Monthly Marketing Q&A: Persona Targeting, Fallow Marketing Lists And Aligning Departments

It’s the end of the first month of The Marketing Plot! The first month of starting a business can be both exciting and overwhelming: It's a time of building connections, gaining support, and making crucial decisions. I’ve absolutely loved the adventure so far, making a great impact in businesses I’m working on in various industries, from crypto and agritech to data and education (case studies to come 😉).

Every month I’m going to be posting a marketing Q&A with some of the main marketing questions I’ve been asked. So without further ado, here’s May…

"We want to be visible to our target audience but have no idea where they're hanging out. Where do we start?"

Finding your target audience's online presence is a crucial step in effective digital marketing. Begin by researching and understanding your audience's demographics, interests, and behaviours. Use social media platforms, online forums, and industry-specific websites to identify where your target audience congregates. Additionally, conducting surveys or interviews with existing customers can provide you with valuable insights. Sometimes the best option is to experiment with various channels, analyse their performance, and refine your strategy based on the data you gather.

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"On one side, we want to hit the ground running straight away and start making some noise, but on the other hand, we want a plan in place to make sure we're doing the right thing. What should we do?"

Balancing immediate action and strategic planning is essential. Begin by outlining your marketing objectives, target audience, and key messages. From there, develop a comprehensive marketing plan that includes a mix of short-term and long-term strategies. While it's important to make some noise initially, ensure your activities align with your brand identity and long-term goals. Create a content calendar, leverage social media platforms, and consider low-cost advertising options to generate awareness and drive initial engagement before you have a solid plan in place.

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"We have some contacts in HubSpot that we've collected over time, but we don't really know what to do with them... What should we do?"

Building a robust contact list is an excellent starting point for your marketing efforts. Here are a few steps you can take to make the most of your contacts in HubSpot:

1. Segment your contacts: Divide your contacts into different groups based on criteria such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement levels. This segmentation allows you to personalise your marketing messages and create targeted campaigns that resonate with specific groups.
2. Nurture leads with email marketing: Use HubSpot's email marketing capabilities to develop automated nurturing campaigns. Craft personalised and relevant content for each segment to guide leads through the sales funnel. Offer valuable resources, promotions, or exclusive content to keep them engaged and build trust.
3. Implement lead scoring: Assign scores to your contacts based on their actions and engagement levels. This MQL scoring system helps prioritise your efforts and identify high-potential leads for your sales team. Focus on nurturing and converting leads with higher scores, as they are more likely to convert into customers.
4. Use marketing automation: Take advantage of HubSpot's automation features to streamline your marketing processes. Set up automated workflows that trigger specific actions based on predefined conditions. This can include sending targeted emails, assigning tasks to your sales team, or updating lead statuses.

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"We want to design a new brand, and here's a list of brands we like the look of. Shall we go from there?"

While drawing inspiration from existing brands is valuable, it's crucial to develop a unique and authentic brand identity. Start by assessing your business's core values, mission, and target audience. Understand what differentiates you from your competitors and use that as a foundation for your brand development. Work with someone who can translate your vision into a visually compelling brand identity, encompassing a logo, colour palette, typography, and visual elements. It's essential to create a brand that resonates with your target audience and accurately represents your business's personality and values, so although you may like the look of other brands, it’s not just about how you look but why you look that way!

"We need sales and marketing to work together more, how can we get them to align?"

Aligning sales and marketing is crucial for maximising business growth and achieving your goals. Here are some effective strategies to foster collaboration and alignment between these two departments:

1. Establish shared goals and metrics: Create common objectives that both sales and marketing teams can work towards. Ensure these goals are measurable and align with the overall business objectives. By having shared metrics, both teams will have a clear understanding of what success looks like and can work together to achieve it.
2. Encourage regular communication and feedback: Facilitate open lines of communication between sales and marketing teams. Schedule regular meetings, such as weekly or monthly check-ins, to discuss ongoing campaigns, lead quality, and feedback from sales on marketing-generated leads. Encourage both teams to share their perspectives, insights, and challenges to foster collaboration and mutual understanding.
3. Develop buyer personas together: Collaboratively create detailed buyer personas that accurately reflect your target audience. This exercise will help both teams gain a deeper understanding of your customers' needs, pain points, and motivations. By aligning on the ideal customer profile, sales and marketing can tailor their efforts to attract and convert high-quality leads more effectively.
4. Implement a Service Level Agreement (SLA): Establish an SLA that outlines the expectations and responsibilities of both sales and marketing teams. Define lead handover processes, lead qualification criteria, and response times for sales inquiries. This agreement ensures a seamless transition of leads between the two teams and helps avoid potential conflicts or miscommunications.
5. Foster a culture of collaboration: Encourage cross-departmental collaboration through joint projects and shared initiatives. For example, involve sales representatives in the content creation process to ensure the materials produced align with their needs. Celebrate and recognise successes that result from the collaboration between sales and marketing, reinforcing the value of working together.

By implementing these strategies, you can foster a collaborative environment where sales and marketing teams work together towards shared goals, improving efficiency, and driving business growth.

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