A few weeks ago, I wrote a social media post comparing a Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly and marketing. While the post was mainly a funny excuse to share a picture of a strange-looking caterpillar, I couldn’t help but reflect further on how the butterfly’s life cycle parallels our work in marketing.
Comparing marketing to a butterfly’s life is a bit of an oversimplification, yes, but I believe thinking about marketing in this way is useful from time to time because it can help us realign with the fundamental goal of our marketing. The marketing landscape can be pretty complex—trying to make sense of digital channels, shifting consumer preferences, evolving privacy controls, and data analytics. It’s easy to get caught up details and lose sight of our primary purpose, which is simply to communicate that we are here in the most efficient way possible. By focusing on the basics, we can ensure our marketing remains effective to meet our business goals.
Attract Attention
Our first goal in marketing is to attract attention. Like the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly does with those big fake eye spots, we have to make our presence known and let customers know we are ready to do business. (Okay, the butterfly both attracts attention and tries to scare it away at the same time, but you get the point.)
We attract attention through various marketing communications, including our website, our content that shows up in search results, emails, social media, digital ads, brochures, newspaper, radio, word of mouth, and much more. Our goal is to show potential customers what we have to offer and identify how these products or services can solve a problem. Through these efforts, we also convey our brand identity—in a market where consumers are increasingly making decisions based on a company’s values and authenticity, a clear brand identity can help to build trust and foster loyalty.
Nurture
Just as a caterpillar requires a steady diet of nutrients to grow, effective marketing demands a continual and consistent effort to see progress. It’s generally accepted that it takes somewhere around 8 touches for someone to become aware of your brand. Many business owners are surprised when, despite what feels like an inundation of promotions, people still don’t know about their business, or at least not all the products or services they provide. That’s because it takes a persistent effort to get those touches in, much less make a sale.
Because time and budgets, particularly with small businesses, are not unlimited, the goal with our marketing is to identify the places, whether physical or digital, where our audiences are most likely to frequent, and concentrate our marketing dollars there. After that, it’s a matter of staying consistent. Here is where a marketing plan, even a very simple one, is helpful. A marketing plan provides a place to work out what you are currently doing, how well it is working, and make plans for the future. A plan on paper makes the actual execution of the marketing effort a lot easier because you have a guide for what needs to be done and when. Additionally, seeing our efforts in the aggregate gives a better reading on whether we are doing enough to meet our goals, or whether we need to increase our marketing.
Evolve
The next step in the caterpillar’s lifecycle is the stage where it begins enclosing itself into a cocoon. It’s time to change. Similarly, our marketing also needs to be ready to evolve.
Marketing involves a lot of trial and error. We use past experience and examples from others to guide us. We choose some tactics, and they may do well; other tactics may prove lackluster. And then, what works today may not work tomorrow. That’s how it goes. Consumer behavior, market conditions, and technology changes, which leads to shifts in how audiences respond to our marketing efforts.
It is important to constantly monitor how your marketing efforts are performing. With digital marketing, we can do this by monitoring metrics built into the platforms we are using. With social media, for instance, you can monitor metrics like your number of followers or the amount of engagement on each post. With email marketing, you can observe open rates (how many people open your email) and CTR, or click-through-rates (how many people click on a link in your email). You should compare current numbers to your own history, and if you can find the data, to other businesses of a similar size or industry. Are you improving? If so, great! Keep at it. Are your numbers stagnant or even decreasing? It may be time to shift your strategy or even ditch that marketing channel altogether.
Transform
Keep at it. Consistent effort can lead to big gains. Think of the caterpillar. It has transformed itself from a creature that can only crawl along the ground to a butterfly that can now fly.
Effective marketing is a constant push. What may seem like very small gains—one new follower here, a good review there—adds up over time. These are often compound gains too. As more people become aware of your brand and word of mouth increases, cumulative growth happens. With persistence and dedication, your marketing efforts will help your business reach new heights. Just like the butterfly.
If you have questions about whether your marketing is effective, contact us about performing a marketing audit.
