Avant Marketeer Nikki Alvin-Smith Offers Crystal Clear Insights For Your Marketing Delight
Experience in developing successful marketing strategies does not come with a college degree in Communications. Every business is unique in more than its unique selling point or USP. Brand building and brand awareness invite different marketing goals that require clever techniques to address complex modalities that are presented by individual businesses’ special needs.
“To oversimplify marketing strategy may not be ideal, but everyone needs a jumping off point and not every business owner can get their head or their budget around what they need to do after they start up their business enterprise. Customer acquisition costs, sales funnel development, managing metrics from e-blasts and online sponsored ads and keywords, content creation for social media platforms, websites, blog pages and the like, all float about on the surface of the marketing ocean. Some get washed up on the beach and get picked up by the business owner and some go out to sea never to be seen again. The trouble is as with everything else in life, you don’t know what you don’t know. I developed these 5 simple rules I suggest should be followed to help avoid common pitfalls and mistakes in marketing. I hope these will help guide the inexperienced entrepreneur as they embark on the most important part of their business development journey, brand building and awareness to conversion.”
Rule # 1
There is little benefit to putting a big spend out there on an initial marketing campaign to build the brand to an out of market audience and then not keeping up with continuity and frequency of content to engage the customer and capture their attention. It is better to spend on a regular basis on smaller ads for example, than to go for a one-off large ad placement. Wherever you choose to message about your business make sure it appears regularly and with fresh engaging content and messaging that speaks to your audience to let them know you are out there and who you are.
Rule # 2
The well-worn phrase, ‘trust and transparency’, is well-worn for a reason. It is of paramount importance to be honest and frank in your messaging and appreciate that today’s audiences are sophisticated and quickly disengage from content that is misleading or inaccurate.
Rule # 3
Whatever your business product or service, remember to ‘do you’. Above everything else you are your own unique selling point. Your backstory as to why you chose to develop a product or offer a service is a great place to start thinking about where your audience lives. Don’t worry about starting small and being honest that you are not a huge corporation or have raised millions through multiple tranche rounds from investors. Most businesses were started by one or two people that did everything themselves at the outset. Be proud of that, don’t hide it from view. People love to support innovative new products or services and help the ‘underdog’.
Rule # 4
While business owners are often forced to wear many hats while building a successful business, there are always areas of commerce where expertise is needed. Be aware of your own shortcomings. For example, a good accountant is a must have if you don’t have tax and finance experience. Similarly, hiring a professional marketing specialist can expedite the growth of your business. Not everyone can write after all. And creative content production takes some wordsmith talent and sincere knowledge of the processes between capturing the attention of a potential client and bringing it home to transaction.
Rule # 5
Be patient. When you hire a marketing professional expect positive results will trickle in slowly. The metrics will show a gradual increase and the sales numbers will rise as a result. Well – they will if you are doing it right. You should allow a minimum of 6 months to implement a strategy from start to fruition. Expect good PR/Marketing and Content Writing professionals to require a six-to-twelve-month contract. This is not an ‘Upworks’ or ‘Guru’ task. You want your writing/marketing pro to research, know and love your business and be prepared to go the extra mile to make it successful. Consistency in the writing element is also important. The writing voice needs to be approachable and relatable and hopefully come from a place of ‘thought leadership’ where the writer has some notable experience in the equestrian world.
This realistic time frame is a good thing because it gives you time to pivot on production schedules, increase staff levels where necessary and tweak the messaging and content to where it will garner even greater engagement.
Marketing is not a static environment. It changes on a daily even hourly basis. Being nimble and flexible and able to adjust marketing strategy and content style quickly is always necessary. In this regard the small business has an advantage over the large corporations. There are no ‘round table’ discussions or ‘circling back’ to topics. Decisions can be made right away. Put the right people in the room or zoom and you’ll be surprised how effective attentive content writers with marketing expertise can be driving your brand ahead of the competition.
If you would like to engage Nikki Alvin-Smith’s services via her company Horse in a Kilt Media Inc., please don’t hesitate to reach out to find out what’s on offer. Individually tailored package pricing is more affordable than you may think and having a professional content producer on board for your pet or equine business will make all the difference in your branding and market presence.
Trot in and visit Nikki Alvin-Smith, Horse in a Kilt Media Inc., to learn more about her stable full of marketing skills as a content writer, equestrian blogger, columnist, and marketing specialist. As a British/American professional Grand Prix competitor/coach/clinician she brings a unique experience/angles and thought leadership/authority to her wordsmith wizardry.
About Nikki:
Internationally published writer, content creator, PR/Marketing specialist, photographer and equestrian Nikki Alvin-Smith offers “Engaging Content that Engages Riders to Read,” with unique and fresh material for your horse or pet related business, magazine, website, newsletter, blog and email blast sales machine. Her portfolio of works is extensive and includes equestrian and pet features that have been published worldwide in over 230 different magazine titles. Her clients include equestrian and “B” list movie celebrities for whom she regularly ghostwrites and provides PR services; manufacturers of equine and pet related medical devices, feedstuffs, supplements, grooming supplies, fencing and barn equipment, horse transport, horse structures and professional equine service providers; profit and non-profit initiatives and organizations; and non-equestrian related businesses/publications in the pet industry, investment, real estate and international travel and rural lifestyle.
Nikki Alvin-Smith is a British international level Grand Prix dressage competitor/trainer/coach/clinician. Together with her husband Paul, who is also a Grand Prix dressage rider, Nikki operates Willowview Hill Farm in the Catskill Mountains of New York; a full-service horse training facility. The duo provides ‘team’ clinician services to clients worldwide to riders of all levels and many riding disciplines.
Contact: Nikki Alvin-Smith: Content Writer; PR/Marketing Specialist
Email: Nikki@NikkiAlvinSmithStudio.com
Website: NikkiAlvinSmithStudio.com
Cell: 607 434 4470