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Targeted marketing is critical, but prospects need to have somewhere to go.

The goal of marketing is getting qualified prospects to take a desired action after being exposed to your message. What that action is may vary depending on those goals, but nothing is going to happen if your prospects don’t see your message.

To maximize the odds of your prospects seeing your message, it must be targeted. That means that your message should be sent or posted in places where your prospects are most likely to see it. While there are many ways to do this, one critical requirement is that you, at the very least, “establish a presence.”

A presence is a destination, someplace like a Facebook Page or a product Landing Page. Whatever form it takes, it should be someplace where the prospect can take an action to help you achieve your goals.

If You Build It, Will They Come?

Targeting is critical because it increases the likelihood of you achieving success, but what if you’re not targeting? Far too often I’ve seen companies simply launch a minimal website or haphazardly post to whatever social media outlet the person responsible for marketing may be on at the moment. These companies are following the mantra, “if you build it, they will come.”

Unfortunately, unless something is driving traffic or they already have a large, dedicated audience, the ROI of their marketing is always abysmal. They are proceeding from the assumption that it’s enough just to show up.

IT ISN’T.

Just launching a website is not showing you’re a vibrant business. Just posting randomly to social media is not going to get your message in front of the right audience. However, if (for whatever reason) you can’t do any targeted marketing, there is still something that you can do that will add life to your site and benefit your business.

Start a Blog.

Is Something Better Than Nothing?

I recently had a conversation with a prospect who wanted to redo their website and just post to Facebook. Sadly, they don’t have the resources to devote to a targeted marketing campaign. They just wanted an updated online presence.

This sort of request happens a lot with smaller businesses. It’s understandable; many small businesses are struggling these days. While blogging is certainly not going to fulfill all their marketing needs, it can offer a way to accomplish some marketing goals based on existing traffic.

While there are many benefits to blogging, these are just a few ways it could help a business:

• Show that they are still in business (always important).
• Demonstrate they’re still relevant to their industry.
• Establish management as innovative thought leaders.
• Improve SEO rankings.
• Build trust with prospects and existing customers.

Answering the Question

To answer the questions posed in the title of this post; NO, Marketers CANNOT just “show up.” Any marketer who thinks that’s all they need has got their head in the sand (or someplace else). Marketing is far more than just launching a new website, posting to social media or blogging. Each is just one tactic of a broader strategy.

An effective marketer must be actively engaged. They must be proactively pursuing potential customers or new markets for their products, services or clients. They also must be learning how to leverage new technologies. To be sure, there may be legitimate limitations to what you or your marketing team can accomplish, but that is no excuse for your marketing to be ineffective, and just “showing up” is ineffective.

Do you need help with your marketing? If so, send me a message using this form, or contact me through any of the channels via the links in the masthead. I look forward to hearing from you.