So lately, for whatever reason, I’ve taken to trying my hand at puzzles. Perhaps it’s due to the pandemic where I’ve found myself more often than not, sitting at home in the late hours unable to sleep or still trying to unwind from the days’ work. I downloaded one of them in an app that I saw in an ad, which promoted something like: “Only a psychopath can solve this problem” – it was how to draw a continuous, single line tracing an entire complex shape without repeating a line or a section and not skipping any portion. And I thought to myself: “Oh, haha, I can do that!”

Anyway, after downloading it, and struggling in the beginning, (maybe I’m not such a psychopath), I realized quickly that there were two keys to success:

• • First, finding the right starting point where you could complete one of the shapes (part of the entire puzzle) by ending up in the same place and still having options that weren’t a dead end.
  • Second, figuring out the patterns you needed that were repeatable. In some cases, this was simply a way to visualize the puzzle in pieces and attack those shapes that were knowable and do-able first.

And it dawned on me that, that this particular puzzle was a lot like marketing – you have to know where to start and you have to recognize patterns of audience behavior or need. Here are four marketing puzzles that all businesses have to figure out to some extent, in order to successfully promote themselves.

Puzzle No. 1: Who Is the Truly the Best Audience for Your Products/Services?

On the surface, this may seem like an easy answer. But the more you dig into the question, the more complex it becomes. After all, you may get some of your clients from a certain demographic, industry, or interest area, but that doesn’t mean that similar clients are always worth the effort to spend your resources marketing to them. It may be that your best potential audience comes from one that you haven’t yet considered or created any specific content for.

How do you figure this out? We’d use a specific set of criteria here, including the following questions to ask yourself:

• • Is there a particular segment that consistently engages with your company?
  • Does that particular group, in general, have the means to purchase your products or services? If not, does someone purchase those services on their behalf?
  • Have you created specific content for this segment and did it work to engage that segment? If not, you should consider doing so including the creation of specific blogs, videos, landing pages, or other experiences aimed at that group, as well as testing different content approaches.

Puzzle No. 2: Who Is ‘In-Market’ Right Now? Is There a Way to Figure That Out?

Let’s say you have you the segment of your audience figured out from no. 1. What part of that audience needs your services now? If you have a longer lead time on your marketing or you sell a more impulse-based purchase, it may not be as pertinent a question. But with small businesses, the focus is typically on needing sales right away regardless so they can continue operations. The problem – it’s not always easy to decipher this. 

So, how do you figure this one out? We would delve into the following areas:

• • Are people searching for solutions now in the area where you provide products/services? First, check in Google. Because you can investigate traffic volume on different terms (with just a Gmail account), you can see the volume of different searches on different terms and see the ones where there is greater intent to buy. If you don’t know how to do this, go to ads.google.com and sign in with your Gmail account. Click on Tools & Settings and in the menu, go to Keyword Planner (under Planning). Typically, the more specific terms (long-tail terms), the more in-market the individual is. The more general the term (short-tail terms), the more the individual is likely doing research.
  • Is there a pattern to customer behavior before making a purchase? Do they tend to check testimonials or reviews? Do they read any case studies? If any of these are true, we always recommend beefing up these sections of your website (or making sure you are getting Google or Yelp reviews) by working with past customers to provide a lot of the content and the context you need.
  • Finally, one thing you can always do: Ask your past customers when they knew they were ready to buy something? What was it that convinced them? At what stage in the process? What was the ultimate selling point? Learning more about this can help you shape the way you market to those who demonstrate some sort of intent to buy.

Puzzle No. 3: What Marketing Channel Should I Use?

Our reflexive answer here might be to say: “All of them!” but that’s not so realistic when you look at most small businesses’ resources or budgets. The question really gets at “art” of marketing, which involves applying resources to areas that have the best “ROI” in the sense that they drive the goals you need and set. That’s hardly a satisfactory answer, but at the same time, there’s also no solution that works for every small business. For some it might be social. For others, it might be email. Some might use content heavily in marketing. Others might go the advertising route. Typically, it’s the right mix of many different channels.

How do you figure this out? What we can say is the following:

• • Develop a marketing plan that takes a full-funnel approach. What we mean by that is have some channels dedicated to driving awareness (e.g., social media), some toward acquisition (downloads, webinars, newsletters) and some toward decision-making (content development or specific advertising). Establish realistic benchmarks for each of the channels for each stage and see if you can hit the goals. If not, keep making adjustments until you do.
  • Take a look at what your competitors are doing in the space. What channels are they using? In particular, you can easily analyze how well a competitor is performing by using our free downloadable guide, How to Analyze a Competitor’s Digital Marketing Presence.
  • Finally, one thing to most certainly consider (regardless of your industry or area) is video. We can’t say it enough: Video is the way most individuals on the Internet consume content. If you’re not yet doing it, check out some quick tips to doing video inexpensively as a small business.

Puzzle No. 4: How Do I Match Up My Business Narrative with Customer Needs?

Hopefully, from No. 1, you figured out your audience and understand the specific challenges and issues they face. Now, you have to match how you project your own business brand in a way that matches up who you are with those audience needs you identified. We recommend taking a step back and giving the following questions some additional thought:

• • What’s your purpose as a business? When you started the business, you clearly had something in mind. What is that? What drives your devotion to it?
  • What makes the products or services your provide unique?
  • What cultural or other background do you bring to the table in terms of your perspective? (In particular, think about how that matches up with others in your audience.)
  • What are those core tenets you believe about your business? What are your core thoughts about life? (Similar to the above, think about how that matches up with others who feel as you do.)

From there, you can define an overall goal and a mold a statement about how you’re going to project your brand moving forward.  A few tips here:

• • Be Authentic to Who You Are: In other words, if you’re all about money, that’s OK. Help those clients who also want to maximize their own money or who appreciate your approach. If you’re about truly about helping people, that’s great too. But don’t try to be something you’re not, just because you think it sells.
  • Be Consistent Everywhere: After you’ve established your narrative, be consistent in reinforcing that in everything you do, including the copy you use, the images you select, the approach you take. This will allow you to project a brand identity in the marketplace that people come to recognize you for.

If you need additional help on brand strategy, don’t hesitate to call us as we can help you walk through the nuances.

Conclusion

We hope this helps. If you need marketing support or have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re happy to provide a free consultation to discuss your marketing needs.