Nobody pounds a cup of hot coffee. Even when your caffeine comes in iced latte form, there’s still a slow, satisfying enjoyment of the brew.
It’s the culmination of a process full of time and discipline. Coffee beans are grown, harvested, dried and roasted with patience and care.
It might make you think of two other things that are best enjoyed when there’s been a bit of time invested: marketing and championship soccer games.
The international soccer tournament has come to Kansas City, and you can sit back and enjoy the game, cheering for your favorites and watching the drama unfold. But you can see that behind the excitement, a lot of discipline, time and technique brought the players and teams to this moment.
They make it look so easy.
The same is true of experienced, strategic marketing teams. A well-designed campaign could make you think that marketing is a quick hit that only requires you to come up with a viral post or a catchy tagline. If only it were that simple.
Like good coffee and like a good soccer team, good marketing takes time, discipline and technique. Take a look at a few key examples:
SEO: Being “findable” on the Internet takes time. Search engines prioritize websites based on a complicated algorithm, and even if you are up to date on best practices, it takes time to implement them and consistently stick to them. For instance, Google prioritizes video content that is regularly updated and includes accessibility features like transcripts and meta descriptions. Doesn’t sound like a one-and-done, does it? SEO takes time, but as your ranking improves, you’ll see more traffic to your website.
Brand Building: Recognition, awareness and presence are all aspects of branding that require specific techniques and activities. And don’t forget that every other brand is trying to cut through the same online noise that is a challenge for you. It takes time because consumers need to see your brand, logo and profile multiple times before they start to register that they have seen your company name before.
Trust: Consumers purchase from brands they trust, and that doesn’t happen quickly, or in a linear fashion. Often, brands increase consumer trust by offering value without demanding anything in return. You might post some blogs that provide insights or offer an opinion on a topic affecting your industry. These kinds of behaviors build trust because consumers begin to see you as an expert and thought leader in your field.
Relationships: Even if you’re a B2B brand, every transaction is made between two people. That’s what makes channels like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn great tools for marketing. It allows you to put a personal face on your brand and build relationships with potential customers. But it also means you have to behave in a way that strengthens the relationship, such as responding quickly to comments and questions, resolving conflicts in a way that satisfy a customer and apologizing when you’re wrong. You know, like people do in a healthy relationship.
Maybe you’re on the same page as you read this, but a question keeps plaguing you: How? If you agree in principle but aren’t sure how to execute a strategy that pays off over time, that’s where SJC Marketing comes in. We can help with the how.
Contact us for an initial consultation. Maybe we can meet up to grab a good cup of coffee and talk about a strategy that yields great results with time, discipline and technique. And…Happy Monday from the team at SJC!