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4 Winning Tactics to Put in Your Marketing Plan

by Jennifer Beever

Flickr photo by familymwr, some rights reserved

Happy New Year! Marketing continues to change at lightening speed. Here are 5 top tactics (four new, one timeless) I recommend for your marketing success in the coming year. 

1. Substance is king. SEO Is dead.

Google’s algorithmic changes in 2012 and 2013 have been a big nod to substance. So it’s not that “content is king,” it’s that “substantial content is king.” The SEO tactics of yore (keywords, links, guest blogging, short blog posts for the sake of headlines and keywords) are not working anymore. Your presence on social media and how others share your content makes a huge difference. Use of images and substantial articles or blog posts are the new winners.

2. Get more visual.

Photos shared via Twitter and Instagram, videos on YouTube and Vine, and quickly scan-able content on SlideShare are the most shared and popular content. When people are scanning for solutions, visuals get their attention more readily. I think that more detailed pieces like eBooks and whitepapers still have a place, but both should also be scan-able and easy to read with great visuals and grapics. (If someone does a deep dive into your detailed content, it might be a sign that they are more qualified than in the early stages of their search.)

3. Give it up and start Tweeting.

I used to tell clients to think of Twitter as a radio station, but it’s much more than a sales or marketing broadcast channel. It’s a way to engage and communicate with your connections – to tell your story and engage, not to sell. When news coverage of Pope Benedict XVI showed his final tweet as he was leaving for Castle Gandolfo, I felt Twitter reached a tipping point (it very well could have been much earlier). It was something about that moment (the POPE TWEETED?), plus the fact that young people have left Facebook in droves to move to Twitter where they can follow people and comment with ease (and with more privacy/anonymity). Tweets with hashtags are used by celebrities and TV shows to create engagement with fans and buzz about entertainment. By the end of 2013, Twitter had over 210 million users.

4. Create your Google+ Company Page.

Google+ gained critical mass in 2012, and now has over 540 million users (as Kim Garst wrote in the Huffington Post, “Google+ FINALLY Hits the Tipping Point.”) The same thing happened to LinkedIn in the last few years, and believe me, you will want to be on the platform and actively sharing and engaging with others for maximum results. Plus, it’s Google! How can you not create a Google+ page?

5. (Bonus!) As always, market strategically.

Although technically this is not a tactic… …as always, the best marketing is planned strategically, using deep knowledge of customer needs and marketplace trends. Your strategic plan allows you to message and brand consistently, integrated across all platforms, including offline/traditional platforms like trade shows, direct mail and print as well as online/social media platforms such as your website, email marketing, LinkedIn company page and others.

I hope this post has sparked some ideas for your marketing tactics in 2014. Remember, you don’t have to do it all. Continue what works and add new tactics in a measured way.

If you need assistance, I provide marketing consulting, including strategic plans and implementation of traditional and social media marketing. Contact me via our website contact form or call me at 818-347-4248.

 Flickr photo by familymwr, some rights reserved

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