HERE ARE 5 STEPS ON HOW YOU CAN INCREASE YOUR MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS IN YOUR BUSINESS IN 2021

1. Increase your reputation

Your reputation as a company and a brand, is key to achieving your success. You want your customers to be brand ambassadors and long- term loyal customers.
As a brand you must be honest and open. Don’t try to be something you are not. Customers know when a brand is not what it says it is. Focus on what makes your brand stand out. Tell your customer why your product stands out and how it caters for their needs. Use your marketing and advertising to educate your customer. Talk to customers directly and give them feedback and act on what they say. This will bring you success.

2. Share your success story

A customer experience story shows how your brand fits into real people’s lives and makes things better.
Today it is not enough to use advertising campaigns, national media, billboards and digital platforms alone to market your brand.

Customers want brand stories that are real. Stories are needed that show the ups and downs that customers face in their lives. You need to show how your brand makes a difference so they’re meaningful and relatable.

3. Take the lead and don’t follow the crowd

You need to stand out as a company/brand in today’s marketplace. You simply can’t follow the crowd. Start by discovering and understanding who you really are,
your strengths and ambitions, your purpose in the market and the lead position you take.
You need to have super creatives, compelling stories and cool campaigns to give you powerful results.
High risk, high reward. The boldest brands aren’t afraid to experiment or to take a lead position within a sector. They are never boring or just another brand.
Let us look at 2 recent examples;

The Premier Football League – approach to Racism.

This was launched to unite the players and to have one goal – to eliminate racism in all the teams in the top league in England. The league was not afraid to take on this delicate matter and openly support black people in sport. It has caused some upset and controversy but they have continued on undeterred.

ITV Support of Mental Health.

Their approach to mental health was quite unique, using a prime slot on television with a programme and advertisements with no sound to get the message across to people of the need to talk to each other and clear their minds. This was very brave of them to take on such a sensitive issue at this time.

Does it pay to take risks with a brand? Every brand is different. The level of risk depends on the organisation and their particular circumstance. A big risk can be dangerous as it could damage your brand. It is up to companies, brands to determine the correct level of risk for themselves.

Sometimes taking a risk is important for a brand

If your brand is to stand out in today’s marketplace you need to be brave, take a risk and be ready to face the outcome. If you decide to take a risk, ask yourself, does it make sense and does it fit in with your brand? If it does, that is fine, you can go ahead. There are so many campaigns out there at the moment that are, dare I say it, not very interesting. So it pays to be different and suffer the consequences.

4. Showcase your forward thinking ethos.

Forward-thinking companies are confident and innovative. They decide what they want to achieve and stay laser- focused on their task. They don’t over-plan. They simply don’t see the need in spending too much time forecasting what is an unknown. They are not afraid to say no to new proposals or even new customers. They are quick to embrace change when something is not working and have no problem in going in a new direction. It is a culture that normally leading companies in their field develop and one that, if adapted, can bring positive change and results faster.

In order for a business to have the best chance of succeeding in such a competitive environment, they need to be forward-thinking. No 2 companies are the same but forward-thinking companies normally have the following qualities:

1) Innovative.
2) Plan.
3) Adaptable.
4) Proactive.
5) Focused.
6) Practical/Creative.
7) Realistic.

5. Identify New Opportunities

Opportunities to innovate in your company and drive your business growth can be achieved by identifying a number of factors:

1 Examining what innovative companies are doing.
2 Analysing new trends that are having strong momentum in the market at the moment.
3 Analysing extreme customers. Obtaining feedback from your existing business customers who: Love your company, hate your company, stopped doing business with you or have never bought from you. All customers are likely to have issues or frustrations with your products, services or processes.

As a business you need to realise you are not alone, so you need to stand out. Through innovation you can offer something extremely unique to your customer. Innovation helps meet customer needs.

Innovation is key to success.

Innovation is key to success for all businesses today.
No business can stand still. There is a constant need to look for new ideas for the growth of your business in the
future.