Measure Measure Measure! Why size DOES matter

Measuring what your marketing is doing is so important

When running a business time is vital. You are busy making sales, coordinating projects and overseeing staff. That’s why when something has worked in the past we think ‘Yep we can do that again this year.’ That previous newspaper ad brought in new customers, those same product images are working on the website and that video still tells our story.

But what has worked in the past may not work now. We need to know that our current marketing strategy is connecting to the customers we want now, is being seen by new markets and is telling our branding story.

How do we know if it’s working?

Measure. By measuring how many customers are seeing our products we know if its working. Are we getting less phone calls than this time last year? Are we getting less traffic on the website this month? Do we have less foot traffic coming into the store?

When you track your marketing and correlate that to sales numbers, inquiries and engagement we can see what is working and what isn’t. Maybe people want to read about your business online now and not in the Newspaper. Maybe people want to come into your store instead of calling you.

The more you can measure, the more information you have and the more informed decisions you can make. And that means your marketing budget is doing exactly what you want it to do.

What came first: The Idea or The Customer?

The age old question - the chicken or the egg?

You have an idea. That’s a great start. Now what's next?

As business owners it can be hard to know what the next step is. You know what you want to achieve; more sales, more traction, more market share but what do you do to make sure your idea actually works?

How do you take your idea and make it into something your customers will watch and connect with?

The first thing we always tell our clients is- how does your idea make your customers feel? Will it make them feel inspired? Will it make them think? Does it make them feel understood? Listened to? And most importantly Does it solve their problem?

It’s imperative to put yourself in your customers shoes and ask yourself ‘what will they think when they see this? Is it relevant to them?

When you focus your message and communication on the customer and their needs, they are much more likely to feel a connection to what you are saying. Basically you are telling your customers you care about them and their needs.

Whether you are selling cars, harvesters, jumpers or IT support, you should always focus on the customer and what you can do for them. Not just what you do.

Answer: The Customer

Key Message – What do you really need to say?

Too many messages can be overwhelming

When it comes time to marketing our business we usually have a lot to say. We are excited about our product or service and we want to share that with the world. But when it comes to video messaging, less is always more.

Less is always more

The more information you try to squeeze in the more diluted the video narrative becomes and it lessens the impact on the audience. You want your message to create an instant connection and maintain that during the entire video. By keeping the message short, concise and on track it allows the audience to connect, feel and react to what you are saying. Loading the audience with message after message makes them bored, confused and overwhelmed.

When you have a single strong central message it allows the video to communicate to the audience in a way that connects, informs, emotes and is memorable.

Stay short and concise 

Put yourself in your audience’s position. If you watch a video bursting full of different information packed in to 90 seconds you would probably turn off. Decide on what you really want to say, keep it on track and take your viewers on a journey that make them feel something.

One key message per video is a good rule to follow. Anything more than that will be tedious for the audience to follow.

The hardest part of key messages in video is not what you want to say but what you don’t need to say.

Branding - What does it mean?

This word gets thrown around a lot in the advertising and marketing world but what does it actually mean? Branding is a combination of a few different elements. I like to break it down this way- Branding is the external representation of your internal business values and philosophy (Thanks to Kerri at pepperpotmarketing.com for your words of wisdom). Basically what your business looks and sounds like to your customers.

But what is good branding? And more importantly how do you find out what your brand is? This is the first and most important step. You need to know who you are as a business because if you don’t know then your customers definitely won’t. This is where you need to ask yourself those annoying but important questions; what do I stand for? What do I believe in? What is important to me? How do I want to communicate? What do I want my customers to feel and think when they see my products / services? All these elements are so important because if you don’t communicate to your customers what to think and feel about you then they will make up their own mind and it could be damaging to your business.

When you think about famous brands around the world i.e. – Apple, Coke, Nike, Channel you have an instant feeling or thought about them straight away. You know exactly the type of brand they are and what they stand for. Apple = design and innovation, Coke = fun and youth, Nike = strength, street style and determination (just do it) Channel = luxury, extravagance and high design. With just the name of the brand it conjures up all the feelings and ideas the companies want you to feel about them. It’s not a fluke, it’s on purpose. They have worked for years to create those ideas and feelings around their brand. And the good news is you can do that too.

When you show your customers through your branding – your logos, graphics, website design, copy, advertising, promotional material, customer experiences, you tell them who you are and what you stand for and how they should think and feel about you. When all of these elements fit together you are telling your customers who you are and what they should think and feel about you.

What do you stand for and what do you want people to feel when they think about your business?