Marketing is a strategic, high level, measurable and accountable function that ensures you achieve your business and sales objectives.In a tough economic climate, marketing is often the first thing to go as businesses cut costs. However it is effective marketing that attracts new business opportunities and retains existing business - so it is best not to run with the herd, because a market that is tightening affords even more opportunities to the innovative player.
Marketing is about understanding your customers - why they buy from you (or your competitors) and using that precious knowledge to reach and attract new customers as the market changes. If you are successfully marketing your business, your prospects will be nodding at the mere mention of your business name. It is therefore more important than ever to build brand and market place exposure as the credit crunch tightens and threatens to slow those wheels down.
It is also timely to review your market readiness. A powerful marketing toolkit will clearly state your branding and should include logo, engaging web site, customer case studies, testimonials, great brochures and your selection of press coverage. A smart toolkit will create impact with your prospect. It’s no good being fantastic at what you do if you don’t let people know!
PR is a vital tool within the marketing toolkit. It covers a highly specialised field of strategies and tactics concerned with reaching and communicating your key messages to your defined target market. This could involve charity work, sponsorships, events, newsletters, but chief among PR tactics is to generate media coverage (press relations).
Coverage is read as factual news with a level of credibility that, in the industry, is considered to be as much as seven times that of an equivalent-sized advertisement. The power of a positive piece of press coverage is immense. You only have to look on the front page of any daily newspaper to see the power of our current media. As companies are cutting back their marketing spend and focusing on business getting tougher, you now have a unique window to cut through and build brand. You have a great story to tell so continue telling it to the people you want to reach.
So how do you kick start a Marketing and PR program? Here are a few tips to begin with if marketing doesn’t come naturally:
1.Re-define your business objectives: By doing this, you can translate these objectives into realistic sales targets. You can transform the targets into a marketing plan which outlines how you will achieve them. Educate your team on the importance of marketing and leverage their ideas in the process.
2.Maintain and develop your database: In my opinion, the single most important piece of Intellectual Property (IP) in your business is your database! Regular maintenance of your database by keeping accurate records of customers, suppliers and prospects is one of the most powerful commodities in business. There is not much point marketing to an out of date address list.
3.Look at your customer base and segment it: Divide your customers into groups defined by size, spend and industry. Research who they are and how they buy. How would they find out about your business and how do you generate new business from their demographics? This will give you clarity on exactly who you need to market to and parameters around where you need to go to reach them.
4.Review your collateral: How fresh and ‘up with the times’ are your brochures, logos and websites? Do they reflect your business objectives and core functions? If not, its time to book in with a designer to give your brand a face lift.
5.Keep it consistent: Keeping your messages clear and consistent throughout your business is critical. Your website, brochures and events should reflect the same core values and key messages. Consistency builds brand faster and cheaper – it is key!
6.Implement measurement: Your marketing and PR spend comes straight off your bottom line so it is important to establish KPI’s and goals around your Marketing and PR investment so you can evaluate success. Check what return you are expecting from each marketing activity before you lay out precious dollars.