If you’re looking for one marketing tactic that will address every challenge a brand/company will ever encounter… let us know when you find it. Contrary to what all marketers wish, in the world of digital marketing there truly is no one-size-fits-all marketing solution. Industry professionals agree that because of the snowflake-like complexity of businesses across the board, determining what approach will work best for your brand requires a bit of research and self-reflection.

“It’s crucial to understand your brand’s voice or personality. Every brand is different,” says Diane Diaz, a marketing professional whose career has included stints as Research Director at Tallahassee news station WCTV and Regional Marketing Director for real estate group Newland Communities. “Whatever that voice is will dictate how it messages the marketing, and where that marketing takes place. It begins with having a good handle on what the brand’s story is.”

Diaz – who also serves as a course director in one of Full Sail University’s Digital Marketing courses – points out that having a firm grasp on the type of company you’re marketing will often dictate the medium through which the message is delivered.

“Let’s say you’re a photography company; Instagram would be a really good social network to be on,” she continues. “It won’t be as relevant of a network for a company that is not necessarily visually-based.”

“If you’re looking at it from a business organization’s perspective, every entity is different and has its own brand. You have to understand how to speak to the audience that is attracted to that brand,” says internet marketing consultant and Program Director Rob Croll, whose firm Marlannah Digital Marketing helps small-to-medium sized businesses capitalize on the many avenues the Internet offers. “Trying to say that there is a template for every business to use doesn’t work. And it’s also important to understand who your competition is.”

Being able to sort through the myriad techniques that could potentially be a solution to a particular obstacle is a skill that today’s marketing professionals need to have in their arsenal. Courses like those in Full Sail’s Digital Marketing bachelor's helps educate students about the possibilities and limitations of digital media, and how to best employ the most appropriate marketing fundamentals in a technological landscape that is constantly evolving.

“Analyzing the audience you’re trying to reach, the specific channel that they live on, your brand’s voice, and the best way to deliver your message based on the channel are all attributes that will lead you to your own personalized answer,” says Genon Murray, a marketing professional who has worked with brands such as Universal Studios, Nickelodeon Studios, and her own business, GRM Creative Services, over the last two decades, in addition to serving as a course director at Full Sail.

“A much more customized approach versus a cookie cutter approach is always going to work better, even though there are some really good rules of thumb to identify the different attributes,” Murray continues. “Once you’ve melded them all together and integrated them into a specific approach, you have a blueprint for how you can approach your audience with your brand on the internet.”