Marketing Advice From Industry Leaders

*Updated on April 15, 2021

It’s estimated more than 83,300 businesses close every year because of ineffective marketing. Obviously, you want your business to succeed. It’s our hope the marketing advice provided through this blog post will help you avoid becoming part of that statistic.

The Purpose for This Post

We’ve made a point to frequently publish quality marketing advice on our blog. And while we consider ourselves to be digital marketing thought leaders, we recognize we aren’t alone. There are many fantastic agencies and professionals who truly understand marketing and best practices. We decided to reach out to some of these professionals and give them an invitation to share their own marketing advice with our audience. When you apply the recommendations provided in this blog post, we suspect your marketing should become more effective than ever before. If you can learn from what’s shared in this post, and you can leave our website with inspiration, clarity or a plan for what to do, then our objective for this blog post will have been accomplished.

Do you know someone who would be a good fit for contributing a tip? If so, let us know! You can connect with us via the contact form below. And without further ado, let’s begin!

Joshua Lyons
Managing Director of Joshua Lyons Marketing, LLC
Based in Pensacola, Florida
Contact Us

It's estimated more than 83,300 businesses close every year because of ineffective marketing. Don't be part of that statistic! ~ Joshua Lyons #DigitalMarketing Click To Tweet

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Marketing Advice Related to Strategy, Planning & Analysis

Janet Granger | Marketing Consultant with Two Beagles LLC | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | (203) 521-1752

Marketing Teams and Agencies – Do You Feel Misunderstood?

When I work with marketing teams and agencies, I find that they sometimes feel their clients – or even senior management – just doesn’t “get it.”

These older generations don’t seem to understand what they do or what they’re trying to accomplish. In fact, it sometimes feels like there’s a battle going on – senior management and clients say they want help with digital marketing but then they don’t appreciate the final results. This lack of appreciation can even be reflected in lower ad budgets.

Interactions and communications among Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers, and Millennials in the workplace – and sometimes with vendors – has gotten worse in the past decade. At times, it feels as though it’s shifted to an “us” vs. “them” mentality.

If this issue isn’t addressed, your organization or team will never achieve its goals; even worse, people on the team feel frustrated and held back. No wonder it’s hard to reach individual or team goals! It’s also hard to keep talented people working at jobs where they feel unappreciated.

The secret to solving this issue is in understanding why and how everyone – of all generations and backgrounds – is the same.

We all have human brains and the way our brains function affects us at work. Our emotions are driving our decision-making processes, and it’s these emotions, such as fear, that are undermining our success at work.

Resolving the inter-generational conflicts in the workplace starts with understanding that everyone is working with the same emotions. It’s only through this process that we can begin to solve the “digital divide” between the generations.

We all have human brains and the way our brains function affects us at work. ~ Janet Granger #MarketingTips #MarketingConsultant Click To Tweet

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Jude Creamer | Manger with HelmsBriscoe | Spring Hill, Florida | (404) 610-2907

“Out of Sight, Out of Mind”

That’s an old adage that lives and thrives today. Attention spans have shortened. Digital marketing has ideas popping up in front of one’s face faster than minute-by-minute.

Why isn’t your product or service among those ideas? With our ability to create reusable templates, automated sends and communicate in immediate time, there’s not only no reason to be silent, but it’s deadly not to toot your horn!

What medium works for you? How do you get your message to the largest number of users (product fans) with the most effective impact?

If depends on your audience demographics and your message. Research your user demographics: if your audience is mostly Millennials (18-34) – be proactive on Instagram and YouTube. If they’re Baby Boomers (55-64), maybe Facebook is where you should be. On average, U.S. adults aged 35 to 54 years (Gen X) accessed mobile apps 7.7 times per day.

Is your important client in the corporate realm?

If so, reach out to them with heart-felt and relevant email messages on a consistent basis.

One thing everyone has in common is the device that’s attached to the end of their fingers: their smart phone. Consider starting a loyalty club that helps them be the first to know about new products, current promotions, and time-bound discounts. Texting your message gets you front and center immediately. Research shows that SMS open rates are as high as 98%, compared to just 20% of all emails. And, on average, it takes 90 seconds for someone to respond to a text and 90 minutes to respond to an email.

Medium, message and frequency are all important once your audience is identified. Be visible, be relevant and have fun watching your revenue soar!

Medium, message and frequency are all important once your audience is identified. Be visible, be relevant and have fun watching your revenue soar! ~ Jude Creamer #MarketingStrategy Click To Tweet

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Mike Moran | Digital Marketing Consultant at Digital Dimensions | Georgetown, Texas | (512) 948-3795

“Optimization”

I’m sure you have heard it from many, many digital marketers, but what are they actually talking about? In most cases, they are referring to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Social Media Optimization (SMO). While those are valid answers, they are only part of the answer.

The real answer is optimization includes the website, SEO, SMO, the eCommerce site, ads, and if done correctly extends to include the corporate stationery. Why?  Simple, your messaging needs to be consistent across all the realms.

When talking about your website, messaging should draw the visitor in. And if it chases your visitor away, because it either confuses the visitor or it causes the visitor to feel they are in the wrong place, either way, you break at least one of the three rules of page design.

The Three Golden Rules of Page Design

Rule 1: Make the visitor feel they are in the right place. Does the page reflect the upstream messaging.

Rule 2: Don’t make the visitor think. Is what brought them to the site immediately visible on the page? That means the page must have the item or information must be easily accessible, which means preferably on the visible part of the page or no more than a scroll away.

Rule 3: Don’t make the visitor work. The visitor should never have to perform a search or otherwise change the page to find what they came for.

The easiest way to achieve this is with consistent messaging.

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Marketing Advice Related to Websites

Steve Liebroder | Founder of SEO727.com | Palm Harbor, Florida | (727) 203-1543

OMG, it is 2020. There is a Website URL for almost everything out there. Now, more than ever before – your business must have a strong online presence and the hub of that presence is your website. I don’t do business as a customer with a place that doesn’t have a good website and I’m not alone. 97% of consumers use the internet to find the products and services they need.

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Marketing Advice Related to Messaging & Storytelling

Henry Grunberg | Director of Best Shot Productions | Hollywood, Florida | (954) 998-3645

We believe that marketing is pointless unless you have a compelling, impactful, and genuine story to tell.

People love stories – it’s why Disney, Coca Cola, McDonald’s, and the World Cup are so successful – each in their own right is always telling a compelling story that doesn’t sell anything outright, yet we still find ourselves taking out our wallets to give them money for what they each respectively offer.

To understand the client’s needs you should devote valuable time speaking and understanding their unique story. Then, translate that story into a message in the form of compelling and mesmerizing visual content.

Whether it’s a challenge they overcame, a decision that put them down a specific path, or an angle that separates them from the rest – you should constantly dig in to produce quality, story-based work so the audience will connect with the brand in a deeper level.

With over 25 years of experience in the industry, working with clients across the spectrum of industries, we’ve learned that the highest quality work comes when the story, message, and purpose are tied together seamlessly.

In this era of short attention spans and overly-saturated marketing spaces, a genuine impact within the first seconds of your message is what will set you apart from the rest.

Marketing is pointless unless you have a compelling, impactful, and genuine story to tell. ~ Henry Grunberg #Storytelling Click To Tweet

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Chad Randall | Owner, Managing Director with Who-U-R | Austin, Texas | (512) 842-9958

Who is Your Target Audience? – Does Your Marketing Material Say Differently?

One of the most significant mistakes I see companies make in their marketing collateral, whether print or digital, is that they often seem confused as to who their audience is. Your message should be clear and compelling. That is hard to do when you do not know to whom you are marketing. Are they an end user, a business, a reseller, or perhaps a specifier? The type of collateral and the message it contains should always be a clear reflection of that answer.

Some may state that it does not really matter all that much – the product or service remains the same, right? Not so. The actual story (your product or service) may stay the same, but how you tell that story should depend entirely on whom you are targeting.

I spent years working with and making presentations to both architects and engineers. While my central message remained the same, I had to tailor that message to my listener because both groups were interested in different things. The architects were interested in the aesthetics and more of the “big picture” features. The engineers were much more fascinated with the details and the mechanics of the product.

Besides the message itself, it is also critical that the layout and design be appropriate for the audience you are targeting. Some companies may wish to speak to one group, but the design and layout of their marketing material may be silently screaming to another audience entirely.

While some types of collateral may crossover multiple groups, such as a brochure or video, you should try and create various versions of the same collateral piece to target a particular recipient. If your budget does not allow for this, then you should always tailor the message to your largest, most valuable audience.

The actual story (your product or service) may stay the same, but how you tell that story should depend entirely on whom you are targeting. ~ Chad Randall #Messaging Click To Tweet

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Marketing Advice Related to Promotional Products

Michelle Bocchino | Promoter with Omega Promotional Products | Clearwater, Florida | (727) 434-1109

Marketing Advice Related to Email Marketing

Dave Ellis | President of Affinity Marketing & Communications, Inc. | Palm Harbor, Florida | (727) 733-9332

It is a proven fact that keeping your company’s name in front of customers, prospects and referral sources on a regular basis will generate more sales. Permission-based Email Marketing is an effective, cost-efficient way to do this. And, when done right, the ROI for marketers is high – averaging $38 for every dollar invested.