Know Your Client’s Business
The importance of a strategic approach when it comes to marketing makes the difference between being just another person/company in the crowd and truly setting your business apart from others. Really great creative is grounded in strategy and insight. As a marketer, every creative idea you have should be grounded in insight and planning, strategy comes along from that insight. Ideas that are not grounded in insight lead to cookie-cutter, boring campaigns that get lost.
To provide the most benefit to your clients, you really need to get deep into your their business and industry, beyond the basic demographic profile.
To do this, do the following:
- Search, find and read past news releases about your client
- Read articles about them and their industry (easy to find on Google)
- Know the industry’s top trade shows and events
- Go to industry associations to stay up on key terms, trends and influencers
- Participate in client, competitor and industry webinars
- Understand what the competition is doing and how they position themselves
- Understand the client’s customers
- Talk to media analysts about industry trends and what is on the horizon
- Join, read and comment in LinkedIn Groups
- Subscribe and read industry print material
At the end of the day, would your client say you care? Strategic thinking is smart marketing.
