HFTB Blog
Welcome!
Hi. I’m Chris, and this is my online marketing and social media blog, Hiatus from the Buzz. Appreciate you taking a look and hope you find something of value in its posts. Of course I welcome you all to add your own opinions. Knowledge begets knowledge… and I certainly don’t profess to know it all.
A little more about me. I’m a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant with experience across a number of industries. My professional experience includes time in manufacturing, sales and of course, marketing – and a stint in Japan working for the government as an English teacher.
So how did I come to my current calling you’re probably asking. Valid question.
After getting my MBA in 2004, a colleague of mine I had worked with at a small startup asked about my interest in starting a marketing consulting practice. As my future partner was immensely talented (and a heck of a nice person too), didn’t take me long to accept the offer.
In our first years, we were lucky enough to work with some great clients that needed more traditional marketing communications materials and programs. Things like sales materials, press releases and lead generation programs focused on telephone campaigns. We had a number of intial successes where we saw client growth as a direct result of the marketing foundation we had worked with our clients to build. But over time, regardless of the success of the traditional programs, it became apparent that we were leaving marketing opportunities on the table.
Call it new marketing, digital marketing, online marketing or otherwise, it’s no secret that reaching your customers, or prospective customers through the Internet can be an extremely powerful marketing tool. What we noticed during our work for our clients was that there is a tendency to see the Internet as a pancea to traditional marketing issues. And so many seemed so excited by the opportunities, whether they were pay per click, banner ads, newsletters, email or even social media, that they looked to switch to, rather than grow into the new online marketing channels. Lately, the economy has added to this trend – Internet marketing being seen as a more cost effective way to get your message to your prospects. It can be by the way, but seldom is it wise to replace the traditional with the “new.”
So back to my story. Having witnessed this trend first hand, I started looking for ways to incorporate the new channels into the existing marketing mix. How can new marketing add to, instead of do away with, the traditional? Surely there are ways to leverage both sides of the equation.
As it happens, there are. Multi-Channel Marketing is the name many have applied to this idea. Marketers have screamed from time-immemorial that your prospects have to hear your message many times from many angles. The Internet and all the wonderful tools it makes available simply provide some interesting, and efficient, ways to do so.
So that’s what I want to use this blog to do. Uncover and make relevant for your business some of the ways the Internet and new marketing tools can deliver your message to your existing clients and prospective new ones. We’ll also discuss the way traditional marketing techniques can be developed, modified or otherwise to leverage across your marketing efforts (including online). There will be posts on copy writing as well, as I believe today’s copywriter needs to be able to write for both print and online materials. The key is understanding your medium and how it differs from its counterpart while maintaining consistency of message.
Once again, I’d ask you, the reader, to share your knowledge. There is a lot to know on these subjects and I certainly don’t profess to know it all.
