January Topic: Marketing Strategies

Use and reuse the marketing cycle to retain clients and add new ones.

Overview

Every business needs strategies by which to retain its existing clients and find new ones. Marketing involves a process of matching your services or products to the people who need them. Below is an outline of the marketing cycle, how to develop a marketing cycle, and marketing strategies to implement into your business.

How to Develop a Marketing Cycle

1.    Define your value proposition

• What do you have that your customers need? (Need is the primary driver of spend.)

  • Find out from current customers why they buy from you. Do a survey. What messages from you are effective for them?

• What is your mission?

2.    Define your market

• What sector do you serve?

• How big is this market?

• Determine customer base demographics.

• What causes this market to be separate from the broader market?

3.    Develop your target client profile(s)

• Determine the target profile of a typical customer. This should include vocation, age, difficulties, interests, reasons for happiness, etc. This profile helps to target the message.

4.    Productize your value proposition to fit the needs of your target client profile(s)

• Test the product with key client opportunities to evaluate effectiveness. Then narrow the scope and the pricing of the offering to: (1) clarify what problem the product or service solves, (2) narrow the scope of the offering, and (3) define the cost of the product/service.

5.    Develop promotional strategies

• Good marketing is done through multiple tracks, not just one. Traditional methods such as networking, speaking events, and referrals are still effective. However, a well-reasoned and well-executed digital strategy can enhance the traditional methods. Please refer to points 1-4 above for clarification. It is important to incorporate the traditional with the digital and not to rely solely on one or the other.

6.    Implement strategies

• Promote the value proposition to the targeted population as described in steps 1-5. See details below under “Implementation Strategies.”

• Face-to-face interaction with existing customers and in-person networking with potential new ones is an effective way to get a real time measure on campaign progress.

• Make changes as necessary, but be sure not to make changes before you get a good read on effectiveness.

7.    Review and refine strategies

• To the extent possible, track sources of sales and review periodically in order to determine the effectiveness of various strategies.

• Analyze marketing costs vs. sales every quarter and annually. Continue methods with a high rate of return and discontinue ineffective methods.

• Lastly, remember that promotional outlets and tastes change, so even when you have cracked the code, it can change in the near future.

Implementation Strategies

Customer Cultivation:

• Use a good CRM system/database to track current and prospective customers such as people on your mailing list, networking contacts, etc.

• Make sure your base hears from you at least once a month by email newsletter or other means.

• Affiliate with local associations that can provide credibility.

• Don’t forget to ask friends/colleagues for leads.

• Be patient. Cultivation takes time.

• Survey your customer/contact base at least once a year.

Branding:

• Consistent branding represents the service that you provide.

• It increases pricing because people pay more for a brand that represents predictability of product and service offering, trust, affordability, etc.

• Good employees respect a good brand.

• Don’t spend much on brand before you are established as a company. Once established, be consistent and don’t rebrand often.

• How to build a brand

Online marketing:

• Determine target audience (as with any marketing).

• Start small - no more than three web marketing channels.

• Company website must be clear and up to date in order to provide credibility.

• You can use free analytics (Google) to determine traffic sources and trends.

• Forbes, “What Is Online Marketing? The Definitive Guide To Internet Visibility”

In-Person Networking:

• Meet in person with top 10 customers every 6 months.

• At networking events, arrive on time and look at the name tags on table. Make a plan of people to talk to.

• Wear your name tag, introduce yourself, shake hands, when asked give a 30-second “elevator pitch” about yourself and your company.

• Don’t linger. To move on to speak to someone else, say, “Well, it was great to meet you. Do you have a business card? Thank you. Here’s mine. I’d love to hear more about ______, so let’s be in touch.”

• Follow up and include specifics from your conversation.

Summary

To keep your business growing and healthy, follow multiple marketing strategies. Be consistent in branding, provide clear calls to action in your online newsletters and website, and don’t neglect to meet current and potential clients in person on a regular basis. Continue to refine your strategies periodically to evaluate their success, make improvements, and receive feedback from your client base.