Conquer the Marketing Monsters
They come in many forms representing some of the top marketing challenges facing small- and medium-size businesses, but you can battle these bothersome beasts! Cookie Monster, the Loch Ness monster, the one-eyed monster and now the Marketing Monsters! Savoir Faire’s team tackles our clients’ Marketing Monsters on the regular. Think of us as monster tamers.
We’ve added faces to these monsters so you will recognize them and their disastrous behaviors, and how we can help you tame their nasty ways. There’s a bunch of them in one place on this page, which is scary but necessary.
Eegah, it’s the Email Monster!
The Email Monster can be really annoying, especially when he makes it tough to escape him by ignoring your unsubscribe requests.
In email marketing best practices, opting out easily is as important as getting a prospect’s opt-in. Someone may not be ready now, but they could potentially be a customer later — unless the Email Monster makes them so angry they’ll do anything to avoid working with you in the future. He wants to make it tough to unsubscribe to his emails.
Here’s some more insight on how to avoid that tricky behavior.
“Form follows function!” when fighting the Design Monster
The diabolical Design Monster wants to combine polka dots with stripes on your website’s new landing page!
Luckily, we have a design guru on the squad who knows that when it comes to presentation, it’s more than font size and pretty pictures. This blog post wraps up design nicely in the bow of “form follows function.”
A page’s design relates directly to what it needs to do. The look is all about the user and their pathways through the site. If your audience is younger, the design should not be too rudimentary. They’re savvy enough to navigate and get themselves around the site. Whereas, customers who are a bit older and less experienced with the online experience need more intuitive ways to get back to the top of the page or back to your homepage.
Website design is understanding wayfinding, including iconography, architecture and flow — and making every element work together so it’s all easy on the eye and simple to follow. It’s less about what pleases a designer and more about leading the audience on a journey via an aesthetically pleasing, intuitive presentation.
Discover more directives for battling the Design Monster here.
Aargh! It’s the Analytics Monster!
The Analytics Monster wants to melt your brain. Just his namesake is enough to drive many of us mad: Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics.
“Aargh! What does that even mean?!? Help!”
Don’t worry, the Savoir Faire superheroes have heightened awareness of analytics and how to control that monster so he works for you! We use Google Analytics (GA) to help our customers understand the power of their website, by looking at wins, losses and pointing out ways to improve messaging.
The Analytics Monster hates GA for several reasons, as evidenced in this blog post:
- GA offers a superior level of data
- GA is free!
- Ecommerce data within GA is top-quality
Stop the SEO Monster!
The Search Engine Optimization Monster has but one goal – to bury your website below all of your competitors in search results. That jerk!
Luckily for you, Savoir Faire’s team of in-house superheroes stands out among even The Avengers and The Justice League. How? We always play nice together. Our search engine optimization hero doesn’t battle the SEO Monster alone. He empowers the entire team with tactics and tools to battle the beast – from website design to content creation.
Your goal with SEO is to appear at the top of search results. Once you achieve that, you could become a Google featured snippet or take over a Google answer box.
We go into detail in this post, but know ahead of time, that becoming “the answer” isn’t easy – but nothing about battling the SEO Monster ever has been.
Ka-pow! How to combat the Content Monster
Content is one of the most-powerful tools in your marketing toolbox, but if used improperly, expect monstrous results. For example, think of content for a second as Bigfoot a.k.a. sasquatch. Many believe it’s out there but searches for Bigfoot bring little or poor results.
Unoptimized content is like sasquatch: as astounding as it might be, it really doesn’t matter if no one can find it. The content linked here illuminates one way we battle the Content Monster for clients, by optimizing their blog posts.
It’s essential to remember that you’re writing content for two audiences, humans and Google – and both get savvier every day. If you can develop, write and optimize content (optimization often begins with the development step) in various forms that meet search engines’ criteria for good quality – which includes being authoritative and solving searchers’ queries better than others do – your content will rank higher online.
It’s not a one size fits all thing (because that would be too easy, right?). But, this post offers some writing, timing and optimization tips to push you in the right direction.
Not the Noisy Social Monster!
The Social Media Monster loves nothing more than hitting people over the head with nonsensical posts and blasting noise into the already-crowded social media sphere.
The monster-busting team at Savoir Faire has a solution to quiet that social snake in the grass. Your company’s social media presence should reflect your brand and culture – and not whatever garbage the Social Media Monster demands you post. This article offers questions and answers on what you should be posting on your company’s channels.
Being timely on social media is a best practice for businesses. However, attention to content is very important if you want to maintain or grow the confidence level of your customers and prospects. We oversee social media marketing for several of our clients and we post regularly on our own channels.
Having personality that reflects your brand and your culture is key, so here are some questions to ask yourself when determining what to post on social:
- Who is Your Audience?
- Does the Theme of the Post Align with My Brand?
- What are My Results?
The perils of the Project Manager Monster
The Project Manager Monster throws wrenches into the works, breaking down the flow of progress within a working system. The monster loves companies without someone dedicated to the very important task of managing the course of a project from inception to completion.
Why? Many times the individual designated as the project manager also wears many other hats, and the project manages to get off track. And if there’s one thing the Project Manager Monster despises, it’s productivity.
One of the most important tools we use is a digital project management tool. There are a variety of project management tools to choose from, depending on what makes sense for your team.
Automatic meeting schedulers, time tracking tools and workflow tools are also great options to help you manage digital productivity (and keep that blasted PMM at bay)! This post includes some inner-office productivity tips, too.
The perils of the Project Manager Monster
The Status Quo Monster says, “We’ve been doing it this way for 20 years. Why should we change now?”
Because it’s not working and you’ve lost market share. Your competitors vanquished the Status Quo Monster a long time ago, so what are you waiting for? (Alternatively, your competitors are also plagued by the Status Quo monster and vanquishing him gives you a leg up!)
Team Savoir Faire helps break bad or outdated marketing habits. We want to open your eyes to a fresh look at your situation and develop new ways to help you reach your goals. We’re good at guiding our clients past the Status Quo Monster through uncharted territories, heading toward treasure. We dig the adventure and you’ll relish the results!
Here’s more on how to break free from the Status Quo Monster and the benefits of doing so!
Team Savoir Faire takes on the top marketing challenges of the monsters on the regular (sort of how Batman and Robin “bang-ed and pow-ed” with the Joker and Catwoman week after week at the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel). When you suspect your marketing is under attack, reference this page – and then reach out to us. We’re ready for the battle.
Evolve into a Marketing Hero
Super friends, be ready for the challenge by digesting the free ebook, Make Your Marketing Matter!
