First identify your target. Then build your marketing strategy. Many reverse this.
By Roy Harryman • Principal
When it comes to marketing, many (if not most) people want to step directly into tactics. Tactics are the nuts and bolts of communication, such as:
Which social media platform should I use?
How often should I post?
Should I use paid or organic social media? Or both?
Should I create an email newsletter?
These are all valid questions. But you can’t start with them. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to start here. It’s easier than doing the hard thinking that’s required to market the right way.
First things first
We must begin by clearly identifying our goals. What do we want marketing communication to do for us? Usually this question is met with blank stares and shrugging shoulders. Until we can answer it, we have no business spending time and money.
The second thing we must do is clearly identify our intended audience: Who are our prospects and customers? What do we know about them? If they’re existing customers, why did they choose us?
Once we’ve definitively answered these questions, then – and only then – is it time to talk tactics.
Creating your strategy
Where to start?
“Let’s make this simple: Your goal should be to invest the vast majority of your resources into as few tactics as possible.”
Why is that?
Because each tactic, whether it be direct mail, email or YouTube videos, requires a degree of specialization, a different approach and a ton of work. Take the three approaches I just named.
Direct mail: Requires graphic design, printing and postage. All mailers must meet rigid postal rules or they’ll be rejected and your money wasted. You’ll also likely need to work with a direct mail company, which has access to lists and can coordinate bulk mailing. In addition, you must make sure you’re ready to deliver on anything your direct mail piece is advertising.
Email: Requires you to have a reliable email list. Never buy a list. Reputable people do not sell email lists. And if you do send to one of these gray market lists, it will destroy your email sending reputation and you’ll end up in the spam box, too. Email marketing also requires a vendor, such as MailChimp or Constant Contact, that provides software to make distribution to large lists possible. Try using Gmail or Outlook (or the like) and you’ll end up in the spam file.
YouTube: A video, in and of itself, will do nothing for your business. If it’s terrible, it may hurt you. So you must create quality videos or just don’t do it. In addition, merely posting them to YouTube does not guarantee views. You must be active on YouTube, develop a subscriber base and have multiple ways to share the video (think a blog, website, other people’s websites, etc.).
And this is just three ideas! Each requires careful planning, trusted partners and sweat equity. None of these are even new tactics. This is why you must narrow the field in order to have a reasonable chance of success.
How big is the field of options? It’s vast. Your options (and this is not comprehensive) include:
Social media
Video (YouTube, Vimeo)
Podcasting
Direct Mail
Email
Website/search engine marketing
Traditional paid advertising (TV, radio, print)
Pay per click (PPC) advertising and banner advertising
Text marketing
Under each of these categories, there are subcategories. For example, social media includes a long list of platforms, including some you’ve certainly never heard of.
Matchmakers
In order to succeed, you need to – as best as you can – match your audience with the media tactics likely to reach them. Here, you cannot go by your gut. You need unbiased information. This is not to disregard a vendor of a certain product. But understand the giant blimp sales department has a vested interest in hanging your banner, regardless of whether or not it will produce leads.
Where do you get this objective information? One, you can ask for it. If the cable TV company says they are the best place for your money, ask them to prove it. But be skeptical and compare it with the other options.
When it comes to social media, an excellent resource is the Pew Research Center, which publishes regular reports on Americans and their use of social media.
This report helps separate hype from fact. For example, although Twitter receives constant media attention, only 1 of 5 Americans use it. And the plurality of those are between ages 18-29. Compare this to 69 percent for Facebook and 37 percent for Instagram. More than 70 percent of Americans have watched a YouTube video.
Now, those statistics are important. But what matters most are the habits of your particular customers and prospects. The best information you can get is by communicating with them directly.
Finally, talk to trusted friends who are in business and who have spent money on marketing. What did they do? What worked? What didn’t? How much did they spend?
You can’t get stuck in the purgatory of analysis, but any time you spend (either on your own or with a trusted expert) researching your market is time well spent. First aim, then fire.
Roy Harryman is the principal of Roy Harryman Marketing Communications and always encourages aiming before firing.