I laughed out loud when I read this Dilbert cartoon.
It seems as though there is a general opinion that marketing is all about liquor and guessing – gosh, wouldn’t it be easy if that were the case? Those of you familiar with the art of marketing know all too well it is much more complicated than that. If you jump into a marketing campaign without setting clear objectives, an understanding of your goals, and testing scenarios, it would be like getting in your car and just driving without knowing where you were going. How could expect to end up where you wanted without a plan or driving instructions?
Developing a results oriented marketing program is the first step towards success. In order to create these types of programs you have to first understand your relevant differentiation in the market place. To do this, you need to fully understand your competition, how they market and their value proposition. Once you understand this, you can begin the process to ensure you are providing the value you stand behind to your customers and prospects through your messaging. You must deliver on your brand promise.
Testing is key to the success of any marketing campaign. Sure, you might make some assumptions based on your research, but that is where testing comes in. By creating A/B testing scenarios you can quickly understand which messaging resonates with your target market. This allows you to iterate and refine your messaging until you meet the objectives of your campaign.
The key to a good marketer is someone who is never satisfied with his or her current campaign. I’m not suggesting that you can’t hit it out of the park with a great campaign but you should never be satisfied and think, “I’m done”. You are never done with marketing – there is always a new message to test, a new image to create, and new content to write.
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Stacey J. Marshall, Co-Founder, Principal
Maven Marketing Solutions
stacey@mavenmarketingsolutions.com
