Focus on marketing strategy, not platforms

The internet has changed customer interactions and marketing forever – that’s true. But did the internet and the growth of social networks change the strategy behind marketing – not one bit.

Companies have grown and boomed using this strategy – but let’s face it. It’s not really a strategy, just clever use of one marketing tool. And now it’s time for marketers to bring back the basics to marketing – platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, as powerful as they are, are still just a marketing tool, a platform that can work for some campaigns and not for others.

Marketing programs, online, offline or a combination thereof need to go back a step – why am I doing this? What is the benefit to the business? How will this increase my leads and grow my sales? Without the answer to these fundamental questions, then you shouldn’t even get to the what, how or when.

Next time you are presented with a social media / online media strategy  taking advantage of new technologies and platforms, stop to ask – but why?