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Mind the Marketing GAP-P

A simple analogy to consider when undertaking any marketing is to Mind the GAP.  A simple few questions to ask yourself to help you challenge what you are doing and the ideas you are proposing.

Imagine you are on the platform waiting for a train at a London tube station. We like to think we are reasonably intelligent and functioning humans (don’t we?!), but they still feel the need to remind us to “Please Mind the GAP when entering the train”.  It’s even there painted on the floor to ensure we don’t mindlessly walk straight out on to the lines!

Mind the Gap, marketing theory

Well, it turns out its damn good advice and it can apply to any marketing activity you are undertaking!!!

Consider this:

G – Goals

  • What specifically are you trying to achieve with this piece of marketing?
    • Is it to sell a product?  Sign them up to something?  Brand awareness, or new followers perhaps?
  • Trying to achieve everything with a piece of marketing is not sensible, so the more niche and specific this goal can be, the better!

A – Audience

  • Who specifically is this aimed at?
    • What would appeal to a 16 year old in education, is very different to what would appeal to a 40-50 year old professional. So don’t say its for everyone!
    • By defining this down to the specifics, you can tailor the content, copy, design to that specific audience; increasing the success and engagement of the marketing.

P – Platform

  • What platform is this for?
    • Again, be specific. Don’t say we are chucking it up everywhere, that’s not helpful!
    • A piece of video marketing for TikTok should be very different to what you are producing for TV!  The same applies with platforms that might appear on the surface as very similar, i.e. TikTok and Instagram.
    • But by all means repeat this process for each of your chosen platforms.

And I think there is also a silent P.

P – Promotion

  • How are you going to promote this marketing?
    • on that specific platform?
    • to that specific audience?
    • To achieve that specific goal?

This is about breaking down what might be a generic bit of marketing and making it (maybe multiple times) but for that specific Goal, audience, Platform.

This is about challenging your thinking when mapping out marketing plans.

And by specifically addressing each of these, your marketing will be more effective in the long run.