How To Eat That Growing Marketing Elephant

Marketing is changing so rapidly that it's almost becoming an impossible evolving enigma. So how do you keep up and make sure all of your bases are covered?

​Gone are the days when all that was needed was to print a pretty picture onto a page and show it to a mass audience to get them to come to you.

Here's how to stay on top of Marketing trends and not get overwhelmed. 

The growing list of Marketing Tactics and Strategy

Every business knows the important role the Marketing plays.

If your customers don't know who you are and you can't communicate your brand's relevance to them, then you're not going to get very far.

So, we devise our Marketing Strategy and put together a Marketing Plan to reach our audience effectively. So far, so good.

However, you have probably noticed how quickly new Marketing channels, new trends and even newer opportunities are showing up now, given the speed of technology today. It seems like every day, there's a new social media platform, or new SEO technique.

Here are just a few types of Marketing around at the moment:

• Automation 
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Voice Search
• Smart phone applications
• Augmented Reality (AR) 
• Conversion rate optimisation
• Big Data
• Live streaming
• Blogging
• Digital
• Interactive Content 
• Social media
• Copywriting
• Neuromarketing
• Retargeting
• Seach Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Content management
• Tracking pixels
• Post boosting
• Sponsored listings
• Pay Per Click
• Relationship
• Viral

​And the list goes on and on... and on.

So it's no wonder why Marketers these days are immersed and overwhelmed.

It's both an exciting time to be in the profession, but also a daunting one. Every Marketer should always strive to be on the cutting edge of our practice, however there are only so many hours in the day! 

​It's like you need a clone of yourself to be doing the day-to-day Marketing, while you sit and study every new technique invented that week, just to keep up!

Omnichannel Marketing

This explosion of so many different ways to connect with your customer is what has given rise to omnichannel marketing.

Omnichannel Marketing is the need for your brand to be across several different channels in a united and wholistic way in order to effectively be seen by your audience.

You can read more about this in my other blog: Omnichannel content marketing - why your brand has to be everywhere. 

It really is up to us, as Marketers, to keep ahead

Not everything that pops up is always relevant, effective or useful - but a lot of it is, and as Marketing professionals, we are solely responsible for keeping up to date with our craft.

It's not only that it's expected of us- we also expect it of ourselves too. 

I practise many forms of Marketing every day and employ different tactics all of the time, however I always get that one client emailing me, asking if I know what some new XYZ is and how can we use it in their new campaign. It's extremely embarrassing when you have to admit to both yourself and them that you have never heard of this XYZ they're talking about.

How to keep up with the evolution of Marketing

There are a few ways to keep up to date with these new forms of Marketing: 

1. Subscribe to journals
2. Read Marketing blogs
3. ​Attend Marketing trade shows, conferences and events
4. Listen to Business and Marketing podcasts
5. Watch Marketing tips videos
6. Join a networking group, like BNI
7. Become a member of associations like the Australian Marketing Institute
8. Take Marketing classes to brush up on new or weaker areas

These will make you aware of what's new and upcoming, and then you can take the time to research and perhaps even adopt them if they fit. But- granted- it's a mammoth task.

​So how do we deal with this as Marketers?

We're only human after all, and if your role is anything like mine, you're already stretched pretty thin keeping up with your own Marketing projects, let alone investing time every day trying to learn what new product Facebook has introduced to help better track your ad spend or what paper is being released on a new approach to neuromarketing.

​It's very easy to get overwhelmed.

Worse still,  Marketers tend to be results and project driven, which means we want to implement several different things which all sound amazing, and we want it done yesterday... and in doing so, we find ourselves in a stressed mess on the floor.

There's hope! It's one bite at a time

It really comes down to that good old cliche: how do you eat a (marketing) elephant? One bite at a time.

​It truly is the only way to keep on top of our profession and hold your sanity in check.

One of the best pieces of advice I give to colleagues and clients is: of a list of 30 new marketing tactics, pick two or three that are most relevant to your organisation, and get them right first, before looking at the next thing. 

If you do that, then you're already winning!

It means that you're already ahead of the game, and doing it well. It's better to focus on getting a few approaches up and running strongly and reaping solid results, than spreading your efforts poorly across too many projects at once and failing across the entire board.

For example, it would be overwhelming to adopt a massive new Marketing Automation Platform like Marketo into a new business while at the same time, implementing a new Marketing to Sales support system.

Sure, both would be valuable, and perhaps there will be some overlaps, however your resources and focus will be so divided that you'll end up with an under-cooked and ineffective version of both. It's best to assess which few tactics best align with your overall Marketing Strategy and utilise your assets into launching those specific programs well to produce tangible results.

No organisation's Marketing is ever perfect, but you will certainly be pushing it in the right direction by not becoming inundated, and instead, being selective and open to new approaches as they come available. 

What are your thoughts?

How do you keep up with the rapid pace of Marketing today?

​How Can Melotti Media Copywriting Help You?

To engage your customer and achieve ongoing business success today, you need quality copywriting and consistent content. However, we understand that this is easier said than done.

You’re time poor and spread thin, and writing isn’t your expertise. So, focus on what really matters, while we take care of all of your copywriting and content marketing needs!

For more information or to speak to a quality copywriter to get the results your business deserves, contact me now at chris@melottimedia.com.au.

I can sharpen your words to achieve your goals, today!

Christopher Melotti

Melotti Media Copywriting and Marketing Solutions
www.melottimedia.com.au
 
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