Marketing Success in 3…2…1…
You’ve done your homework. You’ve defined your target market, developed a Unique Selling Proposition, established a competitive advantage and refined your branding! Now you’re ready for the fun stuff—the marketing mix (i.e. direct mail, email, brochure, web site refresh, public relations) and all of the various tactics you’ve determined make the most sense for your company.
Now, the hard part comes! Translating your ideas into an effective and efficient (aka – affordable) marketing plan. We have had several Client Marketing Audits (we call them CMAs) lately where we have reviewed the marketing mix for our clients and provided feedback on what they’re doing well and where they can improve. In almost every case, we found our clients needed to work on the following:- Consistency: It is extremely important to your business success that all of your marketing looks, feels, and sounds the same. If your target markets hear the same message over and over again, the same way each time, they are much more able to spread the word in the way you want it to be spread (instead of making up their own stories)! We recommend that you audit all marketing communication pieces, as well as other customer touch points (i.e. invoices, fax sheets, email signatures, etc.) for consistency of your brand use (logo, fonts, design elements) and message. Where it is not consistent…fix it immediately.
- Frequency: The proper amount of “Marketing Frequency” depends on what you are selling, your target market, your business goals, your special offer, etc. Once you’ve prioritized your primary and secondary target markets, we’d recommend you “touch” your primary market twice a month and your secondary market once a month. Without this level of frequency, your momentum is lost between marketing touches and the impact severely diminished. Unfortunately, as humans, our memory is somewhat short (nearly that of a goldfish!), so constant reminders that you exist and have something to offer is necessary to establishing great top-of-mind awareneses.
- Variety: Consistency is good and frequency is even better, but if your marketing mix lacks variety, your efforts will suffer the consequences. Having your marketing rely on one or two tactics (i.e. direct mail, email, and web site) lacks the power of “touching” your audience from the many angles they take to review their options. A recent study showed that humans research on 10 DIFFERENT forms of media before buying your product/service. Are you advertising in 10 different ways? Or, only 3 (‘cause, that’s the average!)? A combination of activities (i.e. a monthly newsletter, an email promotion, public relations, and social media) working together in concert allows you to “touch” your customer often! And, don’t forget this variety should include both value-add content and promotional content and not be too heavily weighted on either.
As you can see, designing the marketing mix to support your marketing strategy is much more complicated than just picking the communication vehicles you’ll use to “get the word out.” You must also be sure that your implementation plan includes all three of the above elements. Audit your own marketing mix for these elements, making adjustments as needed, and you’ll be on your way to a more effective and efficient marketing effort! Need help? You know who to call!
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