Get Back to Basics with 4 Marketing Fundamentals

Gone are the days of simply opening up shop and selling the stuff in your showroom. Let’s face
it, post-pandemic, retail stores just aren’t turning over like they used to.

Your marketing strategy has to be tight. You’ve got to own your niche, find your demographic,
get your name in front of them, and give them exactly what they want.

That’s a lot of pressure!

But fret not, friend. I sat down with the owner and managing director of a major automotive
group to get expert tips on tightening up your marketing attack. Because we all know how easy it
is to get sidetracked or bogged down in today’s overwhelm of advertising.

His best advice? Get back to basics! It all comes back to these 4 fundamental questions:

1. Why are you marketing in the first place?
Remember your goal! We often get side-tracked by calendar events or deadlines we think we
have to meet (Black Friday deals, anyone?) but at the end of the day, we’re not marketing to
meet deadlines. We’re marketing to generate buzz, create inquiry, and ultimately move products.
Stay true to the end goal, don’t get sidetracked, and don’t rush!

By the way, the worst thing about rushing to meet a marketing deadline is that you end up
putting out sub-par content simply because you haven’t allowed yourself the time to make it
great.

2. Who are you marketing to?
We often get so carried away trying to keep up with soft trends that inevitably fall flat,
sometimes we forget the very foundation of what marketing is all about… knowing your
audience!

Take the time to do your research and revisit that research regularly!

3. Who’s in charge of your marketing?
As a business owner, it’s easy to find yourself wearing one too many hats. You might think
shooting off a new ad campaign here or a new eDM there is in your wheelhouse, but the truth is,
we can’t all be experts at everything.

Know to recognize when you need someone else to take the wheel. On the same note, keep your
finger on the pulse to know when something isn’t working. Don’t be afraid to shift roles around
or outsource your marketing to help you put your marketing budget to good use.

4. What’s the call to action?
We talked about your marketing goal with the first question, yes, your why is super important –
but are you making it clear to your audience? Every single piece of content you put out there
should have a single call to action and, most importantly, it needs to be obvious.

So remember, the next time you find yourself overwhelmed by a deadline or disappointed with
your marketing results, get back to basics by asking yourself (and your team) these 4 essential
questions. Like anything, laying the proper foundation is the one thing that’ll keep you steady
going forward.