It’s humbling to know that no matter what kind of business is run, marketing remains an essential element of its success. Even large corporations such as Disney or Coca Cola repeatedly invest millions in their marketing budget, as they know they can never risk being forgotten even slightly, despite their international and historical renown. In other words, they never take attention and familiarity for granted.
This is important to consider. It means that no matter how you market your brand, even in a somewhat modest word-of-mouth effort, you have to figure out your plan. But what many business advice columns rarely consider is that marketing budget is not always perfectly applied and guarantees exposure. It’s essential to think – is your marketing budget going to waste in certain areas? It might be that you’ve put the cart before the horse, so to speak.
With that in mind, let’s consider a few methods you can use to ensure your worthwhile promotional investment isn’t being squandered by smaller mistakes.
Online, But No In-Person Signage
It’s fun to invest in good graphic design online, especially social media banners to help your online portfolio remain accessible and easily identifiable. But what if people arrive to your store after seeing those ads and can’t figure out which business or building they should enter? Without custom printed vinyl banners proudly displaying your location, all of that work regarding your online presence fails at the first and final hurdle. For this reason, don’t forget about more tangible, in-person signage to make it clear where you are, how you operate, what your opening times could be, and if you allow walk-ins or require appointments. If so, having contact information handy will also be necessary.
Manage Mobile Website Function
One of the best elements of digital marketing is that you can beam your message, your services, platform and products into the pockets of many people you’re targeting. But what if they click on that link and can’t access your website correctly? What if your website is poorly sized for mobile, or an issue with the scripting means your age-gating provision limits access to the rest of the website? It’s important to conduct a full website review before promoting it, making sure people can add products to their checkout, that accounts can be created, and that you can handle demand. Without that, you may turn a genuine lead into a genuine disappointment.
Language & Accessibility
It’s always healthy to check if your implicit understanding of your industry isn’t going over the heads of your target demographics. For example, a luthier that sells custom violins worth tens of thousands of dollars is unlikely to use simplified language for what they offer – they know that the people interested in this stock are collectors, musicians, or those deeply passionate about the violin, who are likely know all of the most advanced technical terms and aren’t going to scratch their heads at the price being suggested.
But not all firms are like that. For example, if you’re a bakery selling different types of sourdough, you might add small labels in-store or on your websites about how each variant was made, and what that could taste like. Language and accessibility isn’t about “dumbing down” what you have to offer, but about considering expertise and at what level your customers may know the features involved. It’s why Apple will list the full technical specifications of each iPhone, but they don’t lead with hard and pure statistical data – instead they use refined imagery to show the benefits and upgrades of each model first.
Choosing The Right Format
It’s fair to say that most young children (at least, those with parents who care about their screen time), aren’t spending dozens of hours a day on a smartphone, or shouldn’t be. That’s why if you sell children’s toys, choosing a television slot between two children’s cartoons on a Saturday morning could be ideal. It adds a sense of excitement and suggests to the child that yes, your product is important to them for their upcoming birthday.
Moreover, while it’s true older people use social media, they might not use TikTok as commonly, but platforms like Facebook. Your product aimed at this niche requires using this platform most of all, then. These are, of course, general qualifiers and you’ll find outliers with each demographic or target market. Sometimes, they can surprise you. But after conducting market research, using the correct platform is key. There’s a reason men’s fashion brands advertise in magazines like GQ, for example.
With this advice, you’ll be certain that your well-thought-out and careful marketing plan, and the investment such an approach demands, will never go to waste.
