Marketing in the security industry should not be as difficult as you may think. But why do our trade show booths still look the same and articles submitted still read the same? Is there something missing here? The security industry is made up of the most intelligent End Users, Integrators, Distributors, Marketers, Engineers and Production Managers who are all clamoring for the best content and marketing experiences we can give them. But why are companies making so many mistakes?
Here are Five Common Mistakes in Security Marketing that hopefully will give your marketing a boost in 2018.
- Absence of marketing strategy.
It’s good to have clear marketing operations and deliverables, like having a thought leadership plan or a campaign to boost traffic to a dedicated landing page. But in the absence of a real strategy telling you who you are trying to reach and how to achieve the desired outcomes, much time and energy can be mismanaged. In the aftermath, tactics like digital marketing can end up unaligned and disruptive to other marketing elements like brand message and audience targeting. The strategy and the road map that flows from any marketing initiative should always be the first step.
2. Not doing your PR research.
For the sake of your reputation and your brand, before you submit a press release or start pitching the media to secure coverage for your latest product, partnership or application story, do your homework.
Not understanding what the outlet covers, what the journalist writes about or whether they already wrote about it is wasting everyone’s time and making clear you either don’t know what you’re doing or don’t care. FIND AND AN ANGLE. BE A STORYTELLER
While you’re at it, look up how to format a media pitch. You don’t have to follow it to the letter, but you should know there’s no such thing as a 700-word pitch. That’s not a pitch, that’s a rookie mistake.
- Not optimizing your content for organic search.
I guarantee you that many manufacturers that send out a blog, listicle, newsletter or social post aren’t optimized for search. Given the role that organic search plays in product or brand discovery these days, why not give yourself the best chance of being found? There are countless tools out there (Google provides some free of charge) that can help optimize content.
4. Failing to understand what content resonates with one’s target audience.
Be genuinely interested in your audience. Listen to what they have to say. Be empathetic to their problems and receptive to their ideas. When writing content, don’t just write what you want to write! Write what they want to read!
Some people won’t download a white paper. Others aren’t inclined to sign up for webinars. Some never watch videos, and still others have no interest in a demo. So how do you reach them? Test different offers. Your prospects are unique, and you need to discover what they respond best to.
5. Failing to adjust your digital marketing in real-time.
If you have marketing campaigns that didn’t work the way you expected, how do you diagnose what’s wrong? The amazing thing about Digital Marketing is that it is digital! If you are running a lead gen campaign on Facebook and its not giving you good numbers, stop it. Analyze it and find out what’s not working and fix it.
