Marketing Dos and Don'ts

One of the most important, yet difficult tasks for a business is determining how to market your products or services to the right target audience. Marketing consists of utilizing research, analytics,  advertising, and customer experience to promote a service or product. But how do you ensure you are reaching the right audience? Here are some tips on marketing DO’S and DON’TS.

DO Research - Perform research to determine whether competitors are providing the same products or services to your customers. Research their pricing and the marketing tactics they are utilizing. Look into customer segmentation, market potential, demographic and consumer spending reports. With this information, decide how you want to enter the market and create a plan. 

DON'T Research Alone - Avoid building your plan based solely on only the analytics you gather from your website. There are many sources to help gather reliable, accurate and helpful information about your target market and how to reach them. Make sure to research companies that are able to assist in identifying marketing opportunities and can provide more thorough information on reaching the target audience. 

DO Focus on Customers Needs - Avoid raving about how great your product or service is and provide details on how the product will provide a solution to the consumers' needs. Focusing on the customers' needs and providing a solution will positively impact the brand’s reputation and build loyal returning customers. 

DON'T Assume - Don’t assume all customers will purchase the product or service for the same reason. Each customer type in your target market has different reasons or motivation to purchase your product. Be clear on who your customers are and don't try to sell your product to everyone. 

DO Measure Your Success - Though it can be easy to overlook, the importance of measuring the success of marketing campaigns is crucial. Review the ROI’s, analytics, and trust the numbers. Find out what works best for your brand and what doesn’t and when necessary, correct or implement changes to improve the impact. 

DON'T Make Promises You Can't Deliver - One of the best ways to avoid over-committing to consumers comes by communicating and setting proper expectations. Whether this is setting expectations on the newsletter going out or promising features of a product, make sure you are able to deliver the promise. Consumers want to feel like their needs are your priority and see that you are committed to the solution. 

DO Implement a Social Media Strategy - Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are among the most popular social media sites. Each platform provides a direct purpose and you can utilize social media platforms to increase lead generation. Facebook is best for driving traffic to your website, Twitter gives you up to the minute news, and Instagram is a powerful tool to display a visual representation of your brand as well as to connect with influencers with a large following. Although LinkedIn is the preferred social platform for leads, Facebook is increasingly advancing in targeting options. Increase your business’s social visibility with a strong, engaging Facebook Business page. 

DON’T Try To Do Too Much - Focusing on multiple channels all at once can actually do more harm than good. What if your target audience is women, aged 13-19; their likelihood of being on LinkedIn is pretty low. The time and energy you focus on managing multiple accounts can be better used looking at your community/target audience and focusing on those channels.

DO Use Email Marketing - Often one of the most overlooked and underutilized marketing options is email marketing. When implementing an email marketing strategy, it is crucial that a company gathers and creates their own email list. Use subscription or newsletter signs ups directly from the website. Companies who buy email lists often lose credibility and subscribers, quickly. An easy way to build your list is to provide valuable content in concise messaging within your emails and give users an incentive to subscribe.

DON’T Forget to Diversify Your Strategy - Business owners should always look to improve and diversify their digital marketing. There are many ways of marketing in the digital age, and since trends change quickly, it’s a good idea to cover your bases. This means you should be maintaining your blogging and on-page SEO efforts, your social media accounts, your email marketing, your paid ads, and other techniques to increase your chances of long-term success. Each of these techniques will reach different consumers, but your strategy will be stronger with multiple channels working at the same time.

In conclusion, understanding and obtaining knowledge of marketing is important in every business. Marketing is so much more than selling a product or service. Successful marketing requires a solid understanding of the target market, the consumers, your product, as well as your competitions and implementing a strategy to help capitalize on the efforts put forth.