The saying goes, "The world is my oyster." In this case, it's also the billboard for marketing your business while you are city or country hopping. Keep in mind that effective marketing doesn't just happen in one place and rarely emerges from a cubicle.
I was recently on an amazing cruise with my wife in the Caribbean. During this time, I was forced to work on cruise Wi-Fi as well as internet hotspots. I was able to live the life I wanted while traveling the world... all while marketing my company online. It actually grew ten percent while I was gone.
Marketing that works comes from keeping your finger on the pulse of the consumer or business you are trying to attract. To stay with the market trends means getting out of the office and into the trenches, in my case, onto the beaches for a while. You have to know what your business really needs, potentially see it from a different perspective.
- SMM-ile and Your Audience Returns the Favor: Social Media Marketing (SMM) platforms like LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are always on and available and ready to accept relevant content and engaging responses to your target audience. Somewhere in the world, someone is awake and tuned in, searching for fresh information that can help them solve a problem or just to provide them with a different way of looking at information for their business or life.
- Blog City Journaling: Even in longer forms, content can be created and shared no matter where you are in the world. It can be written or it can be video, but either way it's one of the best ways to reach your audience and no one has to know where you are when it was created. Then again, the idea that the marketing messages are coming from new experiences and even exotic locales can enrich your marketing campaigns and keep people tuning in to see where you will be next, and what you're up to. Using a location to create custom marketing messages sends a bigger message about the product or service's relevance and connection to the global community while also serving as the basis for an interesting video or content blog.
- The Email Marketing Stepchild Deserves Love, Too: E-mail marketing does not have to become the stepchild of today's online marketing capability. Platforms like Constant Contact and ExactTarget serve as an important and meaningful way to communicate with an audience plus it is a tool that works anywhere in the world.
- Many Marketing Birds and One Stone: You can only do so many things in the day and posting marketing content on multiple platforms may not be possible or necessarily efficient. That's why there are marketing tools -- like HootSuite and TweetDeck -- that do the legwork for you so your billboard is flashing at all hours -- even if you are in-flight or between Wi-Fi connections. For every one marketing message created, these solutions launch it across the social media sea to create the desired ripple effect.
- Face-to-Face Networking: With technology running the show, it's easy to forget those traditional marketing methods, such as face-to-face marketing, which actually worked quite well in terms of building trust and rapport with your target audience. Traveling allows you to meet with many people you would not otherwise see and even if you don't directly talk about your product or service, the meaningful conversation you have and how you interact with those you meet are still marketing tools at work. Take advantage of this opportunity by planning time in your schedule for in-person networking to build authentic relationships.