Most people will associate marketing with a single objective, and that is to get their message heard or the product noticed. Proper marketing reveals that there is more to marketing than what meets the eye.

Purpose – The purpose of a true marketing campaign is to find out exactly what the customer wants, and then learn how to package the desired idea, product or service. Purpose makes your campaign look intelligent and well thought out, two factors that will lead your prospective customer to a buying decision. Purpose drives business and industry, and so generating marketing content, for example, displays your company’s commitment to the sector.

Research – This is an integral part to marketing and it facilitates for pre-sale contact and interacting with customers. During this phase, the customer finds it easy to list the features of a product that would make them happy to buy the product and put it to good use. The marketer learns the tastes of his audience, and the end user puts his trust of the product developer.

Interaction – Marketing generates interest, and one of the objectives of a marketing campaign should be to generate so much interest that the receptor of your message should request further interaction in the form of a meeting. Most clients that request an audience with a service provider are looking to acquire the product or service on offer. In the old days we could have described this level of interest as a Hot Lead.

Sales – The great benefit or reward for a purpose driven marketing campaign is the generation of sales through marketing. Sales grow and maintain the life of your business. Where there is selling, there is also customer service, and this is where customer feedback is funnelled through many platforms. Sales and customer service get people talking, and when people are talking there is sharing. Some of the marketing content that you will find on video platforms, for example, may not even be interesting to you, but it may have well over two million viewers who begin all sorts of conversations regarding your content. Online gaming, for example, not everyone is a gamer but well packaged video content makes us curious and want to view the content and even share our opinions through comments. The name of the game or its brand is now stuck in our heads.

Try something new in 2017. Make maximum use of all digital marketing tools and platforms. You want to be visible and appear dynamic. I am sure that you want to be heard. Make use of features that allow you to go live and broadcast your message from the office in real time. This is best done from your company’s social media pages as these inform all your friends and followers to view your live feed. With this massive prospect of shares and likes, you may just quadruple the impact and reach of your marketing message. We all remember the days of SMS marketing I’m sure…now think of how quickly your video message can travel on WhatsApp as there are no poster size restriction in video material!

Perhaps the question is not whether or not we should do marketing in the new year, or whether we should continue to follow the digital path, or not, but rather…are we prepared to take our message to the market place with renewed vision?