Marketing has kind of a bad wrap.
When organizational leaders think of where their revenue is coming from marketing isn’t always top of mind. Despite significant evidence that buyer behaviors have changed, many organizations still hold on to dated beliefs about what marketing is and how it can contribute to driving new business. As a result, many marketing departments are unable to tie their efforts to revenue or showcase value beyond “ticking-the-marketing-boxes”. Here are just a few of the most common marketing myths:
- Marketing is just for awareness.
- Digital marketing is a cost of doing business, not a source of revenue
- If I build it, they will come (in other words, all I need is a website)
- Word of mouth is all we need to make sales.
Any of these sound familiar?
On their own these statements aren’t entirely untrue. However, by connecting the dots and creating a holistic marketing strategy that ties these elements together, you can transform these marketing myths to the stuff of legend.
For the purpose of breaking this down we’re going to align these “myths” to the stages of the buyer’s journey; awareness, consideration and decision. But first, we need to clarify the main point…
…Marketing is more than just awareness.
It’s for every stage of the funnel. With a defined content strategy and marketing automation, you can feed timely, relevant, and contextual information to guide prospects from first contact through to decision. With the right content, delivered on the right channels, at the right time, you can answer every question your prospective buyer has, building a trusted relationship every step of the way.
AWARENESS
Digital marketing isn’t just a “nice-to-have”.
It’s a necessity. Your competitors are on social media and they’re taking the opportunity to engage with consumers on a more personal level. Developing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy for your brand is easier than you might think. With a little bit of insight into who your customers are, some thought about where they’re most likely to spend their time, and a few tests to validate your assumptions, you’ll know exactly which social media channels to focus on.
Once you have your channels, start building your audience by providing helpful, relevant, and consistent information. Take the time to engage with your community and humanize your company and your brand. Most importantly, share your brand’s original content to showcase your personality, industry expertise and thought leadership.
This will help create authentic opportunities to promote new products, services, promotions, and drive visits to your website. Done right, this approach will build affinity with your existing fans, all while organically attracting new ones.
CONSIDERATION
Just because you build it, doesn’t mean they’ll come (or stay).
If your website looks dated, is hard to use, or isn’t mobile responsive, you’re going to lose potential customers before they’ve even gotten started. With most users making their decision about a website within 3 seconds, a first impression really matters.
Clean design and intuitive user experience are critical to keeping users on your page. While a good user experience means creating a clear path for your users so they know what action to take and where to go next. Use calls to action and clear, simple language to keep your prospects and customers engaged on your site while seamlessly guiding them to the information they need to come to a decision.
DECISION
Although there is a significant shift towards “humanless” customer interactions, person to person selling is still the final step for many businesses.
However, regardless of whether your business uses self-service or an account managed process, selling is becoming easier. Businesses are creating more efficient sales processes by implementing contextualized buyer’s journeys for prospects.
Using a comprehensive marketing tool allows marketers and sales teams to share critical data points to support the sales cycle, gaining insights into where prospects are coming from and what types of materials they’re interacting with throughout their journey. Identifying these data points can help marketing teams refine tactics to optimize demand generation and pre-qualify leads. Establishing a lead qualification process means that salespeople can spend their time working the right prospects, as opposed to those who might be too early in the process or who aren’t a good fit.
Becoming a legend
When pulled together as part of a broader and integrated marketing and sales strategy, these four “myths” create a coordinated, measurable process to drive new business and sales that can transform your marketing team and your business’ bottom line.
Ready to become a marketing legend but need help getting started? Give us a shout.
Recent Comments