Time to develop a workable marketing-communications strategy
Now that you’ve already been bombarded with all the New Year’s clichés, it’s time to see the New Year for what it is – a fresh start for your marketing.
If you continue to do the same thing year after year, without tracking what works and what doesn’t, you risk your marketing becoming stale and ineffectual. So how do you reinvigorate your marketing to enhance your brand and ultimately make the cash register ring (I wouldn’t be in advertising if I didn’t use a good cliché every once and a while).
Here’s a start:
- Audit your marketing – every dollar you spend on pens, gifts, sponsorships, local newspaper ads, yellow pages (including online), adwords, web hosting, radio, Cable TV and broadcast TV needs to be calculated and reviewed for what works and what could work better if better funded.
- Take something off the table – I can remember the meeting when I’ve asked, who is your customer – men and women 35-54, or business owners 45-64, or young men 18-34, and the answer returned is: “All of them.” Really? Even Google can’t reach everyone, and their budget is unlimited. You need to be selective, since its infeasible to reach everyone on small-business budgets.
- Working together – Every message you put out should have a common theme; every newspaper ad, TV ad, radio ad, and Adword, should work in concert promoting a similar messages. For example, if you’re selling fitness memberships, you should work to place a story about your fitness instructor and the newest techniques in the local paper; your local print ad campaign should feature the latest techniques with how it benefits the consumer; TV ads should show happy consumers easily enjoying the new fitness regimen; and Adwords should be targeted towards that consumer, linking back to a landing page with an offer. Examples of success stories should be encouraged in social media.
Look, this is not brain surgery (I like to use that line since my brother actually is one). This is more about the application of common-sense in your marketing and about taking a fresh, creative approach. Look beyond the clichés and doing the same tired marketing approach year after year. It’s time for your small business to market like a professional.