If Sherlock Holmes has taught us anything, it’s that the most obvious answers are usually right in front of us.
And still, when it comes to online marketing, we find ourselves bogged down. We’re buried in data, overwhelmed with huge processes like “demand generation,” and are struggling to implement our conversion funnels in Google Analytics.
Everyone says marketing is easy, but here you are trying to market in an endless amount of marketing channels, becoming data-driven, real-time, and overall proactive before the next new thing hits. It can make you want to throw your hands in the air and quit.
Don’t give up. Just ask yourself — what would Sherlock Holmes do?
He would start by asking questions — by talking to witnesses and other experts. He would rely on the expertise of his closest advisors —who can keep his ambition in check. He would take a magnifying glass to everything — to understand the tiniest details and understand how they apply to macro-level findings.
It’s true — Sherlock Holmes has nothing to do with online marketing. But there is so much that we can learn from this fictional icon, especially when things get overwhelming because then it’s time to get back to the basics fundamentals in planning your marketing strategy.
Ask the Right Questions
Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t throw darts in the dark. Or waste time running on a wild goose chase. No — he has better things to do. He’s a brilliant detective, but at the end of the day, he’s human. His secret weapon? He asks darn good questions. Which is what marketers should do too. Ask yourselves the following:
1. Where Do You Currently Stand?
What’s worked for you in the past? What hasn’t? Why? Dig deep into your own past experience — even if it hasn’t been marketing heavy. Some information is better than no information. Know exactly where you stand.
2. What’s Your Budget?
The answer to this question is another one: what’s your ROI? If you’re going to spend, you need to make money. Take a lesson from Underwater Audio, a company that makes waterproof iPods. They don’t even have a marketing budget. They’ll spend so long that they’re making money.
3. What Are Your Goals?
Lastly, you must weigh your goals. You need to ask yourself questions like:
- What stage is our company or product? (Are you an early stage company? Do you have an existing, trusted brand?)
- What do you want to accomplish? (Brand awareness? More e-commerce sales?)
Now you’re ready to investigate the usual suspects — keep reading to learn how to best approach each of the most popular marketing channels.
Social Media
Social media is a marketing pillar due to its low cost and relative ease to start adding content. But there are so many different social media channels, it’s not as easy as pushing out a status update or tweet. You must choose which channels within social media are best for your company.
Facebook — This is one of the first social networks companies should join, for the sheer fact that Facebook has the most users. Marketing is easier when you go to an existing crowd. Facebook is the largest existing crowd. It’s great for benefits like awareness, word of mouth, and direct sales.
Twitter — If Facebook is the number one social network for reaching consumers, Twitter is 1B. One of Twitter’s distinct advantages over Facebook is that brands can initiate the relationship and conversation. You can tweet or follow someone you don’t know; Facebook limits your communication to existing fans.
Pinterest — Pinterest is one of the new kids on the block. Pinterest is a visual social network and they’re great for referring traffic.Retail businesses find Pinterest to be a great traffic generator for their sales funnel. Why? Because Pinterest is an image-heavy channel. But even bloggers have also found success with generating traffic.
Instagram — Owned by Facebook, Instagram is a widely successful photo sharing app. Its popularity has led brands like Virgin America and Audi to dedicate social media resources to it. It should be noted that Instagram is better at building awareness and interaction than direct sales or traffic. The channel’s lack of clickable links, however, means that value is only limited to basic branding and top-of-the-funnel awareness.
YouTube - This distribution hub is one of the most powerful, yet frequently overlooked marketing channels. YouTube has the potential to connect brands with audiences around the world. The platform is an internal audience driver — and it’s also a tool for brands to host their content. For inspiration, check out Karen X. Cheng’s viral video, in which she captures her journey of teaching herself how to dance in a year.
Her company, 100, hadn’t launched at the time that she released her video — but her story was so compelling that it went viral.
Content Marketing
Sherlock Holmes would probably encourage you to look at ‘clues’ with a skeptical eye. What you’ll quickly learn about content marketing is that this marketing channel is more than just blogging.
Content marketing is building relationships, adding value, and building a steady lead pipeline. The premise is simple — you want to give audiences a reason to consume your content and trust your brand. Like social media, there are different options within this umbrella that require different skills and work for different types of companies.
Blog — Blogs can be overlooked because they’ve been around for so long (in Internet years). Over time, however, they’ve only increased in value for marketers. A blog can be helpful to any type of company who is looking to build awareness, reputation, and trust as long as you develop your editorial calendar and post high quality content regularly.
Ebooks/Whitepapers – Ebooks and whitepapers are excellent lead generators for your sales team. By creating a really compelling piece of content that will educate your audience you’re going to lure in relevant customers. Hubspot does a great job of this, like with their “How to Get 1,000+ Twitter Followers” guide. Offering it for free in exchange for personal information (e.g. email address) and it will produce the warm leads your team needs.
Video – Creative video is another great lead generator for businesses. Video can be done a variety of ways. Moz creates a video series called Whiteboard Fridays, burger chain the Counter likes to make 6 second Vines, and Gary Vaynerchuck made his name through his video blog wine tastings. People love video and you don’t need a professional video team to make great video content for your business.
Paid Advertising
Google Adwords – Google ads are a staple when it comes to paid advertising online. That’s because they’re effective. Pay per click advertising allows you to get in front of relevant buyers when they’re searching for your product. No better time to get in front of a new customer when they already have their credit card out.
Facebook Ads – Despite many detractors, Facebook has built a strong ad business. It’s seeing strong growth with their mobile ad units. They’ve been criticized in the past for poor performing desktop ads, which didn’t perform as well as Google ads, but their mobile ads are more than making up for it as they transition to a more mobile company. In an age where app downloads are difficult to generate, Facebook’s ability to bring new downloads for app developers is a huge advantage.
Remarketing (AKA Retargeting) – Remarketing, also known as retargeting, are banner ads that target you after you’ve visited a company’s website. So after you visit Zappos and move onto another site, you might see those shoes you were browsing at.
Old Staples
Sherlock Holmes was fine with just the basics — and his story is one that has become timeless. This fictional character has made his way into mainstream television — in a variety of shapes and forms. The Holmes/Watson archetype is said to be the backbone of the popular show House, MD. Not to mention, there are two new Sherlock Holmes shows on mainstream TV — one for U.S. and one for U.K. audiences.
The world of marketing is similar — some techniques are timeless but have simply morphed into new shapes and forms.
Tactics like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and email marketing have been reported to be dying, but in fact, they are still going strong.
Search Engine Optimization — The death of SEO has been greatly exaggerated. While some old school tactics, like keyword stuffing, are gone for good, SEO is still an invaluable traffic generator for businesses. In fact Google still facilitates nearly 6 billion searches a day — and that number is growing. You need to rely on Google as a marketing channel.
Email Marketing — Email marketing may seem like it’s dying because many of us suffer from email overload. But the reality is email is the second highest referrer of traffic to shopping sites after search engines. Email marketing isn’t sexy, but just think about how many times you check your email a day?
Brick and Mortar — Marketers know that offline marketing techniques like in-store events, trade shows, and flyers are extremely powerful tactics for reaching customers. The problem? They can’t prove it. The problem is that they can’t track the data. Mobile can help connect te dots. One way to track performance data is by setting up an iPad kiosk area with a customer survey. Lilitab is an example company that can walk you through this process. For more ideas, check out this guide.
Final Thoughts
While online marketing can seem overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. Start by asking yourself where you currently stand, what your marketing budget is, and what your future goals are. This will help you narrow down your options and make the decision of which marketing tactics to use much less daunting. Let 2014 be the year you take your online marketing to the next level.