The marketing environment has changed drastically over the last decade. A marketer today has many more ways to communicate with prospects and customers, and things are changing so fast it is difficult to keep up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most likely you\u2019ve tried some things. There\u2019s that Facebook company page, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter account that sapped up time, for awhile anyway. You\u2019ve dabbled with an email newsletter. Without careful planning, however, it\u2019s difficult to know whether it\u2019s an effective use of your time. If you don\u2019t know it\u2019s effective it probably isn\u2019t. Maybe you know it isn\u2019t. Most likely some of your competitors are<\/b> being effective leveraging new marketing techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why Should You Worry?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n We are in a self-serve knowledge based economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average company today can access 20 times as much information about you and your competitors as they could access five years ago, so you\u2019re no longer dealing with a customer where ignorance is a factor.<\/p>Source: Neil Rackham interview<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Today’s potential customer has no need to talk to you until they are getting ready to buy, if even then. Recent studies show that \u2154 of the buyer’s journey to purchase is done digitally. (Source: SiriusDecisions CXO Study: The Marketing Organization in 2017)<\/span> You need to have content to help the customer along the way. Here are a few things to consider before starting out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t need a social media strategy, a content marketing strategy, and an email marketing strategy. You only need a marketing strategy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n You need a reason to invest your time, energy and budget. Here\u2019s a few example goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can\u2019t be everything to everybody. The more your audience is aligned with your current marketing efforts the more effective you will be. If your marketing up to this point has been focused on lead generation, and your goal for your online marketing is to up sell to existing customers, you should transition some of your existing traditional marketing to existing customers. Advanced tip: Create detailed personas that describes your audience and their process along the purchase journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is really easy to take on more than you have time for. Determine the talent and time that is available. It is important to be consistent once you get started, so you\u2019ll have to drop some things your team is currently doing or bring on more resources. Force yourself to start slow and be consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are three objectives to keep in mind while using social media:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Select the social media channels that your audience uses. A common minimum recommendation is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many other platforms, however, that provide a more targeted audience that can provide better results. A few include Goodreads<\/a> (books), Wiser<\/a> ( sustainability), Pinterest<\/a> (crafts and visual arts), Behance<\/a> (creatives), and Houzz<\/a> (home design ideas). Keep it simple. Pick one, two or three channels. Assume each channel will take ten to twenty minutes each day, and make your plans accordingly. Even if you don\u2019t plan to be active on Google+ you should have your Google company profile created since it will be used in search results. Google My Business (www.google.com\/business\/<\/a>) is a good place to get started. To determine which social networks to use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s impossible to lay out a good social media implementation program in one blog post, let alone part of a post. Here\u2019s a few suggestions to get you going:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tip<\/b>: Post your blog posts and other information that is useful or fun to your audience. Use the 4-1-1 rule<\/strong> as a guide:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your blog should provide content for prospects, leads that are becoming more interested in your specific products and services, and customers. Each blog post should have relevant information for at least one of these needs. Always remember: it\u2019s not about you. Be useful. Be relevant. A prospect that is not ready to make a purchase decision would be interested in general industry information but not detailed product information. A lead that is getting closer to a buying decision would be interested in information that is somewhat related to your product offering, and also specific “how to” or “what’s new” information. An existing customer might be interested in all of this information. Blog on a regular basis. Weekly is a good goal, twice a month should be considered a bare minimum. You will see the best results if you make a blog post at the same time on the same day each week. The goal of your blog is to provide ongoing, useful information to your prospects and customers so they keep coming back to it. If your articles are all about you and your products, or services, the only time it will be interesting to a prospect is when they\u2019re about to buy. If they haven\u2019t been engaging before they reach this point they probably won\u2019t think of you when it is time to make the buying decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Customers and prospects are the best places to get blog ideas. Any question they have is a potential blog post. Task your sales and customer service teams with generating blog ideas. <\/b> You likely won\u2019t get much response if you ask them to write a blog post, but people like to be asked for ideas. Now that you\u2019ve established your blog you want to drive traffic to it. Here\u2019s some common techniques:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you are blogging on a regular basis you\u2019ve got the content you need to start a monthly newsletter. Have short articles that summarize your blog posts, and sprinkle in promotions or other news as appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over time to will learn more about what works best for your particular audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFive Steps to Get Started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Preparation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Make sure your website is ready.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Define your Marketing Goals<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Determine your target audience<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Determine your Resources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
2. Get started on social media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Select Your Marketing Social Media Channels<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Social Media Implementation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
3. Start Your Marketing Blog<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Blog Ideas<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\nTo keep ideas coming, ask your customers and prospects open-ended questions like:<\/p>\n\n\n\nMarket Your Blog<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
4. Start a monthly email marketing newsletter.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
5. Watch, Learn, Adjust<\/h2>\n\n\n\n