And how can we fix it?

Has your marketing department asked this question to your buyers? THEY SHOULD! If you are interested in generating income, then you need to be thinking about this question regardless of the service or product you represent.

Today’s version of marketing is customer-centric on overdrive. Companies no longer are the main sales force of products. The public is the main sales force. Consumers take to the internet to research purchases well before they are willing to give up their hard-earned dollars. Credibility lies in the hands of reviewers who have utilized products first hand.

This is not to say that a potential customer does not want to hear from the company also. They really do! There just are not many companies that are speaking directly to them. Websites, for the most part, are still being utilized by companies as information vehicles. Now, I am not saying that information is an antiquated component of a website. I am merely stating that it is overshadowing the most important purpose;  to be a communication vehicle directly to your audience.

Web Checklist

• Do you state the purpose of your product/service clearly?
• Is that purpose written from the perspective of the buyer? Put yourself in their shoes and ask, “How will your product help solve my problem?”
• Do you have the means to interact with your audience on your website to inspire dialogue between your company and current/potential customers?
• Are you positioning the company as a resource and thought leader of your industry?

Think about how you feel as a consumer and remember the concerns you might have. Use your own insight when approaching the review of your company website. You won’t be sorry.

Until next time… Look forward to your thoughts.

So… you have a ton of emails, huh? Well, I bet several of them are emails sent back and forth between you and your parnters or co-workers on singular documents. Draft #1 gets sent over, then you edit and change sending draft #2 and so on. Then you can’t remember which is the final version. Aaaaggghhh! Here is a simple video (and I mean simple) explaining how to use Google Docs, a GREAT collaboration tool. Enjoy it.

Is Your marketing Campaign Up to the Challenge?

Marketing campaigns are the success strategies of your business. Your marketing campaign’s purpose may be to create and reinforce strong brand recognition or launch a new product to market. To be effective though, it has to capture your audience. Ask yourself… will your marketing campaign be emotionally engaging enough to evoke action?

SO…What’s the Big Picture?

According to Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, we have entered a new more creative time for marketing, the “Conceptual Age”. The key to success in this new outlook, says Pink, is “the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new.”Put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) with your creative team to erect the BIG PICTURE.

 Look through your checklist for the fundamentals:

- Is your campaign emotionally engaging?

- Does it possess an amazing visual connection?

- Will the audience remember the creative tagline?

- Does the campaign tell a clear memorable story?

- Does the campaign support and advance the business goals?

The More the Merrier!

Great ideas come from great collaboration. Team members with different skill sets tend to be a good representation of the general public who will see your marketing campaigns. Extra sets of eyes and minds can catch mistakes, dissipate confusing verbiage or concepts, and/or add unique dimensions. The possibilities are endless. This process could come up with a great deal of material that may or may not be utilized but it creates an open environment of free flowing ideas to work with. From here your marketing unit can whittle down to the nitty gritty of a relevant, clear, and succinct marketing picture.

All Your Options

Whittle down the ideas to create the refined succinct marketing objective and messaging and there you have it. You have emerged unscathed with a marketing campaign that can be tweaked for usage between all your media options. Map out how you will transform your marketing campaign between print, radio, interactive, and mobile media channels. Most importantly, BE CONSISTENT! The message must be reflected throughout every path to your consumer.

Stand strong, push forward, and put on your thinking caps! The right BIG PICTURE will drive a marketing campaign the extra mile.

Marie Daniels, 

Our inboxes are flooded each day with email correspondence from family, friends, vendors, and clients; current & potential. Some emails are full of vital information, a few we could do without and others we keep for reference. Either way, emails are a significant marketing tool for any business small or large. They are a representation of your brand.

With 147 million users of email daily (eMarketer) and 91% of them between the ages of 18 and 64, email provides an excellent opportunity to strut your stuff. A standard email policy is a good idea for any sized company. Email signatures vary across the board. Many companies solely provide basic contact information (employee name, title, phone, email) with the company name. This is better than nothing at all for most correspondence but ideally you want a visual impact to travel with your many company emails. Provide your logo, a tagline, current links, or announcements of awards and products. Your website address and logo should be hyperlinked within your signature sothat recipients may visit your website directly after reading your email message.

Driving traffic to your website is precisely the effect you want to have on your audience. Response metrics allow you to track how many visitors you receive and from where they come (to an extent). Advertising, marketing, and PR dollars already eat up a chunk of your budget. Why not also use your company communication to work for you? Embed your brand into your company emails and make it a standard.

Marie Daniels, CAELUM communication | marketing