When we developed the G.E.A.R. strategy, we knew it would only be effective if its efforts went full-circle.

In an earlier post, I mentioned the importance of having a plan when heading out on a road trip. You need a strategy to get to your destination. You need a plan, and a map.  When the trip is over, you have memories and adventures to recall. You have experiences that you won’t forget—or that you will want to forget!

But along the way, you learn some things. Things that will help you in planning your next trip. Things that will guide you as you prepare for the next journey.

With marketing, it’s exactly the same. That’s why the final piece of the G.E.A.R. strategy is REACTIVATE.

Whether your marketing strategy was for greater brand awareness or for promoting a seasonal special, you will undoubtedly learn some things along the way. What worked? What didn’t? What happened that you weren’t expecting? What good came from your efforts?  These and other questions are things you’ll want to ask about your campaign.

With tools like website analytics, social media insights, ROI, and customer feedback, you can determine how successful a campaign has been. With these insights, you can shape your next campaign or branding effort.

The point is, when you take time to understand what works and what doesn’t, it makes you a better marketer. It helps you know what pit stops to avoid along the way. It helps you know what tools were most effective. It guides your next journey.

Much like a gear in a machine, a good G.E.A.R. strategy helps keep things moving. You need all pieces in place for your marketing to work correctly. Without all four elements—Generate, Educate, Acculturate, and Reactivate—your efforts will be inefficient at best.

Get your marketing in G.E.A.R. today! Talk with one of our consultants to learn how you can take advantage of our insight and solutions to your marketing efforts.

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Media Marketers created a marketing strategy process called G.E.A.R. to analyze your current marketing efforts and brainstorm and implement an effective plan for taking your efforts to the next level.

We’ve already shared information about the first two steps—Generate and Educate.

The third step in your marketing strategy is to ACCULTURATE your audience.

I know what you’re thinking. “What in the world does ‘acculturate’ mean?” But trust me, it’s actually a good word that simply means, “engage your audience.”

The word gives some clues to what it stands for. The word “culture” is right there in the middle of it. Acculturate is simply the action taken to create a culture.

Apple Computers is perhaps one of the shining examples of someone who created a culture. Whether or not you’re a “Mac” person, you recognize the subculture that been created from one company, their products, and their attitude to “think different.”

When you’ve built your own following, you need to hold onto them. You need to engage them where they are. You need to create a place and a culture for them. That’s the purpose of this third step.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even Google+ are methods that you can incorporate as a business to engage your audience, keep in contact with them, and gather insight into how they view you. Using these tools, you can have a conversation with your customers and keep top-of-mind awareness in the loop.

An engaged audience is one that will stick around. To get your audience engaged, talk with one of our marketing consultants.

Media Marketers has developed a marketing strategy process called G.E.A.R. It’s our way of analyzing your current marketing efforts, then brainstorming and implementing an effective plan for taking your efforts to the next level.

In our last post, we talked about the first step in that process, Generating your brand strategy and identity.

The next step in your marketing strategy is to EDUCATE your audience.

I remember watching cartoons on TV when I was growing up. There was a string of cartoons I was loyal to. Transformers. Smurfs. G.I. Joe. If they were on, I was watching them. Especially G.I. Joe.

At the end of every episode, there was a public-service announcement that would feature one or more of the cartoon characters. They’d educate me about how to deal with little life issues: bullying, strangers, drugs, etc. They’d tell me what to do in a situation, or why to avoid something. Each time, they’d end with the same phrase.

“Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.”

When it comes to getting your audience to choose your service or product, knowing is half the battle.

When you use your marketing—especially your web site—to share information, it can make a huge difference in how your audience perceives you. If they feel like they’ve been informed by you, their level of trust in you goes up. Trust in a business or organization leads to engagement—sales.

At Media Marketers, we believe educating your audience is a key step in forming a solid message and marketing strategy. When you become a “thought leader,” your trust level jumps. It puts you in a different league among your competition.

There are a number of steps that you can take to become your industry’s “thought leader.” To find out some of those tools, and how you can work your G.E.A.R. strategy, contact one of our marketing consultants today

As we said last week, Media Marketers has developed a marketing strategy process called G.E.A.R. It’s our way of analyzing your current marketing efforts, then brainstorming and implementing an effective plan for taking your efforts to the next level.

The first step in your marketing strategy is to GENERATE a plan and a brand.

I love road trips. Getting out on the open road and just driving for hours, visiting destinations on the way; seeing nature, people, and enjoying the conversation of a good travel buddy. It’s a blast.

Before I even set out on the road, I need a plan. I need to know what I’m doing and where I want to head. I’ll map it out all the places I’m interested in visiting. I’ll print out maps, send maps to my smartphone, and go over the possible stops along the way.

When it comes to GEARing up your marketing, you need to do the same. It’s not as easy as picking a destination and printing some maps, but it is still vital in your success.

As a business, you need to determine where you want to be in a year, in five years, in ten. Your marketing strategy is dependant on the destination you want to get to. If your goal is to double your customer base in five years, your marketing and branding strategy needs to be directed toward that eventual destination.  This is your marketing strategy.

You also need to know who you are, what you offer, and how to concisely share that message with people you meet along the way.  This is your brand identity. You need things like an “elevator pitch”—the 30-second or less statement that sums up what your company does, why it’s better than the rest, and why they need to use your services or products.

Identity is important. A good logo, good color scheme, and a top-notch website are all parts of a good brand Generation strategy. In today’s Internet-dependant society, people are going to the web to find solutions to their problems. When they do, will they find you? And when they find you, will they like what they see?

Statistics show that your web site has about six seconds to capture a visitor’s attention and engage them. Look at yours. Does it grab your attention and encourage you to engage? If not, how do you think your potential audience feels?

To GENERATE an effective brand, you need a brand strategy. Media Marketers can help you do that. We’ll work with you to understand your service, your audience, and the issues you face in sharing your message with them. Then, we’ll help you GENERATE a strategy that will put your marketing in G.E.A.R.

G.E.A.R. is a Media Marketers’ original. It’s a marketing strategy that we’ve worked hard to develop, and implement in our own marketing and to share with our clients. It represents the four-stage method to drive your marketing engine.

Generate. Educate. Acculturate. Reactivate.  G.E.A.R.

The world isn’t short on ideas. Creative individuals are all over, and most likely, you or one of your co-workers is known for having some great ideas.  Great ideas serve as the genesis for a good marketing plan. The problem is not having good ideas. The problem is knowing which ideas will fit into an effective marketing strategy. Taking those valid ideas, then harnessing them into something that will truly benefit your business, drive new customers, and build loyalty to your brand is what you strive for.

With Media Marketers’ G.E.A.R. strategy marketing, we can help you mine through all the ideas to find the true gems. When you sign up for G.E.A.R. strategy consulting, a marketing consultant will work with you and set your G.E.A.R. score—a way to know how you currently stand in marketing—and then determine next steps for taking your marketing and brand awareness to the next level.

Over the next few posts, we’ll share more about each aspect of the G.E.A.R. strategy, and provide some simple insight you should be considering.

To learn more about our G.E.A.R. strategy from one of our marketing consultants, contact us today.