Blind marketing vs. informed marketing

How do you approach your marketing? Do you pull ideas straight from your head? Or do you do your research, looking at what content/messages your competitors produce, at buying trends, popular interests, etc.? Do you find inspiration from the people/things around you?

The thing is, for most small to medium-sized businesses, there’s only so much time they have available. When it comes to the content they create across their social media profiles and website, it’s just so much quicker and easier to run with their first idea.

Is this the right way to do things, though? By just going with anything because time is scarce, how can you be sure that you’re actually producing content your audience wants to digest?

With any marketing method or technique, you should know who you’re talking to, i.e. who your ideal audience is. It’s worth remembering however, that your audience may change slightly or waver from time to time—certainly, consumer trends/the things people talk about/get excited over move constantly. As new things emerge—whether this is a programme, piece of technology, news events or whatever—a shift in your audience’s mindset may arise, or a new opportunity. Pushing the same old, same old, will not only show your audience that you’re not really trying to capture their attention, it will also prove a huge waste of time.

There’s no doubt that, to create videos, images, articles and social media posts that people actually want to see requires a little research that will need carving from your already-busy schedule, but if you get much more engagement from your followers for your efforts, surely this is worth it?

Think of how much 2020 has seen already: the coronavirus, various high-profile companies going to the wall, the fascination over TikTok…think of your service/product and the problem it solves and how you could link it to something people are actively using, reading about, or searching for across the net.

Another tool you can use is your analytics. These statistics will tell you which of your previous posts caught people’s attention more than other content you may have put out. You will be able to see what you said that had people talking in the past, and perhaps you may also see what you could change about your less-engaging content that would make it more appealing; repurposing content will allow you to claw a little bit of time back.

Lastly, there’s no shame in actually asking your audience what they want to see. You may be surprised that what they tell you is miles away from what you think, but that’s human beings for you—we’re changeable, unpredictable, and most of us have no clue at all about what we want!

Marketing done half-heartedly is not much better than no marketing at all. There’s actually so much you could learn from your audience/customers from opening dialogue with them; it’s just not worth thinking for them, as more often than not, you’ll probably be way off the mark.

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