brands online is simply catching people’s attention. Large corporations spend millions of dollars crafting ways to grab your attention. They hire large agencies and spend hours in meetings producing eye-catching ads so that consumers will focus on them —and not the competition. Smaller business owners don’t have to spend millions – in fact they can actually spend a fraction of that. But it’s still an enormous amount of wasted money if the messaging is targeted at the wrong people.
Introduce Yourself.
Whether your brand is recognizable simply from it’s logo, or you’re a yet-undiscovered brand, it’s imperative to never assume people know who you are. Think of your entire audience as a blind date. No matter how important you think you are, you still need to introduce yourself, make a good impression, charm, engage and impress. And of course (obviously) leave them wanting more.
Luckily, it’s less about coming up with one message and tossing it out into the public, crossing fingers and hoping it sticks. It’s 2017 and we’ve (thankfully) advanced passed the guessing game. We get to have actual conversations with our audience now. And not just one – multiple conversations. We can engage, invite, and continue conversing again and again. In fact, the conversation never has to end as long as you’re keep things stimulating. Using real-time platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has boosted B2C conversations by more than 70% within the past 8 years.
People. Love. Social Media.
An astonishing 80% of internet users prefer to connect with brands through social media, and 28% say that they’re ‘very likely’ to make a purchase based solely on reading a social media post. Additionally, 27% of people have admitted to turning to social media first for their customer services needs. This is a astonishing number to consider, considering that social media wasn’t even an active sales platform twenty years ago.
At the end of the day, internet users are only going to react positively to content that’s well produced, which is why cutting corners in content development can seriously harm your content’s performance. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. You just have to be present, and active. And of course, you have to actually care what people are saying – and dedicate a specific amount of time every day to keep up with the online conversation.
Determine What Makes You Different.
Understanding your customers is just as important, if not more so, as understanding your competition. Different groups of people will respond to the same message in different ways, so make sure the message you are sending is sent in a way that resonates with each of them.
Everyone has “quality products and great service” these days, but what makes your brand unique? Do you serve a specific niche? Do you have a different approach to a specific problem? Define and explain what truly separates you from the pack and make it a focal point of your marketing.
Use Your Channels Wisely
Personalization includes channel preferences. Know which channels your customers are most likely to respond to. Some people prefer to click a link in a personalized email. Others prefer a phone number or filling out forms (via your website). Others prefer social media advertising, or any sort of social engagement. Take the time to capitalize on these channel preferences to further personalize your customer experience.
Connect, Converse and Sell.
Businesses these days are finding more and more ways to bond and sell using subtle, patient strategies. And the bonus of it all? Businesses are actually saving money this way – because their budget can actually be used to target their tangible customers, rather than pursuing the entire general population hoping it magically lands on the right eyes.
Customer engagement is crucial to customer acquisition and customer retention. But it can serve as a huge challenge when you don’t fully understand who your customers are, what they care about or how you can connect with them at scale.
The key to establishing a positive relationship is to demonstrate that your company cares about the same things its customers care about. And the key to successful communication is being able to answer questions and have real conversations about your brand – rather than force-feeding “sales pitches”.
Whether your content is used to encourage customers to talk with you or about you… you’ll win as long as you get them talking.
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