Expert Answers to Your Most Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need a Strategic Marketing Plan?

How do I write a Strategic Marketing Plan?

Do I really need to measure results of my marketing efforts?

Remember the New Year's resolution diet of 2005? Come on fess up, didn't you convince yourself that you didn't need to step on the scale to know if you've lost weight? After all your pants fit, sort of. If you haven't climbed onto the scale to face the needle, I bet you anything you've cheated and abandoned the exercise program that you swore you'd maintain. Marketing is exactly the same. You have to figure out if the needle is moving and why, otherwise you have no ammunition to keep moving, working and plugging away and refining your communication efforts. What's more you have no ammunition to take to your board of directors who would be more than happy to pull the plug on your marketing budget. So bite the bullet, climb on that scale and figure out how many calls your ad pulled in, how well your direct mail piece worked or didn't. You'll be better off knowing!

How do I know whether I should advertise my product or service?

To be a "success" in a crowded and confusing marketplace you need more than a well priced and placed product or service. You must also make some noise. Advertising, is just one tool in a well thought out and planned communication mix. As you plan your communication mix you should also consider direct marketing, sales promotion, public relations and publicity and personal selling. Which promotional tools you use is largely dependent on your organization, finances, timing and how each "meshes" with your product or service. The table below outlines numerous tools that fall within these categories of promotion.

I'm spending money but not getting results, what should I do?

How can I get my product or service in the news?

1. Make sure the information is newsworthy.
2. Tell the audience that the information is intended for them and why they should continue to read it.
3. Start with a brief description of the news, then distinguish who announced it, and not the other way around.
4. Ask yourself, "How are people going to relate to this and will they be able to connect?"
5. Make sure the first 10 words of your release are effective, as they are the most important.
6. Avoid excessive use of adjectives and fancy language.
7. Deal with the facts.
8. Provide as much Contact information as possible: Individual to Contact, address, phone, fax, email, Web site address.
9. Make sure you wait until you have something with enough substance to issue a release.
10. Make it as easy as possible for media representatives to do their jobs.

How much does it cost to do a brochure?

It depends! On what? How much can you spend? How much do you have to say? Do you really need a brochure or can you use the internet? What other materials have you developed and how will this one fit in your material mix? Do you have a logo? What about graphic standards? Do you have someone in your organization who can write copy or will you need a copywriter to do that for you? All of these questions and many more will determine the cost of your brochure. Sorry, but even these experts can't answer this one.

A competitor with deep pockets just moved into my market, what do I do?

Quite simply you need to differentiate your business. Look at what your competitor is doing and do the opposite. You'll never be able to compete head-on. Don't try to compete on price. Look for a niche and go there. There are four primary ways you can differentiate yourself -- product, services, personnel or image. What can you offer a customer that's different?

Product: Consider unique merchandise, a more reliable product, special orders, style of your product, functionality, design.

Service: How's your delivery? Installation? What about customer training to use your product?

Personnel: What and how are you training your personnel? Are they competent? Courteous? Reliable? Credible? Responsive? Communicate well?

Image: How does your branding stack up? How are you considered by your customers? What do your customers perceive as your image?

How do I write a press release?

Editors will quickly trash press releases that make outlandish promises -- "the best ever," "everyone wins," "one-of-a-kind," "changing humankind forever." You get the idea. Instead, think like a reporter. Media releases must follow journalistic style in order to be given any kind of consideration. How do you accomplish this task? Here are some hints:

1. The Headline: In ten words -- or less -- you should grab the attention of the editor. The headline should summarize the information in the press release, but in a way that is exciting and dynamic; think of it as a billboard along a highway -- you have just a few words to make your release stand out among the many others editors receive on any given day.
2. Opening Paragraph: Sometimes called a summary lead, your first paragraph is critical. This paragraph must explain "the five Ws and one H" of the story -- the who, what, when, where, why, and how. This paragraph must summarize the press release, with the following paragraphs providing the detail.
3. The opening paragraph must also contain the hook: the one thing that gets your audience interested in reading more -- but remember that the hook has to be relevant to your audience as well as to the news media. A hook is not a hard sell or a devious promotion -- it's just a factual statement.
4. The Body: Using a strategy called the inverted pyramid, the body of the press release should be written with the most important information and quotes first. This inverted pyramid technique is used so that if editors need to cut the story to fit space constraints, they can cut from the end without losing critical information.
5. The Closing Paragraph: Repeat the critical contact information, including the name of the person, his or her phone number and/or email address.

Need more? Check out press releases that work

Who is my target audience?

Clients often tell us "everyone is our target audience" or "we want to reach everyone." That's a sure fire way to spread your organization too thin and risk not reaching anyone effectively.

I don't know of any organization whose target audience is actually everyone. Coca-Cola? Nope. You won't find much Coke advertising aimed at super health conscious people. Allstate? Not really. Even though almost everyone needs insurance, you can bet Allstate has income and demographic profiles of the people likely to buy their products. Let's try nonprofits. What about United Way? True, anyone could need United Way services one day, but even then there are groups more likely than others to use those services. As far as donors go, a nonprofit like United Way will certainly be pleased to get large or small donations, but they are more likely to focus their efforts on people who have the means and willingness to donate.

In short, you really can't have everyone as a target audience. It doesn't make sense strategically and you couldn't afford to reach "everyone" anyway.

Instead, figure out who your key audiences really are. Back to the tried-and-true clichŽ of the 80-20 rule: 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients or customers. In many organizations, a relatively small number of customers, clients or users account for much of the organization's business. Your best bet is to make sure you communicate very well and very often with those 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.

If you aren't willing to focus on your core audiences instead of reaching "everyone," you are unlikely to reach anyone successfully and you risk losing the key target audiences you already have.

How do I know what my competitors are up to?

Consider yourself a spy. Your mission: information gathering. Below are a few easy ways to snoop.

Recruits and Competitors' Employees: You can obtain information through interviewing candidates and from conversations with competitors' employees. Whether interviewing a prospect, at a cocktail party or networking at a conference, it's amazing how much people will talk when in a social setting, have had a drink or two or when they are unhappy with their current employment situation.

Key Customers: Ask your customers about your competitors, they might even be willing to "mystery shop" your competition with the sole purpose of gathering information for you.

Public Documents: Annual reports, brochures, advertising, websites, enewsletters, press clippings and other published documents are open fodder and can help you keep a handle on what your competitor is up to.

Observation: Buy your competitors products. Take them apart. Are you in the food industry? Go taste the other guy's hamburger? Selling cars? Go shop the other car lot. Figure out what they are doing right and wrong and you can do it better.

Before your spy mission - remember only go where you are welcome. Breaking the law is not worth it!

How much should I spend on my marketing?

Here are a few points that you should consider when setting your budget.

Stage in the product life cycle: New products/services typically receive large adverting/promotion budgets to build awareness. Older brands are often supported with smaller budgets as they have a reputation and a customer following.

Market Share: If you have 90% of the market wrapped up in a bow, you don't need to do a whole lot of advertising. However, if you are climbing the market share mountain you may want to increase your advertising spending as a percentage of your sales.

Competition: If competition is tough and challengers are popping up right and left you should increase your spending. You will need to advertise to be heard in your crowded and noisy marketplace.

Commodity: Is your product or service a commodity (dime a dozen - like bananas, apples, milk or even plumbers) or is it unique? If you are more of a commodity you will need to advertise more to establish a point of difference amongst your competitors.

Do I really need to do market research?

Yes. Research provides critical information regarding your ever changing customer values, wants and needs, new competitor initiatives, changing distribution channels and more. However, what research you do and how much is completely dependent on your budget. Hiring a market research company to do an extensive study can be very expensive. You can minimize those costs by finding out as much as possible via informal qualitative research.

Use your customers: Collect as much information about your customers as possible at the point of sale, solicit customer feedback via suggestion or comment cards. Consider your inventory. What is selling and what's not?

Use your staff: Ask your sales people or employees - front line - what do you need to better serve your customers? What do we do well?

Use your competitors: Don't be afraid to check out the other guy. Go mystery shop - check out what your competitor is selling. What are they doing? How are they doing it? Are they priced above or below? Positioning? Where are they selling? To whom? Where are they advertising? How?

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