Jeez!! Stay On Top Of What’s Going On.

Today’s post will  be a simple one.  Marketers must have a pulse on 3 things:  Your Customer,  Your Competitors, and the Marketing Industry.

As Marketing Climbers, we need to take the time (yes- on a daily basis) to understand our customers, competition and our own industry.   I’m still amazed at how many marketing professionals I talk to completely neglect  one or two of these.  

Here is a list of a few ideas to help you keep on top of your customers, competition or the marketing industry:

1.  Read a daily newspaper 

Read it online, in “app” form, or the primitive paper kind.

2.  Subscribe to “Google Alerts”

Specify keywords you’d like to learn more about and automatically receive a compilation via email on a daily basis on news and blogs that contain your keywords.

3. Set up a Reader

Get RSS feeds of content from blogs or other forms of content like online magazines, etc.  Spend some time finding some really good content out there and then get it delivered to you as it is updated.

4. Join and participate in Groups or Tribes.

Social networking is all about finding and networking with people with similar interests.  Jump in and participate and you’ll learn a tremendous amount and meet some really nice people.  Most of the social networking sites, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, have ways for you to connect with people with the same interests as you.

5. See what others are saying about you and your competition.  

Spend some time looking at what people are saying about your company, product or even competition.  I use programs such as TweetDeck to see what people are saying about products I market, our brand, and our competition.

6. Get involved in a trade group.

Most industries have some sort of association….typically the hard part is picking the one that works best for you.  Search out the best industry associations, join them, and participate. 

7. Conduct primary research and scour secondary research.

This step is vitally important in getting customer insights. From doing the above steps you can only get so much.  Primary research will allow you to get answers to the questions you want answered by your customers.  There is a large amount of secondary research…take the time to find information available.  Many companies subscribe to various research resources but a limited number use this information to the best of their abilities.

This is obviously a partial list but one that I thought could get someone on the right track of staying engaged with what is going on outside of your company.     I’d love to hear a few other ideas you have.