From my thirty plus years in business I have seen a good amount of change in the business world. Nowhere more prevalent than in the area of marketing. Marketing has always been a moving target with such a fickle audience together with the ever-changing lives of our intended target population. This has only accelerated by the explosion of technology and the proliferation of internet, social media and mobile devices. No one can say these 3 things have not changed the world and almost every aspect of our daily lives in the past 20 years. Most would venture to say as much or more than anything in history other than maybe the invention of printing itself some 600 years ago.
I think we would all agree that what worked in marketing 10, 5 or even last year may no longer work as it once did. Therefore, one must always keep your eyes open to changing marketing methods.
Below is what I believe to be 5 things you should at least try or test in 2022. This isn’t to say toss aside what is working but to add testing to your marketing mix with one or more of the items below.
- Digital This kind of goes without saying but it deserves mention here in several facets. Whereas you may be doing this yourself to promote your business but are you offering this as a service to your clients? If not, why? In terms of competitiveness and remaining relevant it’s a no brainer and should be included with any print you are doing for your clients. The revenue is great and very little infrastructure/investment is needed…only expertise and people which are abundant.
- Content This really is the buzz-word in marketing lately and is beyond experimental, it works. Create non-selling content that your target audience will consume, use or find interesting that doesn’t sell or push anything but the value of the data you provide. Every business has an expert on something at this point. Share that expertise content regularly and consistently where your prospects visit without asking for a sale. This slow process will build trust and should definitely should be added to the marketing arsenal.
- Hyper-Targeted This is something that can take shape in many forms but the simplest way to put this is a laser focused campaign to the most likely or ideal prospects or targets. I hope you all describe your perfect customer to a tee. If not it’s time to create that model. Then use data companies, programmatic digital ads, etc., to deliver that message over and over again. Not more wide net casting but spend the time and money to identify YOUR GUY and go get him EVERYWHERE. There are sophisticated agencies that can help you with this if you can’t.
- CTT/OTT. This is another hot one coming on Once you have that hyper targeted list of EXACTLY who you want to be your customer and fits your profile you can find those people in their homes or on their mobile devices while they spend hours and hours streaming their favorite programs or watching CNN/ESPN or the like on their phone. Not entire neighbors or even cities but THE guy you want to target! Not as expensive as you think. Put it on your list.
- Direct-Mail. Yes, this is on the In case you haven’t heard its coming back! It works and when combined with some of the above it works AMAZINGLY WELL. You guys are printers and get this stuff for COST, why aren’t you using it yourself to promote your business? It’s much easier to sell something you use yourself and can tout the results to clients and prospects. Use what you sell if you are not already!
In case you haven’t noticed, the world has changed more in the past 2 years than I’ve noticed in the previous 30! Take what works and strengthen it, don’t discard
Remove and drop what is no longer working and try something new. Take a risk, be bold, you will learn something for sure and perhaps even surprise yourself with the results! Here’s to an amazing 2022!
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