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Welcome to the The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our goal is to provide
you with real-world marketing tips.If you have any ideas for articles,
please send them along.
Happy Holidays and a Marketing New Year
Whatever you do to celebrate the holidays, enjoy the fun, family, acts of kindness and beauty of the season. Here's a roundup of ideas, thoughts and questions to rev up your engines for 2007. If you don't know the answers, you'd better find out. (Get the full list here!)
Look back
Your desk is piled high. Your e-mail inbox is crammed full. Your CEO keeps piling on the projects and ideas. We bet you are so busy cranking out work and surviving the week that you haven't taken a good long look at what you are doing and how it is working. STOP. Time to review, evaluate and analyze often gets pushed to the bottom of the list. But if you don't make time for it you'll waste time and money - and you'll never get where you want to go.
What does your business or service offer that your competitors don't? How established is your unique position in the marketplace? How effective were your advertising and promotion strategies in generating business? Is your brand clearly communicated in every ad, brochure, email, web page and other material your organization uses? How satisfied are your current clients/customers/users with your products and services? How do you know? Do you have an updated marketing plan with strategies, budget and deadlines?
Look Ahead
Keeping your existing customers is critical. It's generally easier and less expensive to keep a customer than to get a new one. Doing that means not only satisfying their current needs, but understanding what new products and services customers will want. And you'll likely need to attract new customers to replace departing ones, expand into new geographic areas or market new products and services.
- What consumer trends, competitors, new products or technology will impact your products and services in the next 12 - 18 months?
- How much of your 2007 business will come from new customers? How will you find and attract them?
- If you plan to grow your business in 2007, have you also increased the marketing budget?
Look around
Competition is brutal, coming from not only your local marketplace but also from national and international organizations. Do some "mystery shopping," research competitors, read up on industry trends. Make sure you know what's happening in your marketplace.
- What competitive products or services are threats to your business?
- Which competitors are most likely to pull your customers away from you?
- Which segments of your customers are particularly vulnerable?
Look Differently
If you're using tried-and-true communications tactics because they work for you, great. But if you're putting off a badly-needed e-mail marketing initiative or postponing adding tools or interactivity to your web site because you don't know how, never fear. It's easier than ever to find resources for do-it- yourself research (both industry research and on-line surveys), e-newsletters and e-mail marketing, enhanced web sites, media planning, new release distribution and more. It's also easier than ever to get information about media buyers, advertising agencies, research firms and web development firms that can help you put together more complex programs.
- What new strategies do you need to better reach new and potential customers?
- What strategies and communication tools do your competitors use to reach customers?
- What tools could help you improve your marketing ROI by lowering cost?
- What communication materials or processes could you automate to improve service and make your communication more timely?
The same goes for marketing strategies, thinking, planning and brainstorming. There are all kinds of new techniques and tools. If you're stuck in a rut doing the same old thing, investigate some new approaches and incorporate them into your thinking.
Here is a very short list of excellent general reference sites for marketing and communications that cover a variety of topics and are a great resource for finding more info.
Fix
Your Marketing - tips, tools and worksheets on
marketing communications
Marketing
Profs - general marketing and sales
articles
American Demographics from AdAge -
demographics
and consumer info
Webby Awards - great ideas and examples of
best web sites
Marketing
Power - research and articles on
marketing from the American Marketing Association
Flyte New
Media -
tools and
how-to's for web design and
internet marketing
One of the best gifts you can give your company (and yourself) this season is a little thinking time. Take a half day (preferably off site) and ask some hard questions about where you've been, where you're headed, what's working well and what's not working at all. This time next year, we'll be toasting a successful 2008.
Need help with asking or answering the hard questions? How about scheduling a marketing retreat to review, refresh, renew your marketing plan? Contact The Marketing Source.
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