My blogs will be on my own experiences with modern marketing in practice. Just to kick off with a brief introduction, I have been pursuing an online marketing career since 2010, which is the year I completed my Bachelors Degree. It’s also the year I discovered and began blogging. From there I worked in a digital marketing agency in South Africa, then fast-forward to 2014 when I started my own consultancy in Zimbabwe with the aim to transform Southern Africa’s digital footprint. Since early 2015 I have been based in Perth and hoping to build up on my skill and I’m currently completing my final year of Masters in Professional Communication.

A lot of what I have been taught is traditional marketing and the basics of new media and the digital age. The rest is a skill that I believe cannot be taught in any curriculum, and what I will be sharing is based on practical experiences with two-way marketing in today’s world.

Marketing has moved from pushing messages onto people to actually building mutual relationships and getting people to give feedback and create a cycle of continuous improvement. The process of marketing is generally everything you do that attracts new clients to your business and existing ones to remain loyal to your company. The art of marketing lies in your STRATEGY and it’s better to have a few doors open rather than just one. A common mistake businesses make is sticking to only one thing they do to attract clients. This is not enough because once you lose that one thing then all your communication efforts are lost with it. Businesses should rather work on having a constant flow of loyal clients and avoid seasons of ups and downs. That means implementing as many lead magnets as possible.

What I’ve observed thus far is that even in a bad economy, if your marketing message is still exceptional people will find the money to spend where they see value. Therefore you need to be able to adapt to any situation and that is how online marketers such as myself cope when working remotely under different circumstances each time.

Online Marketing ties in with Public Relations because having a good, viable reputation also takes you a long way, even in times of crisis (see case studies of famous brands overcoming negative publicity). Businesses should avoid not following a strategy and just spamming people across channels, which is not what having many doors open entails. Marketing should be a fun thing, bringing out the human side of the business to get more clients through the door.

Avoid:

• “I just get my brand out there” marketing. Have a PLAN.
• “Look at me” marketing, a.k.a splashing out on paid ad’s. It will cost you more for no long-term returns.
• “They will come” marketing. Don’t start something and “hope” customers will come. RESEARCH your audience.

DO: Relationship-based marketing / ethical marketing. Engage your customers with smart marketing and get a response that’s measurable through them taking action.

Finally, because your time is limited and you cannot spend all day building and nurturing relationships, automate your marketing strategy on Hootsuite, Buffer, etc or outsource it to a professional to manage your strategy for you.

Humans > Robots!

Your feedback is welcome and I’ll catch you on my next post.