Pittsburgh Marketing Consultant Archives

Tips to Set Marketing Goals for 2022

January 22, 2022

In this first month of the year, it is important to set business goals for 2022. Reflect on what worked for you in 2021, and what you may need to alter this year to increase your success. Think about how our business landscape has changed as a result of COVID and what you may need to do to adjust to those changes.

The Importance of Planning

As you consider the different marketing strategies available to you, they must align with your growth plan. For instance, if you’re shifting from an in-store experience to an online order and delivery, do you have the personnel in place to support that goal? If you’re a B-to-B business and you have a new support service, are you advertising in the right business publications, utilizing drip campaigns and direct message strategies on LinkedIn? Doing your research and considering your business from various consumer perspectives is a must for success.

One strategy for planning is creating goals that are SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. By ensuring that your marketing goals for the year each fit these five attributes, you increase your chance of success. But, you should also remember that these goals need to fit in with your specific business needs, audience, and brand.

Think About Your Audience

In thinking about what kind of marketing you want to pursue for 2022, you also must consider your audience. Think about both your existing audience and those new audiences you may want to reach this year. Will previous methods of marketing work for fresh audiences you want to engage with that you haven’t before?

In our increasingly digital and global society, there are a number of audience types and many marketing strategies to reach them all. Social media is one way to reach a huge audience easily but do you have a strategy for your post creation? Are you taking into account national holidays, the human element of connection, what’s happening in trends? You can do this through more personal services, like Facebook and TikTok, or professional targeting of direct messaging such as LinkedIn. Knowing your audiences and their needs can allow you to craft a truly effective marketing approach.

What Works for Your Brand?

As you consider how to market your business in 2022, it is also important to examine your current branding. Using a new marketing approach that conflicts with your existing brand will confuse new audiences rather than increase your clientele. What kind of approach would best fit your unique business?

Different forms of marketing will work better for different brands. This can mean being more or less digital, getting involved in your community to engage more directly with your audiences, and tapping into trends. Remember that with any marketing, you’re creating a story. Defining your brand and determining your company’s story to include a human element can allow you to have real marketing success. Remember… people want to do business with those they like and trust.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh-based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

The Value of Positive Social Media Messaging

May 31, 2021

by edmiston Blog Edmiston Group

Does your social media reflect positive and uplifting messaging? How many times do you get on social media and see positive messaging? Social media has become such an integral part of people’s daily lives. The effects of the pandemic have driven people to social media channels to search of news, see that their friends are up to, and connect with others. The platforms have provided a vehicle for people to say what they want without repercussions and we’ve seen backlash from that as well.

How are you positioning your company’s message? Are you trying to sell something with every post or are you incorporating the 80/20 rule? By engaging, entertaining, or presenting thought provoking messages, it helps to establish you as a credible business.

According to Oberlo, an increasing number of consumers view authenticity as an important factor in determining which brands they like and support. Statistics show that 90 percent of consumers today prioritize authenticity in brands, up from 86 percent in 2017 (Stackla, 2019).

However, there appears to be a gap between the type of content consumers enjoy and what brands publish. Though more than 90 percent of marketers believe that they are creating authentic content that consumers can relate to, 51 percent of all consumers think that fewer than half of all brands are creating truly authentic content.

We recently began working with Swift Audiology. Since I am a customer and wear hearing aids myself, I speak from personal experience. As part of our social media marketing strategy, we are positioning the practice around positivity in the use of hearing aids or hearing protection products.

By incorporating what is gained by using a hearing aid product vs the stigma of wearing a hearing aid – we can show how customers can benefit and experience things that over time they don’t know they’ve been missing. Too many people, including myself, have to reach a tipping point to take the step toward a better quality of life. For me, it was my niece speaking to me from behind and I didn’t answer her because I didn’t hear her. She asked her mom if I was mad at her that I didn’t respond.

So often we drive family away because we don’t want to take steps to hear. Once you experience the ability to improve your hearing, to me, it’s just like putting on a pair of glasses you need to drive your car. The independence and improved quality of life leads to better family interaction and connection.

Here are two examples of positive messaging on their social media page:

HEARING PROTECTION

The Pens are heading to the playoffs and it’s going to be a full house with lots of noise! Michelle is taking glitz and glamor to a new level while protecting her hearing! Did you know that Swift Audiology can provide custom earplugs? Let’s bring home a WIN! Go Pittsburgh Penguins and Swift Audiology! #swiftaudiology #hearingprotection

HEARING DEVICES

There is nothing like mornings on the river! The water is moving, birds are chirping, and wind chimes are playing. This Swift Audiology patient is HEARING it all with the Medical Class Hearing Devices he received at Swift Audiology. Don’t miss out on some of the best things in life! #swiftaudiology #hearingaidsinpittsburgh #HearingAwareness #hearingloss

Positive customer reviews validate third-party validation. How often do you see, “Do you know a good…”? It’s important to thank people for their reviews and address concerns. Remember the better the customer service experience, the more likely people may sing praises.

How is your social media strategy shaping up? Let’s chat… email or call 724-612-0755 to learn more.

Save time and energy with these productivity strategies

Business Productivity Hacks

September 24, 2019

by edmiston Blog Communications

How productive and focused are you in your day-to-day activity – at work and at home? Are you a night owl whose energy kicks in after 9 pm or an early bird who rises at the crack of dawn? Regardless of how your internal clock functions, you can always be busy, but not necessarily productive.

Does being busy equate with being productive? If you ask anyone what is the biggest challenge they face in trying to be productive, a likely response will involve something about a “lack of willpower”, or perhaps a difficulty staying focused.

If you think about it there are so many shiny objects that pop up to distract you throughout the day. Social media, email, phone, and personal issues. Any of these distractions can lead to lost productivity.

Build up good work habits for saving time and effort and alleviate some stress. Here are some productivity hacks to help you understand how to work smarter, improve the quality of your work life, and build habits that will save you time, energy, and mental strain in the long-term.

Productivity Begins With Your Goals…Focus On What’s Important To You
Where do you want to be 3 months from now? What about 1 year, or 5 years out? Not just your business but your personal life too. Aligning your work goals with what’s important to you is crucial in creating the motivation required to stay focused. Writing down your goals on a vision board will keep them top of mind.
It’s not by chance that I’m starting with this one. Understanding what’s important to you, not only in terms of your immediate work goals but also looking at the bigger picture. This can help you to focus and set the stage for how you approach wor

Routines Count – Develop Them
Build out a routine, and stick with it. Get into the habit of working at specific times (this is especially true if you work remotely) and you’ll find yourself wasting less energy on figuring out what to do next. Making a To-Do List for the next day allows you to focus on specific tasks and prioritize your time. There are various apps and scheduling tools for you to utilize. Personally – I use Asana, but some of my colleagues like Monday.com.
Monthly routines and processes can be documented and put into these programs. By creating the process, as your business grows or staffing changes, you can easily transition the steps to another individual.

Engineer Fake Pressure
How often have you told someone they will have a report you haven’t yet started by the end of the day? For some people, pressure can help to kick-start them into work mode and perform to a higher level of productivity. If you’re one of those people who finds that the pressure of a deadline or review helps you get more work done, consider engineering some fake pressure into your routine.

Email Check
Just like notifications, sometimes you can’t just ignore your inbox. This is one I struggle with – especially if I’m waiting for proofs from my graphic design team or feedback from a client. The trick is to set a time every day, where you check-in and clean up to inbox zero. The more consistent you can be with this task, the weaker the urge will become to randomly check your emails, and by sticking to the same time each day, you’re building good habits around self-discipline.

Record Each And Every Task
Following on from the to-do list, you can optimize this kind of task-based productivity approach by making sure you clearly and attentively record each task that is important to you. By keeping an up-to-date list of tasks, you can be sure you’re not overlooking certain factors when deciding on priorities and planning your workload. You could use a good old pen and paper to record your tasks and to-do-lists; many people work like this, and it’s perfectly suitable for personal jotting and keeping track of small-scale projects and priorities. This also allows you to track the amount of time spent on a given task. Having this information helps you price services accordingly.

Set Deadlines
Deadlines help you to get work done. This allows you and your team to measure and stay abreast of milestones needing to be met in completing a complex project.

Eat Your Frogs
We all have unpleasant tasks to deal with daily. “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” – Mark Twain. By completing difficult tasks first thing in the morning, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and other things will feel easy in comparison.

Stop Wasting Time In Meetings
Do you start a meeting with a purpose, goals and an agenda? Often, meetings are scheduled according to some arbitrary value like 30 or 60 minutes, and the structure is an afterthought. Define the purpose and outcomes of the meeting before the meeting. Some managers have a stand-up meeting that doesn’t allow for meaningless time spent. Objectives, assigned tasks, and outcomes are to the point.

Time Blocking – Stop multitasking
Focus on one task at a time and set a block of time to complete the task. This goes back to scheduling, prioritizing your TO DO LIST. Instead of trying to split your brain between multiple tasks, rapidly switching between activities and working on each of them simultaneously, you’re better off committing your focus to a single task at hand. Work for 25 minutes and take a 5-minute break and get up and stretch and you may find your brain remains better focused.

Consider some of these tips as you form new work habits. You may find yourself being more focused, able to better prioritize and execute your tasks at hand. We’d love to hear your success. Share your most successful habit on our Facebook page.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

Lessons Learned

August 21, 2019

by edmiston Blog Communications

As a business owner, you wear a lot of hats. When you opened your business chances are you were the bookkeeper, marketer, as well as the person who worked in your business. You opened your business with a strong vision but the road to success isn’t always easy. You go to battle every day against:

Tough competition
Evolving markets
New technology
Employee turnover

The good news is you don’t have to find ways to grow your business and find balance all on your own. Instead, you can find a business mentor or even look for advice from industry titans that came before you. There are a myriad of options through webinars, podcasts, Ted Talks, and books for you to gain knowledge from the titans of business. You may find value in their words of wisdom that will bring new passion and growth to your business.

Successful business people may sell different products, but they often follow some of the same advice. Common pieces of advice successful business titans swear by include:

Work-life Balance is key to burnout prevention

Work hard and play hard – it’s important to set space in your schedule to do both.

If Something Isn’t Working – Make a change

Technology and trends are in a constant state of flux. Unless you are willing to take a risk with the changes and pivot, you may find yourself lagging behind.

Value and Inspire Employees

Employees are the lifeblood of your company. Think about it, they interface with customers that choose to spend money with you versus a competitor. Attracting and retaining top talent is a challenge in today’s market. Building relationships and a sense of community helps employees feel appreciated, builds morale and increases productivity.

Learn From Others

Embrace lifelong learning through online classes, webinars, workshops, or a mastermind group. It doesn’t matter if you sign up for a new class or learn new ideas from others. You never know when a new skill can help your business.

Experience Growth Through Failure

Lessons are learned by failure and are an important part of success for businesses. Each time you fail at something you learn and grow. Perseverance is the difference between failure and success.

Trust Yourself

Trust your instincts and have faith in yourself. Make sound decisions based on knowledge and move forward.

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

We all have things that are uncomfortable but stepping outside your comfort zone leads to growth. Many successful business people emphasize pushing past what makes them comfortable. Are you willing to take the risk at something greater?

Small Opportunities Can Lead to New Business Growth

Saying yes to small opportunities along the way can eventually lead to greater opportunities. For instance, you may say yes to a dinner invite where you make a business contact that helps you grow your business later on.

Customers Come First

Are you listing to your customers? A customer complaint no matter how harsh they seem can help you improve your products and services. We aren’t perfect and sometimes mistakes are made but acknowledging the complaint tells your customers that you’re listening.

Don’t Sacrifice Quality

Customer satisfaction is key to raving reviews both online and word of mouth. You want to produce products and services that people are truly satisfied with. This can help your business build a stronger reputation.

If your business isn’t growing and you’re feeling stuck, it may be time to take a risk. Stepping out of your comfort zone through innovation is one of the most important things you can do – and that’s according to who succeeded before you. Are you ready to take the next move? We’re here to walk with you on that journey give us a call 724-612-0755 or email us for a 30-minute complimentary phone consultation.

edmiston group

Posts tagged: Pittsburgh Marketing Consultant