By Susan Guillory
Let me guess: you’re on Twitter because someone told you that you needed to be. You blog, but you’re not sure why. You’re using email marketing, but not really seeing any results.
Am I right?
You’re probably frustrated because your “marketing isn’t working.” Well, let me identify the problem for you: you’re a ship without direction. A Nature Scouts group without a leader. A…you get the point.
If you don’t have a reason behind your marketing, it doesn’t work.
Why You Need a Purpose
Let’s look at two very different examples of marketing.
Tina exemplifies what I opened this post with. She’s doing her marketing because she feels obligated to. She knows she needs to market, and so she’s updating social media, sending emails, and writing content, kinda like a robot.
Not surprisingly, she’s upset because she’s not seeing new customers or even much traffic coming from her efforts.
In an office not so far away, Jed is doing the same things to market his business. But he knows the reasons behind it. He wants to provide his audience with really fun and useful information about his industry. He wants to engage with his customers to show that his isn’t just some faceless company, but rather one that has a heart. He has purpose in his marketing. And it pays off. He can track exactly how many sales come from each marketing channel, and the numbers make him happy.
You see the difference between just doing marketing and actually knowing why you’re doing it?
Finding Your Reason
So what’s your goal here? What do you want to accomplish by marketing your brand? Sure, you want more sales. Understandable. But what else? How do you want to provide value to your audience? How do you want to stand out? What is it about your company that is unique that can shine through in your communications?
These answers all contribute to your reasons for not only marketing, but also being in business. They’re the drivers you need to be successful at growing your business. So spend some time thinking about the answers.
Your purpose in marketing is important. It gives you direction and helps you move toward accomplishing your goals. Without purpose, you’re just wasting your time with marketing tasks that will likely never get you what you want.
