5 Step Marketing Checklist

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to marketing. It’s important to have a plan and checklist to make sure you’re covering all your bases. Here is a 5 step marketing checklist to get you started:

1. Define your marketing goals

What are you trying to achieve with your marketing efforts? Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive more website traffic, or convert more leads into customers? Knowing your goals is essential for creating a marketing plan that’s effective and efficient.

2. Know your audience

Who are you trying to reach with your marketing messages? Understanding your target audience is key for creating content and campaigns that resonate with them. Much of the learning curve for understanding your audience can be accomplished online by studying your competitors as well as the target audience. If your target market is geographically distant from your physical location, you can simply use a proxy browser extension or some other VPN in order to solve this issue. Much cheaper than airfare and hotel 🙂

3. Choose the right marketing channels

Not all marketing channels will be a good fit for your business and its goals. Choose the channels that will work best for you based on who your target audience is and what you’re trying to achieve.

4. Develop marketing assets

You need to have a marketing plan before you start executing it. This marketing plan should include a marketing calendar, a list of your target audience personas, and the marketing assets you’ll use in your campaigns. These marketing assets should include social media posts, emails, website content, blog posts, videos… whatever will help achieve your marketing goals.

5. Measure marketing results

Of course, you want to know if your marketing efforts are achieving their intended objectives! Use Google Analytics or another web analytics tool to track how many visitors click on each link from your marketing asset. You can also analyze engagement metrics such as open rates and bounce rates using email analytics tools. Tracking all marketing channels helps you identify where marketing is working best, and optimize your marketing efforts.

And once all that is done…

Once all the above 5-steps are done, you’ll want to optimize it. That is done by repeating this list from the start while injecting what you’ve learned into each round. Rinse and repeat.

Further Reading

• It’s Called Marketing, Look It Up
• 12 Tips For Great Market Research
• Building Your Marketing Funnel

10 Great Marketing Tips

The marketing world is changing.

Here are 10 marketing tips to get ahead of the game!

1) Be real and authentic- Your customers crave authenticity in marketing, so be yourself while marketing your product or service.

2) Get personal- Create a name for your brand that sets you apart from competitors. The more people recognize your company’s name, the easier it will be to stand out in marketing strategies.

3) Use catchy adjectives or words- Use wording that connects with potential customers on an emotional level. Find words that evoke good feelings when they see them, like “fun,” “exciting,” and “approachable.”

4) Ask questions- Put together surveys or ask customers questions about what they enjoy about marketing. Learn more about your customer base so you can find marketing strategies they enjoy and avoid marketing tactics that don’t work for them.

3) Keep up with current marketing trends- Discover what marketing trends are taking off in your industry by keeping an eye on marketing news online. This will help you set yourself apart from competitors who aren’t marketing effectively or creatively enough to get ahead of the game.

4) Be positive!- People want positivity in marketing, not pessimism or negativity. If people feel like marketing has made their lives better, they’ll be much more likely to engage in marketing in the future because they believe in its power.

5) Put human faces behind your brand- Have actual employees represent your company’s marketing. Instead of marketing through a call center or with sound-alike companies, let customers know there are actual people behind your company’s marketing efforts.

6) Use bright colors and flattering photographs- Customers prefer visually stimulating marketing. Take advantage of this by using bright colors and captivating images to draw attention to marketing materials online, in print, on TV channels, or otherwise.

7) Target marketing more specifically- Learn about the personalities of your customers so you can market directly to them instead of marketing at large. Get more specific than just gender and age; learn what makes certain people tick so you know how to appeal to their wants and needs specifically.

8) Make marketing fun!- When marketing isn’t fun or entertaining, it’s difficult to get customers on board. Postmarketing updates online that are tongue-in-cheek or lighthearted if possible; marketing doesn’t always have to be serious and boring!

9) Make marketing easy- Customers prefer marketing materials they can access easily by visiting your website or social media pages. Don’t make customers work too hard to find marketing information; keep marketing as accessible as possible for customers so they don’t overlook marketing completely!

10) Create a memorable slogan or catchphrase- This tip comes directly from branding expert Seth Godin: “Be remarkable.” Find a way to differentiate yourself from competitors via marketing, including catchy slogans and advertising.

In Conclusion, marketing works best when marketing tactics are authentic and personal. Always be positive in marketing efforts, as this will encourage customers to engage with marketing instead of discouraging them from participating at all. Use bright colors, marketing that’s easy to access, marketing that speaks directly to customers’ personalities instead of marketing at large, along with catchy marketing slogans or catchphrases. And most importantly, remember marketing isn’t always serious; marketing can be fun and entertaining as well.

Image Source From LiveJournal – 10 Tips For Building Winning Marketing Strategy

5 Important Details To Include In Your Marketing Plan:

As marketing strategies continue to progress, your marketing plan must be solid. Having a marketing plan is always beneficial; even if you’re only marketing independently.

1. Marketing Calendar

The first thing you’ll need to do is create a marketing calendar. Your marketing calendar will be the driving force behind all of your marketing efforts, so it’s important to get it right. Your marketing calendar should consist of monthly, quarterly, and annual marketing goals so you can always see your progress.

2. Marketing Budget

The next thing that needs to be included in the marketing plan is a marketing budget. You’ll need to determine how much money you can afford to invest into marketing yourself on social media platforms and marketing strategies. Try to allot a budget that will accommodate several marketing strategies and not just one marketing idea.

3. Marketing Plan

The third thing you should include in your marketing plan is an outline of social media marketing ideas you can use to maximize your marketing efforts. Social media marketing is probably the most important aspect of marketing yourself, if not for other artists as well because these days people are using social media to find new music and follow their favorite bands, singers, etc. This means that if they like what they hear from you on a particular platform or via a promoted post they may end up going to your website and buying your album or single. And it doesn’t stop there; if fans really love what they see from you on certain social media platforms they will also follow you on other marketing platforms which can have a positive impact on your marketing campaign.

4. Marketing Team

The fourth detail you’ll need to include in your marketing plan is a marketing team. If marketing yourself independently, whether online or offline, it’s important to have at least 2-3 people reading over all of your marketing materials before you publish them because if one thing slips through the cracks then that could mean bad publicity for you and that could affect your marketing strategy greatly.

5. Marketing Manager

And last but not least, a marketing budget isn’t worth much if there isn’t someone keeping track of the budget and staying within the allocated funds. Having someone monitoring this is vital to keeping marketing costs contained while still marketing effectively. Now, if marketing yourself is the only thing you need marketing help with then having an artist manager handle this part of marketing is recommended.

Keep In Mind

The marketing plan is what will set you apart from other artists and marketing strategies. It’s the blueprint to your marketing strategy, so it’s important that it contains all of these details: a marketing calendar, social media marketing ideas, an outline for social media marketing on different platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), how much money can be allocated to this campaign each month or quarter with someone monitoring expenditures within budget limits, and finally having at least 2-3 people read over any materials before publishing them.

Further Reading:

• 10 Tips For Making A Marketing Plan (on Medium)
• 10 Tips For A Winning Marketing Strategy (on LiveJournal)
• Writing A Marketing Plan Tips (on Blogspot)

That’s it, we are done here.

What Does A Marketing Director Do?

A Marketing Director (MD) is the individual who is directly responsible for the marketing strategy and direction of a company. The MD manages all marketing activities, such as advertising, market research, public relations and product placement. They also hire and train the company’s marketing staff and may lead and guide other departments (e.g. sales and business development).

A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is an executive-level position at a company that oversees all aspects of marketing functions. The CMO usually reports to the CEO or founder(s) of an organization, but may work as part of a committee as well as with other senior executives in the company if they have been given broad powers by those being reported to.

The Marketing Director will oversee a marketing team responsible for marketing strategy and implementation. The CMO is often the senior-most marketing executive but may have a team reporting to them with responsibilities in brand management, innovation, market research, corporate communications etc.

Key skills include:

– Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence and negotiate

– Creativity, problem-solving, and analytical thinking skills

– Ability to understand the needs of different stakeholders and how they impact one another

– People management and organizational abilities

– Strategic thinking and business understanding/context.

The Marketing Director:

→ Has a more tactical role and will typically manage an existing or recently created marketing team that is focused on the following:

 Brand Development & Management – This includes understanding customer behavior and market trends, as well as overseeing how this relates to all aspects of brand management (e.g. product

design, brand architecture, naming etc.)

 Marketing Communications Strategy – This includes deciding on how the brand will communicate their message to customers and determining creative ways in which this can be executed (e.g. advertising media or social media campaigns)

 Digital Marketing Strategy – This takes a lead role in developing a company’s digital marketing strategy and was traditionally known as “online marketing”. The MD may also oversee elements such as web development and e-commerce if relevant to the market they are operating within.

 Event Management & Engagement – This focuses on running events such as conferences or seminars with the goal of engaging with the market rather than selling products/services directly. These activities could include planning and creating a conference agenda, as well as hosting or attending events themselves.

 Market Research – This includes the ability to understand customer needs and behaviors as well as identify market opportunities and business trends.

 Competitor Analysis – Understanding what competitors are doing is essential for any marketing decision-making process. Regularly monitoring competitor activity ensures that a brand can react swiftly to changes in consumer behavior/trends, which is particularly important when a product range is highly competitive.

The CMO:

→ Has a more strategic role with responsibilities covering all of the above areas but also extends into new project management, stakeholder management, and innovation. The CMO may have many people reporting to them with specialist knowledge in each area, but will likely need to lead on some projects themselves.

→ The CMO is responsible for ensuring the brand’s success when executed through marketing activities and may therefore require previous experience in a senior role within another department (e.g. Sales) before moving into Marketing Management.

→ Successful CMOs are often creative thinkers with the ability to come up with new ways of reaching customers, running events, or creating media campaigns across different channels e.g. mobile, social media, or print. They also have strong influencing skills which they use to get buy-in from people at all levels of their business by gaining respect rather than authority. While they are focused on outbound communication, they are also interested in insight which is why they monitor competitor activity and market trends.

What do Marketing Directors and CMOS do? – Their responsibilities and skills are explained by Ben Wilkins, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University. This article was originally published on the Manchester Metropolitan University blog.       

Marketing Directors are responsible for many different aspects of the marketing process. They must be able to think strategically and understand how all parts of their company work in order to create a cohesive strategy that will bring in revenue, maintain customer loyalty, and stay ahead of competitors. If you’re looking for help with your Marketing Strategy or need someone who can handle more hands-on tasks like Social Media Management or Content Creation.

Old Man And The Monkey

Photo by Vlad Cheu021ban on Pexels.com

An old man was walking through the jungle one day when he heard a loud noise coming from a tree.

He looked up and saw a monkey swinging back and forth with something in his hands.

When the man climbed the tree, he found that it was a coconut shell filled to the brim with water, which came from an opening at the top of the shell. The old man drank some of the water and left.

That evening, as he was walking away, he heard another noise coming from the tree. It was again the monkey. He had gotten another coconut, filled it with water and threw it at the man as a sign of affection.

Sometimes we misunderstand the behavior of monkeys, and people to. By realizing we are all just animals, thirsty for some water when we get parched, we can help unite just a little bit more and make the world a better place.