This past year has forced many if not all marketers to rethink their marketing strategies. Whether you are a B2B marketer, looking for new ways to connect with a telecommuting audience, or a restaurateur trying to overcome the obstacle of getting people into your restaurant. Businesses that relied on in-person sales calls or conventions are trying to find ways to reconnect. Stores relying on mall traffic are vying for a piece of the online purchasing pie. Sure a case can be made for companies pivoting their entire business model, (restaurants focusing on takeout or delivery) but I will leave that for another day.
Regarding marketing, it is difficult and in some cases fruitless to maintain the status quo while pivoting to a new marketing strategy. Available Resources for pivoting are certainly tasked due to layoffs, absenteeism as well financial limitations. Clearly, a company that relies on in-person sales meetings and/or conventions needs to make dramatic changes. So what is the best way to reinvent your marketing strategy? Stopping everything- while starting something you know little about? I don’t think that is entirely the right way to go. My high school wrestling coach had excellent advice for those struggling despite the excessive effort. “Begin at the Beginning!”. It sounded so obvious at first, but the points I took from it were.
- Catch your breath, and evaluate what your goal is and where you are at present.
- Start at the beginning – utilizing those tools that work well for you and/or have worked for others and that are relatively easy to use and scalable.
- Use those tools proceed Step by Small Step.
I’ve identified some challenges I see in the current marketplace, with some simple suggestions to overcome those challenges. Take a look, and more importantly share your insights, your challenges, and your solutions! I hope to connect with you!
Article put together by Jim Lombard, Director of Marketing and Business Development. Cynthia Lin helped in the creating of this piece.