Tag: marketing strategy

Digital Axioms to Maximize Sales and Growth

Posted on by annaktaylor
digital growth graphs

 

In the digital space, the drivers for online revenue success are the following:

Axiom #1
– Be flexible. The only constant is change.
– Perpetually pursue market positioning.
– Adapt to shifting customer needs, intent, and sentiments.
– Hone and master your brand story. And creatively tell it.
– Curate highly targeted campaigns, messaging, and experiences.

Axiom #2
These are the resolute Essentials
– Clearly defined, measurable goals.
– Well planned, data-informed strategies.
– Marketing automation for efficiency and effectiveness.

These are the fluid Essentials
– Agile tactics that will evolve and change based on performance.
– A testing regimen that is iterative and quantifiable.
– A penetrative approach to capture attention, persuade, and influence.

Axiom #3
– Utilize data to understand customer behaviors, gain insights, and forecast buying trajectories.
– Be solutions-driven with customers and solve problems in ways that trigger actions.
– Troubleshoot lagging sales performance and explore untapped sales terrain.
– Diligently pilot highly organized project workflows and meticulous tracking.

Final Thoughts
– Be careful to not fall back to familiarity, norms, and comfort.
– Challenge, ask questions, rethink, and be ready to pivot.
– Empower people and architect a culture that has a collective mission, curiosity, care, and customer-centricity.
– Transformation requires innovative thinking, a learning mindset, gut-level motivation, and endless inspiration.
– Digital savvy means to be forward-thinking, misfire-tolerant, and future-ready.

Marketing Projects – Achieve Execution Excellence in 10 Steps

Posted on by annaktaylor
marketing-digital-projects

 

As with most aspects of business operations, marketing is evolving to align with shifting customer interests. New methods are becoming today’s best practice. Novel and disruptive ideas are resulting in innovative campaign concepts.

Following conventional paths will no longer yield the expected ROI nor build brand equity with the target audience. The adoption of digital tools and technologies is key to the advancement of performance. 

Here are critical steps to help you and your team perform projects that will have impact with customers and the bottom line.

Continue reading “Marketing Projects – Achieve Execution Excellence in 10 Steps” →

Communication Essentials – Intrigue, Elevate, Evoke & Hook

Posted on by annaktaylor
communication channels tree

 

A brand relies on many different methods to get noticed and build trust, engagement and equity.

A sure-fire way to tear down momentum and damage the brand reputation is failing to communicate effectively.

There are numerous factors that make content potent, including the following:

  • Segmented Audience
  • Relevancy and Value
  • Voice and Visual
  • Quality of Content
  • Flow and Patterns
  • Form and Framing
  • Personalization
  • Timing
  • Call to Action
  • Respect for Privacy

Continue reading “Communication Essentials – Intrigue, Elevate, Evoke & Hook” →

Two Drivers of Innovative Growth: IT and Marketing

Posted on by annaktaylor
steel cogs team goals plan develop

 

Often departments are structured as silos with very little common ground or joint efforts.  Digital transformation requires intersecting disciplines and removing traditional barriers. The ethos of a company depends upon shared ownership of functional, operational, strategic and innovative capacities.

IT is a company’s heartbeat, overseeing technology and securing scalable internal systems.

Marketing is its persona and customer conduit, designing a value-driven brand experience.

Making headway in your digital presence, engagement and earnings relies on an alignment and synergy between these sources.

At the core of the two branches is data.

  • IT = how data is assembled, structured, stored, secured and dispersed
  • Marketing = how data is utilized, analyzed, modeled, made actionable and measured

Strengthen your Infrastructure and Marketing by developing blended strategies, projects and metrics. And optimize your investment by no longer operating them as cost-centers, but instead as engines for revenue augmentation.

Continue reading “Two Drivers of Innovative Growth: IT and Marketing” →

Profit-Producing Projects – Beyond the Buzzwords

Posted on by annaktaylor
Marketing Strategy Street Sign

 

Marketers have a pivotal role and a fundamental responsibility to contribute to bottom-line numbers. To be an earnings asset, a marketing leader must execute auspicious projects.  

Attaining an optimal ROI requires advanced planning and a rigorous process of framing the initiative.  When creating a campaign, producing new content, generating a channel mix, preparing a go-to-market plan or designing an experience, the team must first tackle the ‘why’.

Finish the statement – We are investing time and resources in this project because ….

Be clear on the answer, which should include the benefit to the company and the value to customers.

Next is alignment. Does the project support business objectives and current priorities?  Is there alignment to the buyer’s reasoning and requisites? There needs to be specific orientations, meaning that you define the project alliance with company objectives and customer intent, and identify the priority association.

Continue reading “Profit-Producing Projects – Beyond the Buzzwords” →

Art of Persuasion: Optimize Communications and Brand Messaging

Posted on by annaktaylor
black-and-gray-microphone-with-stand

 

A brand’s value is its voice. Authenticity strengthens brand authority. A communication strategy institutes the concrete foundation of customer engagement, trust and loyalty. The style and true essence of your messaging has a significant influence on buyer confidence. What matters is relevancy, precision, compelling expression, vivacity and a positive experience. Detouring outside ‘customary’ content and daring to be expressive and novel are how today’s innovators deviate from the standard bearers. To be resonating requires the art of persuasion.

We are experiencing a major health crisis across the globe which impacts businesses of all sizes and requires clear and constructive messaging.  

 An organization is judged by how it performs in both thriving and volatile moments, placing the greatest weight on how effective they share information, reveal their confidence and character, encourage and motivate, and focus on progress and positive momentum.

Continue reading “Art of Persuasion: Optimize Communications and Brand Messaging” →

12 Aggregated Pointers for Today’s Marketer

Posted on by annaktaylor
02-20-20 handwritten-team-notes

 

At a time when technology and touch points dominate commerce, brand and marketing strategies are becoming increasingly fluid. To ensure your programs deliver the desired results, consider the following:

#1

Tie Projects to the Company’s Mission and Vision

Start by asking – what is needed most?

  • Brand Awareness
  • Revenue
  • Launch or Relaunch a Product
  • Introduce a New Service
  • Customer Retention
  • New Market Penetration
  • Expanded Market Reach
  • Acquisition of Leads
  • Conversions
  • Website Visitors
  • Inquiries / Chats
  • In-Store Traffic
  • Referrals
  • Re-engagement
  • Subscriptions
  • Loyalty
  • Auto Reorders
  • Build or Rebuild Trust

Continue reading “12 Aggregated Pointers for Today’s Marketer” →

Best Practice for Managing Digital Assets

Posted on by annaktaylor

A brand has a broad array of components such as graphics, messaging, style guide, logos, marketing materials, business templates, video files, signage, event provisions, promotional designs and many other resources. Managing these assets effectively with essential protocols requires a centralized system that has features such as:

 

  • Directory mapping
  • File hierarchy
  • Browser-based interface
  • Optimal findability
  • Ease and speed of import / export
  • Preferred display options
  • Categorization and configuring models
  • Well-defined naming conventions
  • Customizable taxonomies to allow for industry-specific classifications
  • Metadata for search optimization
  • Accessibility permissions and controls
  • Security functions
  • Detection of duplicates
  • File lifecycle tracking
  • Administrative tools including file transformation, resizing & transcoding
  • Auto-generated notifications and alerts

 

Many companies still rely on depositories that consume a tremendous amount of time for manual management. Further, depository link sharing rarely has longstanding dependability.

 

While it may be challenging to offer a concise ROI for investing in an asset management system, the organizational gains are significant & time-savings is a cost benefit that will payback appreciably. Avoid the stockpile implications – and don’t put your assets on the line!

pile-of-covered-books

Insight Into Today’s Marketing Strategy

Posted on by annaktaylor

A Marketing leader must serve as a powerful brand voice and ambassador, as well as a pragmatic change agent in pursuit of market positioning in the digital age.

 

How do you constructively and convincingly establish a formidable marketing axis?

 

#1 Knowledge

 

Continually get exposure across your industry and the competition, gaining critical insights on cutting-edge business practices. Seek out trends, anomalies, disruptions, and novel ideals that are essential to weigh and factor them into your chartered course.

 

Similar to a sales or operations leader, those overseeing brand and marketing programs must be subject matter experts with well-defined action plans.

 

#2 Strategy

 

I’ve discovered that one’s approach to business is everything. Being open, curious, agile and engaging are the foundations to flourishing as a valuable leader, partner and team member. Strategy requires a 360 degree view.

 

And being meaningful to your audience matters. A company’s business strategy must be, above all else, relevant and applicable, as well as capable of being successfully achieved and measured.

 

#3 Performance

 

Some insights to construct and execute your project in thriving fashion.

 

  • Articulate well and be specific
  • Set goals, milestones and benchmarks in advance
  • Envision and communicate future needs and requirements
  • Avoid an idealistic approach and rigid tactics
  • Adopt realistic expectations
  • Prepare for obstacles and constraints
  • Challenge assumptions
  • Address concerns and overcome objectives
  • Assess proposed shifts with prudence and diligence
  • Monitor momentum (or lack of)
  • Track performance against milestones
  • Evaluate progress and analyze results

 

#4  Digital Rapport

 

We are saturated in messaging, moments and ‘must haves’.  There needs to be breathing room and a balance of touch points, cadence and social bearing.  Allow the audience to gravitate at their pace, not on your demand.

 

Lean into them, don’t loom over them.

 

Share an affinity, don’t shout a message.

 

The user journey must demonstrate commonality at its core along with intrigue sprinkled throughout the landscape.  It’s imperative to remember that the aim is for a unique, persuasive and enduring experience.  Make your business model sufficiently experimental and permeable to continually modify, reallocate and curve direction, which must be closely tested to assess market penetration and customer responses.  

 

#5 Final Thoughts

 

Frequently research and refresh your company’s business intelligence to ensure your strategy doesn’t become stale or antiquated.

 

Be open to changing course when evidence clearly shows a need to pivot.

 

And of utmost importance, go for a joy-ride in your work! Let the love in! Having a true, deep passion for you work means you get to live the dream.

Make It Happen Note