The Edge for May 2025
How can businesses create content and launch digital marketing campaigns without breaking the bank? We asked members of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce to share their best low-cost strategies. Their advice: focus your message on solving real problems, position yourself as an expert, and use social media platforms with purpose. From leveraging YouTube and AI to partnering with nonprofits and advocacy groups, their insights offer practical ways to build your brand and connect with customers. See article below.
Be the Expert Your Customers Are Looking For
Use your social media presence to inform and educate people – and be entertaining. It’s a chance to show your personality and your brand. Position yourself as a problem solver and an expert. If you are a landscaping service, talk about soil and vegetation. Try not to be all things to all people. Focus on what you are trying to fulfill. Brand awareness will come after you show how you are solving an important need. Get on YouTube. People are on YouTube more than they are watching TV. Develop video content about your business. Incorporate satisfied customers into your content. That can be very powerful.
– Heather Shostack, Marketing Manager, New Jersey Society of CPAs
Think Like Your Customers to Create Better Content
Before crafting content, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Think about their needs. Ask yourself: Who is buying my product or service? What is their age? Gender? What problems are they trying to solve when they come to your business? What are their buying habits? If your key audience are young women, think about where women are online. Choose social media channels based on who you are trying to reach. Gen X may be on Facebook and Gen Z on TikTok. Focus your efforts on where your audience is and what they want. AI is a critical tool for brainstorming or writing your first draft of content. You don’t want AI to create all the content for you because any competitor can develop the same content. You want to put your own mark on the content. That will differentiate you in the marketplace.
– Lacey Dean, Director of Communications and Brand Management, Fulton Bank
Your Competition, Advocacy Organizations and Charitable Causes Can Help You
Look at your competition and see what they are doing. What channels are they communicating on? That can create a baseline on what you should be doing. Write a blog. Make sure at least once a month you have thought-leadership content. Have conversations with advocacy organizations on marketing opportunities with them. Can they re-post your social media content. Can you do a sponsored email? Email is still a lifeline where you should be touching your audience at least once a month with critical content. We’re constantly looking at the marketing content we are producing and the impact it has. You can do two different sets of creatives to see which one works better, and pivot to the more effective method. Engage with nonprofits. Volunteer and align with a cause that’s important to you. You give back to the community and it helps you develop relationships.
– Debra Rizzi, President/Partner, Rizco
Bristol Myers Squibb announced appointment of Cari Gallman to serve as executive vice president, general counsel and chief policy officer. She succeeds Sandra "Sandy" Leung, who is retiring after a 33-year career at the company. Gallman has held leadership positions at Bristol Myers Squibb for 10 years, most recently serving as executive vice president, corporate affairs.
Kevin R. Gibala, senior vice president and regional vice president at TD Bank, will become chair of the Inspira Health Foundation Board of Trustees after serving as vice chair in 2024, Inspira Health announced.