Marketing Basics: Simplify and Segment

I’m still totally enjoying the STAMATS SIMTech Conference. Day Two was jam packed with excellent speakers and valuable information.

First thing this morning, I had a one-on-one consultation with Julie Staggs, a STAMATS Senior Client Consultant. I was relieved to hear that my Goddard College colleagues and I are on the right track with our Communications Plan. We even included some components of communications that most colleges forget, so that was encouraging! Julie then helped me identify our next steps.

Today’s workshop content was fairly focused on the content of marketing messages, but there were still some amazing tech tips. Among the many ideas I’m left pondering, I’ll leave you with two…

Marketing Basics: First, simplify.

Focus on less, not more. This pertains to social networking platforms, media, and messages. Don’t throw all your news up against the wall to see what sticks and don’t rush to get a foothold on every new social media tool out there.

First, figure out a goal, then identify the audience. From there, you should be able to narrow down your quest to only a few truly relevant and useful social media tools.

Marketing Basics: Second, segment.

Ask yourself how you deliver your message to each constituency and media channel.

Reaching out to donors is very different than reaching out to potential clients. Reaching out to allies and supporters is very different than reaching out to possibly-uninformed politicians.

Many non-profits know this and navigate the waters somewhat well. What we do less well is differentiating our approaches to each media outlet, from TV to radio to newspapers to social media. The message needs to be translated for each medium.

So, besides these juicy nuggets from the conference, I’m letting Boston grow on me. It’s a surprisingly walkable and friendly city. Tonight, I visited the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and finally got to see works from Kara Walker. Exciting!

 

Photo credit: Neil Palmer