I'll be brutally honest: I'm a child of the digital age, and my marketing job was digital from the get-go.
I don't know what it's like to advertise in magazines, put up billboards, or send out pamphlets.
But I know how to cut your CPA in half at Google Ads, develop a website in Webflow, and oversee a handful of social media channels simultaneously.
Does it make me a good marketer? I hope so.
Is it enough in the present competitive landscape? Oops.
My personal 2 cents:
To be competitive in marketing, you must focus solely on your clients.
And nothing speaks so dearly to your clients as a truly personal approach.
Here, I don't mean personalization at scale (I'm going to be sick if I hear it even once more), nor replaceable fields (Hi Name, - how many emails like that did you get today?), nor the scrambles of information you have in your CRM on this particular person.
You must use your empathy and put yourself in your client's shoes.
What does bring her joy?
What inspires her?
What can get her to smile?
And please, don't run to your MacBook and create one more fancy marketing persona. Enough!
Stop generalizing. Start thinking - unique.
But...
There's always a but.
We, as marketers and business owners, need things to scale. And need it badly.
That's where I come in and boldly give you my unasked-for advice:
Take traditional marketing (think - physical postcards) and apply the digital approach to it (think - automated signing and sending out those cards to your customers, based on segmentation in your CRM).
It can get you 3 things at the same time:
- a fresh and innovative approach to marketing to your customers
- you send the message - we're here, we think of you, and we do care
- it scales!
And don't just close this article and think - it's too hard, it's too much hassle or it's too expensive.
Use your imagination.
What would your customers love to get, or to see, or to hear?
Let's take the auto business.
The client buys a new car? Send them a sound of their new engine roar (not that hard, costs next to nothing - see?).
What about elite perfumes?
Send out the framed dried flowers that compose the scent of these perfumes.
The list goes on and on.
You'll get your customer's love, you'll get higher retention, word of mouth, and, hopefully, virality and great PR.
Marketing, at the end of it all, is all about innovation, risk, and care. Care of your customers.
Think hard today, what can you give to them of the physical world?
We all do miss it, sitting in front of the screens. Take advantage of that!
If you'll use this approach in your marketing, please share it by tagging us on social media, we do love a success story!