The mental block. Hitting the creative wall.
We’ve all been there: You need a great idea to propel your company’s or cause’s marketing, and you’re completely frozen.
As you try to get your creative juices flowing, it’s important to keep the fundamentals of great marketing in mind.
Here are five great quotes to stoke your creative fire and highlight what matters most when it comes to communicating with and marketing to your target audiences.
1. “The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”—Tom Fishburne
Nobody wants prospects and customers to feel fatigued by the sales process. Nor do they want them to perceive every engagement with the brand as a sales pitch. Great marketing educates, inspires and activates. It is authentic, relatable and engaging. It builds excitement and drives demand for products, services—and experiences. When you’re inspired to work with an organization, to engage with a vendor or partner, or to become part of a great cause or mission, you often forget you were ever even marketed to.
2. “The best marketing strategy ever: Care.”—Gary Vaynerchuk
After B2B and B2C came B2H—business to human. People want to do business with people, not robots (no disrespect to Rosie or R2-D2, of course). By actively addressing concerns and customer service inquiries, informing stakeholders about changes that affect them and consistently demonstrating an understanding of their buyer personas across all communications, companies can demonstrate their care for and investment in their clients and customers.
As noted earlier, authenticity is a vital component of effective marketing and a great way to showcase your organization through the genuine care you show for your clients, their companies and their goals.
3. “Don’t find customers for your products; find products for your customers.”—Seth Godin
Who enjoys being sold things they don’t need? Nobody. As Seth Godin notes, it’s not about finding people to buy your widgets; it’s about making the widgets that people need.
When companies do their homework and learn what makes their clients tick, they deliver relevant products and services that offer high value and solve the problems and challenges their clients face daily. By understanding their audiences’ wants and needs, organizations build trust, gain brand equity and win market share.
4. “Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed.”—Dan Zarrella
The beauty of digital marketing is the ability to measure results. From Facebook insights to Google Analytics to ConstantContact and MailChimp reporting, data are at marketers’ fingertips and help executives make better decisions about how and where to allocate resources.
Whether honing your marketing strategy for the upcoming year, a timely event or creative campaign, let data guide you.
Though it can be tempting to embrace the newest social media marketing tools or communications concepts, it is important to seize opportunities to replicate prior successes.
5. “The best marketing of all is happy clients.”—Susan Stripling
Referral marketing. The power of word-of-mouth and word-of-mouse.
Online review sites, in particular, help organizations cite happy clients as a core component of their marketing toolkits.
Some restaurants encourage online reviews through table cards and marketing on takeout containers, and many medical practices use email marketing and post-appointment surveys as tools for collecting testimonials and accolades.
Because online review sites are open communication forums, organizations must actively monitor them (and social media platforms) for brand mentions and address negative comments appropriately and in a timely manner.
Tying back to Vaynerchuk’s point about the importance of caring, acknowledge and thank those in your client pool and larger community who take the time to make introductions and referrals and leave favorable online reviews.
Although the right mix of marketing strategies and tactics should be unique to every organization, the attributes of great marketing can be universal. As you hone your marketing plans, incorporate new tactics and devise creative ways to engage new and existing audiences, keep these marketing mantras in mind. Inspiration can come from many places.
What quotes and marketing mantras stoke your creative fire?
