We all remember this scene from The Wizard of Oz when the Professor, making his “magic” is revealed to Dorothy and her merry band. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” I am Gary Ringo and work with Digital Savvy, a full-service digital marketing agency. I am sometimes perceived as having mystical powers where I can wave my technology wand and make a business successful…and I can. But that rarely happens overnight. With the lottery you exchange a dollar for a chance. In life you should invest dollars for a plan. A plan built on a firm, quality foundation before you decide to share your idea, product or service with its waiting audience.
When I was first asked to write this article on branding and marketing your company from a digital perspective, I wondered if I had anything different to offer. Anything fresh or new that couldn’t be found by typing characters in the Google search field. You know what I found? Nothing new but I believe I have a different slant on the topic. If you want to call it a Digital Perspective that’s fine. But this is Gary’s perspective based not so much on book learning but 25 years of experience.
I believe that first we have to define branding and marketing. They are often used together however, they are not synonymous. They work hand-in-hand, but they are not the same thing. You’ll not find these definitions in the Oxford dictionary. These are my Ringonitions! Let’s get started.
Branding is your identity. The identity of your business, your service, your product or even you. It can be a logo or a tagline and if done correctly can give you instant recognition and visibility. “Just __ it, Have a ____ and a smile, Can you ____ me now?” Ring any bells? Every time I see a guy in jeans, tennis shoes, a black shirt, and round glasses I think of Steve Jobs. Branding. Once you’ve created your brand now it’s time to share that product, service, idea or company that the world can’t live without! That’s marketing.
Marketing in its simplest terms is promoting and selling a product or service. Spreading the word so to speak. But it is much more than printing a bunch of flyers to post around town, buying print ads, purchasing airtime on cable…radio or making a post on social media and asking all your friends to “like and share.” You have a brand to market, but the question now becomes who do you market it to? Who is your target market? Where do you get the biggest bang for your advertising buck? Marketing requires as much or maybe more thought and planning as the process you used in creating your brand and its unique position.
So, branding and marketing. All pretty basic stuff until you enter the digital domain to distribute your wares. On the internet you have websites, blogs, posts, pins, tweets and text. You have access to billions of people worldwide, but you don’t need billions of people. You just want the ones who need your product or service.
This is where technology is a game changer letting you spread the “good news” of your brand on a regular, repetitive and memorable basis that you can automate and then walk away from. The internet is full of information that is gathered from your every mouse click and available through analytics to digital savvy marketers.
Have you ever searched for a product or service on the internet and then find that company started showing you ads for that watch, dress or new car on your Facebook page? If your market is: married home owners in the 32601-zip code of Gainesville, FL with two children and a household income over $35,000 a year that eats out twice a week, the data is available for a target market. You can be THAT specific!
Now that you’ve identified your target you’re ready to approach, offer and sell. Now you have a process you can replicate. Supply and demand but only to those that have a need making it mutually beneficial to all parties involved. And that’s just the tip of the digital iceberg. You’re now gathering data of your own on your customers with their buying patterns, so you can reach out with email offering and discounts, text message campaigns and new products or services that you offer. The possibilities become endless and with automation, an event or a promotion that was planned months in advance can be executed at the touch of a button when the right time comes.
Never have we had so much flexibility and reach due to technology. If you use traditional forms of distribution to advertise and market your brand and it’s working good for you! Have you thought about how digital marketing could take you to the next level of success? Perhaps it’s time to get savvy and deliver your message anytime, anywhere through the “magic” of the digital domain. So many people and so little time, but you can still get all you want.
We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto!
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Gary Ringo has been doing marketing and sales for over 25 years. He has hands on experience with new business start-ups, branding and marketing campaigns, web-site promotions and digital marketing, training presentation and public speaking. He is a member of Business Network International 212 and the Gainesville Fine Art Association. Gary is also a trusted Google Photographer with 8.8 million views of his Google photos. He enjoys art photography as a hobby (www.Junk2Art.gallery). His passion is creativity. Gary wants to work and create until age 110 enjoying every minute of it! Gary can be reached at [email protected].