If You Have Something To Shout About, SHOUT!
by Courtney S. Dade, CEO and Chief Strategist, CSD Marketing and Consulting, LLC
Often, we are taught to be proud of our accomplishments, but not to be too showy with our proclamations of success.
It’s considered bad form.
But, when it comes to marketing in today’s world of fast-paced results and instant gratification, it’s best to put aside concerns over being judged harshly for shouting to the world: WE DID IT!
In order to make the most of your marketing efforts, and to receive the best positive result you can from your endless efforts, it’s appropriate to boldly proclaim your accomplishments.
Let the world know what you’ve done. And if you can, let the world know why you have been successful. Positive results are by far the best marketing tool you have at your disposal. Don’t be too shy to use them.
What should we shout about?
There are big wins and there are little wins, and you should share them all with your clients and customers.
If you have a product that’s selling particularly well or getting rave reviews, let your current and potential customers know about it.
If you provide a service that’s becoming well-regarded or has received an unexpected award, let your current and potential clients know about it.
Don’t limit yourself to the big wins, either. If you’ve made a minor improvement in your product or service, and it’s easily reflected and understood, let people know about it. Any accomplishment, be it completing a project or enhancing a service, needs to be presented in your marketing materials. Especially if you tweaked a product based on customer feedback.
How should I market our successes?
As stated previously, there are big wins and there are little wins. If you’re a forward-thinking company, you are constantly making changes to improve your product or service. Every day is a new day to get better at what you do.
If, in fact, your company is making changes or improvements in your product or service, you certainly can provide a list of those changes in your marketing material. But customers and clients have become so marketing-savvy that they sometimes ignore bullet points because they are too pushy. And a long list of bullet points is especially easy to skip past. Julia Odgen from UK-based Zazzle Media identifies 10 principles for creating a good news story that will captivate your audience.
So, alter your marketing materials in a way that illuminates your successes. You don’t need to create an entirely new marketing campaign. You can simply send an email or update your social media to point out that your company has made a valuable change and you’re proud to offer this improved product. Even a graphic announcing that something is “new” or a “new feature” lets your audience know that you’re frequently refreshing what you offer.
You can also target your message to those clients or customers who care most about the improvement or change that has been made, rather than spray to all fields. No one wants to read a marketing message that doesn’t pertain to them. And no one wants to hear you brag about an accomplishment that means nothing to them.
Cheerful successful young businesswoman with laptop shouting and celebrating success in office
Why am I shouting?
There is nothing more difficult or depressing than trying to energize a marketing campaign when you have nothing new to say. There are only so many ways to send the same message.
But, when you have a new message to send, with an updated report on your company’s successes or improvements, marketing once again becomes meaningful, not only in terms of delivering a message but in terms of activating your marketing staff or energizing your audience.
Marketers love to push new things: new ideas, new products, new messages. When you have an event in your company that changes your message or enhances your company’s fortunes, you shouldn’t internalize it.
You should shout it.
We can show you how to shout
CSD Marketing knows how to shout when it’s appropriate to do so.
We are a boutique marketing agency that focuses on supporting start-ups and small-to-medium businesses with their marketing needs. We work with firms to focus their marketing efforts in a cost-effective way.
When it’s time to make a change in your marketing plans (such as when something new or exciting is happening within your company), that’s the time to consider working with CSD Marketing. We can assist you in making the changes to your marketing materials so that your exciting news gets to the audience that wants to hear it. And doesn’t get disseminated to customers or clients who don’t care to know about your improvement or enhancement.
Perhaps we’ve invented a new way of communicating: pinpoint shouting.
