We’ve had some interesting conversations here at Yellow Tuxedo Towers inspired by some wider debates within our wider network. The question of which marketing channels serve our businesses better/ give us the best return has been a big one as has the conversation about which channels will become more important within the next two years. In fact we listened to a brilliant podcast by the legendary Mark Schaefer which discussed this exact point.
And, while this was all well and good, we couldn’t help but think…we all need to stop thinking in these very defined digital marketing silos. In fact by siloing your marketing efforts you’re just making life harder for yourself!
The problem with working in digital marketing silos
First and foremost the biggest problem in working in this siloed approach to your marketing is that you will find yourself focusing and prioritising those individual marketing goals rather than looking at the bigger picture and taking in your wider business goals.
Not only does this lead to an inconsistent customer experience and expectation of your brand but this can also lead to discouragement and friction from your yourself as the business owner/ team member when those wider business goals aren’t ticked off and you don’t achieve the desired outcome that you want.
Creating a siloed marketing approach in our business is something that many of us fall into doing and usually from a very early stage in our business journey. We often don’t even realise we are doing it. But with every new development in technology, every new social media platform or marketing channel, we often get that feeling of shiny object syndrome by adopting these new tactics without thinking about how this works within your overall marketing ecosystem. We look at and measure the individual insights on each of those platforms but do we really think about that bigger picture?
A strong digital marketing strategy much like the ecosystem model that we work with here at Yellow Tuxedo, prioritises your business needs with all of your marketing efforts working towards the same end goal. Your channels, content and tactics have to speak to each other and present a united front if you ever want to grow. You need to be taking a holistic approach to your online presence.
You can’t have one without the other…
It’s been really interesting when listening to these wider debates this week how all of our marketing channels have slowly been put into some sort of hierarchy of importance. If you were to look at a recent poll conducted by Mark Masters off of You Are The Media over on Linkedin it was interesting to see that their audience thought that in two years we will all be saying sayonara to SEO but content marketing would be one of the top marketing channels for your business.
This is where looking at SEO and content marketing as two separate silos is problematic. We all know content is king. And yes in two years I can imagine that it will be more important than ever to connect with your audience with high quality content with a strong message within it that resonates with your target market. But HOW do you expect to reach a wider audience without heavily relying on your existing network without understanding and adopting the principles of SEO and optimisation to ensure that your content is actually seen by your people and picked up and shared wider across all of the search engines?
Yes, we agree that SEO in its individual form looks at optimising your web pages and bringing links back to your site and YES, absolutely this kind of cold, technical approach to visibility is probably less sexy than other methods of visibility. But the principles of optimisation are here to stay. We want you content to be seen.
Likewise with your thoughts about social media. Whether you are a lover or a hater you cannot deny that social media plays an absolutely crucial part in the marketing mix when done right. And this is often the issue for many, its not done right!
We have lost track of the amount of times we hear that social media has no direct ROI for someones business. That they don’t get direct sales from their daily posts, that networking is their highest converting marketing channel for their business and that they don’t see the point in social media… They are vastly missing the point. As a marketing channel social media SHOULD be be equal to or an extension of your networking efforts. It should be a place to meet people, to start conversation, to build rapport, to be a touch point of your brand. As a channel it may seem like it doesn’t have a massive ROI in terms of money in your pocket but indirectly it could be worth millions to your business.
Siloed marketing leads to a disjointed brand experience
As a final point I want to address the danger to your brand when you place weighting on certain marketing efforts over others. By working in one silo and neglecting others we can inadvertently cause damage to our overall brand perception.
Your audience are human and they shouldn’t be pigeon holed. Your social media followers could well be visitors to your website. Your website followers could well choose to be loyal email subscribers or your biggest fans on YouTube. And with this knowledge that our audience moves around our ecosystem you absolutely cannot let the ball drop when it comes to a consistent and unified approach across the board.
By way of an example. I recently had a conversation with somebody within a networking meeting. They openly placed “connection” as one of their core business values and said that networking is the place that they think works best for their business. After that meeting I decided to “connect” with that person on Instagram, a channel I know that they also utilise for their business, and left them a voice note. It’s now been 3 weeks and that voice note STILL hasn’t been listened to or acknowledged. Now, whether they realise it or not, as a member of their audience I have a new perception of their business and what they mean by “connection” Its less than positive.
If you’re going to utilise social media in your own marketing mix you have to commit and bring it into the fold wholeheartedly rather than tickling the surface.
You need to build an ecosystem. One that brings all of your siloed marketing efforts together and helps you to not only smash your wider business goals but really helps you to build a strong and effective online presence that has deep rooted foundations to stand the test of time.
Not sure how to build one for yourself? Book a virtual cuppa with us and we’ll help you…
Have fun always and thanks for reading..
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