Recently, I was digging around the web for stats related to online marketing, when it hit me: We’re all awash in a sea of information. There’s data on top of data on top of data associated with anything and everything, from social media to content amplification, web design and branding.
What marketers need is answers, not more information.
That’s why we’re kicking off our “Measuring, Managing and Marketing What Matters Most” series. We want to help modern marketers gain clarity about what information is relevant, thus important, to them, then share tips about how to effectively measure and manage that information.
In a nutshell, this snapshot is designed to help you get your mind around an area of the business that deserves attention, allowing you and your team to dive deeper and make the area a point of emphasis for an allotted amount of time.
By doing so, we help you wade through the morass of useless information to get at what’s important, in addition to why and how you can use what’s available to effect change in your business.
Where Do You Start?
Online and in conversation, the most-asked question in marketing is “Where should we start?” There are just too many rabbit holes to go down for any one person to be able to keep it all straight:
- Content
- Analytics
- Social media
- Web design
- Personas
- SEO
- CRO
- Customers
- UX
- IA
- Conversions
- Mobile
And on and on and on.
Most businesses choose to focus on the area that yields the biggest dividends first. However, the most successful businesses tackle the area that’s likely to cause the biggest problems if not handled carefully and with conviction. No matter what industry you’re in, customers top that list.
Focus First On Customers, Not Strategy Or Tactics
Talk to any marketing strategist worth her salt, and she’ll tell you the weakest spot in just about every marketer’s repertoire is customer knowledge. Marketers know who they’ve sold products to. They typically have no idea of those customers’ overall needs with regard to the business, however, and they know even less about how to continue serving them.
Don’t fall into this trap.
Use this three-step approach to get your team and your business headed in the right direction:
- Brainstorm about who your ideal client/customer is – don’t be restrained by thinking only of the clients/customers you’ve done business with.
- Think of what they desire from a brand such as yours in the way of content – ads, web page, web design, web copy, style, tone, social media presence, etc.
- Discern what your business is uniquely qualified to offer this audience – what makes you different but more relevant than the competition?.
Have an assistant or member of your team type up this information, then share it across the company, asking for input. At the next meeting, bring this information to the table, at which point you begin discussing how to put information to action, creating content based on this newfound knowledge.
What seems like the simplest exercise known to man or woman is actually the missing element for many businesses, especially those who can’t seem to gain consistent traction for the brand. The information gleaned during this exercise becomes a veritable blueprint for everything your company does going forward.
Give this exercise a try and let us know what you think.
