The Top 10 List for Truly Ruthless Marketing
You see these types of lists all over the place. Why?
Because marketing is important for all businesses, but sometimes it’s hard to grasp.
These lists are actually meant to help and be comforting. But this one will be a bit different. You’re not running a marketing agency. It’s okay. You are, however, in a business that needs to be marketed.
So finally, here is a marketing list that actually assumes you’re already good at what you do, but simply need to be better at telling people about it.
So, if you want to be a ruthless marketer of your business, then here’s the list that was developed specifically for you.
Know who you are and what you want to say
Effective marketing is all about telling your public who you are and what you do. Before you can do that, you have to know it yourself. Work the elevator speech. “We are the best [what] that provides [what] for [who] because [why].”
Once you know it, you can tell others about it.
Plan, plan, and plan
Operating by the skin of your teeth can be fun and exciting, but it’s no way to market your business.
Successful marketers don’t even go to the restroom without a plan (well, actually, they don’t always have a plan for that, but you get the point). Know that effective marketing takes time and money, and develop a flexible plan that will grow with the resulting business opportunities.
Networking
We’re guessing you didn’t get into your business just because you love to network. But, making new friends and colleagues through networking is the best way to spread your message. It’s old-school, but it is still one of the most powerful tools on your marketing tool belt.
Constantly research
The times of simply blasting your message to everyone out there are over. Knowledge is power and you need to know who wants and needs to know about you. Targets and demographics change all the time. The most successful marketing is research-based, knowing exactly what to say and exactly where and how to say it to get the best results.
Engage your audience
Don’t just broadcast. Ruthless marketing engages your audience. Ask questions and provide answers. Give thanks for compliments and respond to complaints. The more you’re engaged, the more your customers see you as a living, breathing part of their community.
Choose quality over quantity
When developing your message, don’t just tell people that you’re awesome. That doesn’t work. Ask yourself, “Does what I have to say provide value to my audience?” If it doesn’t, scrap it. It’s better to say something valuable once than to shout meaningless jibber-jabber a thousand times.
Be ruthlessly creative
The message is key, but delivery is critical. Subtlety is soothing, conservative, and useless. Your design and copywriting has to be fresh and unrelenting. That doesn’t mean loud and tasteless. It simply means your audience has to see it, recall that they’ve seen it, and know exactly that it came from you. Your creative can’t be concerned with anything else.
Don’t be trendy
This might sound a bit counter-intuitive, but time-tested marketing methods are still better than the latest flash in the pan. Sure, you might be inclined to follow the current style, go viral, or catch lightning in a bottle. But styles change quickly—that which goes viral gets buried by the next—and generating consistent power over time is always better.
Use multiple channels
Today, your audience gets information from a variety of resources. You need a solid website design and you have to cook up a mix of digital, social and traditional marketing channels in order to reach and connect.
Measure, analyze, and repeat
Marketing needs to stay flexible and fluid. As fun as it is to be creative, it’s more rewarding to be successful, and success comes from analyzing your results, finding exactly what resonated, tweaking it when and where needed, and refocusing. Analytics may not be sexy, but they simply work.
Develop your plan, be creative, and be smart. That’s how you built your business. That’s how you become a ruthless marketer.
