I’ve worked in marketing for the last twenty years and during that time I have learnt a lot. I have had my fair share of mistakes. And I have also seen others, both independents and huge corporations, make massive marketing blunders that could have easily been avoided. But we are only human after all. Mistakes will happen. The important thing is to try to mitigate the chance of mistakes happening.
One area of marketing that people often overlook is efficiency. They either don’t understand what efficient marketing is or they simply don’t know how to properly implement it. And that is understandable. It can be quite a complex idea to get your head around. So today we are going to be breaking down exactly what efficient marketing is and why it matters.
What Is Efficient Marketing
When you think of efficiency you likely think of saving money. And this is one of the key pillars of efficient marketing. The idea of getting the most bang for your buck so to speak. But it goes further than that. Efficient marketing also focuses on how well your content is reaching your target demographic and how streamlined your content creation pipeline is.
The Advantages
As we said above the primary advantage of efficient marketing is saving money. If you are reaching your target demographic with ease and have a streamlined content pipeline you will have to invest far less money. This translates to greater marketing opportunities in the future alongside being able to invest in business growth.
Efficient marketing is also far more likely to be successful. People will better respond to marketing that is considered, well made, focused, and appeals to their values and needs. And, in an age where we are being constantly bombarded with advertisements, you can’t afford to not be as efficient as possible with your own marketing.
How To Efficiently Market
So now that we understand what efficient marketing is, how do you go about ensuring your marketing is as efficient as possible? The first area to focus on is your demographic. You need to do a ton of market research to precisely narrow down who your product is for and, most importantly, which marketing channels can reach them. For example, if your target demographic is the older generations then you likely won’t need to focus too much on social media as an advertisement platform.
Once you have narrowed this down you then need to focus on your content pipeline. Is your content being made internally or are you bringing in contractors? If it’s the latter then you need to ensure you are properly vetting potential contractors to ensure they can provide quality content within the timeframe that you need it.
Search Engine Optimization
Perhaps one of the most efficient forms of marketing is search engine optimization. Often called SEO, this is the process of streamlining your digital content to boost your standing on Google and other search engines.
I will provide an example of how it works. Let’s say you own and operate a nationwide laundry service here in the States. And you’ve noticed there has been a sharp upward trend in people looking to find a housekeeping or maid service in Baltimore. The next step then would be to do some keyword research to see exactly what phrases people search for. This will likely be something like ‘Maid Services Baltimore.’
The next step is to start publishing content that uses these keywords. But you will also want to look at working with other companies to get your website mentioned in relevant articles. If these articles are using the relevant keywords then this will further boost your website’s standing.
SEO is one of the most efficient forms of marketing in the digital age. Roughly 90% of people will use Google as their first port of call when they need something. SEO services are extremely efficient and relatively cheap for the sort of results they produce.
Inefficient Marketing
We have discussed what efficient marketing looks like and how to go about it. But it is also important that you know what inefficient marketing looks like so you can avoid it. One of the biggest mistakes people make is keeping irregular posting schedules on social media. Alongside that you want to avoid posting content that is irrelevant or that contains outdated information.
You also want to avoid constantly changing your visual branding too often. This can be off putting for potential customers and can cause confusion. Once you have your logo and color schemes figured out try to stick to them for as long as possible.
