It’s understandable that unless you work in consumer sales environment or a sector where targeting your audience prior to Christmas can be lucrative, you may begin to slow down spending on your marketing efforts as businesses begin winding down for the holidays. With that in mind, here are some simple, cost effective actions you can take to keep generating brand awareness over the coming months. We’ve put together our top tips to give your marketing strategy a spark this bonfire night:
1. Missed the deadline for advertising in trade magazines and industry titles? No problem!
SPARK IT UP: Facebook adverts can be a great way of capturing your target audience while they’re not in the workplace. Many people add job titles to their profiles and can be targeted by this filter through Facebook advertising on a relatively low budget. Add to this there’s no deadline for Facebook adverts and you can create them without the need for expensive artwork and you’re on to a winner!
2. Be more active on social media – tweet tweet!
SPARK IT UP: If there’s one thing many people check daily when they’re not at work, its social media. If you’re busy, you can schedule items in advance on Facebook and also via external apps for Twitter and Linkedin should you wish. Think about when your target audience is most likely to be online – many people check social networking platforms when they wake up and in the evening when they return home. Posting about trending topics and events such as Bonfire Night and Christmas can help you reach more people using relevant hashtags.
3. Create shareable blog content
SPARK IT UP: While posting on social media regularly is advisable, there’s no point putting out content for the sake of it. If you don’t have anything new to say, make something interesting to say. Creating shareable blog content that resonates with your audience and also doubles up as a great tool for boosting your SEO is a win win situation.
4. Check your website’s SEO
SPARK IT UP: Ensuring your website is suitably optimised for SEO purposes can seem daunting and time consuming. It’s essential however if you want to make the most of your website. Simple actions such as ensuring meta descriptions are filled in, keywords are being targeted and images are suitably optimised can all help your website become more visible.
5. Experiment with new images and video
SPARK IT UP: Taking photos and experimenting with video can often be seen as ‘nice to have’ marketing material, as opposed to a necessity when budgets are tight. However, with Facebook becoming increasingly favourable towards video, and search engines looking for original images in a sea of stock photos, both are becoming more important in the marketing mix than simply acting as visuals. We recommend giving your marketing strategy a spark this Bonfire Night by testing videos on your smartphone as a starting point.
6. Conduct research into your target market and their spending habits
SPARK IT UP: If you’ve been in business for years, it’s likely you think you know exactly who your target market is and where they’ll be. The truth is, as platforms evolve, it’s your responsibility if you want to reach your customers to find out what platforms they’re active on, how they’re searching and what drives them to make purchasing decisions. Using tools such as answerthepublic.com can help you to work out what keywords your customers are searching for. Conducting social listening can also give you a valuable insight in to what gets your target market talking.
