New Year, Same Marketing Fundamentals

While the turn of the year can lead to some conversations about how marketing is going to change, with technologies like Augmented/Virtual Reality being adopted somewhat more rapidly each year – for most companies, the best way to kickstart your marketing, and do better than you did last year, means just going back to basics. 

Before you get overly ambitious with your 2023 marketing resolutions that you’re probably not going to stick to (but good luck!), here’s some helpful hints that have stood the test of time, and have a bigger chance of actually having an impact on your bottom line.

1. Speak (market) clearly, plainly, and directly. Tell people exactly what they need to hear, why it’s important, and what to do. If you can’t say something clearly and quickly, you’re probably not clear on what it is you’re trying to say. Make your emails shorter. Reduce the amount of copy on your website. Get rid of the filler content in your proposals. Be clear, concise, persuasive, and respect the time you’re taking from your customers and prospects. 
2. Show up! You can’t just sit back and wait for people to find you, and come to you. You have to be in their email inbox, on their LinkedIn feed, at trade shows, in their mailbox, on a billboard as they’re driving down the road, in their Google search results, in their Instagram/Facebook/TikTok feeds, on their favorite podcast. Know your audience – figure out where they spend their time – and show up. 
3. Provide Value. This is so simple, but so often overlooked. Don’t just list your services. Don’t brag about your awards, your accomplishments. If you just take the slightest step back, and look at your customers – what is it that you do, that they really value? How do you make their lives better? Focus on that, and convey that to your prospects.
4. Remove obstacles to engagement. If you’ve been successful in getting your prospect’s attention – if you’ve told your story clearly, in a way that is about the customer, not about you – don’t shoot yourself in the foot by making it hard for them to learn more, start a conversation, or buy from you. Pretend you are a prospect on the receiving end of that email campaign you just sent, and go through the steps of acting interested and responding – does anything hold you up? Do things like checking out your site on mobile, tablet and desktop; try responding to an email; make sure your calls-to-action and contact information are presented clearly; are your social accounts up to date, and are responses to DM’s answered quickly; does it take you too long to generate a proposal or quote? Getting people’s attention, and generating interest can be hard – make sure you aren’t sabotaging your own marketing efforts with a broken process or some other issue on the back end of your marketing campaigns.