The 3 Things Missing From Your Marketing Strategy

Is it just me, but no matter where I place my iPhone or car keys, I just can never seem to find them, especially when I need them.

It's almost like they know I'm looking for them. Maybe I should invest in that locator app. It probably won't work out to well if I happen to lose both at the same time.

Okay, so me losing my keys probably doesn't really relate to you having necessary components missing from your marketing strategy.

Lets think of it another way.

Have you seen that commercial for Airborne where the woman is missing key nutrients and vitamins that are essential to support her immune system?

You don't want to have any holes in your marketing strategy. Like your immune system it's not working to the best of its ability if there are key components missing.

All you have to do is walk by someone that's sick and you'll be eating chicken noodle soup and drinking cough syrup and DayQuil like it's water. Don't derail your marketing campaign by not taking advantage of some key components.

Lack of Knowledge About Buyer Personas

This should be common knowledge. You probably won't be in business if you didn't know who your buyer personas are. Just knowing one minimal detail about them isn't going to be very helpful.

You need to know as much about them as you possibly can. Now I'm telling you to stalk them, but ask them questions to learn more about them. Dig deeper to gain a better understanding of what their needs and wants are.

Now this isn't something that will just happen over night. You may want to conduct buyer persona interviews.

Learn about their demographics, pain points, background, shopping preferences, gender, age range, job role, etc. There's a lot to learn about your target audience and customers.

Just don't forget to use that knowledge to engage, educate and interact with them. This knowledge could bring you one step closer to closing a sale or forging a relationship with them.

Context

We are in the age of the customer. It's all about taking what you know about your customers and using that information to your advantage.

Don't forget to use what you know to target your visitors. Get them to reconvert. Keep them coming back to your website. Be a resource for them.

According to Forrester and Silverpop, "They now expect companies to know where they’ve been, what they’ve seen, and what they’ve accepted or rejected."

Not sure what to do with all that information you have about your visitors and leads? Thank goodness for the creation of content.

Content and context go hand in hand. Use what you know about their needs, wants and interests to create content that will be attractive to them. No one wants to read something that has no relevance to him or her.

A Plan

What actions are you going to take? Marketing isn't something you can just set and forget. Also, one size does not fit all.

Lets think of inbound marketing in a different light. Think of marketing like a project, something that you have to build and put together. Maybe you're building a house or if you're like me trying to assemble a bookcase from Ikea. There are directions you will need to follow.

The same theory applies to marketing. Know what steps you're going to take before you jump right in.

You may want to develop a blog and offer editorial calendar as well as a social media publishing schedule to ensure that you're staying on track and you're actively engaging with your audience.

There is nothing worse than not having an active blog or social media profiles.

Create a plan that highlights your key activities that will ensure that you're reaching your traffic and lead goals. How many emails are you going to send each month? How many landing pages are you going to create? How often are you going to blog? How many offers are you going to release this month?

These are all questions you might want to ask yourself and adjust as you progress through the month to ensure that you're on track to meeting your goals.