Without any data to back them up, your marketing decisions are really just guesses. You might get it right...but you might not. Success seldom comes from just making a guess - and guessing at your marketing strategy is not a good tactic for business success...
Recently, Joel Stoddart of the Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre* shared a post on LinkedIn about the questions he frequently gets from entrepreneurs around media consumption rates in Atlantic Canada. He referenced a great webinar by m5 Marketing Communications which spurred the idea for this newsletter. The webinar, Choose the Right Marketing Channels to Reach Your Target Customers (available on replay), is part of a larger series of free webinars provided by Tourism Nova Scotia for tourism-related businesses. And if you think you’re not a tourism-related business, think again. Almost every business in rural Nova Scotia is a tourism-related business, either servicing tourists directly or servicing other businesses that do.
Why do we think the m5 webinar is valuable enough to be featured in a newsletter?
Well, if you’ve ever been part of an AIRO intake meeting or any of its follow-up strategy sessions, you’ll have heard us say right at the outset that you must know who your audiences are and what you want to tell them. Being able to define who your audience is and how to market to them is one of the keys to your success! This webinar focuses heavily on that concept, but roots it in data, then briefly guides you through identifying where in the sales funnel your audience is and what you need to consider about its overall demographics. The webinar also provides information about the impact your budget has on your choice of marketing media - and the impact your timeline has on these choices.
The critical pieces of information – what made us sit up and take notice – are around media consumption. This is the data that shifts your marketing approach from a guess to a strategic decision. The webinar includes specific hard data about how much time people aged 25 to 64 spend per week on various media (tv, radio, internet, etc.), then further segments this data for people aged 18 to 34. You may find yourself surprised at the results. It then digs deeper, outlining what percentage of time is spent where when it comes to specific segments like digital media consumption and the social media penetration of various platforms within Canada. And, deeper still into the estimated number of users on Atlantic Canada’s two most popular platforms – Facebook and Instagram.
Why does any of this matter?
It matters because the Atlantic Canada market is unique – what works elsewhere does not automatically work here. A lot of that has to do with the data, yet very few small businesses consider real consumer data in their marketing work. They’re either marketing with guesswork or they’re relying on marketing companies who haven’t done their Maritime homework. Never before has it been so true to say one size does not fit all. You need to know who your audience is, or whether you have, in fact, multiple audiences. You need to know where to find them, what they are interested in, how they like to be communicated with and what appeals to them. If you or your marketing company cannot answer those question accurately, then you’re throwing away your marketing budget.
You can’t guess at that anymore – with the changes in the marketplace we’re experiencing during COVID-19, you must be truly, deeply, and respectfully connected to your customers and their world view. This webinar can help you do that, plus it further explores online and offline marketing tactics and the “how-to” of measuring your media campaign performance.
In addition to a fantastic series of webinars, Tourism Nova Scotia has also announced the new RADIATE Tourism Program to “...help tourism businesses and organizations develop and market travel packages showcasing activities and experiences that are authentically Nova Scotian and appeal to Maritime travellers.”
Get all the details about the Radiate program at:
https://tourismns.ca/news/intouch-blog/new-program-aims-help-tourism-businesses-and-organizations-attract-local-and
See the entire list of Tourism Nova Scotia webinar replays at:
https://tourismns.ca/webinar-series
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* What is the Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre?
The Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre helps “entrepreneurs to strengthen rural Nova Scotia,” and it’s highly successful at that. Staff at the Centre offer services for entrepreneurs like counselling and training that help businesses explore growth opportunities, address problem areas, and establish a clear vision of how to get ahead. They also have training for businesses that support entrepreneurs, as well as strategic planning services for businesses, non-profits and government. Additionally, the Centre offers an introduction to and training around, the concept of Design Thinking which feeds into the Next Labs program. Next Labs helps businesses “Learn the skills and tools you need to be able to adapt quickly, while truly understanding and meeting the needs of your customers and your staff.” Truly a program that could not be more relevant in our current economic climate! If this sounds interesting to you, follow up directly with the Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre and tell Joel we sent you!
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Know An Entrepreneur Who Is Ready To Dream Big...or step up for one of the opportunities our Local Logic report identifies?
If you have a business idea you want to get off the ground or know someone who does, forward this email to someone who could use our help or go to our website and choose the appropriate application form, submit it, and we’ll reply with the next steps.
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