As we launch into a new year with just as many unknowns as there are hopes and aspirations for our businesses, it’s always a good thing to recalibrate and redefine things to prepare ourselves for a new chapter. Whether you’re a business owner, program director, or a closet creative hoping for your next break, how we put ourselves out there makes a difference, if not the most important difference, in how we succeed. In this post, we’ll define marketing, show a few examples of how it’s used in business today, and provide 5 ways for getting started with marketing.
As an introverted person, I am often off-put by the stereotypical marketing that seems to pervade media. However, I’ve recently heard marketing described as an absolute necessity for a business to survive and simply a way to help connect people with the products or services they need. When you put it that way, marketing doesn’t have to mean we’re selling out or trying to convince people of something that isn’t true. It can be the honest act of presenting myself as a helpful resource or solution. I can get behind that.
In their 2021 State of Marketing report, Hubspot wrote “2021 is the year of growing brand authenticity and optimizing for the customer or prospect experience, building relationships rather than prioritizing sales or traditional marketing campaigns.” We’re finding that customers are resonating with and responding to a more authentic and personal reach. When companies convey who they are and care about who they serve, they win business. When your marketing leads with genuinely connecting, converting naturally happens. This is much more rewarding.
One study by Nielsen showed that 92% of people are more likely to make a purchase when receiving a recommendation by word-of-mouth. Unless you know everyone in town, people are not likely to recommend you unless they hear about you. This is why marketing, at least the way we’re talking about it here, is so vital. How will people know unless you say something? A common practice is for businesses to allocate 20% of their budget to marketing, yet without an understanding or at least a path forward, many businesses don’t even start.
If you’re reading this and you realize you’ve been going about marketing in a way that betrays who you are or you’re like me and you cross your fingers every day hoping someone will magically find you and offer you money just for existing, you might be a bit overwhelmed. That’s a good thing. Disruption can be the start of something new. Something good. Here are 5 ways to start or restart your marketing today.
I hope that we can reframe marketing and engage in it with more confidence and creativity this year. If we do a little research, communicate our story, and make offers to our target audience, we’re marketing. If you do it with creativity and heart, you’re storytelling. If we put away our negative stereotypes of marketing and begin to see it as a vital function of business success and an exciting way to be more involved, we can all be more fulfilled in our work and move forward with not only hype but with substance.
I would be remiss to not make an offer myself. Lifted is passionate about building impactful brands and telling compelling stories. If this approach to marketing highlights a lack of investment in your marketing or inspires a way forward for you to be alive and active in sharing your story and offerings, we want to help. Sign up below to schedule a call with our team to talk through some ways we can help you connect with your audience. Let’s create together!
At Lifted, we believe that great brands are built on meaningful connections. That's why we've…
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