Getting started with your marketing
The number two spot on my marketing challenges poll was not knowing where to start. In the immortal words of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, “It’s always best to start at the beginning.” At the beginning should be your goals and your plan to make them a reality. Without a set of goals and a plan in hand, you’ll wander aimlessly trying this or that tactic, going from feast to famine and back again. I’ve seen it happen all too often.
For some, a marketing plan might be just a page or two. For others it might be a hefty document. Either way, it should contain some core information. The following is the short form.
Your niche
It’s been said that when one tries to be all things to all people, one ends up being nothing to everybody. Marketing becomes a lot easier when you have a well-defined target to focus on. Your niche needs to be big enough to be profitable, yet small enough so you’re not lost in the crowd of competitors. Once you’ve found a niche or two, learn all you can about that market, common challenges, who the movers and shakers are, etc.
Your value proposition
Your value proposition is what you bring to the table that provides real value and benefits for your clients.
When you think about benefits, don’t confuse them with features. Think about what you’re really providing. For instance, a feature might be a speedy new computer and state-of-the-art software that runs like a jack rabbit after downing a half dozen espressos. The benefit is fast turnaround time. At the core of that benefit is saving your client time, less stress meeting a deadline and fewer woes from their boss.
Your benefits should focus on the core issues that hit home with people - creating comfort, safety, reduce worry or anxiety, making them look good to their bosses, etc. It’s important to remember that even if your client is a large company, you don’t market to a company. You market to people. When you make them look good, help make their job easier and less stressful, you’re in like Flint. Who was Flint, anyway?
The competition
A competitive analysis can get pretty complicated and time consuming. For an independent or small business, you should at least have a good idea who your key competitors are and what they’ve been up to. Visit their sites, look at their ads and other promo materials you can get your hands on, talk to your prospects and clients. Odds are, if your competitors are any good they’ve been in contact with the same folks you have.
Your goals
What are you trying to accomplish with your business? Increase revenue? Build a better mousetrap? Be tops in your field? All of the above?
Drafting your goals should be a thoughtful task. They should be meaningful, attainable and measurable. Here are a few examples:
With your goals in hand, it’s time to put together some action plans to reach them. Your action plans might include creating a brochure or press kit, writing articles and press releases, cold/warm calls, postcards or other mailings, speaking engagements, etc.
It’s critical that you do a couple of things. First, create a method to remind yourself of what needs to be done and when. I use a contact manager with alerts. If you don’t have a software calendar/contact manager, at least jot things down on a traditional calendar and put it up where you’ll see it. Another low tech method is to simply write down what needs to be done the next day on a post-it note. Then, before you end your day, stick it on your monitor. The thing is, if you don’t have a reminder system, you’ll forget or put stuff off. The phone rings. The inbox jingles. Life happens.
Second, give a marketing tactic enough time to work. It takes time for things to build up some speed. If something is obviously not working after a reasonable amount of time, dump it and try something else. Different activities require different testing windows. For instance, if you do, say, three mailings over the course of three months and they haven’t generated jack, it’s probably time to either rethink your message or try something else. On the other hand, building up media relationships can take quite a while before you start to see results.
And there you have it. Pretty simply, eh? Now roll up your sleeves, sharpen up that pencil and get to planning.
For some, a marketing plan might be just a page or two. For others it might be a hefty document. Either way, it should contain some core information. The following is the short form.
Your niche
It’s been said that when one tries to be all things to all people, one ends up being nothing to everybody. Marketing becomes a lot easier when you have a well-defined target to focus on. Your niche needs to be big enough to be profitable, yet small enough so you’re not lost in the crowd of competitors. Once you’ve found a niche or two, learn all you can about that market, common challenges, who the movers and shakers are, etc.
Your value proposition
Your value proposition is what you bring to the table that provides real value and benefits for your clients.
When you think about benefits, don’t confuse them with features. Think about what you’re really providing. For instance, a feature might be a speedy new computer and state-of-the-art software that runs like a jack rabbit after downing a half dozen espressos. The benefit is fast turnaround time. At the core of that benefit is saving your client time, less stress meeting a deadline and fewer woes from their boss.
Your benefits should focus on the core issues that hit home with people - creating comfort, safety, reduce worry or anxiety, making them look good to their bosses, etc. It’s important to remember that even if your client is a large company, you don’t market to a company. You market to people. When you make them look good, help make their job easier and less stressful, you’re in like Flint. Who was Flint, anyway?
The competition
A competitive analysis can get pretty complicated and time consuming. For an independent or small business, you should at least have a good idea who your key competitors are and what they’ve been up to. Visit their sites, look at their ads and other promo materials you can get your hands on, talk to your prospects and clients. Odds are, if your competitors are any good they’ve been in contact with the same folks you have.
Your goals
What are you trying to accomplish with your business? Increase revenue? Build a better mousetrap? Be tops in your field? All of the above?
Drafting your goals should be a thoughtful task. They should be meaningful, attainable and measurable. Here are a few examples:
- Add five new clients per month
- Increase market awareness by securing at least one press mention each quarter
- Create a press kit by September 25, 2006
With your goals in hand, it’s time to put together some action plans to reach them. Your action plans might include creating a brochure or press kit, writing articles and press releases, cold/warm calls, postcards or other mailings, speaking engagements, etc.
It’s critical that you do a couple of things. First, create a method to remind yourself of what needs to be done and when. I use a contact manager with alerts. If you don’t have a software calendar/contact manager, at least jot things down on a traditional calendar and put it up where you’ll see it. Another low tech method is to simply write down what needs to be done the next day on a post-it note. Then, before you end your day, stick it on your monitor. The thing is, if you don’t have a reminder system, you’ll forget or put stuff off. The phone rings. The inbox jingles. Life happens.
Second, give a marketing tactic enough time to work. It takes time for things to build up some speed. If something is obviously not working after a reasonable amount of time, dump it and try something else. Different activities require different testing windows. For instance, if you do, say, three mailings over the course of three months and they haven’t generated jack, it’s probably time to either rethink your message or try something else. On the other hand, building up media relationships can take quite a while before you start to see results.
And there you have it. Pretty simply, eh? Now roll up your sleeves, sharpen up that pencil and get to planning.
