Marketing Mindset for 2019 – 5 Critical Factors Explained

Gone are the days where our marketing just needed to attract attention, we now need to hold their attention too. Our data collection and analysis are not just fancy ‘nice to have tools’ but a necessity to stay in the game. I have a few marketing resources in this article to help you reframe your perspective and transform your marketing into the new age. 

Marketing is not everyone’s cup of tea however the fear of marketing you should swallow, digest and get rid-off…. Flush it down so it never surfaces. In this new era of business, that fear is not going to do you any good.

Marketing in the past was the role of a person /department, now it’s every single person who works or worked due to the social media age we live in, we need to look out for what they say, where they say it, what platform they say it on and how we need to address it.

Marketing role doesn’t stop at just your employees, it is even the role of your clients, suppliers, people you know etc. Consumers bring out their phones to share any ‘negative’ experience on facebook, google and have a whinge pages whilst a positive experience is a secret that no one ever hears.

We live in an age where our marketing is not just about creativity but a defence, offence, pro-active and reactive nature. 

There were days when you could speak to your TV, Radio and newspaper sales rep and tell them where, when, how your ad should appear next week, yet no control over our ‘actual & measurable’ reach and who sees it, when exactly they see it and where exactly they see it. 

Now, we live in the age where we ‘have the ability’ to pinpoint our organic and ‘paid’ ads and still are at the mercy of google and facebook algorithms. They have taken over the control of where, when, how and how many times ‘you’ show up even if they have taken your darn money. 

The key word here is control. Since we can’t control much of the above, here are 5 things you can change to reframe your perspective and have more control over your own marketing initiatives for 2019.

Attracting attention to Holding attention

Your marketing needs to focus on holding your prospect’s attention. Give them more content, attention, answers for what caught their attention to start with. 

If it was your Instagram post, draw out their curiosity to visit your profile rather than just double tap the picture. Once they get there, the feed should have a theme, a sense of aesthetic appeal.

If it was an offer to a product/service, then give them clarity of it, yet draw out their curiosity to request info or buy or even take the next step. 

If it is a content piece like an article for example, ensure you keep them reading and stay on the articles with links to other articles on your website. If you meet them at a networking event, you need to get them to become curious of how you can help them and what synergies you both have. If networking is not working for you, you need to read this article I wrote about how to network better just before Christmas. (you see what I just did?)

Social Proof

People have always followed what others are doing. Now though they want to see the hype and then follow it. It’s so easy to build the hype on social media but not everyone is doing it. Some clever marketing, ambassadors and a phone is all it takes. It needs to be real and raw though. Testimonials don’t work very well these days unless they follow a testimonial framework. That’s my next article so, stay tuned. Message me if you need it now. 

Seeing is not believing, experiencing is believing

I use the word ‘experiencing’ very loosely. People need to experience something to believe it. Whether it is your service in person or online, you replying to their facebook message instantly (chat bots help here although some careful thought process goes in to this), a follow through email after your appointment, a firm handshake, a little thank you gift or message. Even visiting your website needs to be an experience. Let them feel the reason they visited your website has been accomplished. Make it mobile friendly, let them easily find what they came to find, let them contact you easily. But ensure you track who they are so you can market to them better. I have explained this point better further down this article about ‘Big Brother’.

Customise for each customer – one size doesn’t fit all

Websites were an expensive exercise and I guess one may argue the importance of even having a website these days. Well, I believe it is important for various reasons however, let’s look at the point I’m trying to make here. 

Firstly, there’s a good chance you have more than one product or service and different target markets. If your marketing strategy calls for various ‘call to actions’, in a world of distraction, you may want to consider landing pages rather than different pages on your main website. Each landing page needs to be directed / targeted / set up for one type of customer and focused on one type of ‘call to action’. No distractions. This is the point I made earlier. Get them to take action and give them a positive experience. Set up auto responders to acknowledge them.

Big Brother is watching

Google knows exactly what you do, where you are, what you clicked on and what you quickly scrolled past. So, lets tap into that data and analyse it.

It’s not just a nice to have tool anymore. It’s a necessity.

Use google analytics, facebook pixels, set up your ads to target those customers. Set up re-marketing not just because they are a hot lead but because you also want them to have a positive experience by you contacting them. Some may not know about re-marketing and they will go ‘oh wow, what a coincidence, I was just on your website yesterday’. Ahhh the joys of technology and new age marketing. haha

In conclusion, as a marketer, it is a tricky, challenging and also most fascinating time to be in business. Yes, I said fascinating.  If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. So, embrace marketing in 2019. It’s the new age marketing mindset! 

I wrote this article as raw as possible so please remember what I requested earlier in the article.. Awaiting your like, comment and feedback.