Pam Moore — April 21, 2020 Brands are feeling the weight of competition in a digital world that never shuts off. Old methods are not working like they use to.
Even industries that were slow to adopt new digital media are now experimenting with new media formats, digital platforms and technologies to break through the digital noise.
How do smart marketers win in 2020? How do they stand out in a sea of digital noise?
The most successful marketers in 2020 will be the most brave and bold.
This new class of brave marketers know they aren’t experts at everything, as none of us are! The difference is that they will take risks, embrace new technologies and use data to continuously optimize business results.
7 Digital Marketing Strategies for the Brave and Bold
Here are 7 strategies brave marketers can immediately start leveraging to win the hearts, minds and market share of their dream customers in 2020.
1. Embrace Change
If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you have always got!
Smart marketers know status quo is a recipe for digital failure. They are learning that embracing change is what separates the winners from the losers.
Often times marketers are afraid of change because of the fear of the unknown. Or they may overthink the changes and start too big.
Our agency, Marketing Nutz has been helping entrepreneurs to Fortune 10 brands embrace digital change for the past 10 years. The number one factor we see that impacts success is the ability to set realistic goals from the start. It’s better to start with realistic smaller goals, vs super size goals that are not feasible. Focus on the backyard pond, vs the global ocean.
Don’t force the change on team members who aren’t ready. Instead focus on first assessing the mindset, skillset and readiness of your team and organization to embrace change.
Start with baby steps and achieve some short term wins to earn trust with executive stakeholders who may be reluctant to change. Then you can develop your plan for success. Give them a WHY and help them understand the reasons behind the needed change. Once people have a reason for personal change, it makes learning the technology and other methodologies much easier.
2. Human Centric
Brave marketers know people buy from people. When is the last time you gave your credit card to a logo?
Brands must find ways to consistently connect with customers and key audiences in authentic and human ways. They must speak, engage, and connect as humans, not digital social robots.
Brave marketers know they need to invest in building the personal brands of their key executives and organizational leaders. Every sales person, human resource professional, consultant and employee is a walking, talking representation of your living brand value proposition.
Brave marketers know personal branding, employee advocacy and empowerment are the secret keys to success now and for the future.
Your employees are your greatest asset and should be delivering upon your brand promise both digitally and offline.
3. Audience First Marketing
The brands who know the most about their customers win, always!
Taking an audience first marketing approach to everything you do is a must in a digital world that is getting noisier by the minute.
Knowing your audience intimately helps you focus! It makes it easier to create content that is relevant. You then are confident to prioritize the right digital channels, and choose the right media (paid, earned and owned) that will deliver the highest return on investment (ROI) possible.
Marketers must go deeper than demographics or large market segmentation. Brave marketers know they must go deep into who their top customers are. It’s time to develop and prioritize buyer personas. Brave marketers know their audience wants, needs, and behaviors so they serve them in meaningful ways.
4. Listen More Than You Talk!
It’s easy to post links to your blogs, website, YouTube videos, latest sales and promotions all day.
It’s easy to talk about yourself all day via live stream video and try to pull it off as “brand storytelling.”
It’s more difficult to actually take the time to listen attentively and then use the data learned to refine your strategies.
Brave marketers do more than blast noise into an already noisy digital ecosystem. They focus on listening with a goal to understand and serve.
Brave marketers know they are not the main character of their brand story… their customer is!
5. Try New Mediums
Brave marketers aren’t afraid to try something new, particularly when it comes to a new content medium or social network.
Find ways you can take your brand voice to the new level by testing new mediums such as audio, video, visuals or even writing.
Have you dreamed of launching a podcast to better connect with and serve your audience? How about a new YouTube channel or Live Video Streaming show to share your knowledge and help your customers achieve their objectives? Try something new. You might be surprised how even a small test can turn into something very successful that can help your business grow exponentially.
6. Say No to the Wrong Things so You Can Say Yes to the Right Things
To make time for the RIGHT things you must also let go of some old things.
We always tell our clients and students the first list you need to create is the list of things you are NOT going to do! It’s time to stomp those Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) once and for all!
Being brave doesn’t necessarily = chasing shiny objects. Taking an audience first marketing approach helps brave marketers prioritize where to focus, where to test and as a result help them succeed.
While other shiny object chasing marketers are busy trying to become a super start on the latest social network, brave marketers are often going deeper in audience research, refining their service offerings, humanizing their brand messages, empowering their teams and connecting with their target audiences in more meaningful ways.
Less is more as long as you are focused on the right things!
7. Collaboration With Partners and Influencers
There is no need to go it alone when building your brand online today.
Brave marketers are not afraid to partner with industry leaders, micro-influencers, partners and even competition to grow brand awareness, authority and sales.
We are all better together than we are alone as one.
Tapping into the power of the OPC (other people’s content and community) in authentic ways is how brave marketers short cut their way to big results.
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