In this modern era of marketing, the squeaky wheel gets all of the attention. How do you get the stakeholders of your organization to see the larger picture of their marketing campaigns through the flashy buzzwords that pop up seemingly daily?
The Big Data Thought Leaders behind the Tracking of the Millennial Selfie Trend
Profoundry.co released a list of marketing buzzwords earlier this year. A sample from the list includes familiar phrases like “big data,” “millennial,” “thought leader,” and, of course, “selfie.” Now, these words may be woven into your firm’s marketing strategy to the core, but if you’re anything like us at Illumine8, the mere mention of these terms makes your eye twitch.
While these terms and their partner practices are good and necessary in some cases (except selfie… we wish that term had never infected marketing), casual business trend watchers tend to migrate to these buzzwords like flies to honey. While it’s nice to be up to date with the latest trends, it’s very easy to seem tacky if these terms are misused, or used after their social media lifespan is up.
Everyone Doesn't Need an App.
So a friend of a friend has an app. It’s the best! It allows the user to do this, that and the other. There might be a chance that an app would work for your company.
At this point you’ll need to step back and consider if an app is the best allocation of resources. If you would be better served by spending more time on social media, we advise reconsidering if an app is going to be the best course of action.
The problem is, everyone is telling you that an app is the best, newest, most exciting tool for reaching customers.
While it’s our job as marketers to keep up to date with the latest advances in technology, social media, and design trends, a large part of our job is getting past the desire for the newest toy, to sit down and form the best marketing strategy using a mixture of new fangled gadgets, supplemented by tried and true methodologies.
The key to success is personalizing the marketing strategy for your brand's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It's also very important to be adaptive to the changes within the company and in the marketing landscape.
Walking the Unbound Marketing Tightrope
We don’t want to seem stodgy. Marketing firms that don’t keep up with current trends let themselves fall behind and risk being forgotten. We’d recommend the balancing act that comes with embracing modern tools and supplementing these tools with traditional marketing tools. We believe in an unbound marketing method that blends the best of outbound and inbound marketing practices.
The right mix for you depends on your brand personality and your target marketing personas. If you’re trying to reach an older population or new homeowners in your area, IT’S OK TO USE DIRECT MAILING. While some firms may think these methods are taboo for modern marketing, if it works, it works.
A Box is still a Box
Buzzwords are a great starting point. They get your coworkers thinking, and might be a good tool to use to reach your customers. Just don't box yourselves in as a company that chases the latest trends. While it may be time to let go of some practices, perhaps cold calling for example, abandoning all traditional marketing strategies may hurt you in the long run.
Your customer’s personas may be attracted to a modern look and feel to your marketing, they could be scouring the local newspapers for ads, or they could look at all outlets and be attracted by a mix everything. Remember, you are not your target market. Choose outlets that your personas utilize to send and receive communications.
Don't be the outdated, slow to change company, but remember your roots. Be what your company and customers need you to be, whatever that is.
If you’d like to learn more about how Illumine8 integrates different tools in marketing, click the link below.