Marketing for Minimalists

Marketing can be pretty complicated, which is why I decided to write a blog about how to make your marketing efforts super simple. The thing is, marketing doesn’t have to be complicated; it just has to be effective. And, if anything, trying anything too extensive will likely result in failure. In fact, there are 2 major problems with trying to do everything when it comes to marketing.

#1 WHAT’S WORKING?

The first problem is that when you do everything it becomes a lot more difficult to track what’s working and what’s not. Did the customer buy because of a blog post they read? A video they saw? A social media update? An ad they clicked on? The more pieces you ad to the puzzle the harder it is to sort out the winners from the losers and really drill down to figure out what your greatest revenue producing activities are. 

#2 SPREAD TOO THIN

It doesn’t matter whether your budget is £1000 or £1000000, the problem with trying to do everything is that you are spreading yourself too thin. The reality is, is that some of your marketing efforts will provide better returns than others and when you do eventually stumble across your business’ marketing goldmine, you really want to be able to mine it for all its worth. This, however, becomes a lot harder to do if your resources are being allocated to 15+ campaigns and projects

TAKING THINGS BACK TO BASICS

As this is the minimalist guide to marketing, it only makes sense to keep this blog post short and sweet. So let’s get right to the point. Here are three points to help you do more with your marketing strategy with less:

#1 MARKET

The first step is in finding clarity and a well-defined target market. You should be able to answer the question: who are your customers? And, no, anyone with money isn’t a suitable answer! Be laser focused on who your target market is, allowing you to better connect with and design marketing messages for those people out there who are most likely to become your true fans and brand ambassadors. This is where creating a customer avatar really comes in handy. 

#2 MESSAGE

Ask this question about your business: What do our customers care about that we do better than anyone else? You see it’s pointless on focusing on doing something better than anyone else that your customers don’t even care about and yet this happens all the time. All too often we let ourselves get distracted by the latest shiny new object and forget about focusing on what matters most to our customers, which can be different in every business and industry. Also, framing the question this way takes the focus off your business and puts it on your customers’ needs. Your business should exist to help resolve your customers’ problems, and your business message should emphasise that. 

#3 MEDIUM

It doesn’t matter what you say if nobody is listening. It also doesn’t matter how many people hear if they are not the right people for your business. This is why this third aspect is just as important as the other two. You need to make sure you are communicating in a way that best lines up with your target market, where they are, and how they consume their information. To do this properly, you really have to work out who your target audience is and ensure you have the correct message for that target audience, before you determine the medium to use. Done correctly you will have some fantastic marketing results. 

We recommend you checking out our blog post on more in depth tips for perfecting your marketing strategy if you liked this post or learn how to perfect your content strategy!