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Seems like it was just yesterday that we were writing about our favourite marketing blogs for March – the month of April certainly did fly! If last month disappeared for you too, then perhaps you're a bit behind on your reading. If so, read on to get up to speed with the marketing stories that we felt were most interesting this month, as well as why we felt they could be especially relevant for the life science sector.
Executing a marketing plan – how many of us try running before we can walk?
A few weeks ago, Joe Pulizzi over at the Content Marketing Institute shared a blog post with some essential advice that we feel often gets overlooked (spoiler alert: the take-home message is that it’s important to focus on the foundational and important items first, before you get carried away with going after the nice-to-have items). A couple of Joe’s examples really rang true with what we have seen in the life science sector over the last ten years or so, such as companies that are looking to implement complex marketing automation workflows, before they are even consistently delivering an enewsletter to their customers that contains a balanced mix of educational, inspiring and promotional content.
He also cites an example given as part of Karen McGrane’s keynote speech at Intelligent Content Conference 2016, where she explained how a responsive web design can get you to 95% of your goals (and that adaptive or personalised content only provides the last 5%). While our team believes that such personalized content will become more and more important in the future, what’s certain is that it's unlikely to be effective if your website isn’t designed with the needs, goals and interests of your customers in mind, including offering a pleasant and streamlined user-experience across multiple devices. It's always worth asking yourself – in which areas has your marketing team lost focus on the fundamentals in pursuit of the fun stuff (and how much value might you get from revisiting your marketing plan and making sure you are deriving the most value from your activities)?
How to pick the right social platform
Since the explosion of social media, there has been an increasing number of platforms to engage current and potential customers and, without a doubt, it is a powerful tool for reaching your target audiences. But how do we know which channels to use, how to use them and what results to expect? With the sheer volume of posts across social media channels, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we need to post as much content as possible across all platforms to ensure we're covering all bases. Sadly, it's not that simple, and doing so can in fact have the opposite effect (e.g. by annoying your followers). This blog gives some great tips on how to pick the right social media platform, including important considerations to take to help you build a tailored and effective social media strategy.
Image: Shutterstock
Lacking creativity? Try deskercise!
There are many blogs out there telling you how to be more creative, but this blog takes a different approach to boosting creativity. Sitting at your desk for most of your day may not always inspire new, cool, innovative ideas. But exercise, well apparently that can. A recent study at Stanford found that creative thinking improves while a person is walking (and for a short time after they return). What's more, another study found a person's creative output increases by 60% when walking as opposed to sitting. Have a meeting with a coworker? Instead of sitting in the boardroom, why not go for a brief stroll instead, where you can get some fresh air, boost your heartbeat and let the creative juices flow. Ok, so it may not always be possible but should the chance arise, embrace it and get moving! If you are absolutely desk-bound, then maybe you could try out some “deskercises” (trust is, it's not as ridiculous as it sounds!).
It's easier than ever to access quality podcasts
If you’re anything like us, you love listening to podcasts – after all, they are a great way to consume content while on the go or at the gym! To make your podcast experience even smoother, the popular news sourcing app Google Today has introduced podcast support for Android platforms. This enables you to search for podcasts using Google's search engine and start listening immediately (that's right, no need to subscribe or switch to another app), effectively functioning like an audio streaming app. You can also search for podcasts using filters you may already have set up inside the tool, making podcasts even more accessible than ever before. You can read all about the features of the new app in this blog over at TechCrunch. And if you're feeling overwhelmed by choice or new to the podcast bandwagon, check out these five marketing podcasts as a first step.
Share your thoughts and get more great insights
So there you have it, our monthly marketing round up. What did you find interesting this month in the world of marketing? As always, we'd love to hear from you in the comments below.
Meanwhile, if you loved this summary and want more great content delivered straight to your inbox every month, then don't forget to subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
