I’m sure many of you have heard of the film, “Office Space,” which stars Ben Stiller. If not, you’ll find out all about it soon enough. As it happens, Toronto is the setting for most of the film, and it shows. One of the things that really stood out to me while I was there was Barrie Terell, the marketing coordinator for my company, Loomise Media.
It’s easy to see why she would’ve caught the eye of the character, Darryl, played by Stiller. After all, Barrie is extremely organized, methodical and efficient, which Darryl admires and respects. Darryl even borrows Barrie’s business card to help track down his favorite beverage: “Fizzy Cola” by Loomise Media.
An Inspiration To All Marketing Coordinators
As a marketer, I can see myself in many of Barrie’s character traits. There was a time when I wasn’t very organized — not to mention methodical or efficient — and I definitely admire people who are. As a result, I was inspired to follow in Barrie’s footsteps and become a marketing coordinator for a company. Like her, I also love to engage with coworkers and clients through meetings, Skype calls and email exchanges. It’s a real pleasure to work with such a pleasant person.
Marketing Is More Than Just Advertising
Even though I work in marketing, I want to make it clear that I don’t consider marketing to be limited to advertising. Marketing is an integral part of a company’s strategy and includes a variety of tactics, such as public relations, social media, branding and more.
Anyone who is responsible for marketing at an organization — be it a small business or an enterprise — must consider all of these aspects, as well as research regarding customer needs and interests. With this research, you can develop tailored marketing strategies that will be more effective at driving sales.
The Importance Of Having A Clear Objective
Just as crucial as having a keen eye for marketing strategy is setting clear objectives for this strategy. Without them, it’s easy to end up with a marketing plan that isn’t well thought out or that isn’t geared toward specific results. For instance, if you’re aiming to increase web traffic to your site, you’ll want to set that as a specific goal and work toward it using the various marketing avenues available to you.
In the case of Barrie’s plan to grow Loomise Media, she sets out to increase brand awareness, generate buzz and drive bookings for her company’s website. In order to achieve these goals, Barrie uses some of the strategies available to any marketer, such as search engine optimization and content marketing, in addition to those specifically designed to increase awareness regarding a specific brand or product (e.g., viral marketing and social media marketing).
The Importance Of Research
There’s no question that marketing research is essential, especially if you want to make intelligent decisions regarding your marketing strategy. Without it, you’ll have no idea what is and isn’t working, and you’ll be forced to adjust your plans accordingly. Luckily for you, I’m a big believer in free education and believe that everyone should have access to the information they need. That’s why I’m writing this blog post. Below, you’ll find some of the research I did regarding Loomise Media. If you have any questions or want to discuss anything further, feel free to contact me.
Customer Research
One of the most important things a marketer must do is understand the needs and wants of his or her customers. In order to achieve this, you must conduct research and analysis of individuals or groups that are similar to your target audience. This is typically done by creating buyer personas and using tools, such as Google Docs, to map these personas. A good place to start is with your company’s existing customers. You can interview them to get a sense of their needs and how you can better meet those needs through your products or services.
Even if you’re just starting out, you can engage with potential customers through your blog, social media accounts or website. By establishing rapport with prospective customers through these digital connections, you can develop stronger relationships and gain their trust, which will ultimately lead to greater conversion and sales.
Product Research
Next, you’ll want to define your product’s features and how it solves a particular problem. This process, called product research, is even more important for eCommerce businesses, where you’ll want to ensure that your website offers the right features at the right price to attract the right customers. In order to conduct effective product research, you need to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of your chosen product, whether that’s a service or a physical product. This includes things like:
- The history of the product
- Principles of how it works
- The different versions
- The different materials used in its manufacture
- The different packaging
- Quality control procedures
- Any known bugs or glitches
- Who uses it
- What they use it for
- Understand the value proposition
- Customer support (if applicable)
Along with understanding your product, you’ll want to decide whether or not it fits within your chosen target audience’s needs. If it doesn’t, you’ll have to go back and reevaluate your assumptions regarding this audience and alter your strategy accordingly. This is especially important if you’re trying to appeal to a broader audience and aren’t sure whether or not your product will be perceived as valuable by this demographic. The truth is, while there’s always going to be someone out there who doesn’t like your product or service, there will also be someone who does.
Market Research
Once you’ve conducted customer research and determined that your product solves a need, you can move on to the next step: market research. This entails analyzing various groups of individuals, known as the target audience, to determine how likely they are to buy your product. You can use a variety of tools for this, such as SurveyMonkey, Swifthoop, Ipsos iSay, OneOpinion and more.
One of the best tools for market research is Google Analytics. With this free tool, you can track the website traffic for your various projects — including this blog post — and determine the efficacy of your various marketing tactics. You can also use the Google Analytics Reporting API to extract and analyze this data in a variety of ways, such as creating charts, graphs and even interactive maps.
Overall Marketing Strategy
A good overall marketing strategy is one that is based on evidence and data — not arbitrary assumptions or hunches. In order to develop an overall strategy, you’ll first want to decide on the approach you want to use to conduct your research, whether that’s customer research or product research, then you can decide which tactics (e.g., advertising, social media, etc.) you’ll employ to drive results.