The Latest Marketing Trends for 2014
By Kristin Gabriel

It does not matter if a company is a B2C or a B2B organization; basically we continue to find many small to medium-sized businesses have never been educated about why marketing is important. Today the term for what we do when it involves social media is “interactive marketing.”

First of all, let’s review the definition of marketing communications: To inform, persuade, remind, reassure the customers and differentiate the organization in the minds of the customers. There are actually just three key requirements for truly successful marketing communications today: RELEVANCE, ORIGINALITY and IMPACT.

Here are some of the common mistakes we see which lead to wasted money and less revenue, not to mention a lot of frustration. The biggest mistakes we see include:

1) Most new business owners think they can manage marketing themselves; it rarely works.
2) Business owners do not allocate a percent of their budget for marketing; from 10 to 20 percent is optimal.
3) Most business owners cannot write like a professional marketer; therefore their website, PR, blog and sales materials are substandard.
4) People often believe their product is so unique or revolutionary that they will get media coverage without third party endorsements. Remember media don’t want marketing spin, they want facts, so proof is essential.
5) Some business owners think they can hire search engine optimization (SEO) experts for less than $500.00/month; which is a waste of their money because it is not strategic, and probably won’t work.
6) When it comes to SEO tactics – every company is unique and requires a different and customized SEO strategy. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that a cheap SEO firm will help because cookie-cutter approaches do not work. And rankings won’t happen overnight. Today it takes about six months for SEO to kick in and begin to really rank a new website for their top key words.
7) Pay-per-click advertising is not for everybody. In fact, it is getting more and more expensive. Other options include white hat search engine optimization (SEO) tactics. Hire an experienced, trained team like MarCom New Media (https://www.marcomnewmedia.com) with professional link builders that know how to build white hat links based on the very latest Google rules.
8 ) Many CEO’s hire people just like themselves. A well rounded staff is better, with a variety of personality types, and skill sets.
9) Making sure messaging is on point and credible. Communication is about engaging with your target market, but companies must be credible. Using the wrong language to “boast” about your products or services may be a mistake. Get a third party to prove your credibility.
10.) Companies often forget to create a business plan, and measure their growth. This is especially true when it comes to marketing strategies, which need to be measured and tweaked quarterly for success.

Things changed drastically with growth of the Internet, and suddenly anyone could write and post a so-called news release anytime and anywhere. However, when it comes to PR, real journalists at real media companies just stick to the facts. Never exaggerate! And if you cannot say that your great product or service has been endorsed by third party – someone other than yourself – then do not expect real press coverage. It is important for you or your marketing person to gather customer testimonials, and show what you have to your industry analysts. Once the trade magazines, industry analysts and some customers have endorsed you, then real news coverage is possible.

MarCom usually reviews media coverage opportunities with our clients – such as a product launch release, technology trends, customer testimonials, a management announcement, product introductions, trade shows, or international market news – and each of these topics is newsworthy to a different set of media contacts. A good solid media relations strategy is
Last, social media tactics are in full swing now, but social media does not necessarily work for everybody. Social media can help brand a company, but unless you have a product or service that can deliver coupons, discounts, or free stuff via social media, MarCom has not seen a lot of sales for our clients from social tactics. We see it working better for celebrities, musicians and talent with fans.

If you have an interest in putting a good solid and cost effective, integrated marketing and PR strategy in place for your company, email Kristin@marcomnewmedia or call us at 323-650-2838. MarCom delivers results cost-effectively. www.marcomnewmedia.com