So let’s set the table. Before I attempt to make a case for grinding out emails, blogs, and social media posts, let’s consider a couple of key data points. There are over 2 billion social media users in the world today. Approximately two-thirds of all Americans say they get at least some portion of their news from social media feeds like Facebook and Twitter. (Pew Research Center report from September 2017) So here’s the point. There are A LOT of people looking at social media every day.
So the big question is how do we use email, blogs, and social media to get in front of all of these people with marketing messages that will attract them to our brand and ultimately lead to sales results?
Brand awareness is a daunting challenge because you are up against large, established brands with big marketing budgets who can crank out tons of content. We don’t want your content to get lost in the crowd.
Here’s the good news. There is a strategy small businesses can use to compete. And a lot of your competitors are not aware of these practices. Just executing a campaign using this methodology is going to put you ahead of the pack. So what’s the secret formula?
Here’s the equation: high-value content + targeted buyer personas + consistency over time = branding success. Regardless of your company size, you can gain audience mind-share using this formula. The secret ingredient is consistency over time. Discipline, execution, consistency are things that a lot of people lack. If you execute consistently over time and have a little patience, you will be doing something a huge percentage of our society struggles to accomplish. Our culture expects instant results. We want immediate gratification. Patience and consistency over time are countercultural. Just doing these two things makes you different. Being different is good in the marketing world.
The secret to marketing is realizing that it is not just a business process or a strategy. Marketing is about people. We are connecting with many different characters and personalities. It’s about relationship building. This means doing all the things you would do in any other kind of relationship. Building trust, establishing credibility, and focusing on something other than yourself is a recipe for a good relationship.
Jim Anthony | So-Mark Founder