Here’s a hypothetical situation you may have witnessed at some point in your career: Company A is looking to keep up with one of its top competitors. A quick survey of the marketplace indicates the competition has a fully integrated marketing program that includes an active Instagram page. In order to show action and not be left behind, Company A decides to launch its own Instagram page. They post a couple photos the first week that do not have clear goals and then the page goes dark for the next few months.
What you just witnessed is what we like to call a “random act of marketing.” A random act of marketing is an organization’s attempt to increase brand awareness and drive revenue through disjointed marketing tactics that are not linked to the goals of the business. And, they can actually hinder the success of a brand in the long term due to a lack of forethought and integration with the brand’s message and objectives.
As I stated in the hypothetical above, companies are often tempted to try new ways of interacting with their customers – whether it’s joining a new social media platform, writing a press release targeting a new vertical, attending industry events or creating a viral video – because they see other companies having success with that tactic. All of these ideas are great ways to enhance your customer relationships – if they are executed with purpose.
When they’re executed as random acts of marketing, they can serve to confuse and alienate your customers.
If you’re wondering how your business can avoid random acts of marketing, here are three tips to keep in mind as decide what marketing initiatives are right for your goals:
- Understand your target audience and their needs. Choose which marketing channels are appropriate for your audience and your message.
- Define your message and integrate it across channels. Your customers want to hear your brand’s consistent story across all customer touchpoints.
- Create measurable objectives for your marketing actions. Every marketing action should make a measurable impact on your business goals. You won’t know if you are succeeding until you are able to measure your progress.
We hope those three tips help! If you want help in delivering a consistent message across channels, give us a call. We stand ready to help your company tell its story in a strategic and measured way!