Mar·ket·er
/ˈmärkədər/ n. a person that advertises or promotes something.
Marketing 101
What does it take to be a marketer? Do you rely on gimmicks, are you flashy and showy, or are you slow and steady driven by data and the axiom test, tweak, repeat? Marketing is an ever changing industry, part of this is driven by consumer tastes and part of software algorithms that while troublesome at times are attempting to make a fair playing field. In this wild west of marketing online it seems that the only constant rule is there are no rules. And that is just not the case. There are best practices any scrupulous and honest marketer will adhere by. The best marketers are the ones more worried about their clients bottom line than their own. I have found if you worry about theirs yours will take care of itself.
Marketing Gimmicks
The talk of social influencers, viral videos, 5 easy steps to beat the facebook bots, etc. are all gimmicks. Now hear me correctly gimmicks have a place in any marketing campaign, you have to stand out from the pack some how. But gimmicks will only get you so far. They should not be the foundation of your marketing strategy. The foundation of any good marketing strategy is a defined customer journey and analytic data, and lots of it!
Digital Marketing
I honestly cannot believe I still have to tell clients in 2021, that if your business is not online you are already a dead business walking. Your marketing strategy must be geared towards digital marketing. The average US adult spends 53 minutes online on a desktop computer and a whopping 243 minutes online on a mobile device! If your business is not marketing heavily on digital platforms frequented by your target audience then your business is dead. Digital is where marketing is, it is time to get on board.
Video and Podcast Marketing
In order to get any traction marketing online, you must use video and or podcasting in some format. Both of these asset types have taken over the online marketing space, just in the same way TV commercials overtook print ads. There are multiple ways you can use video and podcasts effectively in your marketing. Not only do video or podcasts catch the attention of your audience, but they also play better with the current algorithms on Facebook, Instagram, and Google. Videos and podcasts will be promoted and rank higher than other forms of marketing, especially video. Not to mention the fact that YouTube is the second most visited site in the US. So why would you not use video and podcasts to reach these potential customers?
Customer Journey
The first thing any marketer worth their salt should do is map out the likeliest customer journey for their client. What is a customer journey? It is a tool used by marketers to map out how potential clients would interact with a brand, product, or service. It is formulated by informed, researched, educated guesses and then refined by analytics over time. It is usually broken down into a few stages, the most important being attention/seeking information, interaction/trust building, and closing the sale.
Data Analytics
The best marketing plans use data analytics to constantly improve their performance and ROI. With FB Pixels, AdWords, Google Analytics, and other tools it is possible to gather data on the whole customer journey and use that data to tweak your messaging and your assumptions about the path most of your customers take to their purchase decision. Data can help you narrow down to what platforms and what messaging performs best for your business at the highest ROI. You can then tailor your plan and spend your money where it has the most impact. BUT if you do not have data set up, or know how to read it correctly, you can loose even more money.
Selected Works
Here are some work samples from various campaigns and clients I have worked with over the years along with samples of conceptual work.
