15 Apr Keeping Stock of the Basics
It’s so easy to be mesmerized by all the shiny digital capabilities of marketing these days. Animations, ads that follow you around the web, personalized messages, geotargeting, behavioral targeting… but these campaigns have no magic power if you forget the basics. It doesn’t matter how fancy your creative is or what a new app can do, you cannot lose sight of the cornerstone principles that make advertising work.
For example, it’s easy to forget the one-message rule. Blog Notions recently shared that most people have a tendency to want to shove many marketing messages into a single ad out of fear that they might never get another shot at the audience. Naturally, an ineffective creates this outcome, a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.
Remember to ask the golden question: if someone could only remember one thing from this – what would I want them to retain? Now – write to emphasize that one point and nothing more.
The next basic rule is budgeting! You cannot be consistent in your message without a plan and a budget. It used to be with print media that a minimum three-insertion commitment was recommended to reap any branding benefits whatsoever. Now, with instant digital campaigns, we’ve lost sight of that. Try this website, place a banner ad for one week over here, do an eFlyer… at best, it will be hit or miss with these efforts. A plan helps you stay on course, even when you’re short-handed or swamped. Marketing is not something you do when your business slows down or you lose a client.
One last basic principle to adhere to is keeping your current customers as your primary audience. Don’t be so quick to chase after new prospective clients when you have loyal ones willing to bring you new revenue because they are happy with your service. Set aside part of your budget and plan to keep wooing your current clients and let them know why they chose you.
Over to you – what marketing basics do you keep stock of? Share by commenting below!
image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
