Has Technology Changed Marketing Planning? Here are 4 Key Components of a Marketing Plan in the Age of Technology.
Marketing used to be straightforward. Only a handful of newspapers and magazines used to exist for each marketing niche. There were a limited number of TV channels, radio stations and billboards across the nation. That meant that planning marketing was fairly simple. All you needed was a compelling marketing message. Today, everything has changed. With the advent of the digital age, marketing is far less easy. There are billions of web sites and millions of apps. In the past all you needed to do was discern consumer needs and then push products based on utility. For startups today, marketing strategy is all about creating engaging integrated materials that ensure an immersive and inclusive experience. This article will help you plan a marketing strategy that meshes the best of technology with the tried and tested axioms of advertising.
1. Identify your Goal:
If you want to use technology to market your startup successfully you need to establish a clear goal and then plan around that. Having a thousand unrelated ideas of how to boost your business is not going to get you anywhere. Decide what your goal is. It could be, for example, you want to promote a particular product or service. Having a goal will allow you to build your strategy based on a clear target.
2. Build an integrated digital marketing plan:
It is crucial that your message is consistent across all channels. The development of your marketing strategy should prioritize the creation, magnification and syndication of content that will work across both digital and real world channels. In order for marketing campaigns to work today in our era of technology, they need to synergistically deliver a unified message via a variety of channels and media that take into account online mediums such as SEO, SEM, social media, videos, events, white papers, e-books and off-line mediums like TV, PR, print and radio.
3. Create an experience:
Nowadays it is not important to grab your consumer's attention. Instead, in today's digital world, where consumers are constantly bombarded by multiple media messages, you need to hold their attention. The best way for your startup to do this is to create a unique experience. You need to associate your content with an experience that is sensory. Marketing through mobile, PC or other electronic means often feels robotic. Focus on creating a tone, voice and feel for your marketing messages thereby delivering an authentic and human experience You need to find ways to harness your consumers’ senses, whether it is sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.
4. Test your materials:
Don't be tempted into thinking that just by posting content online that you will get the responses you desire. Your startup needs to test out its ideas out before releasing its campaign. You can start by trying your marketing messages out on friends and family. Verifying the reaction to your marketing materials will allow you to gain insight and troubleshoot before you release the content online, giving consumers the feeling that your brand really tunes into its consumers' desires.
