Do You Suffer From Marketing Tunnel Vision?
Remember when you were younger and new toys would hold your attention for some time, but then you’d quickly run off and do something else. Your focus would be extreme, but fleeting.
That same tendency doesn’t disappear as we get older, we still can revert to that mindset. Lately, everyone’s been focused on social media. It may be a great marketing tool, but it’s important to not lose sight of your ultimate goal and bottom line. Social media is only one of many marketing options available online.
5 Ways to Stay Away from Over Focus
Just knowing that “tunnel vision” exists can save you from the trap, but it might not be enough. Sometimes you need a set of rules to follow, to keep you from making this mistake.
1. Create an integrated strategy
The first thing to do is to make sure you’re starting with an integrated strategy. Online marketing is similar to a machine that requires each individual gear to work in perfect harmony. Each marketing medium can play a different part in your online strategy.
For example, display advertising and social media have great potential to drive demand. A good search engine marketing campaign can take that demand and push conversions. Without both aspects of this strategy, the marketing campaign won’t have demand to convert or will attempt to convert search volume that doesn’t exist.
2. Identify your goals and resources
A good strategy for ensuring optimal use of resources is to be organized. Create a list of your goals and KPI’s (key performance indicators). Then outline what resources you have available.
This will force your resources and goals to dictate strategy. For example, have a web development team but no content team? It might be better to dedicate time and energy in making sure your site is technically optimized before investing in social media.
3. Ask your consumers
Sometime integrated marketing strategies is difficult to do. It’s not always clear how or why to create the strategy. In these instances, it can be best to ask your consumers what they think.
Using surveys to ask your consumers how they found you, what the found had the most impact, and what they wish was different can be a powerful tool. Take the data to determine gaps in your acquisition process and determine where resources can be used to create new marketing channel or reach targets.
4. Ignore the hype
Regardless of what you do, if you get suckered into the hype, you’ll find a way to justify investing in a marketing medium. Recognizing that new and exciting marketing tools are just that, new and exciting, can keep you from focusing on an extraneous marketing expense.
Remember, there’s no single marketing medium that is the end all be all. Whether it be paid vs organic or even online vs offline, they all need to work together to make a successful marketing strategy.
5. Create an experimental budget
Finally, be sure to create an “experimental” budget. The budget is dedicated for trying new marketing strategies, experimental tools, and innovative ideas.
Defining monetary boundaries forces you to maintain your current marketing strategies, while slowly trying new ones. It makes sure you don’t lose too much or stray too far when trying something new.
Conclusion
Over focus is a trap many marketers fall into. It’s easy to get tunnel vision when something new and exciting comes along. Making sure you don’t forget about other marketing mediums and strategies are important skills good marketers must learn.
Although social media may be exciting, it can’t stand-alone. Each marketing medium needs to work harmoniously to create a successful strategy. Integrating social media, search engine optimization, email marketing, display advertising, content marketing, with the next big thing is a skill that great marketers learn to master.
How are you integrating your strategies? What have you done to make sure you don’t fall into the marketing tunnel vision trap?
