Your Digital Marketing Puzzle: 5 in 5

 

Marketing is a big all-encompassing word that some people often get mixed up with advertising or PR. Or basically anything else related. Arguably, marketing is a big puzzle that has many pieces and can often seem like it’s something that it’s not. But we’re here to help you solve that puzzle and put the pieces of your own marketing strategies together. One piece at a time. So instead of this being a big, 1,000 piece puzzle, we’re making it a piece of 5. Jumbo sized. Get ready to solve your marketing questions in just 5 minutes. 

 

PIECE ONE: YOUR GOALS

Alright, so this is an easy one. Define your goals clearly so if you had to explain them to someone else, essentially you could! Some ways to think about how you can define your goals: 

• What are you starting out with? 
• Where do you want to be in 6 months?
• Where do you want to be in 12 months? 
• How are you planning on growing? 

If you’re still unsure on what your goals should be, head over to our blog about this! Goals make for a more efficient campaign. Business success is quantifiable, and you need a way to measure your efforts’ success/failure rates. 

 

PIECE TWO: WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?

The core of all marketing is to get your consumer to ultimately purchase or take whatever it is you have to sell. That means knowing who you’re selling to, both inside and out (If you’re a MadMen fan, read that in a Don Draper voice). The best way to sell to a customer or business is to think like them. What do they want and not want out of a product? Can you identify what their lives look like, or the inner workings of their business look like? In a basic list form, here are some things to think about: 

• Age 
• Gender 
• Race
• Income (how much can they afford to spend on your service/product?)
• Average Lifestyle
• Preferences 

 

Sometimes it helps to create a “perfect” consumer- the ultimate person you’re marketing to. Then, view that person as a spectrum, with that perfect person in the middle of the spectrum. This shows you that, while your ideal consumer are few and far between, there is a range of other consumers that have some of those attributes. 

 

PIECE THREE: WHERE’S YOUR MONEY GOING?

This might be a daunting piece to handle, but once you’ve decided where you can and cannot allocate your resources to, it becomes a little less scary. First, decide what you’re willing to do yourself. Then what you can afford to have someone do for you: 

• Can you afford to pay someone else to create your branding? Or are you going to do your own branding? 
• Create your own website, or have someone else make it for you? 
• Manage your social media, or put someone else in charge of that?  (*cough* likes us!) 
• Are you paying for business cards? 
• Will you be investing in paid ads on social, print, or neither? 
• Do you plan on manually posting to social, or pay for third party scheduling apps? 
• Who are you paying within your own team? 

 

Here’s a handy infographic for you to see what we mean, broken down (thanks SproutSocial!):

 

 

PIECE FOUR: ORGANIZING FOR SUCCESS

Now that we have clarified your business marketing goals, recognized your target audience and allocated your resources efficiently, let’s dive into leveraging that digital assistance and organizing for success. If you’re anything like us, you have a million things going at once. Which means your first and foremost concern should be finding a productivity or scheduling app that best suits you! On the LBMG block, we’re big fans of Monday.com. However, have used Trello heavily in the past. Woven, winner of the 2019 Appy Awards for Best Productivity App, is another fantastic tool if you (or your team) is struggling to schedule meetings, co-working periods or time to dedicate to one another efficiently.

Consider it your smart calendar of the year. Additionally, an editorial calendar is a must! Depending on the capacity of content your brand is pushing out, you will understand the necessity of this tool. Being proactive and organized about what, when and where you publish content is important for both the success of your efforts and stress of your team. When toggling between which platforms will best benefit your business endeavors, there is one more thing to consider. Whether you are a Business to Business (“B2B”) or Business to Consumer (“B2C”) company, you’ll want to do a little extra research on the correct platforms for your needs. 

 

PIECE FIVE: MARKETING WITH YOUR BRAND GROWTH

Truth be told, this five-piece-puzzle can be used at many stages. Your business marketing efforts never really come to a halt. Your brand will always be growing and perhaps changing initiatives and with this so will your campaigns. When you find yourself surpassing business goals, regroup and start back with number one. Your answers to these five applicable tips will change, but as long as you stick with this basic module you will always have a strong guideline for building a successful marketing campaign. At all of your business levels.