The business world is constantly changing – never more so than in the last few years – and it’s important that marketing practices evolve as well. From updating the language and images you use in your content to trying new advertising channels, keeping pace with the world around you will help your business remain relevant in the eyes of prospects and customers. Here are three quick checks you can do to determine if your marketing team is keeping pace.
No. 1 - Does your content acknowledge that the world has changed?
The pandemic turned global business and consumer practices upside down, and we continue to feel the known effects and discover new ones. Your marketing copy should reflect these changes and allow for the new approaches to working and living.
For example, following the flexible and hybrid work policies put in place during the pandemic, as many as 80% of workers last year said they didn’t want to return to the office full time, according to a Harvard Business School Online survey. Your marketing content should acknowledge this change, especially if your target audience is office workers. While harping on the pandemic itself isn’t recommended, since people are largely ready to move on, talking about hybrid work schedules, flex hours, remote workers, home offices, cube sharing and other results of this shift – where related to your product or service – is key. If you target the consumer market, your marketing content should address changes such as new modes of buying products – curbside pick up, for example – that are becoming mainstream.
Highlighting the ways in which your offerings can help customers in the post-pandemic world can boost your company’s relevancy and viability.
No.2 - Does your content reflect the world around you?
As the business world continues to expand its reach globally, companies’ customer bases are becoming increasingly diverse. In order to attract new and different customers, companies should make sure all target customers can see people who look like them in their marketing materials. And as the workplace becomes more diverse as well, people often want to buy products from companies that value diversity in their own workforces. The images you choose for your marketing content gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your organization’s inclusivity. Read more about how to create inclusive marketing content.
No. 3 - Are you looking for customers in the right places?
With more choices of social media platforms, online media outlets and other vehicles for advertising (I recently saw an ad imprinted on the tape that sealed a delivery box I received) than ever before, you have the opportunity to get very targeted with your ads and deciding who you want them to reach. However, this can work against you if you’re not up on which audience segments favor which platforms and outlets. Your dollars will be wasted if your ad content and platform don’t match your user base. Do an audit of where your budget goes - advertising, trade shows, media buys, etc. – to make sure your offering’s target audience match the outlet.
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