Marketing Strategy: Cross-Platform Creativity Celebrates Savvy Brands

By Miles Technologies

What’s new with your marketing strategy? Is your business blogging? Is content marketing important to your organization? Are you optimizing online marketing? Do you share consistent messages across all social media platforms? Is your business social at all? Are these questions making you feel a little… defensive?

Marketing strategies can be surprisingly personal campaigns for even the most sophisticated organizations. Why? Marketing is a broad platform that incorporates everything from brand identification to content management to public relations. Creativity and imagination, mixed with an astute understanding of an organization¹s products, services, mission, history and current vision, are mandates for any effective, inspirational and memorable marketing campaign.

To be competitive, businesses must embrace the reality that marketing is not just the creation of a monthly newsletter or the distribution of an occasional press release. A brilliant logo does little to boost a company’s awareness all by itself. A brilliant logo, reflected on dynamic, content-rich social media platforms, timely and consistent e-newsletters and clever online marketing displays is another story.

Quite simply, marketing strategies that incorporate a creative and robust cross-platform approach work!

When developing a marketing strategy that is targeting Fortune 500 success, keep in mind:

1. Who are you?

Brand identification is perhaps the most critical, core element of any stellar marketing campaign. Take the time to determine what your company wants to emphasize the most about its services, products and philosophy. Once a brand is defined, build supporting elements (logos, social media banners, e-newsletter templates, website graphics and other creative visuals) that reflect the colors, theme and presentation you envision.

Once your brand is identified and the ambassador of your brand is designed ­ yes, the all-important logo ­ your creative team must leverage the best platforms.

2. What do you have to say?

If you company is not active on social media, now is the time for that to change.

The biggest change in business marketing is that it is no longer monopolized by expensive print advertisements and stoic press releases. Marketing is now very fluid — in constant, creative motion ­ thanks to the minute-by-minute opportunities delivered by social media, blogging and even video. Today, companies are free to create and publish brand-tastic outreach messages that can be leveraged by a tweet, post or 30-second YouTube update.

Businesses are publishers — if they choose to accept the responsibility. Social media, blogging and video creation allows businesses to develop content that educates, inspires, entertains and uniquely engages current and prospective clients — and the world! Content possibilities are limited only by the imagination, creativity and energy a business is willing to put into embracing its emerging role as “creator of content” designed to promote brand awareness. And don’t forget, any and all content can be repurposed for an informative newsletter!

3. Where do you want to be seen?

Congratulations! You have created a fantastic logo. Your website, social media and blog all reflect the colors, tone, textures and “vibe” delivered by your team-driven logo. What else is there to do? Plenty!

Online marketing is a vitally important player in successful marketing campaigns because it drives people to your brand. One of the most common mistakes companies make when taking on a marketing overhaul is to neglect the benefits of online marketing, which can be done on a tight budget! Your marketing strategy will never be fully successful if you do not have a clearly defined audience, especially on the Internet. Online marketing experts know how to research the right online ad placements for your business ­ as well as maximize SEO and SEM opportunities.

Do you know about backlinks? Are you up on the latest Google AdWords trends? Is your website coming up in keyword searches? Relax — you don’t have to worry about all of that if a member of your team is savvy enough to carry the online marketing flag for your branding.

If your business has an in-house marketing professional, you are in luck! Today’s progressive marketing pros are thought leaders for the businesses they are fortunate enough to brand. Signs you may need help with your marketing strategy are all around you. Take a look and be honest.

If your company is not on social media, is a woeful content producer and hasn’t updated its web design since the site’s last redesign in 2008, it’s time to take a cold, hard look at what your marketing is today ­ and what it can be tomorrow!

Marie Alonso is an online marketing and media strategist at Miles Technologies — a leading IT solutions provider. The Miles Technologies team contributes business-driven content to The VAR Guy regularly.