Where does marketing rest on your business priorities? For some companies, marketing is a top priority, something that one can never spend enough money or time on.
For others, however, marketing takes a back seat to other priorities, thereby putting the company at a disadvantage when it comes to competing with other businesses.
Can you find a happy medium where your marketing needs are being met, yet you are not breaking the budget when all is said and done?
Market with a Purpose
The goal when it comes to marketing should be to hit all your targets, find new opportunities to go after, and stay within your prescribed budget. In reality, however, that oftentimes becomes a challenge for many companies.
As the New Year arrives, here are some tips to keep in mind when it comes to your company’s marketing goals:
- Have a plan – First and foremost, what is your marketing plan? Trying to do things on the fly will almost always never work. Your marketing plan should be laid out months ahead of time, though you obviously will need to tweak things along the way. Assuming you have a marketing plan in place for 2015, do not be afraid to review and tweak it as needed;
- Know your customers – Companies like Direct TV, Target, Coca-Cola, Burger King and thousands of others take the time to do surveys and know their customers as much as possible. You should continually interact with your customers to see if you are meeting their needs, providing them with the products and services they desire, and looking for ways to improve what you give them;
- Mobility matters – As more and more companies have or are learning mobile marketing needs to be in your company’s plans. Face it; countless consumers live on their mobile devices these days and it will only continue to grow moving forward. The key to a successful mobile marketing plan is to know what your customers want without being a nuisance to them, i.e. coming across as a spammer. Offer your customers deals and rewards with your mobile marketing efforts;
- Socialize your efforts – Finally, make sure you use social media as much as possible in promoting your marketing efforts. From Facebook to Instagram, you should regularly use social media in order to reach out to current and new customers, answer questions and solve issues, and promote tweets and shares in order to build your company. The most important feature with correctly using your social media to market your business is doing it correctly and consistently.
As a business owner, marketing is a necessary piece of the puzzle if you want to build your company.
With a New Year ready to kick off, make sure your marketing efforts do not take a back seat.
About the Author: Dave Thomas writes for a variety of websites on topics such as small business and marketing.
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