Here at Sharpmonkeys HQ , we love a bit of good old fashioned marketing. Although we spend the majority of our time with new fandangled digital (stuff) we do like to help clients see the wood for the trees sometimes by getting them back in the routine of some good ‘ole fashioned marketing principles.
So what do you think? Do traditional marketing models and techniques have a place in the modern marketing arena? How many of you are spending your time chasing the new social “platform” nirvana or white hat SEO technique (or black hat for that matter) without really getting to grips with the core issues in a business?
We see part of our role here as a consultancy, is to help business grow and perform online – sometimes the client might be chasing or interested in the “latest” digital tactic or technique without really understanding the fundamentals of their proposition online.
New business models and innovative revenue generation techniques have their place and the web is awash with “get rich quick” schemes. Sometimes, these new models and techniques can cloud some core, fundamental business concepts that will stand you in good stead.
A lot of our clients are now very nervous about collating and using customer data since the arrival of the four horses of the GDPR apocalypse. With good reason and we don’t advocate doing anything underhand or that would breach data protection laws. Looking at fundamental marketing strategy, one model we like and think is still highly relevant is the STP model. There is a great explanation of the model here at www.smartinsights.com . Fundamentally we are talking about segmenting your market. Targeting typical groups within your segment and then Positioning your product to appeal to that target market.
What does this look like in “real life” and how does this work online?
Lets just take a typical online client and work through what this model might look like and how to use it for them.
So, company x sells cheese online on a monthly subscription. They want to appeal to a premium audience who want to try new and exciting cheese.
Segmentation – develop customer personas , identify customer needs and experience.
Targeting – Online targeting and key messages maybe using Google Ads or SEO?
Positioning – Brand promise, packaging, content marketing , core brand proposition.
What might this look like? Well if you identify the persona correctly, you should be able undertake keyword research that is relevant to the segment. For example, it’s no good targeting people searching for “cheap cheese online” but it might be suitable looking for people searching for “perfect cheese for dinner party”.
The landing pages should appeal to the “persona” type, the content marketing and marketing comms should be appropriate and the of course the experience has to live upto the promise!
Take a long hard look at your business and your products and see if you can work out the STP approach for key products – it should help drive the whole online experience, including website design, customer journey, mobile experience and social media content. It’s a great place to start.
If you feel you are ready to take a different approach online and you need someone to facilitate your thinking , take a look at our consultancy services or please get in touch.
