Coming roughly halfway through the year, the slight summer lull is a great time in which to reappraise what you’ve been doing in the light of the latest feedback and statistics. And, of course, the great thing about digital marketing is exactly that – you get precise and incredibly detailed feedback on the impact (or lack thereof) of everything you do (or don’t do!).
There are some ‘summer-specific’ things you can do… For starters, there are aspects of consumer behaviour in general that tend to change as the temperature rises. For instance, according to Meta, the number of Facebook posts overall increases by more than a quarter in the summer months – so it makes sense to intensify your social media focus during that time with relevant content such as summer-themed hashtags and seasonal video content. Similarly, Meta reports that 92% of Facebook communications related to summer happen on a mobile device – evidently because people are so much more likely to be out and about. So, clearly, it’s vital that every element in your digital mix is fully responsive and mobile-friendly.
By considering carefully exactly who you need to be talking to; exactly who your product is for and why they need it, you come to a real, fully ‘fleshed out’ understanding of ‘your people’ – and that makes for far more effective communication with far more impressive results!
Equally important, though, are the things you can do now to improve your digital marketing’s effectiveness. Key among them is focusing on your customer – rather than on your product. By considering carefully exactly who you need to be talking to; exactly who your product is for and why they need it, you come to a real, fully ‘fleshed out’ understanding of ‘your people’ – and that makes for far more effective communication with far more impressive results! In old-school marketing terms, focusing purely on your product (product orientation) rather than on your target audience isn’t really marketing at all: it’s just selling. And while that’s a perfectly valid discipline in itself, marketing it ain’t!
You see, ironically, today’s digital marketing strategies are actually a lot more ‘human’ than the old-school variety. That’s because the amazingly focused and detailed information feedback you get makes it possible to see your audience as individual people and to address them appropriately. The upshot is that respect from you engenders respect for you and what you’re offering. In practice, that simply means thinking about what your product does to help someone; how you can solve a problem or in some other way provide them with just what they’re looking for. It also means mastering the art of good copywriting (whether you do it yourself or call in a ‘hired pen’) to get your message across in an unforced, natural and compelling style. And that takes a certain je ne sais quoi to get right…
SEO, on the other hand, really is about finding precisely the right words that will enrich your stuff and draw people into your website – and all your other channels too. But even here, a successful strategy involves a lot more nuance and subtlety than you might think. OK, it doesn’t hurt to slap in a few words that relate to your product – but all too often the words that first come to mind are far too ‘on the nose’ to be really effective. In fact they can have the opposite effect. For maximum impact and results your SEO needs to be carefully considered and organic in approach – and you can take your keyword strategy to previously unimaginable levels simply by briefing a digital marketing agency such as… well an agency called Create + Deploy springs to mind!
