Running a marketing operation can be quite easy or quite difficult, often times revolving around what and who you are marketing to.
With that in mind, do you sometimes feel like your marketing campaigns are on life support? Despite all the time and effort you put into each and every one of them, some just seem to be hemorrhaging a slow death.
While you may be dreading the fact that your marketing efforts in general could be slipping away from you, there are some rather easy remedies that you can apply, giving you the opportunity to get things back on track.
Among the tips to keep in mind:
1. Your business reputation
Most importantly, is your business reputation taking a hit that you were unaware of? In some cases, negative information could be floating around the Internet, giving both current and potential customers pause to do business with you moving forward. By doing a Google search of your name and that of your company, you can see if your reputation is having a negative impact on your ability to market your products and/or services;
2. Social media
You would think any marketing pro or small business owner worth their weight in gold would understand the importance of social media, yet many are still a day late and a dollar short. If you are doing marketing for a company you do not own, by all means stress the importance of social media to each and every marketing campaign you do. Promoting such campaigns via company pages on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and other key social sites is very important, especially given the large numbers of people using SM in this day and age. The key with social media is to be consistent, relevant, and authoritative;
3. Blogging
Your company’s blog is another key element in helping you promote each and every marketing campaign that you unveil. Unfortunately, far too many companies do not give enough attention to their blogs, leaving them look unimpressive and unattended to. Make sure you use the blog to promote your marketing efforts, even trying to guest blog on other relevant sites. Work a keyword or two into your guest blog posts that will direct traffic back to your website in general or a specific marketing page that is on your site;
4. Networking
Even though many companies have cut back on their attendance at networking events, especially those where major travel is involved, you can’t put a price on what you can get out of networking. Whenever possible, make sure you have a presence at relevant trade shows (to your industry), allowing you to network with those who are more apt to buy from and work with you. Along with handing out business cards and other worthwhile company literature, make sure you come prepared with videos (people like imagery) that explain what your company is about ,what you are presently working on, and how best to contact and work with your business. The latter also holds true for your company website, meaning make sure contact information is clearly visible. You might actually be surprised how many businesses fail to do the little things such as providing easy to access contact data;
5. Message and Messenger
Finally, how do you go about getting your marketing message out to the masses. More than likely you use email blasts on a regular basis, something that can actually at times work against you. Stop and think for a moment about all the emails you get inundated with on a regular basis. If you are in essence spamming consumers, you will see a backlash over time, a backlash that will leave your marketing efforts potentially in dire straits. Put in place calculated email blasts, those that will have the best chance of receiving a favorable response. If you’re just emailing marketing messages for the sake of emailing, good luck with that one.
As a marketing professional, what have you found to be some effective ways to keep your campaigns off of life support?
About the Author: With 23 years’ writing experience, Dave Thomas covers marketing and business topics for a variety of websites, including Reputation.com.
Related Content
- 6 Unique Marketing Campaigns We Love & How to Make Your Own
- How to Create a Marketing Campaign (That Actually Drives Sales)
- How to Create a Polished Facebook Marketing Campaign Step-by-Step
- 6 Steps to Successfully Launch a Pre-Order Campaign to Build Product Hype
- How to Run a Black Friday Marketing Campaign That Drives Serious Sales
wishpond