What Type of Marketing Should I do? (part 1)

Recently I had the opportunity to give a “spotlight” to a networking group that I am in.
The only challenge I had was deciding what to speak about. Should I talk about Google Ads? SEO? Social Media? PPC?

And suddenly it dawned on me, just like I couldn’t think of which service to present, most clients don’t know which service they should use.  That’s why I put together a few questions that I think everyone should ask themselves when they are getting ready to start their journey into the digital marketing world.  Especially useful for when your budget is limited. This will only be part-1 so expect a follow-up.

Question 1: Are you B2B, B2C, a mix of both?  Something more complicated?  

This simple question may sound silly and obvious.  However it is hugely important to know when deciding on where to invest your marketing budget.  If you are selling pool cues online, you most likely don’t want to spend your advertising dollars in LinkedIn.  

Question 2: Are you selling a product (or products) services (or services) or combination of both?

This question speaks to the nature of your relationship with your customer.  If you are selling a product you will most likely be having a transaction-type relationship as opposed to a service which can often require you to build trust.   

Question 3: What problem or problems are you solving for your ideal client, customer or patient?

This is marketing 101, but a lot of people gloss over it.  When you are investing your budget into marketing it is important that you know the answer to this question.  This is also a question that may have many answers, and that is ok.  To get started it’s best to pick 1 problem and craft your advertising around how you are the ideal fit to solve it.

Answering the above questions is the first step for you on creating what we in the biz call a “Customer Avatar”.  I don’t want to get too in the weeds on that topic as it deserves an article unto itself.  Just know that when you know the answers to the above, you are way closer to being ready to create and implement a marketing plan.

Sean Gough