Marketing

Buyer Persona: What Is It?

Is it Larry, the 27-year-old young professional who bikes to work every day, only uses Instagram just before bed, and loves fast, healthy meals because he doesn’t have the time to fluff around? Or is it Jane, the 54-year-old who’s taken a step back from full-time work, is learning yoga, and likes things that are simple and hassle-free? You may be wondering where we’re heading with this — we’re talking about the buyer persona. 

Target Audience

In our previous article, Do You Really Know Your Audience?, we went into depth about what a target audience is, and how to establish who yours is in order to market your product or service most effectively and efficiently. Now you may be thinking these two concepts sound incredibly similar. In a sense, they are. But the difference is that your target audience is a group of people, while your buyer persona is a fictional individual who represents your target audience as a whole.

Buyer Personas

The reason why we create buyer personas in marketing is to have a “person” in mind that embodies all the characteristics of our best potential customers. In a sense, it’s a creation of your ideal customer that you can use for reference whenever you’re making marketing decisions. You can give this persona a name, demographic details, interests, and behavioural traits, even a face. You’ll also know their exact pain point and what challenges they want to overcome. Because it’s so easy to get caught up in focusing on your business’s latest engagement rates and the success of your campaigns, creating a buyer persona helps you to re-centre your thinking, and reminds you to put your audience’s wants and needs ahead of your own. At the same time, this persona needs to be based on real-world data, not just what you think it is that your audience wants.

Staying Focused

One thing we really try to avoid in our own marketing is using a whole lot of buzz words and sales speak to communicate with our clients. Real people want real human interaction, so throwing gimmicky sentences at them and expecting them to connect with it just isn’t going to work. By having a buyer persona, it helps you remain grounded in the way you market to your audience. When your buyer persona is at the forefront of your mind at every step of your marketing strategy, you’re going to achieve more rewarding results — both as a business and as a person.

Reaching Your Audience

When you know exactly who your ideal customer is, it also means that you’re able to target your social ads a whole lot better. These days, you can choose from almost every detail in the book when it comes to picking who you want to target your ad to — from their age, to their screen time habits, and even the other things they’ve searched for. We know, sort of creepy. But it does have a lot of benefits for both parties. Like we discussed in our blog about target audiences, there are plenty of online tools you can utilise, like Google ads and Meta Business Suite, to gather data and analysis to form your buyer persona.

In a nutshell, when you know what your ideal customer or buyer persona wants, you’ll start to notice a better return on investment for your business. Plus, if you notice your engagement slipping, you can always backtrack and see what’s working and what isn’t. That way, you can really narrow your audience down and tailor your marketing to reach the right people, and then build a sustainable relationship from there.

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Marketing

The 5 P’s of Marketing: All You Need  to Know

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As a new business or one that has struggled to keep up with the demands of the digital age, delving into the world of convincing people to buy your product or service can be confronting to say the least. Nevertheless, it’s totally necessary. Luckily, We’re here to make it simple. There’s no denying that marketing is key to the success of your brand – whatever industry it may fall under. So getting the basics of marketing down is an absolute must-do. 

Invest in Your Brand

If you’re not ready to invest in adding a dedicated marketing person to your team or approaching an agency, the timing might just not be right yet. But that doesn’t mean you have to leave it untouched altogether. In fact, we strongly suggest against it. Instead, we’re going to arm you with a simple tool to get your marketing up to scratch and on the way to achieving your desired return on investment.

The Ins and Outs of Marketing

So here goes, the 5 P’s of Marketing. It’s somewhat of a golden ticket in the business sphere, and because it’s so straightforward, it’s a concept that almost anyone can have the opportunity to take advantage of. Once you’ve reviewed each P and considered how it applies to your business, you’ll be well on your way to converting leads into sales!

The first P is PRODUCT. When we’re talking about your product, (or service, depending on what your business is), it’s key to consider how it should be presented. How do you want your product to look? What will your logo and branding collateral say about who you are as a company and what you have to offer? How people perceive your product or service has everything to do with how you showcase it to the world. You want to tell your target audience your brand’s story and the problem it solves for them through your marketing.

The next P is PRICE. Not only is price about how much your product or service is worth, but it’s also about what consumers are going to be willing to pay for it. A good way to get an idea of a fair price is to look at what your competitors are charging, and consider how much value it could add to your consumers’ lives. Conducting market research is a great way to determine a suitable price for your product in the current market, all while making sure you’re getting the right profit.

Then we have PROMOTION. Ask yourself how you are going to get your product in the spotlight. Here is where you need to consider things like what channels you should use to target your audience most effectively, where you will advertise it and what messages need to be communicated in order to hook, engage and then seal the deal with your audience.

Second to last is PLACE — where is the product or service going to be distributed? For example, you might have a great product idea and have done all the work to get it to be market ready, but will it pass the status test? If you’re looking to sell your product in high-brow stores or in gourmet supermarkets, your branding and everything that comes with it needs to meet those standards.

Last but not least, PEOPLE. It’s undeniably one of the most crucial things to consider when marketing your product or service. Think about the people both inside and outside of your business. Who are the people you need within your business to reach the people you’re trying to market to? Who are you trying to reach? The reality is, if you don’t know who you’re marketing to, you’re essentially going in blind. Which is why one of the first steps to nailing your marketing is nailing your target audience! 

Are you ready for us to lend you a hand? Contact us here.

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Marketing

Introducing the Elm Social Media Club

social media training

Feeling overwhelmed by the fast-paced world of social media? Want to stay ahead of the curve? Elm Social Media Club is specifically designed for small businesses, providing practical and straightforward social media courses and monthly memberships to keep you learning and on the pulse with all things social media. 

Social Media Support

We’re offering social media training in the form of courses and ongoing support to anyone that needs it! If you’re a small business owner or run the marketing at your workplace, you’ll want to be part of the Elm Clubhouse. It’s the perfect spot to stay in the know about social media trends, algorithm updates, and a space to get personalised tips and tricks from Anna and Emma — your expert marketers. As a Clubhouse member, you’ll get to join monthly live chats and even get discounts on all of the Elm Social Media Club courses. Cool, right?

Entry Courses

We’re also running a 6-month course on all things social media. Every week, you’ll get bite-sized videos packed with actionable tips and tricks that you can start using right away. We’ll teach you the basics of using social media channels to grow your business and stay ahead in an ever-changing digital world. But in the meantime, you’ll have to wait — this is coming soon!

We’re here for you!

And if you’re in need of a more personalised touch for your social media strategy, we’ve got you covered too. Perhaps you’re a social media pro, but need someone to hold you accountable for your progress. Or maybe you just want to brainstorm with a seasoned social media expert. We’re social media marketers who have honed our skills in navigating the ever-changing landscape of social media. Now, we want to share everything we’ve learned with you.

Our mission is to equip you with the knowledge, skills, and tools to thrive on social media. We’ll make learning fun and engaging, so get ready to join our team and take your business to new heights. If you’re interested in learning how we can help you, give us a shout!

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Marketing

The Purpose of the Press Release.

press release

With so much information available at our fingertips in this constantly evolving digital age, it can be easy to get a little left behind when it comes to being able to get your message or story out there. One of the most effective ways to get heard is through the power of the press release. 

Essentially, a press release, also known as a news release or media release, is a written form of communication that is typically used to announce news or events to the media. It’s usually prepared by companies and businesses, organisations, or public relations agencies and then distributed to an audience via journalists, editors, and other members of the media. 

What’s the Story?

The main purpose of a press release is to generate media coverage and publicity for a product, service, or event. Which definitely comes in handy when you’re trying to spread the word about something cool you’ve got going on as a business. Press releases are often used to announce a new product launch, a company merger, a new partnership, a major milestone or achievement, or any other newsworthy event that gets people involved and encourages them to want to learn more.

How it’s Written

Press releases usually include a headline, a brief introduction, the main body of the release, and contact information for the business or organisation that is wanting to get it out there. The main body of the press release typically provides more detail about the news or event being announced, including quotes from company heads or other relevant parties, statistics or data to support the announcement, and any other relevant information that may be of interest to the media and their audience.

Need Help?

For many business owners, the concept of the press release can feel a little foreign. This comes back to knowing how to write in a way that’s easy to understand, follows a bit of a structure or theme, and tugs on the heart strings of your audience so you can get the best possible result out of sharing your message with them. If you’re not a hugely confident writer, it’s no biggy. We’re here to help you get your voice heard and put you in contact with just the right people to share that with their contacts. 

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Marketing

Marketing Analytics: What’s the Big Idea?

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Measure, measure it again, and then measure it again. When it comes to marketing, this is most definitely one of the golden rules. It’s great to be getting content out there, but if you don’t take the time to observe what is and isn’t working, you’ll never know how to get the most out of it! Marketing analytics is crucial for businesses to make informed decisions and optimise their marketing strategies. Let’s talk about some of the reasons why.

Data-driven Decision Making

In a nutshell, marketing analytics provides businesses with valuable data that can be used to make informed decisions about their marketing strategies. When we can take a good hard look at data gathered on things like customer behavior, their buying patterns, and campaign performance as a whole, it makes it so much easier to choose where you allocate your marketing resources to, and in a way that is going to be the most efficient and effective. As a result, you’re going to get a better return on your investment, rather than throwing valuable marketing dollars away.

Customer insights

Platforms like Google Ads, Meta Business Suite and SEO programmes are such valuable tools when it comes to being able to track performance and see how your target audience is engaging with your content — or not. You can see everything from age demographics to where your visitors are coming from, how long they’re spending there, and where things are going wrong in the sense that they might not complete the customer buyer journey. Once you’ve fine-tuned all of this, it can then be used to develop more targeted marketing campaigns and improve the customer experience altogether. 

Competitive advantage 

There’s really no doubt about it. Businesses that leverage marketing analytics have a competitive advantage over those that do not. By using data to inform their marketing strategies, they can stay ahead of the competition and respond quickly to changing market conditions. Because let’s face it, the market is always changing, and if we don’t stay in the loop with the ongoings of the world of consumerism, we’re not going to be able to stay ahead of the game and relevant. If you want to be the first port of call for people looking for support from your industry, making the most of the analytics available to us is a must.

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Marketing

How To: Content Writing For Newbies

content writing

Believe it or not, as humans, we tend to be inclined to use one side of our brain more than the other. Depending on which side you predominantly use, the more likely certain things are going to come more naturally to you. Say you’ve never been any good at maths, or science for that matter. At the same time, you’re great with hands-on work, figuring out how things work and have managed to make a career out of it.

The Basics Of Writing

Just like you might not be any good at maths and science, many people don’t have a whole lot of confidence in their ability to write — especially when it comes to copywriting for their business. Whether you know the basics but don’t know where to start when it comes to social media posts, updating the copy on your website, or have something exciting you want to share through a media release, we want you to go into it feeling prepared and well equipped to take on the task at hand. 

Connecting With Your Audience

There’s no doubt about it, we can definitely count on copywriting as a highly transferable skill. When we are able to write clearly, concisely and in a way the average Joe can understand, there’s no limit to how far your message can spread. As a business, how you connect with your audience really is everything. It’s one thing to get your spelling and grammar right, but to write in a way that allows your audience to hear your tone and see your personality in what they are reading, is a whole other story (excuse the pun). Earning trust and building rapport through your copywriting is also a big one.

Market Your Brand

Once you know your buyer persona, your target audience, and the way you want your business to be represented, then you have pretty much all you need to market your brand. As for the communication bit, a few tools and tricks from us will have you feeling like an expert in no time. When you can speak your customers’ language, the strong relationships you’ll build with them will lead to loyal investors, and as a result, a viable business that can thrive long-term.

To learn more about specific types of copywriting and how to master them, get in touch with us about our training sessions or come in for a coffee to discuss how we can do the work for you.

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Marketing

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Getting Seen By Your Audience

seo

Often abbreviated to SEO, search engine optimisation can sound extremely technical and pretty overwhelming for anyone who hasn’t had a decent dip into the deep end of marketing. So what does it mean? In short, search engine optimisation is the process of improving your website copy or advertising copy to increase your business visibility when searched in engines like Google and Bing. While there is quite a lot to it, there are a few things you can learn about SEO writing that you can utilise in your own copywriting with just a little bit of effort. And for those jobs that might seem too over your head or you’re feeling quite time-poor, we’re here to help.

How does SEO work?

Basically, search engines use these things called bots to trawl the pages of the web and collect information about those pages. They then get put into an index like a giant library and analysed as a whole to determine things like popular keywords being used in searches. This information is then used to help the searcher find what they’re looking for, as well as pages related to that topic. So when someone searches, say, electricians in their area, Google ranks the search results based on the keywords in that search — electrical companies that are based in your location. 

SEO and Marketing

So why is it crucial for marketing? With the increasing reliance on search engines for answers to our questions, people search trillions of things every year. With all that information going into the index, consumers are more likely to be directed to your pages when your website copy has used SEO and is filled with commonly searched keywords. Depending on a few other factors, like the location someone is surfing the internet from, the better your SEO is, the more likely you’re going to rank highly on Google and be that person’s first or even second click. So of course, the ideal outcome of that is that they like what they see on your site and choose to make a purchase.

Keywords

If you’re wanting to determine what the best keywords for your content are, there are plenty of online platforms to help you do just that. There are a few free ones available, but if you’re really committed to improving your SEO yourself, programmes like Semrush and Moz offer monthly and yearly paid subscriptions. These programmes do everything from analysing your website and other content in order to make keyword suggestions, to site audits and competitor analysis. And if you’d rather leave it up to the professionals, that’s what we’re here for. To ensure you’re getting the most out of your SEO, our packages start at $2,000 per month — it might seem like a lot, but trust us, anything cheaper won’t get you the results you’re looking for.

Are you ready for us to lend you a hand? Contact us here.

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Marketing

How to Hook Your Audience: Blogs & Articles

marketing writing

The art of writing is a bit of a niggly one. If we could describe it simply, you’re either really good at it or it’s just not your thing. That’s not to say you don’t know what you want to communicate, it just means it’s a little harder for people who are more hands-on or technical to put their ideas down on paper. In marketing, copywriting is one of the best tools to have when it comes to gaining interest in your product or service from your target audience, keeping them there, and then convincing them that investing in what you have to offer is worthwhile. Whether you’re a start up business or a seasoned entrepreneur, if you don’t have the right messaging in your marketing, your voice is going to fall on deaf ears. 

Copywriting

This is tricky, because so much of business marketing relies on good copy. From the information you write on your website landing page to your social media posts, blogs, email newsletters, brochures and so on, writing is one of those things you’ve just gotta get right. Fortunately, marketing agencies like us exist for that exact reason. We get that running a business is a huge amount of work (trust us, we’ve been there), and finding the time to either teach yourself how to write for marketing or even just conjure something up when it’s needed, is often at the bottom of your list of priorities.

The good news is, we’re here to help. There is no doubt in our minds that you are good at what you do. Whether you’re a clothing designer, an accountant or an all-round handyman, if you’re a business owner, you’re going to know your stuff. We want you to focus on that, so we can focus on how to help you grow your business and get that return on your investment from your marketing efforts.

Writing for Marketing

If you need an ad campaign written, a personal profile for a magazine feature, or a story about your journey as a business, we can do all the writing for you. Our process might involve re-doing something you’ve written and making it more enticing and SEO friendly, or it could be that we start from scratch by talking to you about what it is you’re wanting to say and communicating that for you. Whatever you want written in order to increase your brand awareness and convert that to sales, leave it with us.

Articles & Blogs

There’s no doubt about it, articles and blogs are not only a great way to give your customers a more in-depth look inside your brand, but they’re also a game changer for SEO. When you have the right keywords scattered throughout your website, you’re going to gain way more traction on your products and services because it drives traffic right there. Tell us what you want to write about, and we’ll do the rest for you.

Social Media

Posting consistently on your social media platforms is one of the best methods to get your target audience to turn their attention to you, engage with what you have to say, and give you a bit of control over the algorithm. Knowing how to write social media copy and how to carry out those marketing techniques is a bit of a fine art, and it’s something we’re more than happy to help you with.

Websites

Having a website and something for customers to Google search is a super important one. If your website doesn’t have the right keywords on it, the copy isn’t informative and it doesn’t show your uniqueness as a brand, it’s not going to be effective. We help to boost your website’s SEO and appeal through writing team bios, eye-catching landing page copy and can work with you to tell your story in the most impactful way.

Advertising

Whether it’s an ad campaign, an event poster or a brochure, your advertising needs to make a statement. A huge part of that is the messaging that’s on those marketing materials. We work with you to come up with the best way to communicate your story through words, so you can promote your business on every piece of collateral you have.

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Marketing

Any Successful Business Needs a Strategy

marketing strategy

We are no strangers to the feeling of having a billion business ideas running through our minds on a regular basis. While it’s mostly fantastic to have an overly creative mind, it can also leave you feeling a bit scattered and lacking direction at times. When you’re just throwing those ideas out there and seeing what sticks, you’re likely going to be left wondering why none of your advertising is working. That’s why we are so adamant about every business needing a solid marketing strategy in order to get results. You simply just can’t start marketing effectively without knowing where you stand as a business.

Essentially, a marketing strategy is a comprehensive, in-depth plan that acts as a blueprint for the marketing objectives you want to achieve, including who your ideal customers are and how you’re going to reach them. Not only does it give you something to consistently refer to, but it also keeps you accountable. Once you’ve done your marketing research, which we discussed in our blogs on content marketing and knowing your target audience, the strategy will help you to concentrate your efforts and resources on the best possible opportunities to generate profit. 

Start your marketing strategy by outlining your business’s purpose, vision, and what makes it stand out from the competition. Then it’s about setting out who your customers are and why they would be likely to engage with your product or service. The strategy will outline how you plan to reach your target audience, what sort of content you’re going to produce and the communication methods that are going to be most effective. It could also include things like your buyer persona, where the brand is positioned with the market, a timeline for implementing those steps, and a multi-channel activity plan such as advertising the business across social media, a website, and so on. 

Here are just a few reasons why we believe a marketing strategy is a no-brainer.

Talk Directly to Your Target Audience

Gone are the days of marketing that is thrown out into the abyss in the hopes everyone will think they need what you’re selling in their lives — you’ve actually got to connect with your audience. People want to know how your product or service will solve their problem, and that they can trust your brand. In order to know how to do this, you need to have an understanding of what’s happening in the world and in the marketplace, which should all be included in your marketing strategy.

Don’t Waste Your Marketing Dollars

It can be tempting at times to put a few dollars on a marketing campaign, whether it’s on Google Ads or social media, and just “see how it goes’’. But in reality, this approach very rarely works and instead, will have you wasting a lot of money unnecessarily. Getting your brand front and centre stage is all about consistency and strategic spending. Having a marketing strategy that lays out your budget, how and on what you are going to spend your money, and then being able to monitor it is what will benefit your business short and long-term.

Keep Your Content Relevant

Without a plan in place, it’s easy for businesses to get off track and lose their target audience. When you’re able to refer back to who your audience is, check if your content is in line with your brand, as well as if it’s what people are looking for, it makes the marketing process a whole lot smoother. 

Measure Your Success

When we set marketing objectives from day one, it prevents us from wandering aimlessly and hoping good things will just happen. Unfortunately, like any other form of success, marketing success isn’t done on a whim and it most certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Setting goals, as well as expectations for your return on investment (ROI), gives you something to look back on and reassess what is and isn’t working.

And as always, if you’re still feeling a little lost when it comes to your marketing strategy, it’s what we do best. So, don’t hesitate — reach out and let us help your business grow.

Read enough? Contact us here. 

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marketing data
Marketing

Why Is Data So Important in Marketing?

marketing data

Okay, so not everyone is a genius when it comes to numbers and reporting. Some are more inclined to be good at writing and reading, others are more hands on and need to be practical to achieve success. Whatever your skills are, there’s no denying that data is a vital component of any activity. 

In order to be able to see what is and isn’t working, especially when it comes to marketing, is an absolute must. Data is important for every business’s marketing because of the simple fact that it provides insights and information that help marketers make better decisions and create more effective campaigns.

Target Audiences

One of the biggest drawcards for marketers when it comes to data is the ability it gives us to understand a business’s target audience. After all, if you don’t know your target audience, you can’t even begin to start thinking about how you’re going to sell your product or service. When we are able to collect data about your key customers, we can then gain insights into your demographic, their behaviours, interests, and preferences. Until you know how your target audience ticks, you can’t expect your marketing to deliver the return on investment you may be hoping for. Once you have all of this information on hand, it can be used to create more targeted and relevant marketing campaigns that resonate with that target audience, and in turn, encourage them to invest in what you have to offer.

Measuring performance 

While nailing your target audience is a great first step, the work doesn’t end there. In order to ensure that you are getting the best out of your marketing, you need to be able to measure, measure it again, and then keep measuring as trends change as well as the constantly evolving sphere of digital marketing. Through tools like Meta Business Suite and Google Ads, we’re able to get access to data that has been created through tracking a form of marketing’s performance, whatever that may be. This can be the tracking of anything from marketing campaigns to social media polls — from metrics such as website traffic, click-through rates, conversion rates, and customer engagement. By analyzing this data, marketers can identify what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments accordingly.

Personalisation

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, people don’t want to be sold to, they want to be spoken to. Our newsfeeds, tv screens and everyday life is so consumed by marketing that it constantly feels like we’re being forced to invest in something we are made to feel like we need in order to “fit the mould”. It can be overwhelming, and with so much messaging, we can’t avoid it. But what we can do as businesses is show people that there is so much more to the brand than just making a sale. When we can personalise our product or service, build trust with that target audience, and solve a problem they’re facing, it has more meaning. By collecting data about customers’ past purchases, preferences, and behavior, marketers can create personalised marketing messages that are more likely to resonate with them and help them with what they’re looking for.

Predictive analytics

With the constantly evolving, fast-paced nature of marketing, we need to be able to keep ahead of the trend. While you may have aced a product or service based on what people are wanting at the time, six months or even a few weeks down the track that need could be the complete opposite. In order to stay relevant and keep your finger on the pulse, we need to be able to predict what’s next. Staying ahead of the game is a must. By analyzing large datasets, marketers can use predictive analytics to forecast future trends and behaviors. This can help them anticipate customer needs and preferences, and create marketing campaigns that are definitely more likely to be successful.

These are just a handful of the reasons why data plays such a critical role in the world of marketing. While we could probably go on forever, this is a really good base to start with and something every business should have a solid understanding of. Not sure where to start with your data research? We’re here to help. Just ask!

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