marketing core pro tips for beginners

There's. An old saying if you don't know where you're going any road, will take you there. Unfortunately. This mindset has grown prevalent, in the AIDS of social marketing, surveys. Show that many brands are unsure, how to execute, an effective, integrated. Marketing, communication. Strategy and, even, less sure how to measure their, success to get. The most out of your IMC, efforts, start. With a SWOT analysis, which. Stands for your brand strengths. Weaknesses. Opportunities, and. Threats. Central. To this conversation, is one question, what. Specifically. Are you trying to accomplish with. Your marketing, strategy, first, we start with strengths, what. Is your brand good at you'd. Be surprised, how many brands, don't know the, best brands, however, highlight. Their strengths, in every, marketing, message for, instance because, of good branding, we all know that Apple is good, at innovation. Disney. Is good at family, experiences. And, McDonald's. Is good at creating the same customer. Experience, at every, location across. The globe if, you're unsure of your own strengths. Use, customer, and employee surveys. Analyze. Your capabilities. Determine. Your resources, and study, your processes, this, fresh data will also help you with, our second, item weaknesses. As. We all learn from the story of Achilles, in Greek mythology, it's. Important, to understand, your weaknesses, and to protect against, them because, ignoring. Them could be fatal, often. Turning a weakness into a strength is easier. Than you think you, just have to listen look, at Lego for instance for. Years people complained, that they didn't support fan, communities, or offer, more kits featuring. Pop culture, icons. Finally. Lego, listened, and today. Their brand is even more popular, inclusive. In the verse than, ever third. Invest. In opportunities. The best brands, see opportunity. In every, social technological. Or, industry, change and, they. Embrace them, Amazonian, gives us a clear example of this in action they, looked at the popularity, of streaming, content and, saw, an opportunity to, create, and deliver their own they, looked at emerging, drone technology, and saw, an opportunity to. Revolutionize. Delivery, and with. Prime they, saw an opportunity to. Roll some of their best selling points into, a profitable. Subscription-based. Model. Fourth. Identify. Threats. Over. The past several years we've. Seen plenty of examples of brands that fail to take external. Threats seriously just. Look at what happened to Kodak when, digital cameras, storm the marketplace, or. Blockbuster, when streaming, content. Transformed. The way people rented, movies no. Matter what industry you're in nothing. Stays the same forever, the, quicker you can identify threats. The, better prepared you'll be to, transform. A threat into. An opportunity. Finally. This leads us to your next step using. Your SWOT to create your brand value proposition. Now, that you know where you want to go as a company, it's time to ask yourself what. Kind of brand can you create to, get you there your, brand value proposition. Must reflect what you do and believe, as a company, and here's, the trick don't. Focus on what you sell, instead. Focus on the solution, that you offer for, instance if, your blue apron, you may sell dinner ingredients. And recipes. By mail but your brand offers access, to a healthier, lifestyle, greater. Control, over your meal choices and maybe, even family, bonding, time after. You conduct your SWOT analysis, you'll be in perfect shape to move forward to conduct your integrated, marketing, strategy. You. In marketing. Your brand value, proposition. Is a lot like your golf swing it's, easy enough to understand. But, it takes countless, hours of, patience. And practice to, master a strong. Bvp, doesn't. Just give your customers, a reason, to choose your brand it. Also drives, things, like messaging, special. Offers, sponsorships. And community. Events and even, R&D, so, just as the golfer, gets out to the driving range for practice, let's, refine, our BVP game with, this five-step. Process. Step. 1 set, project objectives. And scope, a good, be VP starts. With a clear, plan. Central. To this process are. Two questions, what. Value, do we deliver to our customers and why. Do our customers buy from us your. Answers, should not only be reasonable. But also actionable. And with, unwavering, focus, on your, target personas. When, considering, scopes start, designing, a balanced, strategy, that, includes, content, marketing, social. Employee advocacy. And both, traditional. And earn media, step, 2 to. Find your possible, be VPS. This, is the first thing people associate, with your brand. For, instance, apple. Offers peerless. Design. Nordstrom. Offers, superior customer, service and, Walmart. Offers the lowest prices, around, what.

Does Your brand do whether. Your be VP is functional. Or emotional. Your, customers, must relate to it if you're, a tech company for, example do. Your customers care, more about performance, and, simplicity, or. Your, commitment, to green and renewable, technologies. In this. Phase focus, on idea generation, and keep, your options open, step. 3, refine, your bvp. Narrowing. This down begins, with qualitative, analysis. Namely. Talking. The customers, what. About your brand resonates, with them what. About your competitors brands. Resonates, with them don't. Forget them social. Channels, to get a better understanding. Of current conversations. Surrounding, both your brand and your, industry, next. Use quantitative, analysis. To supplement, your findings, current. Market research, customer. Needs data Net, Promoter scores. Competitive. Analysis, and insights, from your marketing, team all, offer, great, data sources, step. 4, develop. Messaging, architecture. For key segments, so. Now that you've refined, your bvp it's time to get the message out but, how your. Messaging, strategy, should account for industry, standards, your, customers, known preferences. And a little bit of good old-fashioned, creativity. So, remember, your goal is the foster, a fundamental. Belief system, about your brand that, is deeply, rooted equally. In both database. Strategy, an authentic. Storytelling, step, 5. Determine. Your expected, outcome, as Seth, Godin, says in a, world of too many choices and, not, enough time it, is easy for people to ignore you you. Need to be remarkable. In. Other words Godin, likes to say your brand needs to be like a purple, cow both, conspicuous. And intriguing. Recently. CBS, decided, the pivot strongly, in the direction of health and wellness so. They changed, their name to CBS, health and stop. Selling, tobacco products. Thus. Fostering a, belief that the brand was more concerned, with people, than, with profits, so. As you set out to build your own bvp. Ask yourself. What, lasting, impression, do you want to leave with your customers, why, should they choose your, brand and why, should they keep coming back so. Like the golfer, by practicing, and continually, refining, your game you're. Sure to come up with a compelling answer, that strikes, your customers, just, the right way. You. Chances. Are whether, you sell cogs sprockets. Or gizmos, you're, probably not, the only brand, that does the. Question that prospective, customers. Want to know and, that you must always be prepared to answer is, simple, what, makes you so special why. Should someone buy from you and not from another brand with, a similar, product, according. To recent route who initially, proposed, the concept. Successful. Brand positioning. Amounts. To owning a piece of your customers, mind. And most, importantly, holding. On to it just. Like the homesteaders. Of old once, you've staked out your claim you've got a defendant, by, highlighting, your brand's quality, innovation. And value so, how can you do this first. Develop. A strategic positioning. Document, since, brand positioning. Is essential, to, your organization's. Success this, is no place to cut corners your. Goal is to review, as much existing. Market, data as possible.

Here. Are some essential questions, to answer in your, document, what, is the market for your product, what. Similar, products, are out there and how, is yours the same or different, how do your competitors, brand themselves. Who. Is your target buyer persona, once. You can answer these questions, you can determine which segments, will, be most receptive, to your offerings, and begin, to position, yourself accordingly, second. Write. Your positioning, statement while. Your strategic positioning. Document, should, be as in-depth, and thorough as possible your positioning. Statement should. Be simple, your, goal is to create a clean, concise. Statement. Of how, your audience should perceive, your brand the. Statement, can be used to, do the following. Provide. A blueprint, for marketing, and product development. Focus. The efforts of all marketing, and development, activities, and. Precede, the development, of sub strategies, such. As trademark, selection, copy, media, promotion, and distribution so. Let's use an example to illustrate the, format, ideally. You want your position, statement, to read something like this to, the, target market Brand. X is the, brand of competitive. Framework that. Provides, meaningful. Point of difference see. It's, short simple, and gets right to the point here's an example of how DirecTV. Might, follow the same template, for, serious football, fans let's call them football, fanatics. DirecTV. Is the only entertainment service. Provider, that offers, subscribers. Every, NFL game, every. Sunday in high definition. Finally. Don't forget to test your statement, as someone, who is literally tested, hundreds, of concepts, over the years with. Consumer, and business audiences. Alike I can't, overstate the, value, of hearing, directly from your target audience any. Format, where customers, can interact, with their brand works. Traditionally. This has come through focus groups since. The core of your statement, is your point of difference your, primary, concern is, to see how ideas react, questions. You might want answered include, does, your audience relate, to the point of difference that, you've identified, does. Your audience see value, in the, consumer, benefit, your highlighted, is your positioning, statement persuasive. Does, your positioning, statement remind. Your audience of, any other brands, if so who, ideally. Through this process both. Your marketing. You. Personas. Are all about the who know, not the famous rock group but. Everyday consumers, like you and me this, isn't to say that marketers, and the who don't. Have anything in common in fact, in their 1978. Song, who. Are you, the who repeatedly, asks, the same question. Today's, marketers, ask of their consumers, who. Are you buyer. Personas. Matter in, a nutshell knowing. Who you're selling to makes, it a lot easier to sell to them this. May not sound like a revolutionary. Concept, but, of course the best brands, are often, the most diligent. Buyer. Personas. Give a face to all that demographic and market, data you've, painstakingly. Researched, and collected. Since. You don't sell the data points, her, son has helped you to develop a winning human. Messaging, strategy, your. Mission, is empathy the. Goal of buyer personas. Is to provide an authentic, impactful. Customer, experience. Personas. Help you get in the mind of your buyer, building.

Empathy For their needs or concerns and, pain points, the. Best marketing, departments, create, personas, not. Just for their buyers but. Also for those likely, to influence the, purchase decision, for. Example the, University focused. On attracting. High school seniors, we. Build a persona for prospective, students, and adults. Who might influence the students decision, such. As parents, teachers. And coaches, here's. How to get started building buyer, personas. First. Gather, buyer, data, what. Are your customers saying, about your brand your, competitors. Or your industry at large data. Can come from a variety of, sources, including, demographics. Psychographics. Geography. Purchase. Behaviors, social. Media behavior, and independent. Observation. Social. Media listening is another, great tool whether. Through review, sites like Yelp or, public, facing channels, like Twitter today's. Customers. Offer plenty, of frank, unfiltered. Insights, you, to their preferences, and buying, habits. Second. Assemble, your team the. More Minds you have on the task the, better good. Persona, brainstorming. Sessions, are lively, and open to all ideas the. More conversation. You can generate the, more nuanced, your persona, profiles, will, be, create. An environment, ripe for input by encouraging your team to, leave their phones at the door and to, be prepared to speak third. Create. A story. Think. Of the buyer personas. As the heroes of your brand story here, are some questions to get to know your personas, what. Is their name what. Do they do for work where. Do they do for fun what. Are their buying habits, what. Are their hopes dreams. And, aspirations. Where. Do they look like, how. Can your brand reach them at different points, in the, buying stage is. Your customer, b2b, or b2c and. In either case who. Influences. Their buying decisions, what, are their pain points and, how, can you alleviate them and finally. Revisit, and revise. Creating. Buyer personas. Is not a one-and-done process. Customer. Needs market, conditions, media. Habits and pain, points all can change in other, words always. Be ready to ask who. Are you and know. That the reaper. You. Let's, say you're an online shoe, retailer, sales. Have gone well the past couple of years but lately you've noticed, they've been slipping, after, some research you, learn a few things first. Your site is still getting a lot of traffic in fact. Prospective. Customers, are filling. Up their digital, shopping carts that's. When you notice that a lot of people are abandoning, their carts right, before buying without. A doubt you've just discovered, a customer, pain point but, what exactly is it and what can you do to solve it first. Brainstorm. Possible causes. What. Could be causing so, many people, to get so close to buying only. To change their minds, could, it be a poorly designed checkout. System, on your website or your. Competitors, offering the same product, at a cheaper, rate what, about incentives, or buyer rewards, programs. Perhaps. Your customers, are going someplace, else for more enticing long-term. Benefits, these are all promising, possibilities, but, it's important, that you gather more, information, before jumping, to any conclusions, this. Brings us to our second, step check. The data good. Brands, collect data here. Are some information streams, to check are you. Encouraging, customer, feedback, if so when and how often, further. What kinds of questions are you asking where. The visitors go after, leaving your site are, they going to your competitor sites, instead, what. About industry, data this. Is a great way for determining. Whether your challenges, are part of a larger trend or. Unique, to your brands, in the, case of the shrinking shoe, sales you. Learned a few things, customer. Feedback indicates. Positive, view, of your brand overall, but. Lower marks on price this. Seems odd since your prices, are generally, lower. Than your competitors, who's, reported, earnings are still growing.

Clearly. Some key information is, still missing third, try, social, listening customer. Feedback, is helpful but, not everyone, is going to be honest with you fortunately. Social, channels, offer, great, new ways to get unsolicited, feedback. Checkout conversations. About your brand on channels, like Twitter Facebook. Or, Instagram if, appropriate. Ask questions, but, your main goal is to just listen. What, are content writers saying about you industry. Or consumer, blogs can, be very helpful for identifying problems. What. Are consumers, saying about you and your competitors, on, social review sites, after. Checking out the conversation. Around your brand you, learned that people really, like your selection. Especially. Your exclusive, offerings. Then. Something, catches your eye, reviewers. Are constantly, praising, the shipping, and return policies, of several, of your competitors, it looks like you may have just found, your pain point you've learned that customers, like your brand and selection. But. Have had hang-ups, on price leading, to a lot of abandoned, shopping carts after. Looking into it further you, realize, that the, price point wasn't, just the cost of the items, themselves. But rather the, cost of shipping not. Only are your shipping rates higher than your competitors, but, their system, for returns and exchanges also. Leaves something to be desired so. Your new goal don't, just fix the pain point beat. Your competition at, their, own strengths that, said make sure your solution, doesn't, create any new, pain points, in the, process. You. They, say the great ideas, come to us when we least expect, them like driving, in our car relaxing. On the beach or even taking a walk since. Great ideas, are the key ingredients a great content, the question, is how, do you keep the good ideas, flowing the. Best creative, teams have regular, opportunities to. Come together and pitch new content, ideas themes. And formats, that align, with your brand's goals, here. Are some tips to help your team, green. Means go leave, your critical, mind at the door after. All the goal is to generate as many ideas as possible build, an idea vault most, likely you won't be able to act on all the good ideas at once it's. Always good to save a few gems for later bet, the winners now. That you've identified a, good, set of ideas it's time to narrow them down so, ask yourself, which ideas, are most relevant, to your target personas. Which. Ideas, are most helpful or address. Specific, pain points. Do. Your ideas align, and represent, your brand story, after. Generating, a set of strong ideas, it's time to develop your content and fuel, your supply chain here. Are five potential, sources. Number. One your customers, some. Brands that do very well with customer, focused content include, Southwest, Airlines, HubSpot. And Ford. Others. Like GoPro and, redbull have state their brands on either user-generated. Stakeholder. Inspired, or community, based content, this, could come in the form of testimonials. Or a live stream event whatever. Your typical buyer might prefer, number. Two your ad agency, the, role of the traditional ad agency, has shifted somewhat, in the digital age however. There's, still a great resource, for valuable. Compelling. Content to. Get the most out of your agency, make sure they're up to speed on your business, your, products, and branding, goals share. The ideas, you generated, in your brainstorming.

Sessions, And see what they can come up with number. Three employees, with. A social, employee advocacy. Program. Your brand has access, to a diverse group of people who are in sync with your mission vision and values, further. Their passion, for your brand and regular, interaction. With, stakeholders. Provides, much-needed, insight, into, your, audience, and improves. Your, brand reach through, employee networks, whether. Your employees, are curating, or creating, content, this, authentic, approach will help drive your message, beyond, traditional, marketing channels number. Four in-house. Creative talent, recent. Data shows that marketing, departments, are increasingly, looking, to, in-house, talent, for their content needs not. Only can it be more cost effective afford, greater control, an able, quicker turnaround but. Your content, creators, will also have a deeper, understanding of. Your brand products. And services. Number, five crowd, sourcing crowd. Sourcing has come a long way in recent years the, key to understanding, how to engage creatives. Who, know your market have a track record for engaging, customers and, know, how to create compelling content, as, part. Of your regular content, mix crowd. Sourcing can help you deliver affordable content. Both, quickly and with minimal risk if you're. Known as an engaging collaborative. Brand talented. Content, creators, will leave it the chance to work with you at, the end of the day think of content, sourcing, up. You. In football. The best quarterbacks. Are always ready to pivot to a new strategy to keep their opponents, guessing, even. At the line of scrimmage they, can call out on the spot changes, to, improve their team's chances, of winning the. Best marketers, take, a similar approach with. Their paint owned and earned media strategy. Today. Flexibility. Is key and knowing your audience is, more, important, than ever running, against so many new and emerging, cost-effective. Options, traditional. Approaches, simply, aren't bringing the same returns. Especially. If you're not tied to, a broader branding, effort so if this is the case what, strategies. Do work in today's marketing, climate, first. We'll look at General Electric's unambitious. Campaign. In, 2016. Ge released, a series of videos that challenged. The wisdom of common, sayings, in one, video GE, engineers, prove. That a snowball, does, really have a chance in hell in another. They show audiences, how to capture lightning, in a bottle a third, example illustrates, that you can in fact fight. Fire with fire, these. Short YouTube videos, were accompanied, by empowering. Brand, messages, like, we love doing things that supposedly can't, be done or, imagined, all of the other impossible. Things that we can do to. Produce these projects, ge, marketers, not only had to come up with a fun concept, but, also enlist the knowledge, and talents of their engineers, the. End result made for viral, ready conversation. Starters, that both humanize, the brand and demonstrated. Their ingenuity, and value. As a company, next, let's take a look at an integrated, CO branding, campaign, between. Audi and Airbnb. Also. In 2016. Audi and Airbnb, teamed. Up for a video called desolation. In it you see a family, living out in the desert realizing. They're out of coffee so. The father gets in his out er age sport coupe and zooms, off to a tiny coffee stand in the middle of nowhere, just. As the husband realizes he's, forgotten, his wallet another. Audi pulls, up the, window lowers, his wife says, forget. Something George and they, speed off toward, the home the, commercial, ends by informing, viewers that, this could be reality, they. Can actually book the house in question and drive, the Audi's through Airbnb so. Here's what you can learn from these examples. Don't. Blow your budget on, paid media just. Like a quarterback, can't keep going to the same play, brands. Just can't buy ad time and, hope for the best data. Shows that customers. Are increasingly. Willing to, pay a premium to avoid ads, brand. Choreography. Helps vary your PlayBook. Optimised, own channels. GE. Ot and Airbnb, used blogs websites. And, social media to, engage their, audiences, coupled. With a good content, marketing, and social, sharing strategy. Own, channels. Can generate more attention, and better, engagement, than, paid channels earned. Media is word-of-mouth, on, steroids. The, videos in these examples, are short fun, and ready to share this. Is great because research, shows that people trust, peer. Recommendations. Such as shares, retweets. And user reviews, more, than any other form of media while. Paid media certainly has its place a strategic. Focus on owned and, earned, media can. Inform. You. Who, are you marketing to people, or, robots I know, the answer may sound obvious but you'd.

Be Surprised, at how many brands, overlook, this in their digital marketing efforts, in, a digital economy we. Cannot forget the human side of the customer, says, Cheryl Burgess CEO, of blue, focused marketing, the. World is becoming increasingly digital. And as, traditional, media struggles, to stay relevant brands. Are realizing, that the digital movement. Isn't just some fad it's, the future so, how can you embrace digital channels, to build a dynamic brand, and foster. Rich customer. Experiences. Here, are three suggestions. Number. One know, your audience think. Of it this way if you set up a hotdog cart at the bottom of the Grand Canyon you might get some foot traffic now and then but, who really wants to buy a hotdog in 100 degree weather anyway. Recently. The auto industry, realized, that customers, were spending, less time at dealerships and more, time researching cars online. Specifically. They found that while YouTube, powered, a huge, percentage, of customer, research, automakers. Represented. Only about 5%, of industry. Related content, knowing, this made the goal simple, for leading automakers, share. Relevant, content on YouTube, and guide, prospects. To, interactive. Sites that combine both product. Features with, local, listings it. Wasn't, rocket science just, smart marketing, number, to go, visual, the. Brain actually processes. Images. 60,000. Times faster, than text, to, get your audience's, attention get. Visual, after. All you've got plenty of options. Infographics. 360. Panoramas. Virtual. Reality, and augmented reality, memes. And animated, gifs of, course let's, not forget both live and prepackaged. Video which. Remain, a brand's, most important. Source of visual, content recent. Data shows that while online video revenue, is growing, faster, than any other form of advertising. Only. A quarter, of actually. Use video, to market their, products, further. According, to Cisco about. 75%. Of mobile traffic will, be video by, 2020. And speaking. Of mobile traffic, number. 3 it's. Time to embrace mobile. Did. You know that roughly, two-thirds, of all digital, activity, occurs. On mobile devices. Further. According, to eMarketer about. 20%. Of mobile, use takes, place on apps a number. That has risen sharply in recent years. App. Use is generally concentrated. Around five, key activities. Listening. To digital audio social. Networking. Gaming. Watching. Videos and messaging. Consider. Which of these categories might. Be a good fit for your, brand and then, work to design content. That is eye-catching and, relevant. But not intrusive, recently. Campbell's teamed up with IBM, Watson, and The Weather Channel to, deliver targeted AI, driven. Ads to, mobile weather apps, through. This mobile platform, Campbell's. Delivers, customers, interactive. Soup and food, suggestions. And pairings that are perfect for any weather even. More integrated. User-generated recipe. And food, suggestions, create. A broader, range of suggestions, for, customers to try. You.

2019-05-26 12:55

Other news