Five Quick Marketing Tips for Spring

Whether you own your own business, advertise for others, or just want to work on the way you present yourself, it is important to be well rounded in all aspects of representing your business. Well roundedness means having a focus on marketing, advertising, and design. Over the next few weeks, we’ll share a couple of tips on each of these subjects to polish off your skills. This week: marketing.

Marketing

1. Know your audience.
   How you talk depends on who you’re talking to. You don’t use the same language in a professional setting as you do when you’re watching the big game with your friends. This is true in marketing as well. Are you marketing to your best friend or to your great grandmother? Get to know your audience so you can find  the best voice and tone to use when talking to them.

2. Think outside of the box.
   The most effective marketing strategies are ideas that no one has ever seen before. Exercise your creative muscles and do something different than all your competitors have done before. What’s the point in working so hard if you’re not going to stand out?

3. Know your angles.
   Just like when you’re taking pictures, your business has a “good side”. We’re not saying you or your business has a “bad side”, but maybe it’s got a “best side”. Think and find out what that best-side looks like, and always put that best face forward with your customers.

4. Try to say only one thing.
   You might be the fastest, nicest, most high-quality, cheapest, pet-friendly business in town, but your customer won’t remember all that from your billboard. That’s information overload for the two seconds they might glance at your marketing. Think about your competitors, and use your best angle to figure out what’s the single most important thing to say about your business.

5. Set Goals.
   The best way to know if your marketing is successful is by measuring it. Create goals using the SMART Goal model. Goals should be Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. Following these requirements, you’ll be able to set goals that you can reflect on and evaluate the performance. This will help you know what you’re doing right, and what aspects might need a little TLC.