I am sure most of you by now know the colossal space marketing occupies in any business. Especially nowadays with the ever-increasing competition you have got to be witty in your marketing approaches. It is good that, at the most elementary level, one knows they must invest in marketing their business. However, one must know the dynamics, especially concerning Zimbabwe to do it effectively. What I mean can be best described in this analogy: an overweight person and a normal weight one who wants to tone their body both know the gym is their answer. Once they get to the gym though (even the same gym), what they will focus on and pay attention to will be different. The same goes for marketing one’s business.

What Is Multiplatform Marketing?

Multiplatform marketing is something I can also call multichannel marketing. It is a systematic marketing strategy where you market your business using more than one platform. Broadly, platforms are either online and offline. Each of those then branches out into several other platforms. For instance, online platforms can be a website, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and so on. Those can also span to radio and television. Offline platforms can be word of mouth, fliers, banners, billboards, and so forth.

Any business must engage in multiplatform marketing if it is to succeed. Commendably most Zimbabwean businesses seem to appreciate this and actually do it. Regardless I feel most of them might not be aware of some metrics that they should pay attention to. Those are some of the things I will discuss now.

Population Demographics

I often remark on how people usually forget that Zimbabwe is predominantly rural. Well over 65 per cent of the Zimbabwean population is rural. That demographic has a unique set of lifestyles that you should be aware of when marketing. Unfortunately, most Zimbabwean businesses tailor their marketing drives for the urban demographic. I strongly believe this is why most businesses in Zimbabwe fail to grow to become nationally known enterprises.

Most people in rural settings do not enjoy the convenience of being on social media. Most of them use voice calls and SMSes for communication and radio (plus some television) are their media access. Bearing this in mind must cause you to think about how best you can engage this huge demographic. Otherwise turning a blind eye to this makes you throw away a significant portion of your prospective customers.

Are You Targeting Your Marketing?

When marketing are you really targeting a specific pool of prospective customers? That is a pertinent question because most businesses are not targeting. If it is on social media most of the businesses conduct organic marketing that is devoid of any targeting. That is why it is recommended to use paid ads or boost your posts so that you get to choose targeting specifications relevant to your target market.

Have you ever bothered to look into the breakdown of your target market? I am referring to things like the age group dynamics of your target market. This also includes things like the income levels and general lifestyles of your target market. Have you ever done surveys to really know the characteristics of your target market? This is because once you know those details you can then effectively target when marketing. The idea is that when you roll out a marketing drive it must immediately resonate with and appeal to your intended target market.

Are You Being Strategic?

Yes, are you being strategic? For instance, you could be busy rolling out marketing campaigns on Facebook when in fact your target market is on Instagram. It could even mainly be offline or maybe it is mainly found on WhatsApp. You could be issuing out fliers, getting banners printed and even doing billboard. However, is that all worth it? I have seen on several occasions businesses in the CBD that hand out fliers. Ironically, I have seen that most of the people who grab them throw them away immediately.

That could mean fliers are not the way to go for your business. Maybe the fliers are not alluring enough and that is why people throw them away. Suppose you use social media and your posts are mainly written text. What if they do not appeal to your target market and they prefer short video clips instead? All I am provoking you to do is to become strategic in marketing across the different platforms.

You Could Be Missing Out On Radio

I really wish we could have people conducting surveys on things like these. Maybe one of these days I will embark on doing such surveys. Here is the thing; I feel that most businesses are missed out on a lot by not using the radio platform. We now have several community radios across Zimbabwe. Yet it is typical for businesses to never consider marketing using radio platforms. I am not quite sure why this is so but the truth is the majority of Zimbabweans listen to the radio. Remember the overwhelming majority of the Zimbabwean population is rural. In fact, they listen to the radio more than they spend time on social media. This is me encouraging you to look into the radio avenue – there could be business value you are missing out on from there.

I believe this article has opened up your eyes to some vital things you have been unaware of. In case you did not notice, the need to research and elicit feedback from your customers and prospective customers is implied in most of what I said. You must gather as much data as you can, regularly, so that you draw relevant insights and subsequently make informed decisions.