If you think your innovative marketing efforts can only do so much for the industry within which you’re promoting, think again. You don’t have to work for Apple or RedBull to make a splash – or even have a bit of fun while doing it.
If you’re singing the boring industry blues – try to think of your target audience and what they’re clamoring to hear before you throw in the proverbial towel. They probably won’t think your company is boring. It’s their world that they live, work, play or shop within.
So, how can you change your thinking and experience an innovative marketing revelation? Here are a few great tips to get you started:
- Create Detailed Buyer Personas – Get inside the heads of those you’re marketing to and learn their influences, interests and even their activities to help you better target them and empathize with them…sort of like “method acting” for marketers.
- Try A Content Branching System – Instead of thinking of a 12-month content strategy, break it down into easy to digest chunks of 6-8 content features that speak to the customers’ most burning questions and concerns.
- Use An Editorial Calendar – The Content Branching System should make this part easy – all an Editorial Calendar becomes is an activation of the pre-determined plan.
- Define What Success Is – Figure out what the key performance indicators are that say success to you, like how many leads you’ve generated, the rate of landing page conversions, lead-to-customer ratios and traffic-to-lead ratios, etc.
- Measure Continually – Measure everyday activities as you go so you can clearly and quickly define what’s working – and what isn’t working. This will increase your marketing ROI much more rapidly and consistently long-term.
- Recycle Great Content – Don’t be afraid to reuse and recycle content that’s performed well in the past. Maybe reformat or repurpose an awesome blog post into a cool PDF infographic that’s Pinnable, Postable and Instagram-mable, for example.
- Ask The Experts – Maybe you’re not the person in your company that knows everything about everything to do with your “boring” industry. Chances are there’s a bunch of people near you who are – so talk to them and find out what content they have living within them – and use it. Heck, if they're willing to generate that content themselves, even better.
- Create Niche Lists – On Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, Facebook and Blogger, you can maintain private, niche lists of influencers, experts, potential customers and content creators that live within your industry. Tap into them for content, for clues and by all means cultivate relationships with them to help inspire your innovative marketing efforts.
Feeling a bit more inspired to get your innovative marketing content plan underway for that boring industry? Go forth and start creating epic results!