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February 26, 2021 4 min read
The opinions expressed by the entrepreneur’s contributors are their own.
Over the past year, companies have repeatedly been forced to turn in response to market dynamics and those that haven’t been hit hardest. My company’s entire business revolves around digital marketing, and even we couldn’t have predicted how important it would be in 2021. But it’s clearly here to stay and must continue to be a top priority for companies looking to compete – regardless of the industry.
But where do I start? Digital marketing is a giant umbrella and can represent so many different things to different people. Where should you be prioritizing your dollars in the coming months? This is where you start with smart spending.
Get your house in order
You can spend all your money on the hottest and newest tactics, but it doesn’t mean anything if your foundation isn’t solid. What does that mean in marketing? Take a look at your teams and processes. Successful marketing is about both the actions you take and the people who take the actions. Having the right talent for steering your ship is essential.
This means both internal and external. Your in-house marketing team needs to be up to the task, as must any agencies, vendors, and technology you work with. This may mean that you have to allocate the budget for more or more specialized settings. But without them, you’re building a house of cards. Make no mistake: this can be a huge challenge, but spending money on the right talent now is crucial to reap the benefits of success later.
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Be automated
Once you have your team and processes in place, make sure the time is being used efficiently by relying on as much marketing automation as possible.
Automation is a key component of assembly line productivity, and this idea is as beneficial in marketing as it is in manufacturing. Marketing automation can support a number of marketing functions, particularly outbound prospecting and brand awareness. As a result, your team can spend less time on manual processes that can slow them down, and more time on the strategic and thoughtful development of your company. It saves time, it saves money, and it gives you a more complete picture of what works and what doesn’t. It also helps your sales team by boosting lead generation to the routing process.
Get the content right
If there was a 2010s marketing buzzword it was “content”. Content marketing became something everyone was looking for, and it took many forms: corporate blogs, social media feeds, rich image / video content, and authored articles et al. And as we may be in the next decade, content marketing is becoming increasingly important.
The way consumers and your customers interact with brands has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. Things like video content are no longer nice, they are a must. Your brand’s story must be told through a variety of rich digital content if you are to succeed. This often means a significant investment in this area. Develop a wide range of content in various forms (written, audio, video) that will best represent your business in a way that your customers will want to use. How do you know what your customers want to consume? This brings us to our final point …
Get personal
Personalization is an infinite thing that needs improvement. Since it’s all about building a better relationship with your customers online, there can never be too much. The more personal the experience you have for each of your customers, the more likely they are to have a great experience and stay with you.
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If you want to get personal with your customers, you need to know your customers. To know your customers, you first need to have a comprehensive set of data telling you everything you need to know about them. Do you have a solid CRM solution that you can use to paint the big picture? Do you have the right data to make informed decisions about personalization? Take the time and resources to determine your ideal customer profile. Survey data, market research data, sales data; All of these data points can help paint a complete, precise picture of your customer that you need to truly personalize their experience.