Avoiding momentum
What has changed about Marketing?
The process is still same:
- Determine your target market
- Creative a compelling message and execute campaigns
- Measure the results and your ROI
- Adapt and adjust accordingly
As marketers and sales people, we’ve been trained to focus on benefits not the features to close the deal. And to continue to promote and promote until you’ve sold the benefits. Focus on the sale!
We all prefer to do business with people we like, no one wants to be sold or listen to a sales pitch. This comes to the real marketing strategy: build a level of trust and use clear communication to build mutual respect. The underlying customer need is to connect and feel good about whatever decision they make.
That’s great, but how do you stand out with so much competition and marketing avenues bombarding the average consumer/supplier? Get attention by differentiating your message through clear, consistent and continuous contact. If you don’t stay in touch (not to be confused with spamming!) to express a sense of value for your customer/supplier, you will lose the trust.
The ultimate marketing goal is to build a customer relationship that generates life-long referrals.
Friends or Spam?
Last night I couldn’t sleep so as I tossed and turned, I couldn’t stop thinking about the effective use of social media. Most of you couldn’t care less about how I slept last night, nor should you. Do you really need to know this, or if I needed coffee this morning, or want to read my daily conversation with God, or if I’m having a bad day?
Which is more important, the number of people you” friend” or the quality of your friendships? We all have spam blockers and dislike dealing with junk email. How much time do you spend deleting or hiding comments posted on your wall that you don’t care to have shared with the rest of world. (Yes, I do know about and appreciate the privacy settings implemented by Facebook.)
My point is that we have fallen into the self –focused 30 second mindset. We are told to refine our elevator speeches to get to the point of who we are and what we do. And what we need. Isn’t the listening person really thinking “what’s in this conversation for me?” Seth Godin wrote in one of his blogs: “The internet is constantly, relentlessly public. Post something and it is there, for everyone, all the time.” Perhaps our focus should be on more effective timely communication. Social media is an awesome marketing venue if used correctly. How often you send invitations to your events or post daily updates is not as valuable as the quality of those communications. Do the usual suspects come to your events, or are you gaining new business? Are you able to calculate your ROI.
Food for thought, or did I just need a cup of coffee this morning?
About Poplar Marketing
Poplar Marketing & Communication Services is a new marketing communications company in Tampa Bay owned and operated by a professional with over 20 years of marketing experience specializing in client brand management, identifying target market demographics and media content management. Small businesses benefit from large company marketing strategies.
Our team of professionals are expert listeners who work with you to set short term and long term marketing objectives. We listen to what has worked, what didn’t and adapt a strategy that is appropriate for you. We not only define the marketing objectives, we provide creative strategy and execution.
Keeping your brand in front of your audience consistently is a key element of your marketing strategy. As experienced media buyers, we work to stretch your marketing budget.
Services Offered:
Strategic market planning
Branding and advertising
Interactive Media
Email marketing and content management
Media Buying
