The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic uncertainty that brought along have changed the world. Though we are successfully past the mayhem of 2020 when the world came to a standstill and cash flow dried up for businesses, the ‘New Normal’ is forcing businesses back to the drawing board to rethink their growth strategies. Marketing had become one of the first victims back then as several small businesses opted for short-term strategies instead of staying invested in long-term marketing campaigns.
Things have changed and brands are spending on digital marketing aggressively with the economic activity picking up. 2022 has already seen an uptick in spending on digital marketing and we hope to see more brands move over to a digital-first approach. However, there is a raging debate on short-term versus long-term digital marketing campaigns. Here, we shall look at the advantages of long-term marketing campaigns and why your business needs to develop a long-term mindset.
Difference Between Long and Short-Term Marketing
The major difference between these two marketing strategies is the timeframe of the campaigns. They are meant to serve different goals for brands. Short-term marketing strategies target the low-hanging fruits. They may be used to promote a product or when a brand is reinventing itself in a new avatar. These campaigns usually last between one and 12 months. The key aim is to create a buzz about the brand and put it in front of the target audience.
Long-term marketing campaigns as the name suggests are meant to last for years at a stretch. There is continuity in these campaigns where the core aim stays brand building. They help in increasing brand recognition and the brand recall factor. These campaigns help brands dominate their competitors using the right combination of digital marketing strategies such as SEO, Social Media Marketing, etc.
Why Do You Need a Long-Term Mindset for Digital Marketing?
It is often said that marketing takes time and rightly so. It is more like wine that matures with age and sells at a premium. While short-term marketing techniques can deliver an instant boost to your brand and products, long-term strategies help you survive the competitive business environment. Here are reasons why your business needs a long-term mindset for digital marketing in 2022.
- Loyalty – Short-term marketing helps boost sales and revenue, but they don’t fuel loyalty. As marketing gurus often say, brands that register in people’s minds are the ones that can earn the loyalty of their customers. This is important as loyalty alone can help you navigate through strong headwinds and not get blown away.
- Positivity – A positive brand image is non-negotiable. Your brand name should instill confidence in the minds of the customers, and this comes from sustained marketing campaigns. If you have aligned your products and campaigns with the changing needs of the customers, you will be able to leverage this positivity over time.
- Credibility – In a constantly changing market, your brand must focus on building credibility in the market. Customers should be able to distinguish it from your competitors. Long-term marketing helps in building a strong brand image and credibility. Your sales reps won’t need to explain the brand and its story to new customers each time.
- Scalability – While your business may be booming and your products are doing well in the market, that’s not the end of the story. You need to constantly focus on scaling your business to greater heights and making inroads into newer markets. Long-term marketing lets you scale the market organically and generate fresh and qualified leads.
How To Implement a Long-Term Digital Marketing Strategy in 2022?
A long-term digital marketing campaign doesn’t mean the absence of short-term strategies. They are good for amplifying your campaign, but you need to strike the right balance between short and long-term strategies that will place your brand in a sweet spot in the competitive market. Your focus needs to be on building your brand equity and not trade it off for quick sales and revenue where short-term campaigns can help.
Search Engine Optimization sits at the heart of your long-term digital marketing strategy. Though organic search campaigns may take time to fructify they offer steady results and build a strong brand presence. Strategies such as link building and guest posting help your brand rank high on the search engines even for niche keywords. You can complement this with short-term tactics such as SMM and PPC that help you connect directly with the customers.
As part of your long-term SEO strategy, your eyes should be on content marketing where you regularly publish high-quality content that adds value to the users. This strategy would yield dividends for your brand for years to come and keep generating leads. Short-term strategies such as aggressive PPC campaigns or an offline event help your brand generate eyeballs but whether you can turn this attention into recurring business would rest on the success of your long-term marketing campaign.
You can take advantage of short-term campaigns to expose your brand to new customers such as requesting them to visit the website or increasing newsletter subscriptions. Following this up with sustained SEO and content marketing strategies that place your brand in front of the target audience at regular intervals adds to the brand equity. Once the audience can recall your logo, tagline, and other elements associated with the brand, you are on the course of earning their loyalty.
How to Combine Short and Long-Term Strategies
- Run a short PPC campaign to drive traffic to a certain landing page and use this opportunity to generate leads for a long-term marketing campaign
- Use offline events to promote your products and services and use these events to take your brand to new customers
- Build a strong presence on social media for long-term campaigns and interact with your audience regularly.
- Focus on content marketing strategies that let you establish authority over your industry and use this to promote the brand as your content would be read and reread for years
- Invest in a long-term SEO campaign and target different keyword groups to take advantage of new search patterns on the Internet. SEO ensures a steady flow of traffic to your website ensuring higher brand recognition.
Let’s Fire It Up
For a sustained long-term marketing strategy for 2022 and beyond you need a full-stack digital marketing partner. At Cyrusson Inc., we fit into the bill perfectly. We have been solving problems one brand at a time and firing them up for sustained growth. Talk to our team today and let us explore the possibilities.