50SURVIVAL TACTICS

Marketers Must Embrace

eBook

Scott MacFarland | December.2013

Marketing has changed drastically since I graduated from college in the late 80s. Yes I know, the whole world has changed, however, marketing is one of those disciplines like technology that thrives and survives on the speed of change. A popular colloquialism said,

Marketing is like having a fire hose of information speeding directly into our brains all at once.

It’s like an information superhighway that creates overload and confusion for marketers. Today, those same marketers don’t have just one fire hose feeding information into their brains, they have several, and each has expanded the amount of data to alarming levels, streaming into our creative brains. This data is now competing for the same space, time and access to our marketing intellect. How do we survive and what can we do to be more equipped to handle what’s coming?

50SURVIVAL TACTICS

Marketing Has Changed

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As marketers, we must obtain as much knowledge and experience as possible, and draw from that for guidance. We must also carefully traffic the speeding content traveling into our brains and connect that content to realistic goals and strategies. Through years of marketing successes and failures, I figured out what works and what doesn’t, what new ideas have value and what tools I can use that I have available at my fingertips. Then I put them all in my professional arsenal so that I can be far more equipped to handle the disruptive change that’s ahead.

Marketing as we know it has changed considerably in the recent years, and will continue to change at a rapid pace. If we don’t know how to handle the disruptive change that’s thrust upon us, we just won’t survive. With that being said, I put together a list of 50 Survival Tactics Marketers Must Embrace.

50SURVIVAL TACTICS

It’s Our Job To Know The Landscape

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Create a marketing strategy from ground zero and attach the tactical, creative and production components to that strategy.

Use all your resources when launching new products.

Create content for all channels, devices and customers.

Be a connector of people, ideas and content.

Creatively think for new and innovative ways that you are not doing now that can be more effective in marketing your business.

Integrate creative thinking to business principles and metrics.

Research industry and consumer trends.

Understand paid media buying and cost-per principles.

Know the benefits of traditional and digital marketing and where they function best to give you maximum results.

Understanding and applying measurement.

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Know how to push an idea forward under pressure.

Execute on time, all the time.

Study how each digital channel works together.

Be a master at juggling people, process, time, media and creative.

Know your software tools and exactly what they do best.

Technology is your friend, fully understand it and embrace it.

Web: understand the trends, technology, toolsets, creative development as well as Google Analytics.

Mobile/Apps: Know the reasons why mobile is growing at alarming levels.

Social: Provides more exposure for your brand than any other channel in the history of marketing – you better know it well.

Study the competition, know their products and customers.

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Master the art of writing a project brief. It requires you to distill complex information quickly and see the big picture organizationally.

Be the ultimate brand ambassador and protect the vitality and integrity of the brand you are working to create.

Creatively write for all marketing initiatives, including public relations.

Understand the “if-then” interactive mindset of marketing in a digital world. Marketing is not passive; it evolves and tells the story in real time.

Understand sales strategies and tactics.

Study consumer buying behavior and consumer media consumption.

Be an incredible storyteller of your brand.

Apply your content strategy and tactics to the sales funnel.

Predict the consumer path from first touch point to purchase.

Be a 24x7 student of marketing, advertising, communications and all things digital.

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Project manage from creation-to-deployment.

Search engine optimization (SEO) changes frequently. Know the rules and recipe for increasing ranking and score.

Be wildly creative and bring innovative ideas to reality frequently.

Harness your creativity and use it wisely. Know when to use it and when to save it for later.

Think about prioritizing all your ideas in “Yes”, “Later” and “No” categories.

Be a master juggler and flexible because you will always have to manage multiple resources, projects and delivery dates. You must also know how to mitigate a potential crisis before it happens.

Review big brands and agencies for what's new and different.

Find influencers in your company that will help advance your ideas.

Know how to develop the business case strategy and apply it to all marketing initiatives. This is like a mini business plan.

Ask yourself this question every day. If what I am doing is to be a success, what does it have to accomplish?

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Think about the customer’s perception of the brand, not your own.

Determine the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for all initiatives.

Study generational attributes that align with your customer base.

Create personas for your brand and know them extremely well.

Don't say, “Because we always did it that way” – That excuse doesn’t work any longer.

Know the key selling points of your brand and what makes them so important for your marketing message.

Create an emotional response from your customer.

Search engine marketing is more than just banner display ads. Become an expert at how to play the online game of marketing.

Inbound tactics are critical in today’s content-driven marketing world. Study, adopt, and use it frequently. Inbound touches your entire brand and marketing team as well as activates brand exposure and closes the gap from awareness to sale.

Ship: Know when to stop creating for perfection and get the marketing out to the customer. If you don’t ship, you will probably be out of a job and won’t survive.

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50SURVIVAL TACTICS

Marketers Must Embrace

Scott MacFarland | December.2013

eBook

YourBrandExposed.com - Original Content SeriesEmail: scmacfarland@yahoo.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scottmacfarland Twitter : @scmacfarland561.339.2278

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