Do you have a (marketing) leg to stand on…

In most areas the children go back to school this week, the start of a fresh new term and year for them. And for many people life is ‘back to normal’ and work.

So the children are starting a fresh year, taking a new look at their future. Is it time to do the same in your business - specifically take a fresh look at your marketing strategy? Because of the economic doom & gloom that seems to be forever in the news, perhaps it is time to do that.

How Solid is Your Marketing Strategy?

Marketing is like a well designed and made chair - but with more legs. Each leg is a particular marketing activity.

Your marketing activity supports the business [the more legs you have the better the support] and each activity should connect and complement the others.

But in many businesses marketing plans and campaigns seem to be carried out independently. For example the company may have a website - which runs as a separate marketing activity. There may be an advertising campaign that has no connection with the website - except perhaps the URL dropped in as a last minute thought.

They may run a PR campaign or direct mailing campaign with no thought of connecting with the advertising or website.

If all these different business-generating activities have no connection it’s like having a DIY chair made with unmatched legs - it doesn’t give a good pleasing result and could even topple over because there is no balance.

Connecting Marketing Legs

Let’s have a look at an example of how different marketing activities could be linked together to give a strong, balanced business support (this is just a simple suggestion, yours could be far more extensive).

• An advertising campaign is devised to specifically draw visitors to a website page to request a free/low cost advisory guide.
• A PR campaign announces the guide is available from the website and people who’ve read the article visit.
• Online marketing through PPC (pay-per-click) advertising draws visitors to the website as well.
• A targeted mailing is sent to prospective customers offering them the guide, with the choice to send a request by post or visit the website.
• The website page is a focused landing page - not just a more general home page - telling the visitor about the benefits of the free/low cost guide. It does not have any distracting links to other pages or products. It could have audio and/or video links describing the information on offer.
• The visitor requests the guide, giving their contact information.
• The guide is delivered - either electronically in PDF format or as a printed report or CD/DVD - along with a direct response ’sales letter’ giving more details of the main offer.
• If your offer is a high-value item you might have a tele-sales or field sales team who follow up on these warm leads; warm because they have expressed an interest by asking for the guide.

By the way, don’t think that this ‘giving a free guide’ cycle is purely for ‘information products’. Yes, it is used extensively in this way - I do it myself; giving free previews or samples of the products or service I’m offering. But even if you are selling a physical product you can give people useful tips such as…

• Questions to ask before deciding to buy - gives the reader guidance on avoiding any pitfalls when choosing or recognising less ethical companies in your industry or profession
• Tips on how to use the product you supply
• Tips on how to get the most out of the product you supply; perhaps care tips that make it last longer
• If you’re selling to businesses, case studies of how other businesses have effectively used your product would be interesting
• FAQs - the classic Q&A information that prospective buyers look for. Just check what questions your current and previous customers have asked and you have your guide ready to go.

This whole strategy is geared towards attracting new prospects and, through careful nurturing, they become customers.

The Sales Are In The Back-End

But it doesn’t stop there. Further direct response campaigns - whether through e-marketing or ’snail-mail’ is used to keep contact with the new customer keeping them informed, including telling them about different offers as they come up. As a result they often become a long term buyer. This is known as a ‘back-end’ system.

And now a further strong marketing leg can be added with a formalised referral system; make a point of asking your satisfied customers for a referral (and testimonial you can use in your marketing). The best time to ask is when they’ve just taken delivery.

An example of this is the ‘tell a friend’ mechanism you see on many websites - by telling a friend about your experiences; what you’ve found on the website (a free guide) or your delight with the product or service supplied you are giving the company you’ve done business with a referral.

And, of course, it can continue with joint ventures - where another business recommends your guide and website to their customers giving you another marketing leg for your business.

Having many strong marketing activities that connect and complement each other gives stronger support for your business. If one marketing activity doesn’t perform as well as normal, you have other activities which still deliver results for you.

So - is it time to think afresh on your marketing? Ask yourself these questions.

1. Does all my marketing bring in measurable results?
2. Are all my marketing activities connected and focused on the same end result?
3. What marketing activities are missing from my connect strategy?
4. Would adding additional activities weaken or strengthen my marketing strategy and deliver better results?

Before you make any changes, think of the adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it’. It is a good maxim to follow… but by the same context we know if we don’t improve we stagnate and eventually fall behind. Continuous improvement, through testing, is vital to any business survival. And continuous improvement in our marketing means we have stronger, matched, legs supporting our business.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. Before deciding your marketing strategy you might find it useful to review aspects of your business. Brian James’ blog post “Become the business of choice for your customers” describes how to do that.