The Chameleon - Adaptive Marketing Ideas For Your Business

Chances are, your marketing & sales activity are 'ok'. People aren't busting down your doors to do business with you, but things are going 'ok'. You probably have some basic necessities like a website, social media and other outreach methods like email marketing. But, is 'ok' really 'ok'?

Creating a sound marketing strategy is one of many things on most company's "to-do" or "improvement" list. It can be a daunting task and one that, if not taken seriously, can have detrimental results since consumers are relying more and more on the availability of information and products in the digital world. 

The following list are some digital marketing basics that can serve as a sound jumping off point, or a good reminder as you evaluate your strategy.

The ABC's

For 826 and three-quarter days
We developed our product, we labored away.
After months of testing, and tweaking we were ready to say, our one-of-a-kind tech gadget app was going to market today!

The staff arrived early, the anticipation swirling
We flung open the door on our eCommerce store and waited for clients to come purchase what we were sure they'd never had before.
They'd pay us a premium to get the first crack at our one-of-a-kind tech gadget app.

We all know the type of person who tells fisherman’s tales. The one who caught the biggest Goliath Grouper off the east coast of Florida and had to fight it for 4 days without food or water before the fish finally gave into exhaustion. What I say to those tall tales is “prove it or it didn’t happen.” This isn’t to say people shouldn’t be trusted, but the best way to relieve all doubt from the start is to provide the evidence.

In much the same way Pat and JC are fairly active, I am an avid cyclist and runner. As such, I’ve heard the equivalent fisherman’s stories in the workout aspect of my life: the “I just did a 100 mile bike ride with 15,000 feet elevation in 4 hours” type of stories. Now that technology is there to provide that evidence I say “If it isn’t on Strava (workout tracking app and website), it didn’t happen.” In much the same way, unless you’re on social media and promoting your business or product, your customer base (both existing and new) won’t know what you have done or what new things you have to offer.

Most people browse a company’s website and social media accounts to see what is new or happening in that industry. If your page doesn’t have new content more than once every season, your “followers” will fall off their routine of staying up with your news. This doesn’t mean you have to post something every time you or an employee takes a break, eats lunch, finishes their coffee, etc. - everything is good in moderation. Saturating your feeds with too many posts, too often will overload them and, in most cases, sacrifice content quality. So even if you don’t have 10 new products rolling off the shelves every year like Apple, here are a few tips to keep those “followers” following you.

As I am sure you’ve noticed from our posts, Pat and I are rather active, and glean a lot of our material from our adventures in sport or training for various events and this post is no different.

How to Start a Content Marketing Strategy - Let Go of Fear and Become Vulnerable

I was listening to the Elvis Duran Show on my way home from the pool this morning, and they were talking about National Nude Day. Before hearing this, I had no idea it was actually a recognized holiday. Did you? After returning home, a quick Google search tells me we sadly missed it, which means the show I was listening to was a rerun. By the way, mark you calendars for July 14th so you can celebrate or avoid this holiday at all costs. That is your decision. 

As school started back today here in Charlotte and I’m sure in many other cities across the country, I was struck with an overwhelming since of “where did the time go?”.  We spend so much of our time planning; planning our days, our weeks, our vacations months from now, but do we spend the same amount of time relishing in the moments?  After a large event ends, many feel a sense of loss because they are no longer sure what to do with their days, but did they spend any time looking at photos or writing down memories from that day? Too often the answer is “no, I just don’t have the time”.

Business-to-business marketing has changed. In the old days, customers couldn’t use the Internet to evaluate buying options. They went directly to vendors for information. A vendor’s sales representatives cultivated relationships with their customers, and crafted their pitch based on individual customer’s needs and goals. Today, B2B customers usually complete more than 60% of their product and purchase evaluation process before they ever contact a salesperson. By visiting vendor websites and reading online user forums, they eliminate many vendors without ever talking to them.

As I sat on the edge of my seat last night, with the 20 million or so other Americans watching our U.S. Women’s Soccer Team win the World Cup for the 1^st time in 16 years, I was struck with just how similar the attack and strategy employed by the victorious Americans was to successful inbound marketing.