THE MARKETING PROCESS

 

There is a difference between marketing that sells and marketing that advocates. Marketers create content to build awareness that drives traffic with intent to sell products or services to the public, either because they are paid to do it or because they believe in the product and want people to benefit from it. Marketers as advocates spend time getting to know the brand and the community that supports it. They invest themselves into the brand and business. They work tirelessly to understand the unique value that it offers beyond immediate products or services. Advocates find creative and measurable ways of contributing value to their community because they care.

Data / Analytics + Research

Data can be qualitative (conceptual) or quantitative (numerical). Analytics are statistical based on measurable information like website visitors, demographics, etc. This information is collectively used to inform your marketing efforts. Conceptually it needs to be attractive, drawing people in while supporting brand equity. Numerically you can measure how people interact with your brand based on the actions of website visitors or interactions of in-store customers. You can predict how well a product or service will perform in a particular area based on analytics and data tied to your customer personas which a Brand Playbook can help you to determine.

Keep in mind, this pertains to online and in-store interactions. Understandably, the expectations of online shoppers are increasing. Therefore, your presence needs to be well designed to support brand equity. Your product or service needs to be reflective of the same quality online as in-person. People have varying expectations, but consistent experiences (as a service) at every touchpoint will contribute to long-term success. Adopting a “service” mentality when it comes to contributing value to your community is what can differentiate brands from most big businesses. There is giving and there is taking, and then there’s matching (as Adam Grant says). Taking is never good, matching is fair, but giving in the form of subject matter expertise garners advocates among your community. This can be measured with the right tools and KPIs in place to ensure your time is spent giving where it will produce the most value for your community and the business as a result. This requires a well-thought strategy and planning based on data, analytics, and your insight to produce value-add content as a service. The content you create is based on a number of factors including personas, existing content, internal resources, technology, SEO research, storytelling, and sales, all of which contributes to forming your content strategy and Editorial Calendar.

Owned Distribution Channels

Blog

Blog content needs to be well written, value-driven, and ultimately connect with your community in ways that support them while subtly promoting the value behind your products or services. After creating your content strategy you’ll utilize it to compile a list of blog titles. These titles and topics will range based on your content categories and themes that can be determined in a Brand Playbook. Once established, you can outline your blogs (ideally with a sharable working document that tracks edits when multiple writers contribute to composing blogs) and manage all aspects of production across teams and/or agencies with Asana. Your website’s “blog” will likely host a variety of assets including graphics, photography, video, and audio that will live in your content management system (CMS). It’s good to outline the creative needs of each blog to better understand the time and effort that will go into each one (which also can be established in Asana). Only then can you set realistic expectations for budget and quality.

Email Marketing

Email is one of the oldest digital marketing channels but remains a primary medium for generating awareness and sales. Here it’s important to earn people’s trust by sharing valuable information rather than bombarding them with email pings – top-of-mind doesn’t equate to positive thoughts. Focus on quality over quantity and your community will retain interest in your latest content and offerings.

At some point you’ll ideally have built up enough blog content to create automated email workflows based on categorized lists dependent on where contacts are in the buyer journey and their personas. This way you reuse existing blog content in an evergreen fashion, providing the same quality of service one can expect walking into a storefront. Take them on a journey that informs, educates, and inspires them in ways that encourages brand loyalty.

Social Media

Social media is one of the main marketing channels that is underutilized or abused by businesses. It’s challenging to maintain a social media cadence, even with a marketing calendar, but especially reactively without. Social media publishing platforms such as Later or Sprout Social are useful when publishing content to multiple platforms. While this sometimes comes at the cost of algorithmic deductions in post ranking from social media platforms, engagement is what social media algorithms prioritize. So if your community on social media engages with your posts, you have little to concern yourself with here outside of organic reach via algorithmically suggested posts with social media users that don’t follow your page. Also, it’s better to know your bandwidth and not bite off more than you can chew with social media. Invest in using the social media platform(s) where the bulk of your target audience is active rather than spinning your wheels posting to all social media platforms, as this will likely result in you being unable to nurture or respond to feedback from followers and other users. Facebook has a native interface to schedule posts that will not push you down in algorithmic ranks. So if Facebook is where your audience is, save yourself the money on social media publishing apps and invest more time in “nurturing” your community through Facebook. 

First you must create and prepare your content. Outside of your blog content, reference your content themes and decide on a cadence for other creative content. For example, you can repurpose other’s content by creating branded graphics containing quotes from relevant authors. Outline your social media calendar and manage creative operations in-house or outsource to others (such as a marketing agency or independent social media marketer) on a contract basis. This person or team can manage any or all aspects of writing, graphic design, photography, video, and audio while firstly freeing you from the mundane task of scheduling out posts. If you outline your social media calendar by a quarter or half year in advance you can make this process efficient and more affordable for you, your team, and any contractor(s). This will allow for pre-scheduling of social media posts, leaving you to focus on overseeing or conducting engagement with your social media community as posts publish automatically. You can outsource social media engagement as well, but keep in mind that this is a crucial touchpoint for your community with your brand. It’s important to make sure that whoever runs your social media represents your brand as an advocate whom is familiar with your product(s) or service(s) and brand ‘s “voice” to effectively communicate with your audience and answer questions as they arise. Providing them with a Brand Playbook is very helpful to communicate all the details of your brand to ensure they contribute value to your social media community in a consistent manner.

YouTube

You may already know that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. YouTube is a great place to reach your community and connect in more authentic ways. It’s free, and if you implement YouTube Certified / Creative Studio best practices your video(s) will have a greater chance of success.

YouTube is owned by Google (the number one search engine in the world), and works very similarly with optimization for search ranking. Optimize your YouTube videos with SEO optimized thumbnail images, tags, keyword-rich descriptions, pop-up cards, and end screens. Insert trackable links “above the fold” in the description. Make your pop-up cards relevant and value-driven. Add end screens that engage and convert (either subscribers or click-throughs to your website). Upload videos based on your content strategy and marketing calendar – it’s normal to have a cap on videos and is always best to produce quality over quantity.

Podcast

Podcasting is on the rise with roughly 32% of people in the United States listening monthly. Audio streaming companies such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Pandora offer exclusive podcast listening experiences. 

Podcasts come in a variety of formats. They can be solo, one-on-one guest interviews, or group conversations. They can also be heavily edited into a storytelling format like “Startup” created by Gimlet Media, which was later picked up by ABC as a show named “Alex, Inc”. Learn how to start a podcast on Pat Flynn’s website.

Whatever format you choose, be consistent. In general, this also applies to podcast length and especially cadence (with consideration of seasons to put a cap on podcast production). Your podcast can and should be incorporated into your blog content. Maximize the use and reach of your podcast by incorporating video and publishing it to YouTube as well. There’s a number of ways to drive sales with your podcast by self-promoting products or services periodically during or after the “show”, as well as monetizing it by advertising affiliate products. Ultimately your approach to podcasts will be based on your goals and the community you serve, however, it is never bad to forego monetizing your podcast in support of solely focusing on genuinely contributing value to your listeners.

Paid Distribution Channels

Search

Search advertisements can be run through Google Ads and are based on intent. Keywords need to be included in ad copy and be specific to ad groups with two to three keywords at most. Create and optimize ad-specific landing pages to ensure better results. Monitor visitor activity through Google Analytics and setup retargeting ads for website visitors. While time consuming, you can create a/b variations of your landing pages and split test your ads to identify what converts better.

Display

Display ads drive awareness and create demand whereas search ads attempt to answer demand in response to people’s searches on Google or other search engine platforms. Display ads serve your branded content to introduce and offer value. They can be run through Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pandora, and a variety of other platforms. Typically you want to find unique characteristics based on your personas and target these display ads to specific segments of your audience where they are most active.

Direct Mail

Mailing postcards used to be unpredictable and wasteful, but with technology (such as Inbound Geo) this can be done cost-effectively. Mail cards to website visitors that have spent more than a certain amount of time on your website or specific customers that have spent over a certain dollar amount.

Geo-targeted Display

Geo-targeting is a way of serving ads based on location and zip code associated with an individual’s device ID or IP address. This can be particularly beneficial for local brick & mortar storefronts. If you haven’t already, create a Google My Business account. You can utilize Google’s location extensions in your ads to show up when people search terms relevant to your business. Businesses with their own app use Google’s geofencing to create a digital fence around specific locations and send push notifications (offers, promos, etc.) to locals and visitors. For example, Discover Denton’s app could potentially allow local businesses to serve geo-targeted “ads” to people near their storefront.

Affiliate and Influencer Marketing

Find people with relevant followers that genuinely believe in your product or service. Find ways to collaborate and exchange value with them as an affiliate. These influential people should be part of your community and align with your brand. A micro-influencer strategy doesn’t make as big of a “splash”, but is more “affordable” and can be even more beneficial in the long-term. Affiliates increase brand awareness and sales through multiple channels including social media, email, online reviews (i.e. YouTube videos), or their blog. Their support online or through word-of-mouth can attract new customers with less effort to “convert” on your part. Shopify offers affiliate marketing plug-ins such as Refersion or GrowthHero. Some are more costly than others, with pros and cons, but your priorities and budget will determine the software you use to manage affiliates/influencers.

Public Relations

PR is typically a pay to play space. However, it can prove valuable if done intelligently. Local and niche sources build brand awareness and equity with the right message. Research online publications with subscribers that match your personas. Track and measure public relations efforts by using custom links, tags, and landing pages. Public relations software such as Meltwater allows for social media and news monitoring, a journalist contact library, reporting, and distribution, and includes a mobile app. That said, this software costs thousands of dollars and is likely not at all necessary for most “small” businesses. If you want to get a press release out to the public on a variety of local, regional, or national news organization channels, use Newswire. Make sure to include quality visuals, an about statement, and a boilerplate. Be specific and intentional with PR efforts. Offer value to your reader and provide a clear call to action (CTA). Ensure that your funnel is optimized (as it likely already is) to enhance their experience for conversion and retention.

Events and Trade Shows

Hosting your own in-person or online event is a labor intensive process. Identifying what will attract attendees is a challenge, and it is rare that you exceed or even meet your expectations. It’s up to you to determine whether events will prove worth the effort (or even hurt your brand equity). Zoom is a preferred platform to host online events.

Industry-specific trade shows are a great way for B2B businesses to attract new wholesale customers. Research them online and decide if it’s worth the investment of booth, display and furnishing costs. Depending on your budget, you’ll likely get the best trade show booth setup by working with a local manufacturer as opposed to a banner and trade show retail company you find in a shopping center.

Billboard Ads

There are physical and digital billboard display ads with pros and cons to each. In general, digital costs more but allows for shorter runs and no “materials” to get manufactured. Physical billboard advertisements cost less to display and you don’t have to share ad space with others. Digital is still much easier to produce and distribute, even if you want to split test “banners”. If you decide to do billboard ads, you may want to consult with an agency that specializes in “outdoor” advertising. That way you may benefit from bundle pricing, but will at least gain insight from an industry expert.

Conclusion

Be thoughtful in your marketing efforts, and find clever or unique ways to share value with your community. Utilize data, analytics, and insight. Create evergreen content as often as makes sense. Do your best to ensure consistent quality and cadence. Create a Brand Playbook and add to it over time. Incorporate incentives, bundle deals, or subscriptions (w/ discounts) to encourage repeat business, but don’t devalue your product or service with “excessive” discounts. As with all marketing, focus on informing, education, and inspiring. Expand your value proposition to include content as a service. Always prioritize building and maintaining authentic relationships with your community.