As a partner in a digital marketing firm, I can appreciate the value of various digital marketing tactics. Search engine optimization, email marketing, digital ads, social media, and many other techniques can do amazing things to help get the word out about your company.
Ultimately, though, the best marketing for most consumers is one that you’re not allowed to directly be a part of: word of mouth. This great chart from SparkToro sums it up perfectly:
That’s not to say you should abandon your other techniques, as they often stack on top of one another. Word of mouth is amazing, and it’s enhanced further by other marketing techniques that help make the initial reaction become “oh yes, I’ve heard of them”. Keeping your name out there is important, but having the right branding and positioning is essential.
Messaging
In our case, the first month of any project that we take on will be focused on messaging. We want to know who the target audience is, and then dig in deep on them:
- What problems do they have?
- How can we help solve those problems?
- How have they tried to solve them before?
- What does it really matter to them?
Understanding and sharing those types of questions will put you in great shape when someone tells their friend about your company.
This post on the SparkToro blog (where the image above came from) takes this much deeper and is worth a read. Their tools are fantastic, and we use them as a part of the messaging strategy process that we go through with every client. Understanding your customer is key to successful marketing, and it’s the best way to turn a curious “word of mouth” visitor into a customer for life.
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