The amount of “digital” marketing stuff we have at our disposal can give you whiplash. Emerging technologies abound to help businesses network, plan security, organize your digital workspace, use automaton, and store data. But in the end, these are just additional tools to help you do a better job with what you grew up with – the basic principles of marketing. Sort through your digital choices. Use what you need. But never take your eye off the basics.
Bottom line – we are still around to help clients focus on their prime prospects, identify the prime prospect’s problem, connect your product or service to the problem, and solve it in a clearly communicated, memorable way. Those four basic steps still work.
Example – I help clients tell their stories to the media by writing and sending releases. My target audience? Before the reader. It is the reporter; The reporter must recognize the news value of the story you sent them. It doesn’t matter if the release is picked up “as is” or becomes a reference for them to write their own story. Either way, if your client’s name gets the coverage, you have done your job, sometimes your release triggers a request for an interview, and that’s good too.
As the quote says, always be open to learning new things. Find something new to read. Learn from respected experts. I have benefited from following the works of people like Philip Kotler, Seth Godin, Jeffrey Gitomer, the late Peter Drucker and David Ogilvy. And even “non-marketing” thinkers like Victor Frank.
View previous monthly morsels on our Free Marketing Advice page.
