So you’ve been putting in the long hours on your new marketing campaign, fine-tuning the copy and jazzing up the graphics. Everyone agrees it couldn’t be more perfect – until it falls flat. What just happened here?
According to this interesting post by B2BMarketingSmarts.com’s Susan Fantle, there’s a simple reason for the failure of seemingly faultless copy: too much time spent creating, and not enough spent strategizing. Up to 80% of marketers’ efforts go toward creativity, leaving just 20% for strategy. If that’s really the case, we have to ask: Is it time to flip the equation?
We think so, and here’s why.
As we’ve said before, if you’re going to create content without a target audience in mind, you might as well not waste your time. Without suggesting you completely abandon creativity, here are three reasons to spend more time on strategy:
1. More Research = Less Waste. If you’re not clearly identifying your target audience, you’re wasting time and effort by contacting people who won’t care about your product or service. And nobody likes to squander their time making (or viewing) scattershot, fruitless copy.
2. Be Selective, But Don’t Employ Tunnel Vision. You also want to be sure that you are not leaving prospective clients or consumers out of the loop. Spending quality time analyzing who needs what your company has to offer and why they need it will help you uncover ‘hidden’ prospects that can turn into valuable leads.
3. Don’t Just Post, Broadcast. Your strategy shouldn’t be limited to defining your target audience; you also need to figure out the best way to reach them. This is especially true for online content, which can easily be lost in the informational ocean of the World Wide Web. Time invested in getting your content noticed by the right people is time well spent.
Your creative efforts demand a high price of talent, time and resources. Don’t waste them by coming up with perfect content that no one ever sees. Let research and strategy guide it to the right people at the right time
Photo via: Stefan Erschwendner
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