Wendy Fenney at Clear Goal Marketing advises 6 tips to boost marketing strategy in 2024
2023 has seen a huge growth in the digital marketing arena with the trend of using big marketing data analytics, but what does it all mean and how relevant is it to my business?
Marketing tools such as Virtual Intelligence (VI) reality tools and apps, voice search, personalisation, user-generated content, AI, live-streaming/video content and influencer brand strategy. A lot of this is geared towards marketing automation and following your customers’ buying journey through the use of data.
2024 is set to be an interesting and challenging year for marketing, considering the new wave of technology and consumer behaviours, and thinking what is right for my business and what will deliver the best return (ROI).
1) Trend Spotting
Marketing is a key revenue driver for business and revenue growth should be a measure of marketing success. Marketing should strengthen your bottom-line by building awareness, bringing new customers, and keeping your existing customers happy. Marketing can be complex, so choosing the right strategies are critical: balancing traditional and digital marketing. Craft your marketing plan to drive the sales pipeline and organise marketing efforts: only fools have no strategy.
2) Balancing Act
Doing what is right is the key! Consider the fact that the door and window industry is still fairly traditional. Divide your marketing budget up into mini-budgets for the strategies you know that deliver results. This could be updating brochures, showroom or point of sale materials / packaging or attending a tradeshow, regular e-shot campaigns or local/national advertising. Part of the marketing budget could be ‘experimental’ to try new strategies but always measure results and (see 3).
3) Thinking it Through
Don’t dive into the latest craze for example deciding to run social media and pay per click (PPC) ads: Think it through. Consider the whole customer journey and get ‘campaign ready’: ensuring your marketing campaign is fit for purpose. Getting a click on your online advert is easy and available to the highest bidder, but how will you turn that visitor into a customer? Is your website content convincing enough? A lot of PPC efforts are wasted and are merely just building awareness then lost: a long shot. A PPC strategy that works is bolstered by campaign integration and follow-up, through use of marketing automation and data capture.
4) Integrity
How your treat customers, suppliers and employees all matters. Always try to be fair and reasonable as anything less can impact your reputation and make marketing counterproductive. Aim to keep word-of-mouth positive by considering how you can serve all of your stakeholders better. News of bad experiences unfortunately spread rapidly, so counteract these with a commitment to excellent customer service, operating with integrity, and resolving any problems quickly. Supporting charitable causes and fundraising initiatives too; it’s all positive PR.
5) Customer Experience
Ensure every potential customer touchpoint oozes professionalism, inspires, reassures and delights. From how the phones are answered, the quality of product literature sent out, to what is seen on your social media channels and website, and the final product and pre/during/after service received – the message is always consistent and reflects your brand values.
6) Word-of-Mouth
Historically, one of the best marketing strategies is word-of-mouth advertising. People are more likely to try a product or service if someone they know and trust recommends it. Show industry excellence by developing an authentic, industry-expert news narrative, and an influx of case studies and testimonials. Talk about new products, innovations, new starters, initiatives and achievements. Collect testimonials from customers and encourage them to leave Google reviews to boost your local SEO rank and provide reassurance to future new customers. Take photographs of projects – before and after shots work very well – and video clips. Build case studies out of your best projects and submit them to magazines, publish them on your blog and social channels; this will demonstrate competence and boost credibility, attracting more similar projects.
Clear Goal Marketing offers one-to-one professional marketing support to businesses within the fenestration, door hardware and locksmith sectors. Assisting with everything from marketing strategy and planning, to marketing management and campaign delivery. All budgets are stretched and focused on achieving maximum impact and ROI.
