The act of marketing your business can be a veritable minefield. As your business is trying to make some traction, in an ever-increasing and over-saturated market the temptation can be to either diversify your products, or to stick with what you’ve got and market it every possible way. There are problems with both aspects, which makes it incredibly difficult to find an approach that benefits you right off the bat. But when it comes to marketing, it’s such a difficult beast to tame, your methods have to be intricately linked to your products, and this can prove troublesome at the very start. Every business struggles to find their feet, but when it comes to structuring an appropriate marketing campaign, are there any approaches that fare better than others?

Why Extreme Focus Is The Key (And You Shouldn’t Diversify As Much As You Think)

For every business that starts out with a marketing campaign, the approach is usually all about hitting every key area of your target market. As a result, you see so many businesses advertise on every single platform, from social media, to video streaming sites, and so on. But, this can be quite a scattergun approach. Having extreme focus is far more productive for every business when it comes to nailing down the perfect marketing campaign. This is more beneficial for every business, especially those who don’t have the finances to tackle every platform with 110% zeal. It is far better for you to identify the appropriate target market and what platform they use more than any other, and go for that specific platform. It’s foolish to think that if you’re touching base with every single platform, that it’s going to make a comprehensive impact. You are much better taking your time to focus your efforts on one platform, and gain the attention of the audience through that one channel. Social media is one of those vital areas that every business works hard at, but it can be particularly irritating to try and have a presence on Pinterest, as well as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The best way to decide which social media channel to go down is very simple: you could look at which platform you’re being tagged in the most. If people seldom retweet you, but you are being tagged on Facebook or Instagram, then it’s far more beneficial to go down that route. On top of this, there are some social media tools to help you out, such as Feedly, which is an RSS feeder tool, but also if you haven’t tried them before, HootSuite or Buffer will help you schedule your posts for the future. regularity is the key for any social media campaign so by using these tools, you can get ahead of the game.

The Modern Marketing Methods That Work Well (But Everyone Uses)

Once you have successfully acquired the attention of your chosen market, it is at this point that you can progress to the next level. Once you have solid engagement with your target market, it’s time to implement more approaches to keep those audience members engaged and focused. An app is always one of those approaches that can sink or swim. A lot of trepidation stems from the overall quality of the app from the business side. If you don’t have the budget to design a well-crafted, user-friendly app, but is full of holes, you could easily end up losing customers because this product is not up to your usual standards. It can easily give the impression that your overall quality, and therefore, reputation as a brand is sinking fast. Instead, if you are of the opinion that an app will bring more people to you, it’s vital to ensure that it’s as usable as possible, but it communicates your business appropriately. It’s very much the same as your website, you wouldn’t let it go live until it is thoroughly imbued with your ethos and style. Making the most of app testing services and ensuring this product is perfect before it goes live is vital. Testing is essential, regardless of any product you have, even those products that are more related to your marketing. But when it comes to developing an app, it can do wonders for the business overall. While you might consider it to be one piece of the puzzle, apps nowadays are more the main draw than anything. This is it always the case, of course, but the goal of an app is to make life easier for your customers. Whether you are running an e-commerce business or travel agency, the app is the jewel in the crown. So, as everybody now uses apps to help them in their day-to-day lives, be sure that it’s ready to go and is as closely linked to your business as possible. In addition to this, a podcast is another approach that might benefit your business. The podcast market is in extremely rude health, but as a podcast is a very intimate art form, will it benefit your style of business? If you are an e-commerce business that trades in specific products, such as films or music, you can easily gear a podcast towards those art forms. However, when you are a general trader, selling a vast smorgasbord of items, it can be somewhat pointless to develop a podcast that links so well with your business. Going down this route is a wonderful way to provide an education to your listeners, but a podcast is seen as the main draw now. If you provide it as part of a comprehensive marketing campaign, it could be a great way to draw people into the products you sell. But the danger in putting so much legwork into a podcast that might not take off is a very real concern. But luckily, it’s easy to start a basic podcast, with minimal equipment. So before you progress down this route, if it’s useful to you, get some of the basics under your belt, and do a few trial podcasts, throw them out there, and see if they make any leverage. If not, you can throw it away and move on to the next approach.

Why It’s More Than Marketing You Need (And The Need Is More Than The Marketing)

You can spend a lot of time focused on the right marketing methods but miss the point entirely. Remember, it all goes back to the need you are instilling within your customer. And this is created by a few basic fundamentals. You need to know the difference between a benefit and a feature, as a feature sounds like a handy accessory, but is not vital. This is why car campaigns do so well because the safety features are described as a benefit, such as a roof that keeps your family safe if the car were to roll over. Other ways include specific language approaches but also displaying to your customers why you are unique. You can craft a glitzy advertising campaign with lots of big words and describe each feature of your products to the Nth degree, but you might still not have customers lining up to buy it. This is because they don’t have the need to buy it. It’s a very basic thing to communicate to you, but we can all get sidelined by fabulous marketing campaigns that look amazing. Looking amazing is really one small piece of the puzzle, and it’s far better for you to go back to the fundamental needs of your product and what makes them unique, and craft your marketing campaign around that.

Of course, marketing is such a difficult aspect to get right, and everybody has their own opinions on what is right and what is wrong, and as such, it can be very easy to get intimidated in the boardroom or become overly protective of your ideas. But as far as marketing is concerned, it’s nothing to do with what one person thinks, it’s far better for us to get an intricate understanding of our customers and look at what they want. You don’t need to go far to find some entrepreneur who thinks they know better than that customers, and they are more than likely going to be part of the statistic where 8 or 9 out of 10 startups fail within the first year. When you are a startup, you can’t help that focus on the needs of your customers, but the more confident you become as a commodity, the easier it is to get away from your customers. Lots of people throw money at a situation in the hope that it solves the problem, but this is never the case when it comes to marketing. You need to go back to a customer and look at their habits, their tastes, and where they are going to get their fix. And while you might think that competing with all the other businesses out there means you’ve got to get the edge in your marketing, it’s not about the bells and whistles, it’s more about going back to basics and focusing on your customers. Get that right, and then you can begin to implement the more showy aspects of the marketing campaign.