Sometimes you read something and get an "a ha" moment. For me, reading insurance tech guru Steve Anderson's recent post Create A Balanced Approach to Marketing was one of those times. It is not that what he said was really anything new. It is how he said it that really made an impression.
In marketing there is always a new trend, and of course those selling the services that parallel the trend always tell us their way is better. Social media experts tell you to ignore social media at your own peril. Internet marketers talk about SEO and paid search. Direct mail specialists talk about how there is no better way to get your message in front of a client. Those selling billboards on the side of the road tell you the same thing. So which is it? It depends on who your clients are and where they spend their time.
As Steve says, if you are marketing primarily to seniors, traditional methods like direct mail and print ads are more likely to hit their target than paid search. If you are marketing primarily to the younger set, the reverse might be true.
"Get to know their habits, get to know their likes and dislikes, get to know the most critical problems they want to solve and the driving goals they want to achieve. Once you do that, it's reasonably easy to figure out where they "gather" and use the appropriate marketing methods to reach out to them.