ICYMI: Pinpoint your target customer, determine your social media marketing budget, inbound marketing and more

Below is a highlight of the most engaging articles that you may have missed this week in marketing.

One of the most overlooked aspects of marketing is to identify and ‘pinpoint’ who your target customer is. There are a number of categories to research, including demographics, interests, behaviors and more. Let’s dig a little deeper and pinpoint exactly what you do and how it solves a problem for your audience. Answering the additional questions of who really needs you and what is your market will take you through the process of identifying your target customer.

How much of your marketing budget is consumed by social media? Is it decreasing, increasing or flat year-over-year? How does your C-Suite perceive social media? Nick Rojas states that ‘just 15% of CMOs believe they can demonstrate ROI or other quantifiable impact.’

For millennials, the majority of which have only known a ‘digital marketing’ era. This era is far different than the ‘traditional marketing’ that millions of marketers were accustomed to for decades. How is this being taught to the new generation? Entrepreneur writes, “Do universities need to put this emphasis on digital marketing? Sure, it’s still new to them. For the rest of us marketing day in and day out, cut the fluff. ‘Digital’ is the new ‘traditional.’”

Plus additional tips, tricks and tools you can immediately implement into your social media marketing.

To read the full story, click the headline of each article.

How To Pinpoint Exactly Who Your Target Customer Is

by Benedict Brychta
Jeff Bullas

There are over 7 billion people living on earth.

Each of these people can be placed in a number of categories based on demographics, interests, and values. But your challenge is to figure out which of these 7 billion people have a problem that you can solve.

Developing the skill of target customer recognition isn’t a simple thing. In fact, the whole process is as much art as it is science.

Of course, identifying your target customer is only the first step. Once you know who they are, you have to figure out what to say to them.

There’s no guarantee that you will be able to find your ideal target customer on the first try, but answering the following questions will definitely improve your odds.

How to determine your social media marketing budget

by Nick Rojas
The Next Web

According to a study by the Duke University Fuqua School of Business, companies are rapidly increasing their social marketing budgets, even as they struggle to demonstrate the impact their efforts are having on their businesses.

The study revealed that the average business spends 9.4 percent of its marketing budget on social media. That number is expected to grow to 13.2 percent over the next year, and to 21.4 percent over the next five years. That’s an increase of 128 percent based on little more than the perception by chief marketing officers that social marketing presents bold opportunities.

Just 15 percent of CMOs believe they can demonstrate ROI or other quantifiable impact.

So, as every marketing dollar is a critical resource, how do businesses determine what to spend on social?

Why ‘Digital’ Marketing Is the New Traditional Marketing

Entrepreneur

Has the word ‘digital’ become overdramatized and sensationalized by marketers? Yes, and that’s a bold statement to make coming from a CEO and founder of a digital marketing agency.

The sole purpose of marketing is to garner attention for a business selling a product or service. Several subsets of marketing (like content, social media, and digital) have emerged, changing the way organizations market their businesses. That said, they all have the same primary function: to garner attention.

Technology changes the way that marketers market, and even changes the look of a business’s marketing department. This technology shifts so rapidly that we see more of our time dedicated to ‘digital’ resources, so we’ve naturally adopted ‘digital’ marketing as our own.

Why You Should Embrace The Power of Thinking Differently

by Elinor Stutz
Entrepreneur

As long as we are willing, we may each learn from those around us. The eye opening lessons come from those who, in particular, think differently from us.

Steve Jobs said it best, “think different.”

Related: Are You Unknowingly Turning Off Clientele?

Large vision vs. detail
In one meeting, the question was posed about who the target audience of the new organization might be. The question was asked, “Are you speaking of startups or Fortune 100 companies?” The response came back, “No, I’m referring to the right contact title at a company.”

The two thought processes were diametrically opposed. The coordinator of the meeting believes that by putting the details in place first, one has a defined process for moving forward.

However, the problem with getting too caught up in detail upfront will cause added anguish. In turn, this slows down progress. By the end of the meeting, the leader was actually seen as being in a state of overwhelm for what lies ahead.

The entrepreneurial mindset is to take calculated risk.

On the other end, by looking at the largest vision imaginable, and then working backward, to put milestones and projects in place, you quickly recognize highly motivating reasons to advance forward quickly.

The trade-off is that some details may be missing. But should you be willing to learn from trial and error, and experimentation, the details will soon become apparent. It is the motivated persistence that leads to a successful outcome.

Is Your Inbound Marketing Website Failing Any of These Basic Accessibility Tests?

by Wade Prue
HubSpot

As an Inbound Marketer, driving targeted traffic and leads to your website should always be your primary goal. Whether you’re improving your content for SEO, tweaking your Adwords copy to boost click throughs, or testing messaging in social media updates, every incremental gain in traffic and leads matters.

That’s why it’s so critical to ensure that your website meets these widely accepted accessibility standards. By maximizing your accessibility, not only will you be ensuring your website can be viewed by the largest audience possible but you’ll also be providing a better overall user experience for each of your visitors.

That said, when you’re focus on driving inbound marketing results evaluating your website for accessibility can seem like a daunting or unnecessary task at first glance.

Region dependent accessibility legislation can further complicate this matter – different countries may have their own preferred accessibility standards. However, by focusing on four core areas—text contrast, form structure, image tags, and navigational pathfinding—you’ll improve the overall accessibility of your site and nurture inbound and design best practices at the same time.

In this article, we will take a closer look at these four core areas.

13 effective ways your startup can use Periscope to grow the business

by Scott Gerber
Mashable

By now, most digital-savvy startups are not only popping up on Pinterest and Facebook, but also on Snapchat and Instagram. Visual and video-driven storytelling give startups a tremendous opportunity to reach new (and younger) customers. But how can entrepreneurs take full advantage of the live video platform, Periscope?

To find out, I asked 13 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) what strategies are most beneficial for companies using the popular social app. Their best answers are below.