Like the rest of the world, our team has been tuning into the Paris Olympics and watching the best of the best compete. Watching record-holders like Simone Biles has made me think about the flexibility that being an athlete competing at that level requires—both on and off the competition stage.
Olympic athletes need flexibility to quickly adapt to unpredictable weather, travel changes, injuries, and even cardboard beds, which may divert them from their regular training schedules, sleep habits, diet, therapy, and more. Remaining physically and mentally flexible allows them to move quickly and perform at their best, no matter the circumstances.
The same is true for marketing.
You can develop the best marketing plan in the world, similar to the best training plan to make it to the Olympics, but plans are meant to shift and evolve as your organization grows and changes.
Flexibility in marketing is essential for navigating the ever-changing landscape of consumer behavior, technology, and market trends. It enables businesses to adapt swiftly, seize new opportunities, and maintain a competitive edge.
Tap Into New Technology While Avoiding ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’
While I could easily go down the ‘back in my day’ or ‘when I was a kid’ rabbit hole and tell you all about my GigaPet, I also know I don’t have to tell you how quickly technology evolves. This is especially true in marketing, as tools, platforms, and features change and artificial intelligence (AI) is integrated into nearly every thing we touch.
Flexible marketing strategies allow you or your marketing team to keep tabs on tried and true tactics and tools while evaluating and integrating new technology and platforms.
Take TikTok for example.
When TikTok emerged as a popular social media platform, brands that quickly shifted their marketing efforts to include short videos saw significant engagement and audience growth. They may have missed out if they remained focused only on static photos or locked into a marketing contract that didn’t include video. At the same time, those brands also didn’t abandon their followers on other social platforms just because TikTok was the “new” thing. .
At E-Power, we stay current on marketing trends, tools, and technology, and we’re passionate about telling you all about it. We believe education is power, and we want you to get the most out of your marketing efforts and protect your business, customers, and proprietary data in the process.
“It can be easy to let FOMO take control and hop on the latest trend or bandwagon in fear of falling behind. We believe jumping on new trends can help your brand set itself apart, but we also believe in evaluating what is best for your organization. Threads is a good example of this. The micro-blogging app had 100 million signups in the first week, but has dropped to 23 million daily active users. That’s still a solid audience, but the amount of effort you put into any new technology and the anticipated ROI need to be top evaluation criteria to keep you flexible and profitable.”
—Kayde Kempen, Account Strategist, E-Power Marketing
Flexibility Helps You Meet—and Exceed—Consumer Demand
While planning ahead helps keep marketing campaigns on track, what’s interesting, engaging, and important to your audience can change on a dime. Keeping an eye on trends and consumer preferences — and adjusting marketing messaging, strategies, and tactics accordingly — helps your business stay relevant and ahead of the competition.
Both long-term consumer shifts and short-term trends that grab attention play a role here.
For example, the consumer shift toward trusting reviews and personal or influencer recommendations may mean shifting marketing resources toward partnerships with social media influencers or email campaigns that generate more customer reviews.
It may also mean expediting a previously planned blog topic or social post to capitalize on a buzzworthy topic making the rounds online.
“While you don’t want to change your entire marketing strategy on a whim, keeping up with trends and consumer preferences ensures you pivot when it best suits your business and your target audience.”
— Jesse Plate, Account Strategist, E-Power Marketing
At E-Power, we’re constantly keeping an eye on emerging keywords, social media trends, and shifts in consumer habits. We use those insights to guide our ongoing marketing recommendations for your business. Our flexible, month-to-month marketing programs also allow us to quickly change tactics as needed.
Move from Surviving to Thriving, Even in Unexpected Circumstances
Sometimes it feels like I’ve lived a whole lifetime in the last few years with all the unforeseen events like the global pandemic, natural disasters, and political changes. (Not just me, right?) Flexible strategies allow your business to minimize disruption and maintain customer trust during these “unprecedented times” we’re living in.
When the unexpected happens, you don’t want all your marketing eggs in one basket — or pay for a marketing strategy or deliverables that no longer serve your business.
“There is no auto-pilot in marketing, and marketing plans aren’t meant to be strict roadmaps you can’t deviate from. Not only does our team stay on top of industry trends that may impact your organization’s marketing success, but we also tap into many tools and technology to use data as our guide.”
— Kayde Kempen, Account Strategist, E-Power Marketing
With flexible strategies, you can adjust your marketing efforts to maintain transparent and proactive communication with stakeholders during crises and transition resources to products, services, and messaging that customers need. The ability to pivot effectively in the face of challenges helps you brace for immediate impact and positions your businesses for long-term success.
We’ve been helping businesses navigate the ups and downs for more than 25 years. From pivoting to promote curbside pickup/delivery and virtual services during the COVID-19 pandemic to providing operational updates across social media during wildfires, snow storms, and hurricanes, we’ve seemingly seen it all. We wouldn’t have been able to support our clients as quickly or efficiently without an adaptable marketing approach.
Scale Marketing Based On Business Needs
Your business doesn’t stay the same from month to month — and your marketing shouldn’t either. Flexible strategies allow you to scale marketing with business expansion to support your goals at every stage.
Seasonality is huge for many businesses, including many of our customers. For example, we work with a swimming pool liner company that ramps up their marketing efforts in the spring and summer months, while tapering off when the temperatures dip. Similarly, another customer hosts a large trade show each spring, requiring extra advertising and on-site social media support during the event.
Rather than having a strict monthly retainer like some marketing agencies and freelance marketers, our month-to-month marketing plans allow us to accommodate seasonal trends, special events, product launches, and more to support our clients. As a result, our clients get better results by investing marketing dollars when they have the most internal and external impact.
Do More of What Works & Less Of What Doesn’t With E-Power
In short, a flexible approach allows you to focus on what’s working for your business rather than wasting resources on tactics that aren’t moving the needle. At E-Power, we’re about a flexible marketing strategies and using data to adjust strategies in real time, improving campaign effectiveness.
- Month-to-month contracts. We offer flexible month-to-month contracts to ensure you feel confident in your marketing investment and can adjust based on your business needs.
- Dedicated marketing team. When you work with E-Power, your account team is just a call or email away. From answering all your marketing-related questions to guiding you to new strategies or technology based on data and industry trends, we’re here to empower your team and marketing efforts.
- Customized marketing strategies. Each month, our team will create a data-backed marketing strategy aligned with your business goals and budget. We want you to know exactly what you’re paying for and why.
- Comprehensive marketing dashboards. You see what we see—there’s no hiding behind vanity metrics here. Every E-Power client gets a personalized and automated marketing report that you can access 24/7. Our team also checks it regularly, making ongoing recommendations and adjustments based on the results.
Sound intriguing? We’d love to chat about our flexible marketing approach and how it can benefit your business.
Emily Miels, Inbound Strategist at E-Power Marketing, is a detail-oriented, data-driven storyteller. She loves to craft purposeful marketing content that’ll help you nurture prospects and drive more sales. She’s a trend-spotter and expert at shaping compelling B2B and B2C content, email, and social media strategy. With more than a decade of marketing experience and thousands of published content pieces under her belt, Emily can help you take your messaging from “meh” to “heck yeah!”
