All Posts Tagged With: "audience"

These days, an effective marketing plan can be the difference between a business surviving the economic crisis and going under. Properly developed and executed, a marketing plan can actually help you thrive in tough times, and be ready to capitalize when the inevitable recovery happens.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you put together your marketing plan:
Your message gets lost in the crowd. If you look and sound just like everyone else, no one is going to notice you. Be distinctive; stand out from the competition.

Your marketing targets an audience that is too broad. Remember, you can’t be everything to everybody. Be something to somebody.

You ad budget gets blown in a one-shot marketing gamble. It would be nice to blow $3 million on a 30-second Super Bowl ad, but if you don’t do anything the rest of the year, no one will remember.

Your marketing isn’t consistent. Some businesses panic when the phone don’t start ringing off the hook the minute an advertisement hits the street. Marketing is cumulative; it takes time to build some momentum.

Your marketing fails to tie different media together. There’s no excuse for not integrating print, with electronic, with social media, with video, with special events, with networking.

You ignore your target audience. Maybe the worst sin of all. You have to know your customer.

You try to do things on your own. If you’re not good at something, hire a pro. Plus, it allows you to spend more time running your business.
You change your image with each ad. Stick with a color scheme and font. People need to recognize you.

You fail to make a clear call to action. Tell you customer what do do: call, go one line, stop by. Make it clear and unmistakeable.
You fail to keep a marketing calendar. It helps to plan your campaigns in advance.

Popularity: 93% [?]

In just the last hour, I’ve read a half dozen blog posts in which the authors opine that copywriters have “a fraction of a second,” “a single moment, “the blink of an eye,” “precious little time,” “no more than a few seconds,” and “only an instant” to catch someone’s attention. I’ve been told that HR people look at resumes for only five seconds, that visitors will leave my website if they are not immediately intrigued, and that people can be turned off by the typeface I use on my blog.

That really puts a lot of a pressure on those of us who make a living communicating. Imagine, having so little time to get people to pay attention. It’s a wonder anything ever gets done.

But is all that really true? Are people so busy they make important decisions that quickly? Will someone turn down an opportunity to get useful advice from an expert because they don’t like the color of his masthead? Will an editor turn down a good story because the headline wasn’t catchy enough?

I don’t think so. At least it’s not that way with me. If it’s something important, I take my time to consider it carefully.

Now, I’m not about to advocate rambling sales letters, off-the-wall color schemes or hard-to-read type.

But I think we can dwell too long on being clever or funny or different and forget that our main goal is to share useful information. Most people do take time to evaluate things of substance that are put in front of them. They are not manic mouse clickers or serial page-turners. Give them more credit than that.

Popularity: 43% [?]