Josh Dodson is my guest today. He is the Director of Research and integrated Marketing at VisionPoint Marketing.
We discussed marketing strategy vs. tactics. Strategy is a guiding principle for the tactics you use in marketing. Tactics are the specific thing you are doing with marketing. It could be Facebook ads or maybe Google Adwords. It is when you get into the weeds. Strategy helps guide you toward your goal.
First, start with a goal, then develop a plan to reach that goal. Next, use the tools at your exposal to execute the plan. If you follow a plan, it will be more effective and reduce mistakes.
There are times when you can do something out of scope, like an Instagram Story post or tweet. An example from Josh’s article is targeting alumni; you need to define parameters to help you target your audience better. Then once you are in the moment, you can decide if you should execute an unplanned post. One thing is that your message needs to tie into what you are saying, how you are saying it, and who you are saying it to.
Targeting is important. Making sure to send the content to the right person, at the right time. It will help with effectiveness.
Josh talks about statistical significance. It is crucial to be able to identify what element of your marketing is working and what is not. Use tracking parameters (Google Analytics, UTM), to help learn about what is happening on your website. When you add that on the front end, you can see what is happening on the backend. In other words, you will be able to analyze the customer journey.
By learning what your website visitors are doing, you can tweak your plan and adjust your goals.
Josh concluded, by saying there is a temptation to do the exciting things without planning, but you need to establish your guiding principles to make your job and results easier in the long run. Plan for success and execute for conversions.
Visit VisionPoint Marketing’s website: www.visionpointmarketing.com
They help with marketing for higher education.
Josh on Twitter: @joshuaDDodson
Link to article: Higher Ed Marketing 101: Strategy vs. Tactics
[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXUJ8QBK0nk[/youtube]
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