What are the most common mistakes made by today’s marketing professionals? According to business leaders, poor research, ineffective focus-development, outdated digital skills, and a lack of long-term follow-through top the list.
If you’re ready to become a marketing coordinator, the right training can prepare you to avoid common pitfalls and enjoy a fun, fulfilling, and fast-paced career. At the Academy of Learning Career College (AOLCC), we help our students do just that.
Here is our brief guide to avoiding four of the most common mistakes made by marketing coordinators.
1. Do Your Persona Research throughout Your Marketing Career
In your marketing coordinator courses, you’ll develop the skills you need to approach every marketing initiative with confidence. You’ll understand how your expertise and strategies can lead to revenue, and how to start every project on the right foot.
The best marketing initiatives always begin with ‘persona’ research. Without personas, marketing campaigns will lack direction. By discovering who your ideal prospective customers are and what they need, you can build up a realistic target ‘personas.’ Successful marketers use personas to promote a cohesive brand that speaks directly to the customers they seek.
2 Always Focus Your Marketing Coordination on the Buyer, Not the Business
This is especially important in online marketing efforts on a business’s own webpage or blog. By creating content designed to suit your future buyer or client’s interests (discovered through the persona research mentioned above) you’ll find it easier to hold their attention and earn their loyalty.
“Too many business owners and marketers are writing more for ‘their’ way of seeing the world. They talk too much about themselves,” explains Marcus Sheridan, CEO of marketing firm The Sales Lion. “I always like to say it’s a blog, not a brag.”
For example, if you work for a shoe business after earning your marketing coordinator diploma, business owners may be tempted to create web content talking about their sales success or strong local reputation. While these topics support their credibility and may inspire some buyer interest, chances are potential buyers would be more interested in hearing about trendy shoe styles or shoe shopping guides. Strategic, buyer-focused content can draw many more views than business-focused information alone.
3. Keep Up-to-Date on Digital Skills with Your Marketing Career
It’s important to keep an ear out for digital media trends throughout your marketing career. Successful marketers speak to the people, and today’s people spend a great deal of time online.
“Written content may be the core of your content strategy, but don’t forget video,” explains Matt Heinz of Heinz Marketing. “Or podcasts. Or short, embedded slide presentations. Or whatever other formats your audience naturally gravitates toward.”
AOLCC marketing students complete an entire course focused on ‘Business in the Digital Age’ to learn how technology changes the way modern businesses operate, and how you can use digital media to effectively promote your marketing efforts after graduation.
4. Remember that Effective Marketing is a ‘Two Way Street’
As you’ll discover after graduation, a marketing coordinator’s job goes far beyond just advertising and sales. The most successful marketing coordinators achieve customer and buyer loyalty by engaging directly with them and fostering respectful, lasting conversations.
“To really accelerate your audience and impact, you must devote time to responding, commenting, engaging questions and so on,” advises Heinz. “If you’re just a one-way communication channel, even with good content, your prospects will go elsewhere for the interaction they crave.”
By aiming for long-term relationships with your future audiences and developing the skills mentioned above, a mistake-free marketing career is yours for the taking.
Visit Academy of Learning Career College to learn more about getting started.