Struggling With Marketing? The Simple Points You May Have Missed

Marketing is a fickle beast and serves as the “easy to learn, tough to master” titan of the industry. How exactly do you get people to click? What makes them follow you? Why don’t they buy your product?

To answer these questions, we’d need a lot of money, psychologists, biological scientists and, well, I don’t currently think we have them at our disposal. So instead, let’s talk generally. If you’re struggling with marketing, my money is on the solution being a simple adjustment to result in big gains. 

The Basics

I ain't here to patronize you. But I need to make sure you know the bog standard methods to marketing. The entry level stuff. 

1. Activity - Algorithms change all the time but the one thing that remains king is keeping a strict post schedule. Platforms usually reward activity on their own. They want quiet accounts to stay away from the limelight and they want the busy talkers to speak louder to embellish their platforms. 
2. Quality - It’s hard to determine where the line for quality starts and ends but if the content you post isn’t to a reasonable standard, it’ll get buried in exchange for better quality content elsewhere. All you have to do is be better than 60% of your competitors and you'll be fine.
3. Knowledge - You’ve got to know what your client is talking about. If it’s dental, you should know about teeth. If it’s cooking, you should know about food. Asking a car mechanic to write about thyroid issues probably won't work. Do your research and make sure you’re correct in what you say. You don't have to know everything. Just the basics.
4. Platform - Make sure you know the ins and outs of whatever platform you’re using. If it’s social media, know every tool available to you or find a quick and easy free course. It’s frustrating to find out that the thing that took you 15 steps can be performed in 2. 
5. Perspective - Know your client. Seriously, you should know your clients company better than the client does. Goals, wants, desires, favorite color, TV show, find out everything you can. If you’re representing the outward face of a company and you don’t know what you’re peddling, you don’t deserve the client. Simple. 

The Problem

Ok, so you know all the basics and you perform them flawlessly. Good job, skippa, you did it! You’re better than most marketing companies already! (I’m serious, check startups and mid range businesses in your local area, it ain't pretty). 

Now you’re getting results for your client but they aren’t as projected as you promised. It’s ok, whatever the reason is, you did your best and that’s fine, right? Not for the client who’s paying you it isn’t. Do you want to be known as the marketing company that gets adequate results? Or do you want to be known as a marketing company that gets the best results? 

Now I doubt you have the time to do a full deep dive into your clients target audience and discovering which customers wear odd socks or are lactose intolerant, so this ain't about the deep diving. This is about adjusting slightly. Small, less thought about things that garner increased results. Is it that easy? Yeah, probably. Don’t buy into these gurus with their secrets. Whilst they may have some knowledge to offer, it’s usually along the lines of having a bigger marketing budget. Yay, thank you gurus, who would've thought more money would've worked?!

1. Schedule > Activity = Activity is great, yes, but schedules are better. Why? If you have a following, you’re fighting for their time. They’re not just dedicated to your clients business, they have a limited amount of hard grabbing attention and they focus it everywhere and elsewhere. By knowing that you post content on Thursday at 3pm, they can consciously make time for it. This builds a better relationship with your clients customers as you are now accountable and present in their life. Hurrah!
2. Focus > Quality = Quality was a broad term to begin with. You could write the best generalist piece and hit every common interest, and it’d still get buried within the mass wasteland of content that gets put out. You need to find that one niche thing that your target audience likes, that one small detail, and market the hell out of it. That niche would rather read an article about the best kind of bag handles for soft hands then what the best bag to hold is. Please don’t use that, it’s just an example. 
3. Functionality > Knowledge = It’s great that you know everything about this certain thing. But if your clients' customers knew everything already, they wouldn’t need you to write about it, would they? What’s better than knowledge? How to apply it. Sure, this teeth whitening product sounds pretty good but why should I use this over the others? You’ve explained how it works but don’t they all work like that? What they don’t know is that this product is easier to use than the others. Tell them this! 
4. Funnels > Platform = Working on a platform alone is great but it really should be part of a bigger process. Funnels work towards solving a goal for your clients. If they want more sales, you can identify if the product is something that can be bought again and then use email marketing or social media advertising to target previous customers with a discount code. So this would be: Find Out Who Purchased -> Gather List of Emails From Website Checkout -> Cross Reference With Who Purchased -> Measure Time Since Last Purchase -> Email With Newsletter Containing Discount Code. The trick to this is finding out what the best platform for email marketing is rather than just learning whatever you think is the best option. Choose the platform to fit the needs of the goal.  
5. Specification -> Perspective = Obviously, your clients' customers don’t actually need to know what the companies favorite colors are. But what they should know is the vision of the company, their public goal. Translate what you find when building your perspective. Take out bits and pieces of it which can enhance the customers experience, whether it’s for respect purposes, sales or building a brand. There’s always something marketable within the original message. 

I could go on and on and on and on and really dig deep into the specifics of each but you don’t have time for that and neither do the clients I work for as I write this. But it all comes down to one particular thing. Personalize your client. No business is ever the same. If they were, we’d only have one business in each sector. 

It’s your goal as a marketer to make your client shine above the rest. This is only capped by your own experience and skills but most importantly, by the relationship with your client. The latter is more important than the former, believe me. Good luck on your marketing journey and if you have any questions, leave a comment! Get the discussion going!