You may be feeling a little discombobulated right now, but here at Bob Marketing (did you see what we did there?!) we are ready to help you put some structure to your marketing strategy.
Don’t know how to move forward?
Firstly, don’t panic. It can be overwhelming, especially if you are a start-up business to figure out not just what you need to do, but how and when. That’s where Bob can help.
Before we get started though, you might be wondering why we are called Bob Marketing?
Well, simply, my daughter is called Bobbie and she inspires me to do better each day – so why not Bob Marketing, where we can inspire you to do better in your marketing each day. Anyway, back to that marketing…
Where do I start?
As a new business, you may feel there are endless tasks you need to do to get your venture off the ground. You might have the best idea for a product or service, but if you have no clue how to tell people about it, you are going to struggle to be successful.
Marketing is all about connecting with your customer and hand holding them through the journey from discovery of your product/service all the way to them becoming a loyal customer and advocate. At each step, you can maximise your impact on your customer by using a simple approach – genuine engagement. The days of hard sell are gone – it’s about nurturing the relationship, so your customer feels like they are your only customer.
Your first step is to spend time getting your brand identity spot on. It’s an expensive mistake if you later find out that you’ve restricted yourself by your brand or you aren’t appealing to your target audience because your branding is off. By using a marketing and branding strategist, you can be sure to avoid errors which can make or break your company.
Marketing strategy: Branding
Branding is all about identify and connection. It works when it makes people feel a certain way about your product; it works when it drives a desire within your audience – to have what you sell or to use your service to avoid a problem.
Colours, fonts, logos and packaging are key parts of your branding which are often as important as the product itself. You only need look at the Apple packaging to see the impact it has on customers – people literally salivate just over the packaging. Strange, but true.
Branding must be used consistently across all your marketing assets. If you don’t use the same colours, fonts and logo on your website and printed material, you are devaluing your brand identity.
At Bob Marketing, we can work with you to develop your consistent branding, helping to leverage those assets to increase awareness in your target audience.
Marketing strategy: Website
Next, you need to consider the purpose of your website. Is it purely informational to give you credibility as a business or can it work harder for you?
A website can take your customer all the way through their purchasing journey. Have you ever searched for a product on Google, checked out 2 or 3 of the top-ranking websites, liked the look and feel of one in particular? Perhaps that website had an easy to use navigation which enabled you to find what you wanted quickly. Perhaps it had very concise yet meaningful product descriptions which helped you to select exactly what you needed. Maybe the shopping cart and check out process were so well optimised that within a few minutes of finding the website, you were able to make a purchase?
These steps are critical to helping you reach a wider audience for your product.
When it comes to service, things tend to be a bit more drawn out, because we need to know who we are buying rather than what we are buying. Service businesses need to focus more time on customer engagement activities, so the customer comes to know, like and trust. Only then can we develop that customer into a loyal advocate.
Marketing strategy: Traditional marketing materials
A comprehensive strategy for customer engagement is a vital piece of the marketing puzzle. Despite what many digital marketing strategists would have you believe, there is still a place for printed marketing materials and email marketing – they have not been superseded by social media marketing. These older marketing techniques can be highly effective when used alongside digital methods; a diverse marketing strategy, when used appropriately, can reap better rewards than one which sticks rigidly to the latest technologies. Your business needs are unique as you are and we can take a no-nonsense approach to finding what works for you.
Getting support
Marketing is fun.
Don’t think so? If you need help with formulating your marketing strategy, Bob Marketing is here for you, making marketing simple and fun.
We love working with all companies, whether start-up or established, to help figure out their way forward and our mission is to cut through the jargon, giving you a simple executable plan in plain English.
We offer free consultations to find out if we are a good fit to work together.
Contact us today to find out how to make your marketing simple.
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