We know how hard it is to come up with meaningful and engaging marketing communications. Whether it’s email campaigns, newsletters, social media posts, digital ads or video commercials, you really only have a couple of chances at most to grab a potential client’s attention. After that, our short attention span brains move on to the next shiney item in our feeds or screens and we forget all about what we saw a minute ago.

So how do you make the most of each opportunity that you get in front of your target audience? How do you stand out from all of the other visual chatter and spectacle to make someone stop and take notice?

To help you assess how effective your marketing communications are, we’ve listed our favourite questions that we ask at the start of each marketing engagement. All of these will help you look at your different marketing channels to see if there are other opportunities to help you get you to the next level in your marketing.

Our top marketing channel starter questions

1. What are your marketing priorities and goals?

This is always our first question and can be harder to answer than you might think. Have you clearly defined what you are looking to achieve with your marketing? Are you using SMART goals? (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound)

Clearly stating your marketing objectives helps keep all of your activities focused on these goals and hopefully prevents you from getting sidetracked.

2. What marketing channels are you using and who are your audiences on each?

Sometimes the biggest opportunity can be identified as you better understand who is engaging with your communications and where.

• Website – What information are you sharing on your website and who is interested in that info? Are you getting the desired sales leads, employment applications, or partnership offers?
• Social media channels – What is your follower profile(s)? Are they customers, employees, potential talent, prospects, partners? How do you customize the messaging for different audiences?
• Newsletters – Similar to social, what is your subscriber profile(s)? Who is engaging the most? Where are new subscribers coming from?
• Digital ads – Where are you placing your ads? Which ones are driving the most traffic to your website or leading to conversions?

3. Do you have a key message?

For each of the target audiences, what is the core message that you want to reiterate? How is it relevant to them? Remember that people can only handle a maximum of two ideas in any one communication. Ideally, there is just one – again, our brains are tapped out and for many, if one thought goes in, another goes out, so make sure it is worth it!

4. How often are you reaching out?

There is a balance you want to achieve between too little, too often, and just right. You can find that balance by mixing up the channels, the presentation of the key message, and then scheduling each for the optimal time.

Remember that time is valuable and you don’t want to be seen as wasting it with communications that seem overly repetitive or irrelevant. On the other hand, not often enough and you’re not going to be top of mind.