Did your last marketing campaign flop? Running out of ideas for reaching new customers? Are you an old dog who wants to learn new tricks? Or a new dog who wants to learn old tricks? Here’s a brief run-down of what you can do to revamp your promotional efforts.
Know your target audience: Whether you are creating an online or offline marketing campaign, the best thing that you can do is get to know your audience. You should ask yourself a few questions while planning your next marketing campaign: Who is my audience? What problems do they have? What can I offer that will solve them? Starting with those simple questions will put you on the right track to delivering exactly what your customers are looking for.
Establish a concrete image: Anyone who sees McDonalds’ golden arches, Nike’s swoosh, or Apple’s…apple, could tell you exactly which brand they represent even if the company’s name is not included. Ideally, customers will know your brand in the same way – and they will if you consistently associate your brand with a creative, memorable logo.
Spark brand awareness: Once you’ve created the perfect image for your brand,if you want customers to keep coming back it is crucial that your brand is present. You need a campaign that will repeatedly keep your company in the back of your customers’ minds. One way to provide a constant reminder is with useful promotion products. If you give your customers a product that they will use every day (like a pen, magnet, or travel mug), they will reward you with word-of-mouth advertising and repeated business.
Extend across multiple mediums: It is impossible to reach out to new customers and clients if you stick to the same platform every time you release a promotional campaign. If you run an ad on TV every time, how will you ever appeal to the people who are fast-forwarding commercials with their DVRs or watching their favorite shows online? Try running your campaign through a web banner ad in addition to traditional outlets. Or, try pairing imprinted tote bags with social media involvement.
Be creative: You don’t want your business to slip through the cracks. What’s the best way to ensure that it won’t? Be different. Your marketing campaign should be original and exciting so that you stand out among your competitors. Never be afraid to pull on your customers’ heart strings and trigger some emotions.
The world of marketing is constantly evolving, but no matter what the future holds, these fundamentals will remain invaluable. Whatever new-fangled bells and whistles you are adding to your campaign, never lose sight of the basics. If you put your current and future customers first, everything else will come easily.
Was this post helpful? Have you tried any of these methods in the past? Do you have any points to add? Tell me in a comment below!
Jenna Markowski is a writer, blogger, and video specialist for Quality Logo Products, Inc., a branded products and custom apparel distributor. You can find her work on the Quality Logo Products marketing blog or follow the company on Facebook and Twitter to learn more.
Great summary, I spend my life telling clients the first one!
Despite all the good material out there, hardly a week goes by without someone wanting to initiate a marketing campaign – online OR offline – without properly defined objectives or target market.
Kate,
The plan in any marketing campaign is the key. You also need to be able to measure your marketing success to get a gauge on what works and what needs to be left out or reworked.
Linksys has been making good networking products for quite some time. I also like Netgear products. Very similar in price/performance to Linksys. Not a big fan of DLink as their user interface is not a easy to use as Linksys or Netgear.
Did you even read the article? There’s no mention of Linksys or networking from a hardware point of view.