Marketing is not a one size fits all concept. You’ve managed to corner your own little section of the market, and you’re doing your best to stay relatable to them. But there are a lot of customers out there, and a lot of niches they fit into – knowing how your select niche works will only take you so far. You’ll be hard pressed to generalise your ideas to the rest of the world!
And because of this, it can feel as though you’re not working with a good marketing strategy. You’re not getting the results you’d really like, and you’re not sure what could be done to improve things just a little. You’re lost in an advertising space you’re not sure how to fill, and you can’t stop yourself from thinking about all the things you could have done better!
However, are you actually looking at the right data? And are you working with the right expectations? Well, let’s try and find out with the techniques listed below – there might be a chance you’re going about your marketing campaigns all wrong, and it’s time to monitor your efforts with a clearer, more concise picture!
Get the whiteboard pens out and sketch out your marketing plan – it’s better to see it as a visual guide! (Pexels Image – CC0 Licence)
Are You Working From a Customer Point of View?
Your customers are the people you’re trying to market towards; you want them to pick up one of your products, or upgrade to the latest version you’ve just put out on the market. You want them to tell their friends about what you offer, so they come along and spend some money with you too. All in all, you know who you need to sell to in order to guarantee the best profits margin for the month.
But when you’re putting a marketing campaign together, you’ve got to think from a customer point of view, rather than your natural business one. You’ve got to put yourself in their shoes – you need to know their wants and their struggles, and how your product or service could bridge the gap between the two. Customers rarely come along just because they want to; they need a reason to check you out.
So, think about those potential customers we mentioned in the first paragraph. Think about what would entice them over to you; invent a marketing persona or two in order to manage that. Installing a user research tool could be the next best step for you here, seeing as you’ll need direct feedback from the people who shop with you to put together a stand-in for them.
Once you have, you’ll be able to see from a customer’s point of view. You’re someone who is naturally biased towards your own product, after all, and being able to remove that from your research results is key to creating a good marketing campaign.
Don’t Nitpick at the Details
This is incredibly important if you’re just starting out on a marketing journey. The more you nitpick at the details, and mark a piece of content off as a failure simply because it didn’t pull in the numbers you wanted on its own, you do yourself a disservice. You think too much of the elements that make up your campaign – they were created with the express purpose of working as a unit, rather than as marketing devices all on their own!
So, throw out your evaluations – it’s time to make some new ones. Look back at the analytics of your old pieces, whether they be blog posts or video tutorials you’ve published online, or flyers and handouts you passed out on the street. They may not boast some wonderful results on their own, but as a group? They could be very powerful!
Instead, take things level by level. Schedule your campaign out in stages, rather than bit by bit. If one level underperformed to such a standard that it brought little to no attention to you, you know that entire level needs to change, rather than just something in it! You won’t be desperately searching for something to improve on; you’ll be able to make changes as and where they are needed.
Think About the Alternatives
Once you’ve gone through the ideas above, sit down and let yourself think them over. You’ll need to reflect on them for a while, to ensure your own confidence, so why not structure this time a little more productively? After all, doubting yourself and your plans is only natural at this stage (especially if you’re a startup) and it’s key to put those worries to bed as soon as possible.
Don’t let them fester in the background. Of course, this is far easier said than done, but there is a surefire way to make sure you won’t be dwelling for too long: study the alternatives.
Don’t do this to let yourself fall into an even deeper pit of worry; instead, think about the way your own marketing strategies would change the way your customers behave, and if there’s an idea out there that would promote something similar. You don’t need to be looking for something better here, you’re just looking for impact.
Because more often than not, the plan you’re rolling with will guarantee you a result, whilst any other trends you’ve studied or different ideas you’ve come up with will do little to nothing for you.
A Good Marketing Strategy Can Be Subjective
And it’s key to remember this! You’re just starting out in the business world on your own, and you’ve got some things to prove – mostly to yourself. But whilst you’re at, make sure you’re using the real facts and figures to back up your efforts.
You don’t want to be comparing yourself to a business with a long history and more than 500 employees; you’re going to get results that are good for you. As long as you’re receiving customer response, and it’s going up, you’re in the right place.
