Marketing. . . Where does it all begin?

Marketing. . . Where does it all begin?

Where does a good marketing strategy begin? Well, I guess that depends on how we define strategy. But in a perfect world, here is my off-the-cuff-rough-sketch of my view of a good business/marketing set up.

Company: People of Integrity, Passion, Intelligence and like-minded values form a company. The company has a strong leadership team and the best employees available. Hire people that share common goals, vision, incentives. . .

Consumers: The Company gets to know their target audience(s) really well: what they need, what they want, how they go about finding information to fill their needs and wants, where they hang out and tell their friends about how they get their needs and wants met, etc.

Products and Services: After finding what the consumer wants, the company develops the *best products and services to fill those needs/wants. *best can be in value, price, or quality

Branding: Develop a brand linked to company values, consumer wants, and the products and services that the Company offers. Make sure the brand is true to who you are, and resonates with consumers. Don’t guess.

Training: Train your staff to live the brand.

Marketing*: Develop a comprehensive marketing strategy and series of plans that use a blend of push, pull and conversational marketing tactics/plans/strategies. Marketing must be linked to ROI. In today’s age, the best (successful) companies are tapping into cutting edge or even bleeding edge technologies and methods. Blending social media, word-of-mouth marketing, direct mail, radio, TV, (other traditional media outlets relevant to the target audience). *Disclaimer – this is an off-the-cough-rough-sketch, feel free to chime in with your ideas and edits bloggers.

Measurement: Track responses to marketing elements (each individual outlet and call-to-action) and associate the number of responses with actual dollars saved, earned or lost. In the best case scenario it looks something like this: consumer A calls because they saw postcard C to buy product Y and after the advertising costs and man power were factored in brought the company $40,000 profit.

Tweak: Tweak the marketing plans for the future based on results, segments, new products, new challenges, new competitors, new buying habits, new anything. . .

Openness: Be open to new ideas and solutions. Listen to critique and invite the “red ink”.

Ongoing Customer Service: When you screw up, listen to your customers and fix it.

Never say, “I have it all figured out”, the second you do, somebody else will figure out something better. At least that has been my experience. The times I’ve lost to my competition are when I’ve had my guard down. I’ve lost, not just in marketing or sales but also in soccer, debate team in college, paintball, chess and poker. I’m not saying business is as simple as playing a game, but it is a lot more fun when I think of it that way.

On that note: if you read this blog – I invite your input and “red ink”. . .