Are you the type of person who would construct a home by hiring all contractors yourself instead of a General Contractor? If so, then you are a rare individual. Most people feel more comfortable finding a good GC they can rely on and can help find the best sub-contractors with unique skills and oversee the entire project, ensuring that all laborers achieve the overall objective of constructing a quality home. This is just the role an experienced Marketing Strategist can play in your quest for a great website.
He is just that type of General Contractor or “General Marketer” who works with small and medium-sized businesses to develop, review, revise and implement complete marketing strategies.
Many marketing tools are available for business owners to choose from to deliver a brand message, especially now that social networking tools are so prevalent and efficient. In many cases, implementation is more a case of jumping in rather than having a plan. We help businesses to determine that plan before embarking on a web design campaign to review where things are and make recommendations for improvement.
Having a marketing strategist on board also helps when it comes to identifying the best resources for implementing a plan. We have been through the web design process before and have vetted specialists with the skill set to tackle specific aspects of the plan that will save business owners considerable time and money. The strategist can help find partners to build a website, create a graphics standard, construct compelling content, and craft an appropriate media plan.
When trying to focus a business owner on developing a comprehensive marketing plan, We like to use the fundamental marketing axiom of Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Each of these elements is something that can be controlled and established when launching a brand message. Consumers today have much access to information, and a solid, disciplined marketing plan will communicate a brand in the target consumer’s mind.
We will also ensure that the whole story is composed based on the information obtained by using Google Analytics on a website. Traffic sources, keywords, users, and goals are just some of the critical variables that appear in these comprehensive reports. Making sense of this data and taking action based on the results is a strong foundation of any marketing plan.
Getting involved with someone outside of a company to analyze a marketing strategy can be very difficult for many business owners, especially owners who are highly connected personally to a business. Allowing good ideas to come from numerous sources in this day and age is the hallmark of an open and transparent organization. Consider the extraordinary resource that Starbucks has implemented by allowing customers to submit their ideas through the website. It is an extraordinary resource, ensuring that the company is responsive directly to its base.
Consider a Social Media Coach for Your Business
Social Media Marketing is here. Is your business ready for it? Think about the following:
- Are you and your company fully represented on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube?
- If you aren’t, why not? What is keeping you back?
- If you are, are you maximizing each post to benefit and attract the type of people you want to work with?
- Do you know what Social Media is?
- Are you following anyone who can help you on any of these platforms?
- Do you know and follow the experts in your field and/or competitors currently using these tools?
A lot to think about, right?
- Is this person maximizing their use of the tools they want you to use?
- Can they give you some statistics and metrics which back up their advice?
- Are they personalizing the strategy to work for your company or just using cookie-cutter ideas?
- Does this person study Social Media every day and know more than you do?
- Would you feel comfortable taking a class from this person? Are they easy to relate to and make the topics easy to understand?
I think the role of Social Media Coaches is becoming increasingly important in business just as Life and Business Coaches have become mainstream. Look for this role to be an even more integral part of the marketing arm in business, just as it has already been for Starbucks, Dell, and Whole Foods, who have in-house Social Media experts at the helm.
