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You will know if you are hitting the mark, and, conversely, you will know if you‘re not!

Many of you, I am sure, will relate to that sentiment. And many of you have navigated and cut through the hype around this topic and what it takes to be successful.  

Let‘s unpack this!  

Marketing is a long-term, comprehensive strategy of identifying customer needs and positioning a product to meet them. Advertising is a subset of marketing, a direct, paid promotion of a product or brand to create and raise awareness. They work together. 

• Marketing is the research, driving the ‘what and why’ 

• Advertising actions ‘where and when’. 

Hitting the mark in these activities takes a strategic and balanced approach, merging long-term brand building with short-term tactics to reach audiences effectively. 

For success in 2026, trends highlight the need for ‘proof over promises’, words, images and initiatives that focus on authenticity, trust, and combining human creativity with AI technology.  Success depends on creating emotional connections using data responsibly and ensuring cross-channel consistency.  

Methods and techniques include generating short-term videos, social media opportunities, and leveraging e-commerce platforms. There is a strong emphasis on digital authenticity rather than traditional, refined commercials. 

And it is happening now in the Burger advertising market, driven by leading Burger producers. Competitive advertising strategies are delivered with aggressive value messaging, specific initiatives (e.g. the ‘smash’ burger’), social media ‘roasts’ and viral moments. You could say marketing is heating up in the burger kitchen!  

Core Strategies and Practices for Hitting the Mark

Human Customer Centric: Focus on human-centric experiences, storytelling and brand values rather than just algorithm-driven content.  Speak to your audience in their language, emphasise authenticity to build trust and credibility.   

Build Lasting Loyalty: personalised service and interactions, such as a friendly greeting and knowing a customer‘s name, are small things, but they are big steps in helping foster and build strong relationships and loyalty. Happy, satisfied customers usually become repeat buyers and positive ambassadors, spreading the good word to their friends. Appreciate, value and reward them. Consider programs and initiatives offered by retailers and hospitality. Don’t we all have a coffee loyalty card! 

Localised Content: Harness AI, using location-based data and insights to shape your campaigns, raise brand awareness and increase relevance.  Focus go-to-market strategies on your customers to better understand their wants, preferences, and needs. And by addressing their pain points and desires, you are more likely to turn leads into customers. 

Repetition and Consistency: Implement the Rule of 7. This adopts a consistent presence and repetition response, supporting findings that most customers need multiple interactions before taking action. Harness AI  

70-20-10 Rule: Adopt this practice, allocate 70% of content to value-driven, 20% to emerging trends and 10% to experimental initiatives. 

Leverage partnerships: Find, explore and activate healthy partnerships to widen your reach, range and circle. Influencers and complementary Businesses are examples. 

Be, stay Agile: Flexibility and adaptability are key to responding effectively to change, such as market turbulence and uncertain times!  Create new or refine existing strategies and approaches, and be open-minded. 

To measure and understand the state of modern marketing relies on researching various categories, including website, data collection, email best practices and personalisation. 

Are your marketing efforts working? – 5 signs they are hitting the mark! 

1. Boost in activity - a rise or a spike in sales or leads 

2. Stronger brand recall – your product, service, name is recognised 

3. Increased customer loyalty – repeat customers with friend referrals  

4. Positive brand sentiment – Read the comments and feedback. It’s important to maintain, build, or grow a positive reputation. Pay attention. 

5. Higher engagement – more attention, requests and interactions are good signs you are reaching your audience.  

Read the headlines 

‘Brand campaigns are not enough to establish trust. A statement and article suggesting that as consumer knowledge of advertising increases, messaging alone is not enough to build trust and is more by earned credibility (WA newspaper, Debrief, 26 April 26). 

Not getting the results you want? If your Marketing isn’t hitting the mark, in our next edition, we will look at why and ways to fix it.