Marketing Tips for Businesses in Australia
Running a business is never easy and it gets harder when you are trying to reach a specific target audience. Australia, like other developed economies, has a thriving, dynamic and highly competitive market and that means you need an extremely robust marketing strategy and plan.
Not about staying afloat
Running your business does not mean you are merely trying to survive and sustain. It is about building a long-term relationship with your customers and you need to do this right from the get-go. Your marketing strategy will outline what you should and should not do. This makes a big difference because it ensures that you minimize wastage while maximizing your resources in every way possible and that would surely be your game-changer.
Pick your strategy
There will never be a ‘sure-win’ strategy but that does not mean you do not plan. If you want your business to work, your marketing strategy will be crucial. Choose any one below, skew it to your style and see your business plan work.
- Get in when its hot – It is a great time to start marketing when your business is good because you have cash-flow. This gives you more space to invest in a workable marketing plan and sales funnel. With cash, it beats the time when you do not. This helps to sustain your campaign during the dry season.
- Know your audience – Always know who your customers are. Start with working out a few customer profiles and then zooming in on them. Work out who your audience is, what their desires are, what they fear and then you can derive the ideal customer. From there, you can start meeting their expectations.
- Find the carrot on the stick – What you want is to create an offer that your customer cannot refuse. Make your customer want to be part of you. It can be signing-up on email, through a landing page or any form of initiative that can create leads.
- Start from one – Don’t spread your resources out too thin. Work with one market group first, targeting that one audience group and focusing on what they want, then move your way out. It is not economical to spread your focus to too many groups because you might neglect the one which matters most.
- Always test – There are many types of marketing strategy tests out there like A/B Testing, Split testing, etc. Take the trouble to know what they can do and then DO THEM! This is essential to ensure that you are not wasting your investment. Meanwhile, always test whatever ad you plan to put out in mass media on the digital platforms. Try out TV commercials on YouTube (or Facebook) and newspaper ads on websites and see if they work.
- Go out and multiply – If your start of using one channel worked, then it makes sense to expand. This is where you should start cross-channel advertising so that you can have a wider reach and to more segments. After all, you can never survive mastering just one platform. You could have done well with Google Ads, now scale bigger to YouTube Ads and Facebook Advertising.
- Groom your customers – Selling is your ultimate aim but should NEVER be your first! Let you customers know who you are and what you are all about. Content marketing works wonders here and when they are comfortable with your brand, they might just inadvertently buy from you. Your sales process is about education, not pressuring.
- Pre-sales is crucial – Bear in mind that your marketing team should be the ones doing the pre-sales. If your marketing campaign worked, then it takes very minimal effort to convert sales. Closign the deal will become fast and easy.
- Change constantly – Your first plan might work, but it will not stay this way for long. You need to innovate and inject new ideas. If it was 80/20 (Facebook/Instagram) the first time, perhaps it could be 60/20/20 (Facebook/Tiktok/Instagram) this time. Be open to ideas.
- Know what your customers think – Why would your customers want to buy from you? Is your product all that matters or would they just want to own it? A good product can only get you this far. Knowing what drives them to buy is the last-mile effort that will seal the deal.
Pointers for Marketing to Australians
Is marketing the same everywhere across the world? Would a campaign enjoy equal success in the United States as it would in Asia or other parts of the world? Just because Australia speaks English (with a different accent obviously), would it mean an English ad will appeal to the Australian market?
Not entirely the same
While the language of communication is the same, the Australian market differs in many ways. It does not mean that just because a marketing campaign enjoyed tremendous success in another English-speaking community, it would definitely succeed the same way in Australia. This means that you cannot afford to take a campaign lock-stock and barrel and implement Down Under. There will always be the need to change and modify certain parts here ad there and we outline them for you.
Create a smokescreen
It matters not where your brand is from but if you can create the impression that you are somewhat an Australian brand, half your battle is won. Make no mistake about it! This is not asking you to change the identity of your brand. Coca-Cola will always be American just as Volvo will always be Swedish. The idea is that you create a story that your Australian market wishes that Volvo is Australian or that it is most suitable for the Australian market.
The Australian English Language
You need to be very careful with the language you use in your ads which should (and must!) be in Australian English. Before you take anything from the US, be sure to check their spelling and other English-language related issues. You need to speak Australian English, which is more skewed towards the British counterpart than the American. Hence, be sure to check your ‘s’ and ‘z’ in words like ‘Analyze’ which is American. The Australian English uses the spelling ‘Analyse’. Consumers are aware of and some might not be particular, but it is when you speak their language that you can resonate better with them. Besides that, you must take note of some common jargon that Australians use which might not be common in the US and vice-versa.
Use Australian Humour
Australians are known to have more irreverent and dry humour. Typically, they are exposed to a lot of American sitcoms and comedies that come on the telly or the internet but there are also local comedies that Australians love, having followed them for many years. To do this, your campaign needs to incorporate some form of Australian aspects and this can only be done when you involve local talent in your planning. Some phrases used in Australian humour are practically unheard of in the US, so you might want to use them in your campaigns.
Go Local all the way
The easiest and fastest way to have a marketing campaign suitable for the Australian market is to work with a local expert. It is after all, one of the fastest-growing and aggressive advertising markets in the world which means you would never be short of talents around. In fact, some of the Australian campaigns have garnered international awards in marketing and communications across the world. You can now easily find freelance talents who can give you valuable input on local culture and practices to inject into your campaign.
Start from the bottom up
In whatever case, it is always good to start from the drawing board. No doubt you can use an existing campaign which was a huge success elsewhere but that should be as far as you should go. First, you cannot afford to copy and paste from another campaign without knowing what your target audience is. The Australian audience can be similar in some ways but entirely different in another. Anyone would always resonate with a local accent which means you have to use Australian talents.
