There are countless times I’ve sat in an executive or owners meeting where the team says they know their customers and what they want. Really? How do you know?
Even though there are hundreds of thousands of ways to market your business, it doesn’t mean they are all right for you. Thank goodness, right? Because your marketing budget is not endless, and there isn’t enough time in the day for you, or your team, to do it all. The trick is figuring out how to make what you need to happen, happen.
When you meet an executive or owner of a business, ask them to tell you their mission, then their vision. Did you notice anything? Maybe it felt clunky, confusing, a bit off, or somewhat pointless. Better yet, let’s take a shot at your company’s words on that wall. Start by simply defining the terms vision and mission. This exercise alone should not be difficult. In fact if it is, then living your vision and mission will be awfully hard across your organization.
Your audience drowns in 20,000 message and brand exposures each day. Not surprisingly, of those only an average of 86 ads per day hit consumers’ awareness. A mere 7% of ads consumers are aware of actually make an impression. By changing your approach when it comes to marketing impressions, your audience can’t help but notice you in a way that matters.
There is a creative bone in everyone’s body. Some are just better than others at cultivating it. Creativity can be nurtured. Best of all, the right creativity creates the right results. Here are some simple ways you can put your creative mind to work for your business’s marketing efforts.
Being a business leader is a full time job. In a small business or start up, you have some level of understanding in every discipline it takes to run that business: accounting,administration, human resources, sales, marketing, and so on. What most “manage” to do is focus on the most immediate need first or what one enjoys most, while the rest of what needs to get done suffers. If growing your business is a priority, you can not do this with sales or marketing.
No matter what business you are in, if you have employees and are not looking at them as an extension of your brand, then you are missing the boat. People who interact with your business see the face of your brand not just as a well light up sign, but in every experience they have with your staff.
As businesses look to grow, evolve and make an imprint in the market many decide marketing is the way to go. Oddly enough a large percentage lean to hiring a marketing support person or expanding their marketing team. Are you surprised I say this is odd? Here is the right answer. Know where you want..
With Spring finally in full motion, we literally all begin looking at our own with a bit more intensity backyards. Mine is just starting to turn green, which I find is the best time to track down weeds in my lawn that are easier to locate now versus later. Funny enough, this exact point of view is one you can use to “root out” issues at the cusp of Quarter 2.
I love words. All shapes and sizes: big ones, fat ones, complicated or colorful. They engage us at such a deep level that we are reduced to tears or sent into an uncontrollable fit of gut splitting laughter. But one issue is messing it all up. Communication.
