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Welcome to the The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our goal is to provide
you with real-world marketing tips that you can put right to work in
your organization or business. If you have any ideas for articles, please
send them along.
Is Your Marketing Making the Grade?
Successful CEOs continually refine their organizations' strategies by
asking 'Are we doing enough? And, what else should we be doing?' They
create an environment that encourages change and provides a solid base
for continued viability and future growth. You can do the same thing
for your strategic marketing. By probing what you've done and what you
plan to do, you'll update your marketing plan and insure that your strategy
is vibrant. As this calendar year comes to a close, we recommend that
you grade your marketing efforts for 2005 and set a course for the coming
year. Here are some ideas to get you started:
WHAT AM I REALLY SELLING?
It's time to assess your product mix. What products or services are
bringing in 80% of your revenue? And what about the competition? What
has happened in your marketplace that might impact -- positively or negatively
-- your 2006 prospects. Be quick footed so that you can take advantage
of any opportunities, or dodge bullets that may come your way. Here in
Louisiana, the hurricanes have drastically impacted business. Those that
will make it big have been able to adjust their business plans, including
their marketing, to take advantage of the new conditions. Even if your
market hasn't been hit by a disaster, a new competitor or a new trend
may be reasons enough to mix things up a bit.
WHO IS MY TARGET AUDIENCE?
Who were your most profitable clients or customers in 2005? Were they
who you thought they would be or did you find a whole new target audience?
Why? Figure out who your key audiences are. Go back to the tried-and-true
80-20 rule: 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients or customers.
Your best bet is to make sure you communicate very well and very often
with these key target audiences first - even if that means setting others
to the side. Once you are doing all you need to do with your key target
audiences, you can expand to the other groups you would like to reach.
Of course, reaching your target audience means knowing them. Are they
young professionals with lots of discretionary income or SUV-driving
soccer moms? Do they come to you because of loyalty, convenience or tradition,
or because you give them good service?
AM I GETTING MY MESSAGE ACROSS?
Whether your media budget is $10,000 or $1,000,000 you need to make
sure those dollars are well spent. We find that our clients with relatively
small media budgets are often so desperate to be "heard" that
they waste what little advertising or marketing budget they have.The
local newspaper may have a big subscriber base, but if you get most of
your clients through referral, you might do better with a series of targeted
direct mail letters. After all, advertising is just one tool in a well
thought out and planned communication mix. Direct marketing, sales promotion,
public relations/publicity, and personal selling are just as important
and can be equally effective. And don't be afraid to try something new!
HOW WELL AM I COMMUNICATING WITH MY TARGET AUDIENCE?
What you say is just as important as where you put your communications.
Every advertisement you place, direct mail letter or newsletter you send
and how your company handles client relations are parts of an ongoing
conversation with your target audience. The goal of those conversations:
be concise, be consistent and get your audience to listen and occasionally
talk back.
HOW DO I KNOW?
You don't know how you are doing, unless you measure. Evaluate your
marketing efforts so that you can judge at year end how effective your
communications efforts have been. It's not hard; track the phone calls
that come in from advertising, direct marketing and other activities.
Compare which tools work best for you in which situations. If you aren't
measuring results over time, it's hard to tell what is performing best.
HOW'D YOU DO?
Before you answer, take your marketing department off site for a planning
day or if you are a department of one, force yourself to sit down and
write out your goals. Pick a couple of areas on which to focus, then
measure your results in six months. Measure them again after a year.
And don't get crazy about the measurement. Select 5 - 10 indicators that
will tell you if you are accomplishing your goals. Make them simple (something
you can actually measure, like phone calls or an increase in sales from
a particular product/service) and make them meaningful (something that
drives business or profit). If you give this process the time it deserves,
you'll be pleased at how much progress you actually achieve.
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