Improving Marketing strategy for 2023

The most important qualities that a digital marketer should have

A digital marketer faces a new challenge which s/he must resolve every day. One day it’s one technology working for you, and the next day it’s another. If you think one platform is your best lead gen, you might have to change your stance the very next day with an emergence of another new platformand perhaps a rather short deadline.

I would like to see the new gen of digital marketers imbibe the following qualities, which would make them stay agile, stay relevant, and always ahead of the curve:

• Be flexible.
• Apply innovative problem-solving techniques.
• Maintain a constant learning curve, and never stop seeking knowledge.
• Learn. Unlearn. Relearn.
• Be business-savvy.
• Think analytically.
• Be persistent with your approach.
• Bepatience.

An effective sales funnel

What is a sales funnel?

In simple words, sales funnel refers to the journey that potential customers take through the buying process while making a purchase or becoming a lead.

Why is it important?

A sales funnel is crucial because, whether a person is brand loyal or has just learned about your company, it helps you analyse the buying process of your prospects. It can help you identify areas where the sales process is weak and provide you an opportunity to rectify such gaps.

It is critical to create an effective sales funnel to track leads as they progress from prospects to customers, and to continually improve your sales and marketing efforts by analysing your sales funnel.

Stages of a sales funnel

A sales funnel essentially comprises of 5 to 7 stages which are spread across 3 main components:

• Top of the funnel
• Middle of the funnel
• Bottom of the funnel

According to TechTarget, the goal of a sales funnel is to take prospective customers in and nurture them into true customers.

Here are some key steps to keep in mind while building an effective sales funnel:

• Understand your customer.
• Define your goals.
• Capture the audience’s attention.
• Create a landing page.
• Run drip campaigns.
• Qualify leads basis interest in the product.
• Keep nurturing.
• Keep optimizing.

Importance of social media in digital marketing

Social media is a key component of digital marketing and a must-have in today’s marketing mix for both B2B and B2C organizations. Social media has paved a way for businesses to communicate with their target audiences, reach larger audiencesand engage with customers in a personal and interactive manner. It is an essential platform that allows businesses to promote their products, services, and create a strong brand positioning.

In a nutshell, social media is a key component of any digital marketing strategy for:

• Increasing brand awareness
• Increasing website traffic
• Staying connected with customers
• Enhancing customer engagement
• Establishing strong brand statement and positioning
• Announcing key developments to larger audiences
• Ensuring targeted advertising
• Deploying cost-effective marketing strategies

Changing customer needs

Customer needs keep evolving over time as technology advances, or as priorities change. Therefore, it is important for businesses to adapt to these changing customer needs, andevolve their marketing mix to stay effective by meeting the needs of its customers.

Organizations need to be flexible, open-minded, and agile when it comes to meeting the ever-growing needs of their customers, and timely evaluate those needs which can provide strong indications of how brands need to adapt to survive.

To begin with, any marketing mix needs to keep its customers at the centre of everything they do. Brands need to create customer-focused strategies contemplating needs, get their operations aligned with these new strategies, evaluate customer needs regularly, recalibrate their company goals towards customer needs, and keep adjusting as needed to successfully meet the evolving landscape of changing customer and business requirements.

An interesting Forbes article listsdown these 13 steps which can help businesses streamline their activities with such changing needs:

1. Develop anongoing feedback system.

2. Stay close to the sales process.

3. Check in with clients obsessively.

4. Implement an AI strategy.

5. Never assume you know everything.

6. Use social listening, not social monitoring.

7. Ask your children.

8. Build acustomer-centric culture.

9. Get customers to share their vision.

10. Think about their future wants.

11. Follow the eyes.

12. Listen to the pulse.

13. Stay humble and hungry.

The most ingenious growth hack

There are many examples you can encounter when it comes to how many large companies used growth hacking earlier in their days when they were starting off, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Netflix, Groupon, Dollar Shave Club, Drop Box, PayPal, Gmail, Founder and Groove.

However, I would like to talk about AirBnB’sCraigslist hack – which is one of the prominent ones – and cite a learning that marketers can inculcate with their strategy.

Airbnb now operates as an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences.It is used by many to find affordable accommodationsanywhere across the globe. However,early on,they wanted to establish a good user base, gather an impressive clientele, reach larger audiences, and garner a reputation.

Airbnb founders realised that their potential customers who look for affordable accommodation were mostly using Craigslist. Learning #1: Find where you customer is.

They took this intel and enabled Airbnb hosts to quickly copy their accommodation listings to Craigslist, verify details, and post with one single click. Learning #2: Keep it simple for your users.

This resulted in Airbnb getting access right away to a larger market of their targeted users.