Frequently asked questions are either immensely helpful or extremely annoying depending on what side of the question you find yourself on. If you’re the one looking for the information about a business, FAQ’s provide the clear and concise answer you’re looking for. If you’re on the receiving end of a question you’ve answered a million times it gets a little old repeating yourself. As marketers, a couple of questions continually pop up on our radar, and to clear the air we figured we would briefly answer them for you!
WHY?
This is a fun one, the dreaded one-word question of the marketing world. Why should you market your business? Well, that’s easy, so you can be seen by the public, so you can drive sales and revenue, so you can deliver your message to the masses, so you can establish brand identity, tell your business’ story and so on.
I’ve heard of SEO but what does it mean and what is it?
This one is very common and for good reason. SEO stand for ‘Search Engine Optimization’ and in its simplest form it is the process of increasing your website traffic by increasing your visibility on search engines. Of course, it gets much more complex than that but that is a good place to start.
How often should I post on social media?
This one is very individualized and can vary from business to business but the general rule is to post enough to be an active page on your customers feeds but not so much that you’re annoying (is that vague enough for you?). Often times we will recommend 2-3 posts a week on social media sites.
How can you measure marketing success?
This is a fair question, if you’re spending the money you want to be sure you’re getting a return on your investment. This isn’t a one size fits all answer as some marketing activities are easier to track success than others. Digital marketing is easy to track through the use of analytics where we can measure website visits, clicks, follows, likes, etc. where a billboard doesn’t have that luxury. How you measure your marketing success also depends on what your personal goals are for your marketing. So before you start anything, ask yourself, “what do I want to accomplish here?”
When do I need to market?
The best answer to this question is “all the time.” Keeping a consistent marketing presence is ideal. Your marketing budget should flow monthly with your monthly revenue. For example, if you make 24% of your annual revenue in May, 24% of your marketing dollars should be spent in May as well. This monthly budgeting is especially important for business that have a “busy season.”
Why is marketing so expensive?
The marketing world has a PR problem. Somehow marketing got labeled as a very expensive thing to do and nobody can play in the marketing game unless they are a huge company. This is untrue, marketing can be as cheap or as expensive as you make it. If you are smart with your marketing dollars or hire a marketing firm that truly cares about you (hint hint, wink wink) you can market effectively with less than you would imagine.
I like this channel/station, can we run ads on there?
Of course we can run ads on your favorite station, but is that the best target market for your customers. Just because I like to listen to certain music channels doesn’t mean that everyone does. We will develop you a proper marketing mix, based on measured data, which of course, may include your favorite station if necessary.
What do you guys do?
Simple, we do EVERYTHING! Everything in the world of marketing that is. We are what is considered a ‘full service’ marketing agency. We do everything from design, implementation, digital, social, traditional, guerrilla marketing and beyond.
What is Guerrilla Marketing, I don’t own a zoo?
Confession, I’ve never actually been asked this question but I hope one day that is happens. Guerrilla Marketing has nothing to do with the zoo, unless you are a zoo then it probably does have something to do with it, but I digress. Guerrilla Marketing is just a marketing strategy that uses surprise or unconventional interaction in order to advertise, that’s all.
I’m new to all of this, how do I start marketing?
While it may be slightly biased but also still good advice, contacting a marketing agency like Midwest Marketing is a great place to start. Marketing is all we do, so coming to us is a great start in helping you get your marketing strategy up and running.
Thanks for reading, and if you have a marketing FAQ that isn’t listed here please contact Midwest Marketing today and we will be happy to answer it.
