Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could all be eccentric masterminds with killer memories and could casually solve mind-boggling murder mysteries like they were the Sunday crossword puzzle? I’d say, “Hell, yes!” But as much as we would love to be the arrogant yet charming genius, there can only be one Sherlock Holmes. However, there is more than one trick you can learn from Sherlock, and I’m not talking about cheats for crime-solving. That’s right; you can take away some pretty nifty marketing tips too! So, here are five things a digital marketer can learn from Holmes:DO YOUR RESEARCH: “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data,” said Sherlock Holmes. Conducting a thorough research prior to designing a marketing plan is absolutely necessary. It is important that you gain an understanding of what customers are looking for, what kind of content appeals to them, etc. This can help digital marketers create strategies that have higher chances of success. For example, with the help of social media listening, you can find out what your customers’ preferences are, who your industry influencers are, the latest trends, which product types are most talked about, what is being said under each topic, so on and so forth.
CREATE A DATA PALACE: Whenever Holmes is stuck, he escapes to his elaborate “mind palace” and draws from the wealth of information he has stored there. We may not be able to build a mental data palace, but we can surely build a digital one. Keeping a record of every detail, even the most minute, relating to your online activity can help you continuously keep track of what content is helping your online presence and what is not. This also allows you to review your strategy from time-to-time and keeps you from repeating your mistakes. For example, you could keep a track of click-through rates for your page, or find out your engagement ratio to determine the success of your online activity.
EVEN THE BEST NEED HELP: Holmes might be a genius with virtually no competition, but even he needs the assistance of his trustworthy and resourceful associate, Watson. And let’s not forget Molly Hooper, without whose help Holmes would not be able to access the resources of Bart’s for his research. So find your own Watsons and Mollys and build a dependable and talented marketing team to work with, each person specializing in a marketing skill of their own.
KEEP UP WITH THE TIMES: Holmes and Watson may have preserved their quaint personalities, but they have definitely changed with the times. They’ve upgraded to smartphones, laptops and even have a blog! The market today is constantly evolving, and you need to continuously evolve with it. You need to stay updated and be aware of the latest trends and the changing preferences of consumers. This will help you create a brand image that consumers can connect with and will thereby help boost your popularity.
BEAT YOUR MORIARTY: Everyone’s got a Moriarty in their lives. I wouldn’t go so far as to say an arch nemesis but a competitor, who is as good as you at the thing that defines you and whom you have to beat to stay on top. Sherlock and Moriarty go toe-to-toe and each works feverishly to stay ahead of the other. As a digital marketer, you need to do the same; you need to keep an eye on your competitors at all times. In the digital world, where your competitor’s marketing activity is an open book, the key to staying ahead is social media listening. Thanks to the expansion of the big-data analytics space, tracking competitor activity has become a lot easier. You can find out what the customer sentiments are like towards your competitors, what subjects are most discussed surrounding them, their latest offers, product upgrades, so on and so forth. You can learn what to do and what not to do as a marketer from this information to stay ahead in the race.
