Common Sense Marketing
Simple Common Sense Marketing mixed with research, the knowledge of current media, and the ability to use it is the basis of any strong Marketing Strategy.
Really weighing out how a target audience will react to words and images in an honest way is a good way to come to the right way to present the message. Place yourself in their shoes and ask if it speaks to you, then take it from there. If it doesn’t speak to you ask why and fill the void with the answer. Bounce ideas and images off family and friends and you’d be surprised at how soon the elements of a marketing campaign begin to take shape. “What would move you to buy something or use a product or service?” If it works for you, it most likely will work for others. You can add whatever you want to the package but what most people are asking is “Does it insult my intelligence or meet me on a level of truth and tell me what I need to know so in the end, I get the best value, product, quantity, image, style, trend, service, comfort, etc. for my dollar?”
- Start collecting new resources and organizing existing resources. They are gold when creating content for websites, blogs, newsletters, social media, advertisements, etc. Put the word out to staff and associates how helpful it would be to have photos that tell the story of your business in action, social events, employees, etc., and build up your files. Make the resources easy to see and save to. Start hard and soft copy folders for notes, quotes, ideas, pictures, data, articles, a list of links to follow up with later, etc.
Project Management / Marketing Strategy Template – Download the one that best suits your needs and fine-tune it or create one from scratch. It will keep you focused and give you the confidence that you are covering all your bases. Spreadsheets tend to trigger a lot of reality when you see all the costs lined up or a deadline and a list of deliverables. If you can make an outline of your goals or requirements on the computer, bulletin board, paper, etc., just writing the categories down will prompt you and others to take action or come up with ideas. Live with it and keep adding to it and refining it.
Learn more about Search Engine Optimization. It is vast. It is key. Downloading a plugin such as ‘Yoast SEO’ can be helpful for the novice as each page is rated with suggestions on how to improve the SEO. Try and learn enough about making changes in WordPress, so you can control your own SEO to some extent.
Rename and resize photographs. Create a folder and rename photos with titles that relate to key search words or at least bear the name of the company in some form. What good does it do to put up a picture online named #10000079? Keep the original photo if it is large, copy it, and resize and crop it to save upload time for your website and social media.
Start your own Market Research files. Build up lists of key search words, technical terms, verbs, and adjectives which apply to your field. Start one or more sheets with key search words and encourage staff and others to contribute their own words, phrases, and ideas. See what those in your field are doing right and wrong. Google data on demographics. Talk to people first hand. Read blogs and articles to learn more about your industry. Be ready to jot interesting points down that you read or hear.
- Free Resources make marketing anyone’s game. You don’t have to have a lot of money for print or online ads anymore if you are inventive. Take advantage of the many free tools available to boost your presence. Social Marketing is a must these days. If you don’t have social pages and content, you are considered behind the times on many levels. It can be a fine line to walk in deciding on the best and most appropriate material to share on Facebook, Google+, etc., especially for a business. You don’t want to divulge too much, but want a healthy, successful image imparted. Personal Facebook accounts must be ready for the scrutiny of business associates. Online profiles can be a blessing and can also be a way to undo good efforts if not practiced with care and foresight. This applies heavily to re-posting content. As is so often the case, there is a commercial aspect linked to many good posts, so really know what you are saying to everyone and what you are sending people to when you share content.
Get familiar with the online stock photography, video, graphics, and sound websites. Sometimes you can find resources for free and sometimes you pay. It involves a lot of searching to figure out what’s what but pays off in the end.
- Embrace Google. It’s got to be done on many levels. But that’s another blog!
- Remember that if you have a limited budget for advertising, there are a lot of do-it-yourself Common Sense Marketing steps to take to be able to share news about yourself or your business online, so you can apply funds to printing and other areas requiring cash outlay.