June 9th marks the 16th annual CT Business Expo, a statewide gathering of small businesses and entrepreneurs. During this day of networking, collaboration and professional development, Co-Communications will be participating in the panel presentation Prospecting in the Age of Technology and hosting a Social Media Hub on the show floor. Here are five marketing lessons we’ll be sharing at this year’s Expo: 
Take an integrated approach to marketing
Whether it’s b2b or b2c marketing, an integrated approach is always the most effective allocation of resources. An integrated approach ensures all marketing, sales and communication channels are working together to achieve a common set of goals. This lays the foundation for a measurable marketing program that generates tangible outcomes.
Know your audience
In an age where social media marketing platforms continue to proliferate and the focus is often on the “shiny and new” it is important to keep one’s audience top of mind. If your company produces a quarterly print newsletter or magazine that is widely read and consistently proves to be a valuable tool for upselling, it may be worth continuing this effort. Every audience has unique communication preferences and what’s good for one company isn’t necessarily good for another.
Keep an eye on the competition
Sometimes the competition means your direct competitor and other times it means anyone (company, cause or individual) who is using a particular sales or marketing channel. For example, while you may be competing with your direct competitors to capture your target audiences’ attention at an industry-specific tradeshow or conference, when it comes to email marketing you are competing against everyone who is sending content to that same person’s inbox. To that end, having one’s radar up at all times is imperative. After all, you want to seize every opportunity you can to “out market” the competition.
Be realistic about resources
We understand that the opportunity to be an early adopter can be compelling. After all, who doesn’t want to be the first in their industry to embrace a new marketing technology and gain exposure in trade media for their successes? The challenge with trying everything is that you can end up spreading your resources too thin and end up with a lot of poor or mediocre marketing channels, as opposed to focusing your resources on excelling on a few high-performing channels that are most popular among your target audiences. Bottom line: don’t bite off more marketing campaigns than you can chew.
Be consistent
Consistency encompasses everything from the look of your brand to the tone of your messaging and the frequency of your communications. Whether its e-newsletters, lead nurturing emails, social media marketing, media relations or another marketing activity, you want to be sure that you are pushing out high-quality content that is on-brand and of the utmost relevance to your target audiences. You want to manage your audiences’ expectations as to how often they will be communicated with and set a precedent for delivering content that is worth consuming.
Stop by the Co-Communications Social Media Hub at the CT Business Expo on June 9th and/or attend Prospecting in the Age of Technology for more marketing insights from the Co-Communications team.
