Marketing is an ever-evolving beast. What works today may not work tomorrow. We saw this firsthand when, in 2012, we took over marketing for a product that had, for all intents and purposes, flatlined growth-wise.
It was a good product but the company behind it hadn’t been able to find its way with the right messaging and marketing strategy–until we came along.
Over the last few years, we’ve helped build that brand back up to where it’s now raking in more than $100 million in revenue every year while maintaining a simple core message:
We’re here to help you get back on track as quickly as possible so you can get back to doing what you love (or at least like) to do. So how did we do it? How did we help grow a once stagnant business into something so successful?
By doing things our way–and by being honest and authentic about who we are and what our customers want from us.
| Key Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Implementing a well-defined marketing strategy is crucial for substantial growth. |
| 2. Consistency and reliability in marketing efforts can lead to significant results. |
| 3. Focus on simplicity and effectiveness in your marketing tactics. |
| 4. Embrace innovative ideas while keeping the core strategy intact. |
| 5. Successful marketing strategies require a deep understanding of your audience and their needs. |
| 6. Measure and analyze the impact of your strategies to refine and optimize them. |
| 7. Tailor your marketing approach to your unique business goals and industry. |
| 8. Leveraging both online and offline channels can contribute to overall growth. |
| 9. Emphasize building a strong brand presence and customer engagement. |
| 10. Stay open to adaptation and evolution as the marketing landscape changes. |
Let Your Customers Define Your Mission
The strategy that allowed me to grow by 5,000% was simple: let my customers define my mission.
I asked the people who were using my product what they wanted more of, what they liked, and where they saw room for improvement.
It wasn’t hard to find out they were already doing it by giving me feedback in the comments section of blog posts and on social media. I just needed to make sure I was listening!
In particular, I encouraged them to tell me what they would pay for if it was free (or at least very cheap).
This has been a huge help in deciding where our company should spend its resources and what features we should prioritize over other potential ones and those choices have resulted in some major growth opportunities!
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Kill The Buzzwords And Waffle
In my experience, a lot of business owners and marketers overthink their content. They use buzzwords and jargon to sound smart, but in reality, it just ends up being confusing.
I don’t claim to be a writing expert, but I’ve found that using plain language is the best way for me to communicate with people who aren’t familiar with my industry (e.g., SEO).
The thing is, you can’t just write something any old way and expect anyone other than your mother (or perhaps an immediate family member) to understand it.
You need to use words that are short enough so they’re easy on the eyes; yet long enough so they convey your meaning clearly and concisely.
Hire The Best Writers You Can Afford
Hiring the best writers you can afford is one of the most important parts of your marketing strategy.
While they won’t be writing every word, they will be involved in the content creation process from beginning to end, which means that their skillset and experience are just as vital as yours.
Here’s why:
You need someone who understands your business and industry inside-out. If a writer doesn’t understand what your company does or how it fits into its niche, then he/she won’t be able to create effective content for it no matter how talented he/she is.
Your writers should also understand all about audience psychology so that they know how to target specific types of people with different interests and preferences (more on this later). Make sure these writers have at least 3 years of experience under their belt before hiring them.
Embrace The Haters (And Haters Become Believers)
It’s hard to be criticized. It’s even harder to be criticized publicly. But the truth is, that criticism can be a blessing in disguise.
When you embrace the haters, you develop an ability to see things clearly and objectively and this superpower will make you better at everything else in business, too.
It also means that your business will continue moving forward even when it seems like everything is going wrong on the outside:
- You’ll stop working so hard at what doesn’t matter (and spend more time focusing on what does).
- You’ll have a stronger sense of self-worth that won’t be tied up by other people’s opinions or judgments about your work.
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Build A Community
The best way to build a community is to be authentic, honest, and helpful.
You don’t need to be flashy or trendy. You do need to be consistent and generous with your time and attention.
For example, when I started my blog in 2014, I didn’t try to get as many email subscribers as possible (which was the approach everyone else was doing).
Instead, I focused on building relationships with one person at a time by being helpful and generous and by staying consistent over time instead of just trying once or twice before giving up.
My goal wasn’t necessarily “more traffic” or even “more email subscribers.” My goal was deeper relationships; today it’s still people who are excited about what we’re creating together!
Make, Share And Share Again
Once you’ve created your content, the next step is to share it. Share it on social media, share it on other platforms (like blogging networks), and find ways to make that content go viral.
Buzzsumo is a great tool for discovering popular content on any topic. Another great tool for finding popular content is Ahrefs I use both tools regularly and will often use them together to find posts that have gone viral or are getting lots of shares.
Trust Your Gut
But the most important lesson I’ve learned is to trust your gut. In marketing, as in life, it’s easy to let data kill creativity and overthink everything.
The key is to not overthink things and be okay with making mistakes. Don’t be afraid to fail because failure isn’t an option if you don’t try anything new or different.
Remember: the goal of all this is growth, whatever that means for your business (or personal brand). Do you want more leads? More conversions? More sales? Then experiment until you find what works best for you!
Content is key to successful marketing. Discover the steps to building your content platform and creating valuable content that drives engagement and growth.
Create An Exclusive Club
The last step is to create a club, but it can’t be any old club. The best marketing strategies are ones that make you feel like you’re part of an exclusive group or community.
For example, I’ve been invited to join a “secret” Facebook group for startups who want to learn more about marketing and business. It’s not too secret though I found the link on Reddit!
The thing about this sort of thing is that you want people to find out about your group through word-of-mouth rather than just advertising it directly all over the Internet.
This way they’ll know they’ve been vetted by friends and colleagues before joining your club and won’t have much reason not to trust whatever advice they get there later on (assuming it’s good).
Don’t Just Tell Stories–Live Them
Now that you’re on board with the idea of living your brand, let’s dive into some specific ways you can do that.
If you want to build trust, don’t just talk about your product or service use it. If you want to be seen as an authority, don’t just talk about what makes you special prove it by providing value with your products and services.
If we were talking about a product or service here instead of a marketing strategy, this would be called “customer validation.”
Businesses must validate their core offering before they spend any time building out additional features.
Or services because without knowing whether customers will benefit from something new, there’s no way to know if it’s worth investing resources in creating those things.
Be Authentic And Real–Not Funny For Funny’s Sake
Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Being genuine, real, and honest is the most important thing in life and business.
People want to know who you are, what you stand for, what drives you, and how it feels when you’re down or happy. Be transparent with them about your struggles and failures as well as your successes.
Being humble is another vital component of building trust with your audience. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from studying marketing over the past few years, it’s that people love humility–it makes us feel safe around them.
Because we don’t have to worry about being manipulated by them in any way shape or form. Humility also shows vulnerability which humanizes someone on a deeper level than anything else could do (them…I’m looking at YOU, Donald Trump).
Be vulnerable! Showing vulnerability allows others into our lives in such an authentic way that they can relate to;
This creates real connections between people which leads them down a path where they’re more likely to buy from/follow someone vulnerable before so that they can see how their business has helped other people too!
Be Data-Driven When It Comes To Content, But Don’t Let Data Kill Creativity
As a marketer, you need to be open to new ideas and willing to try out new things. You should also be committed to generating high-quality content that your audience resonates with.
While this may seem like a simple rule of thumb, it’s much more difficult than it sounds because there are so many factors involved in creating great content from what types of words or images you use in your writing and graphics.
How long each piece is, how often they’re published on social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook (and where those posts appear), etc.
For this type of analysis not just be useful but effective as well, though, we need access to data from multiple sources including Google Analytics so we can see how many people visited our website after clicking links shared through other channels such as LinkedIn or Twitter (or even email newsletters).
Harness the power of email marketing to boost your growth strategy. Explore our ultimate guide to email marketing with Mailchimp for insights on effective communication with your audience.
Invest In Relationships–Not Transactions
To be successful, you need to invest in relationships–not transactions.
For example, I decided early on that any time I was going to spend money on video content or marketing, I would make sure it was an investment into a relationship. My philosophy is that if your business doesn’t have trust and relationships at its core, it won’t last long.
So how do we create trust? By being open and honest with our customers when they reach out to us with questions or concerns (especially when they’re negative).
It’s also important that we’re responsive and helpful when we get feedback from them as well! It’s not enough for us just because we’ve done something nice for someone else–we must make sure they know about how awesome our product is too!
Focus On Being Transparent, Not Perfect
You don’t need to be perfect.
I know, I know: It’s a lot easier said than done. But in the end, it’s worth it, and here’s why.
I spent too much time worrying about what people would think of my brand and our products instead of focusing on the things I could control (like how we work with customers).
And when you worry about what others are thinking, you can lose sight of your own goals and objectives. You start making decisions based on what other people want from you rather than what’s best for your business (and ultimately your bottom line).
Pay Attention To Timing–Then Again, Don’t Overthink It
As you might expect, timing is an important element of any marketing strategy. For example, if you release a product on the same day as another similar one, you could find yourself losing out to the competition.
But the timing doesn’t have to be a matter of “first” or “second”–it can also be about being relevant and being in the right place at the right time.
When it comes down to it, timing is about being prepared for whatever opportunity arises. You should always be ready for when that opportunity presents itself–and then take advantage of it when it does!
Provide Value To Earn Loyalty (And Business)
Providing value and earning loyalty it’s a simple concept, but one that many marketers ignore. As Seth Godin famously said: “The best marketing is to make something worth talking about.”
Providing value means delivering content that informs and educates your target audience in a way that is helpful for them or their business.
The most successful businesses focus on creating customer experiences that add real value, not just transactions or transactions with empty promises built into them.
The more you can help people solve their problems, the more they’ll trust you and the more likely they are to return for more advice or products from you in the future.
Nonprofit organizations can also benefit from strategic marketing. Learn about strategies that boost donations to maximize impact and contribute to sustainable growth.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that the content you create has to be valuable, and it has to resonate with your audience. We learned this lesson early on when we stopped trying to position ourselves as a marketing agency and instead became an online retailer.
The transition allowed us to create content that was authentic and relatable, which earned us loyal customers who in turn trusted us enough to purchase our products.
We continue to put these principles into practice today because they’re what make our company successful–and they can help yours succeed too!
Further Reading
Explore these additional resources to enhance your understanding of effective marketing strategies:
Online Marketing Strategies for Ecommerce: Discover practical tactics to boost your online store’s visibility and sales through effective marketing techniques.
Marketing Strategies to Increase Sales: Learn about proven marketing strategies that can help you drive sales growth and connect with your target audience.
Influence Buyers with Marketing Psychology: Delve into the realm of marketing psychology to understand how buyer behavior can be influenced, leading to more effective marketing campaigns.
FAQs
How do I create effective marketing strategies for my business?
Crafting effective marketing strategies requires a deep understanding of your target audience, market trends, and your unique value proposition. Start by researching your audience’s preferences and needs, then tailor your strategies to resonate with them.
What role does psychology play in marketing?
Psychology plays a significant role in marketing as it helps marketers understand consumer behavior, decision-making processes, and emotional triggers. Incorporating psychological principles can lead to more persuasive and impactful marketing campaigns.
Can marketing strategies be tailored specifically for ecommerce businesses?
Absolutely. Ecommerce businesses have unique challenges and opportunities. By focusing on tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and personalized product recommendations, you can create tailored strategies that drive online sales.
How can I measure the success of my marketing strategies?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rates, website traffic, customer engagement, and return on investment (ROI) can help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. Analyze these metrics regularly to refine and optimize your approaches.
What are some innovative marketing strategies to consider?
Incorporating influencer collaborations, interactive content, user-generated campaigns, and personalized marketing can add innovation to your strategies. Staying updated with emerging trends and technologies can also help you discover new avenues for growth.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.
