Lean Marketing

Lean Manufacturing is the result of Toyota’s production process, now also applied by different companies and industries. It is based on small, constant, everyday changes aiming to reach results by eliminating waste and relying on the active participation of the entire workforce.

Charles Darwin wrote “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change.”
The concept of “adapting to improve” is embodied by the merger of two Japanese words: “kai” (change) and “zen” (good).

This model was created in 60s inside Japanese automotive plants. It includes techniques and tools which work both in the industrial and manufacturing industry as well as in marketing, communication, and sales.
With respect to marketing strategy, you can acheive the same. We call that Lean Marketing.

INTEGRATING LEAN AND CONTENT MARKETING

The new model is perfect for today’s content marketing. Lean Marketing pushes everyone to think of constant improvement in opposition to radical concepts such as innovation and revolution.

A client-centric value chain is at the heart of the idea: what does not create client satisfaction has no value. Therefore, it is a waste of resources and has to be eliminated.
This approach becomes more important when considering the online brain dump (excess of content and information) users are subject to every day. Hence our goal to curate content as effectively as possible. The fight for more visibility happens online: even if you have the most interesting content out there, it will do you little good if nobody reads it.

LEAN MARKETING OBJECTIVES

Over the years, content marketing has been described in different ways.
And despite some minor differences, most definitions agree on two key concepts:

1. create valuable content, planned for a specific group;
2. write content to reach objectives.

Therefore, populating numerous webpages just for the sake of it or to improve sites lacking content will not deliver the expected results.

Content marketing’s first objective is to inform, suggest, deliver solutions and answers to specific problems and recommend standout advantages compared to the competition. Its second objective is selling.
Hence the need to streamline effort. Once you have selected your target audience, ask yourself the following questions: who is my audience? What do they need? How can I satisfy their needs with my products/services? How can I tell them about all the advantages they would get?
The answers to these questions will allow you to package interesting and useful content your audience will read, share, and research.
Your content strategy should feature ‘stand-alone’ content; however, it should also be tailored to your overall strategy, i.e. targeting readers and being shared online. That is only part of the job.
The next step will be to analyse and monitor results to intervene in a timely manner should your audience change or should their interests and needs change.

AN EFFECTIVE CONTENT STRATEGY: COMPONENTS

Advertising on its own will not cut it anymore, that much is clear. You have to awaken a sense of belonging among users by telling a story which will attract their attention while also maintaining a brand’s reputation.
Is this enough to create effective content strategies? No.
This is where Lean Marketing steps in. It provides you with components to streamline efforts while increasing results:
mobility: now more than ever users are inseparable from their smartphones. They use them to make decisions and implement actions on the go. You simply must have easily accessible responsive content.
data: even real-time sales analyses are not enough. You have to analyse every scrap of data, filter relevant information, i.e. data from a brand’s communication channel (website, campaigns, social media, emails, newsletters, etc.).
social media and communities: understanding your (potential) clients’ wishes and expectations is more important than ever. Social media and communities become indispensable elements to leverage engagement and obtain the information you need.
machine learning models: data will just be numbers if you cannot rely on good technology that translates them into an action plan.
Luckily enough you have tools that can help you gather and analyse data and give you the answers to your questions.

For additional information related to leads generation, you can also check Gotoclient