Marketing: the key to connect with your audience

Marketing is all about making a connection with your target market

People deal with people. Once you understand that about marketing, your marketing will be more effective. Effective marketing is about creating brand awareness and getting the name of your company in the minds and on the lips of people.  

Not everyone wants or needs your product or service, and not everybody is interested in what you have to offer. But when feeling good is associated with your brand it will get people talking and keep them interested.

Too many companies confuse marketing with selling.

One of the biggest marketing mistakes many companies make is to see every opportunity as a selling opportunity. And that is one of the fastest ways to put anyone off from being your product or using your service. Consumers can see right through it and it turns them off. If you want to win the heart of consumers give them information. Share valuable tips that you know will make a difference to them and they can use immediately. They will love you for it. 

South Africa, which is a diverse country with eleven official languages, and many beautiful cultures, offer endless possibilities that companies can use to position themselves and their brands in the hearts and the minds of customers and potential clients

One of the most successful marketing campaigns were the Sasol amaglug advertisements of the late 1990s; then there were the Yebo Gogo ads from Vodacom that were also created in the 1990s; and the massively successful Ayoba campaign of MTN during the build up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

This was marketing at its best where the focus was on feeling good and bridging divides, especially in a country as diverse as South Africa. 

These were all forms of traditional marketing, as it is now known. The only option you had then were television, radio and print media, but it was and still is outrageously expensive and out of reach for many businesses. These companies had huge budgets and expensive ad agencies with a wealth of knowledge and experience at their disposal for these ad campaigns. 

And that is where online marketing has become a game changer that makes it possible for even the smallest business to be seen on the internet.

                                     

Now anyone with a cell phone, a laptop and software can market your product or your services. But although online marketing has made marketing to be more affordable and accessible it can also greatly damage your brand if you if you don't do it right. And it's not as easy as many would like you to believe.

Online marketing is much more targeted but it can also be irritating and intrusive if you're bombarded with ads every time you go to a website. Apart from Google adsense where they place ads on your blog or website, as here on our blog; you can also use social media, content writing and Search Engine Optimisation to market your company, as well as email marketing. 

Online marketing created many opportunities for business owners who need the services and for marketers who offer the services. Even though it can work brilliantly for you and as part of your marketing strategy, it still needs research and trial and error before you find the formula that would work for your business.

Marketing is a very powerful tool to those who know how to use it. Once you realise that every opportunity is a marketing opportunity and not a selling opportunity, it already will change your perspective about marketing.

Once someone sees your excitement and your enthusiasm about your product and your service they will remember it the next time they shop around for what you have to offer. There are few things more irritating than to listen to a tired sales pitch and being ambushed into buying something you don't really want. And it leaves you with a bitter taste in the mouth. But if you believe in your product and your service it potential customers will feel it and you will interest them. 

A few months ago I met a random guy, I can't even remember where or why we even started chatting. But what I do remember was his enthusiasm for the televisions he was promoting. He was on his way somewhere, with no tv in sight. I wasn't looking for a tv and I had no interest in the brand he was talking about. But the more he talked, the more I listened. He told me about the technology and the features of the Skyworth televisions and painted a vivid picture of the advantages of owning one. I was hooked. We never even exchanged names but he exchanged excitement with me, and that impression stayed with me. He got me interested in a brand I never would've considered. And now I found myself telling people about the amazing Skyworth televisions. 

Marketing is all about making a connection with people. It's about planting a seed in the minds of an unsuspecting person. The greatest marketing tool is to create a need where there was none.

Today you can choose what type of marketing you want to use for your particular business and your brand, depending on your budget.

Traditional marketing is too expensive and you have to pump a lot of money into it but the reach is far wider, especially in a country like South Africa where data is still too expensive for many people. But online marketing is growing traction as more people are becoming aware about the possibilities and the affordability. 

If you can give people something of value that resonates with them, whether it's making them smile, or making them think, you've unlocked one of the keys to marketing. Be a human being before you want to be salesperson. 

Effective marketing helps you to create a perception that fits your brand and your message. It has to be well crafted, well thought through and well presented. And it will bear fruits.

FNB, one of the five big banks in South Africa and their "How can we help you?" put a smile on our faces with one of the first ads. In it one woman was helping another woman who was struggling to carry her bags and her child. What made this ad stood out, was that it was a black woman showing a white woman how to carry a baby on her back, the way black South African mothers carry their babies. It got all of us talking. 

I have to mention two more companies who mastered the art of marketing. The one is Nandos that can take any situation in South Africa and turn it into a hilarious video that gets the nation talking. They've managed to take a current and burning issue and turn it into something that makes us all laugh and see the humour in the situation.

And then there's Chicken Licken, proudly South African and founded by George Sombonos in 1981 in Johannesburg. For years the late Joe Mafela entertained us with his antics in these ads. He was a renowned and celebrated star in his own right who made his mark as an actor, film producer and songwriter; and was a  pioneer in the entertainment industry.

These are just some of the brands that have managed to market their companies effectively because their teams understand that marketing is all about story telling and creating a buzz, without sounding like you're hungry for sales. 

They know their audience and they understand their target market. They had their hits and misses through the years, with some ads seriously backfiring. But they know what at it means to take risks and bouncing back when things don't go as planned. 

They understand that marketing is one of the many parts that fit into a puzzle to  sell what you have to offer. Once you have the attention of consumers and you can make them laugh or debate, your marketing has hit the mark. 

You want people to know about you. You want to leave them with a distinct impression about your business. And you want to be the first company that comes to mind when they need your particular service or product. 

Tell your story. Give value. Share tips. Be generous. Show the heart of your company. Give good enough service and people will tell others about you and it won't cost you a cent.

That's real marketing. When you can get someone to like what you offer so much that they go out of their way to share their experience with others. Aim for that and you aim for gold.