The Truth About Marketing: Routes to Market

Welcome back to my blog series, The Truth About Marketing. It’s all about the good, the bad and the ugly as well as myth-busting and sharing some top marketing tips along the way.

This blog is about the ‘doing’: how do you get your product or service out there and what do you need to consider when planning your routes to market? Or otherwise known as marketing channels. There are many different ways to market your business, but you could be forgiven for thinking it’s all about social media. The online channels do dominate, but we need to remember the basics of marketing and make sure we plan and strategise before doing anything else. Let’s take a step back though, and look at the things that need to be considered when choosing your preferred route. All have pros and cons and which you choose will depend upon your ideal client

Costs

Social media marketing is, on the face of it, free. Although you do have to take into account your time. You might find that to do it properly, you need to outsource to a specialist to get the reach you need. Again, it’s about being strategic not just thinking that if you post, work will come flooding in. Print isn’t used as much nowadays but it can pay off to have some very targeted materials – or even merchandise – produced to send to some specific leads. As it isn’t widely used, the impact can be much greater if someone receives something through the post from you.

Complexity

Depending on your message, some online channels just won’t cut it. That is why you need to think about the options within each of the channels. Video can be great for explaining something more complicated or demonstrating a benefit that isn’t tangible. Don’t forget to use imagery and colour to make your posts stand out or get your point across instantly on a channel such as Instagram.

Again, if you have specific clients in mind for certain services, or you want to upsell to existing clients, it might be worth considering some targeted emails using Mailchimp or a similar software. These can be designed to catch attention too. GDPR needs to be taken into account here.

Measurement

I know I might begin to sound like a broken record, but I can’t overstate how important measuring your marketing is. If you don’t know how well a channel or post is performing for you, how will you know whether it was worthwhile? Check your traffic and analytics with online channels. Offline measurement is harder but can be done with the use of coded offers etc. Measuring your marketing removes the need for assumptions and allows you to evolve what you are doing based on the reaction of the audience. It also allows you to make informed decisions.

Plan and Review

Finally, don’t be afraid to change things from time to time. What’s right for you in your current situation might not always be, and not just during a pandemic.

What are your priorities? Are you selling something essential or luxury? Where is your audience at the moment?

At Pinpoint, we work with clients to review their marketing strategy and plan as well as helping them writing one in the first place. Now is a good time to review your activity and tweak it based on what you find. Get in touch if you would like some advice and marketing support.