The weather is cooling down, and you can’t wait to pull out your favorite jeans and your fluffiest sweater. Sweater weather inspires pumpkin-spiced hot drinks, a few bonfires with s’mores and Friday evenings spent watching high school football.
But what if sweater weather also inspires a new approach to marketing?
Just like you love to layer a cozy cardigan over your softest flannel, you can take layering to your marketing strategy, too.
A layered marketing strategy uses a variety of channels to connect with potential customers across different touchpoints. That layering creates some of the same benefits that come with layering your fall clothes. Let’s dig into it.
Going For a Vibe: To get layering right, you first need to get the vibe juuuust right. Fall isn’t only about the flavors, crisp leaves and cooling temps. It’s about the coziness of gathering with friends for close conversations that build your connections. It’s a close-knit group, gathered around a warm fire, sharing stories and laughs long into the evening. It’s a chilly cheek against yours when you and a kiddo snuggle up for one more minute before calling it a night.
Those feelings aren’t limited to sweater weather. They can be cultivated in your marketing strategy. Layering your marketing strategy allows you to build connections by sharing humor or providing value to your audience. With that cozy fall vibe in mind, you’ll be able to foster warm connections through your strategy.
How it Works: If you’re like a lot of small businesses, you may be focusing too much on one channel for content distribution. Maybe you’re most comfortable on social media or you like the tracking capabilities with automated email marketing.
But there’s a bit of danger in favoring a specific channel too much. Marketing is all about getting your message to a member of your target audience right when they are most likely to buy. It’s harder to do that if you aren’t investing in a multichannel strategy.
Layering your marketing is a nuanced approach that examines the various places your audience spends time, and then attempts to make the most of each of those touchpoints. Consider the various channels you may want to add to your marketing ensemble:
- Social Media: If you’ve been casual in your approach to social platforms, a strategy will help you make more of your engagement there.
- Email Marketing: Email is a valuable and cost-effective way to directly communicate, plus it’s easy to analyze what’s working and what’s not.
- Paid Ads: Focus on getting your message in front of those most likely to buy from you. Like, now.
- SEO: If paid ads are the fast track, this is the slow simmer. Make your company more findable with a solid set of best practices.
- Traditional Marketing: Even traditional marketing has gotten some new tricks, thanks to digital.
These are just a few of the most popular marketing channels that you may want to layer into your sweater weather marketing strategy.
You Can’t Just Mix it Up: If you’re a fan of Google Ads, and you’re thinking, “Okay, I’ll just throw in a few Instagram posts on the side,” think again. It’s not enough to stir in a few other platforms and hope for the best.
You need a strategy that’s built on solid data that reflects where your audience spends time. It helps you keep prospects engaged across different platforms and throughout their buying journey.
Layer Your Content, Too: Along with engaging with audiences across different platforms, your strategy should also include a variety of content formats. It’s important to have content that is appropriate for different stages of the buying process.
For instance, someone who is just beginning to consider a purchase will likely not be interested in downloading a detailed white paper, but they may be the perfect audience for a short, introductory video about your brand.
Likewise, a final decision may land in your favor because, as they neared the end of their buying journey, your customer noticed that you seemed to create the most helpful resources for how-tos and FAQs.
Meeting your audience with the right content at the right time is critical for turning leads into customers.
The No-Itch Layering Approach: Nobody appreciates an itchy sweater, and you’ll want to make sure you avoid some common mistakes that take all the comfort out of your layering:
- Leaning too heavily on one particular channel. Utilize analytics to optimize your marketing dollars.
- Inconsistent messaging: Make sure your tone, message, colors and look are consistent across every channel so that you are recognizable to audiences.
- Failing to adapt. Schedule regular reviews of your strategy, where analytics are presented and discussed, allowing for refining steps to be taken.
Once you’ve started embracing the layering approach, don’t be surprised if your growth gets so hot, you’re peeling off that flannel. And if you need help getting started, contact us at SJC Marketing. We help you determine the right mix of marketing channels to warm up your engagement with audiences!