February 14, 2023
By April Ball, Marketing Services Director at BlackFin Group
Marketing is the sum of the multitude of branding efforts. No one marketing effort is going to deliver 100% success. Marketing success is all marketing efforts working together towards one common goal - sales. This is where your Marketing Tool belt comes into play. Listed out here are the top four tools you need to make sure are implemented into your integrated marketing strategy. As you read through this blog, think about how each tool plays its role in the overall marketing strategy and brand message.
1. Consistent Social Media Presence
Posting on social media once a week is not enough. To reach maximum exposure, you need to post multiple times a week and be consistent with it. Don’t post three times one week and then go two weeks without sharing content. Being consistent on social media will reinforce your brand messaging and keep your company at the forefront your followers’ thoughts. You want your customers and potential customers to begin seeing your logo and content regularly.
The challenging part about posting multiple times a week is coming up with unique content. When you are creating your content calendar, be sure to set realistic expectations as to how much content you can create. Do your research to make this content is relevant and engaging to your target audience.
2. Strong Branding
Branding gives your company a voice. Be sure to be consistent with fonts, colors, and logos. Having a strong brand kit and style guide are your best assets. When you develop graphics, be sure to use your style guide as a reference. Each graphic you share should be visually similar but still be able to stand alone. This visual representation of your company will trigger customers and potential customers to remember and recognize your brand. If you do your branding right, eventually your target audience will be able to quickly glance at a graphic and know it’s your company.
3. News & Media Hits
Getting recognition from industry news and press is essential for your SEO, online growth, and brand awareness of your business. Articles and press releases posted on outside websites using key words that are established in your brand kit supplement your website SEO. When a potential customer searches your company online, news articles pop up giving your brand instant credibility. Interviews and podcasts are also a great way to gather outside recognition of your business. Take note of industry influencers and begin building relationships with those individuals. Start the conversations of collaborations.
In addition to news, articles, press releases, and collaborations being published on outside websites, you can link the publications to your website. For example, you can have a “News and Events” page where you link to all the outside publications that have written about your company. When customers visit your website, they will see instant validation through the press just as they do through a search engine.
4. Relevant Content
Just as we touched on under consistent social media presence, you need to make sure the content you are sharing online is relevant and attention grabbing. When you are planning content, mix it up! Use different mediums to share your message. Videos, podcasts, infographics - any form of content with a quick message that resonates with your audience. People online want quick and easy to digest content. Instead of sharing a post that has three points of information, consider sharing three different posts instead. Breaking the information into smaller pieces helps the viewer to understand and retain the information.
Your marketing strategy needs to encompass several forms of marketing. Each message needs to be integrated together to develop one strong push. No single marketing effort alone will drive your business to success. It is all the little pieces working together that will help your business move forward.
April Ball is Director or Marketing Services at BlackFin Group. April develops, delivers, and supports her BlackFin Clients with their Marketing Services needs. April’s impressive marketing background includes marketing support of the San Diego Padres, San Diego Sockers, BlackFin Group, building and implementing the marketing strategy for Lorber Greenfield & Polito Law Firm. For More information contact April at info@blackfin-group.com