When it Comes to Hurricanes and Marketing, Let’s Get Back to Basics
The wrath of Hurricane Helene is still evident across North Carolina and will be for years to come. My family and friends were incredibly fortunate. Sadly, there are many who will be without essentials like water for months, and many who must start over. And as the devastation was unfolding, technology was both a blessing and a curse. While it allowed our loved ones to see what was happening, the horrific reports instilled terror rather than relief because we lacked the basics of being able to communicate that we were safe.
How solid is your foundation?
Despite AI and a new shiny marketing tool launching every nanosecond, the core fundamentals of marketing haven’t changed. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype and perceived expectations of what we think we ‘should’ be doing—but if you’re missing some of the key basics—all the fancy new widgets in the world won’t help.
Here are what I consider to be the basics or foundation of an effective marketing strategy and plan.
Know who you serve
If you’re trying to market to everyone, you’re essentially marketing to no one. There’s more than enough to go around and being clear on who your ideal clients are is a classic example where less is more. The better you know and can define your specific personas—from pain points, challenges and responsibilities to goals, key questions and objections—the more you can pinpoint the problems you help solve and communicate why your solution is better than the alternatives in a way that resonates with them. The more specific you can get, the better.
Build on a strong value proposition and brand story
Do you know why your best customers buy from you? What they truly value above other options? In my experience, it’s not uncommon for companies to lose sight of their ‘why’ and, in the process, lose touch with the passion behind why they came to exist in the first place. And behind both your value proposition and your brand story are your people. If you can rekindle the excitement and reasons behind your brand and communicate them in a way that speaks to your target audience’s pain, aspirations and reality—you’ve got a competitive advantage that no one else can copy.
Establish clear goals and priorities
Business and marketing goals are the starting point for effective marketing and content strategies. They set the direction and help define the priorities that inform the plans, tactics and campaigns that follow. Without this guidance, it becomes a strategy of throwing stuff against the wall to see what (if anything) sticks. It also makes it near impossible for team members to manage their time. Sure, there will always be last-minute projects, but these should be the exception—not the rule. Re-establishing or revising pillar strategies and priorities once a quarter can help minimize these knee-jerk emergencies. And how do you measure performance if you don’t know what you’re aiming for? In these volatile times, you need all hands on deck and working toward the same finish line. Not playing a guessing game.
Keep your customer at the heart of your content and campaigns
If your marketing messages are full of product features and benefits, and light on how you can help your target customers solve their problems and accomplish their goals, it’s time for a re-write. And this goes beyond your marketing campaigns to empowering your direct and partner sales teams with high-impact questions, scenarios and proof points that enable meaningful conversations with prospects. Everything you do should make it clear to your prospects why they should read, listen, trust, engage and connect with you—because you know what they care about and how to help them.
Stay efficient and focused with effective project management
I’ve worked on teams that had no structure or system for prioritizing projects and meeting deadlines. It was a nightmare. Given that most marketing teams today are stretched to their limits and most team members are wearing multiple hats, efficiency is essential to keeping things on track (and team members keeping their sanity!). Having defined priorities, tasks, processes and timelines—all orchestrated by a project management platform that everyone on the team uses—allows you to optimize resources, track progress (or not), identify when you’re at risk of missing a deadline, and helps prevent duplication of efforts and items falling between the cracks. This is more critical than ever with so many teams working remotely.