Consumer behavior has changed more in the past 10 years than in the prior 200. Has your marketing evolved? Does it meet the expectations and demands of today’s multi-channel customer?
Here are a few key thoughts to focus and fortify your marketing efforts:
Think engagement, vs. campaigns or promotions. Consumers want you to solve their problem or ease their pain. They don’t want to be sold to or aggravated. Consumers engage when their needs are met. This could be a need for information, education, explanation, or for a specific service. If you are hawking things they may have only peripheral interest in, you’re losing them. Focus first on relating, then on cultivating, and only then on closing.
Be relentlessly relevant. The needs and interests of a small business owner are vastly different than those of an estate planning attorney or HR director. If your content doesn’t speak to their specific circumstances, you’re wasting time and money.
Provide “decision simplicity.” Leonardo da Vinci said that “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Are your services and offerings simple to understand? Have you cut out fluff and flab? Do you tell your story well? Does your marketing collateral, from online to print, paint a clear and enticing picture? Are you presenting just enough information to move the needle closer to a buying decision?
I often think of valuable client relationships as having expiration dates. What helps extend these relationships? Being helpful and relevant, staying top of mind, creating value, and making things easier all work to position you as an indispensable resource. Indefinitely.
