Shortcut Culture
Part of the culture today in the sales and business world is one of seeking shortcuts. People want things instantaneously. We’re so focused on getting to a certain result by the end of the month, and it clouds the vision of what the larger picture or more long term goals are. It’s easy to get swept up in the things that promise big, immediate results, but these things don’t often lead to long term success. The first step of finding balance in your marketing is to leave the shortcut culture behind.
Finding Balance
So how do you create the right balance of short term solutions and sustainable tools for success? One of the first things to look at is your inbound content marketing. Over the years, there has been this perception created by some software companies that push the idea that if you publish a bunch of great content, you’ll magically get leads walking in the door. Unless you are a company that is an authority on search engines, consistently coming up on the first page of Google, and already in a really good place with traffic, it’s not going to be that simple. There are things that you can do from an inbound perspective with SEO and content marketing that can drive results fairly quickly, and sometimes it’s good to grab onto that low hanging fruit. But the reality is that it’s not a magic trick, and there are a lot of other important things that need to be done in order to generate that inbound traffic, like creating good, consistent content, and turning your site into a great source of information. You can’t develop yourself as an authority overnight, and you have to have good quality content, which doesn’t come easy either.
Target the Customer
Regardless of your approach, at the center of your marketing strategy is your customer. Who are the buying process influences inside of those organizations, and what are the triggers that lead them in the buying process. If you can understand that, it becomes the foundation of your marketing strategy. You build content around that and use it for inbound. If you’re focused on the right people, the traffic will follow. Additionally, outbound and paid media have a really important role. Creating targeted, exceptional content that’s there to help and guide a potential customer, get that into the hands of people directly through direct marketing. Use a combination of different marketing tactics in order to create a well-rounded approach and generate customers through a variety of different areas.
Comments