Using Innovation Hand in Hand With Consistency

Innovation is important for any successful marketing campaign. No company will remain on top if it continues to use outdated marketing techniques. Of course, that doesn't mean you should always look for the latest and greatest techniques. There are as many marketing schools of thought as there are marketing professionals. The key to successfully updating and innovating a marketing strategy is to find the balance between consistency and a willingness to try something new.

Identifying what's already working

To know when it's appropriate to change strategies and find ways to innovate, you must first evaluate how your original strategies are working. There are a variety of techniques you can use to judge the success of your marketing campaigns, including:

Share of voice
This is a great way to see how much 'buzz' a marketing campaign is generating. Share of voice essentially monitors how much the consumer base is discussing your company compared to the amount of time they spend speaking about your competitors. This information can help you determine how prevalent your brand is online, how familiar your name is to potential customers, and even how positively or negatively people think of your brand online. Free tools like Social Mention and Google Alerts are a great place to start.

Website traffic
Gauge how frequently people visit your company website now compared to how many page views you received before the campaign began.

Spikes in business
After implementing certain marketing techniques, such as a direct mail marketing campaign, watch for spikes in business compared to previous months.

Once you've determined the success of your marketing campaigns, you'll have a more accurate picture of what styles work best for you and your customers.

The value of remaining consistent

Continually changing your marketing strategies is rarely an effective approach. Marketing is all about getting your brand name in front of customers and convincing them that you're the company to turn to when they need the products or services you sell. Marketing campaigns that continually change are going to struggle with the basic goal of getting customers to recognize your brand. If your message and means of communication are constantly changing, potential customers will have a harder time trying to absorb what you're saying. If you try to use every marketing strategy, nothing will stick, and you'll end up spinning your wheels.

Successfully walking the line between consistency and innovation

When you're looking to successfully blend consistency and innovation, you must determine what works for you and branch out slowly from there. Isolate which techniques are working best. Is it Facebook? Is it direct mail marketing? Whatever the answer, that should be the basis for your marketing campaign.

Now, focus on learning how to take those specific strategies to the next level. Look for ways to shrink the sales cycle, so potential buyers are converted into paying customers more quickly and more efficiently. Investigate ways you can help that portion of your campaign reach more people. If direct mail has been a huge success, try to pinpoint what it is about the demographic you've chosen that has made the campaign so great, and then find more people who fit that demographic. If Facebook has brought in many new leads, determine what types of content are attracting the most attention, and work on developing similar lines. Make it easier for customers on social media to enter the sales funnel and improve ROI.

Innovation should never be done blindly. It should be done with specific goals in mind and to help improve existing successful practices. That doesn't mean you should resist trying something new, just that it should be done in a controlled manner and should not replace what has already been working. Innovation must work hand in hand with consistency if you hope to achieve the highest level of success.