Part 1

A dairy company decided to run an exciting promotion that they hoped would increase sales dramatically. Inside some of their small milk cartons they placed a device that made a MOO sound when the carton was opened. If the consumer had that carton, they would be a winner. The promotion was going along just fine until one of the cartons was opened on an airplane and the “lucky winner” looked inside and saw wires. Panic ensued and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing. The dairy company was held responsible for all the costs associated with the emergency and had to pull the promotion from the market immediately. What started as a great idea, ended up in disaster for the company.

So, what went wrong?

Quite simply, the company designed the promotion without taking into consideration a number of external factors that, if well thought out ahead of time, would have helped them prevent this disaster from happening. For example, if they would have considered exactly where their small cartons were being distributed, they would have realized that placing that kind of promotion in the hands of airline passengers may have some quite logical and terrifying consequences.

In this example, the company was guilty of simply adopting a tactical marketing approach and did not look at the strategic implications like they should have. A strategic marketing approach would have prevented this disaster from happening.

In this article I will show you how marketing is a strategic task, and should not be driven by tactics and tools. I will show you how, if you do marketing at a tactical level, you could be wasting money (and potentially losing money like the dairy company mentioned above) and being less effective. People often say “marketing is expensive”. I agree with that assertion if that marketing is not well thought out and planned ahead of time. Often a great idea is just that – a great idea – but when the rubber hits the road and reality sets in, that great idea needs to have more than just creativity. It needs a dose of honest reality as well and that comes from looking at the potential pitfalls through strategic eyes.

What you should be looking for – maximizing your opportunities

Marketing is all about choices, and making the right choices give you the ability to maximize opportunities. It is all too simple to pick a marketing tactic in isolation and to implement it without weighing up the options of “what else can we do?”

Small and midsize companies are particularly guilty of this because they often do not have the time or resources to evaluate all the potential choices that are available. They simply go to the tried and tested “oldies” – brochures, business cards, website etc – and feel that as long as they’ve spent their money on these marketing tools, then they are OK. What they fail to understand is that they are placing themselves in the most dangerous place in the mind of their potential customers: “ME TOO-ville”. They will look and feel like everyone else and that makes them vulnerable.

So how do you break out from “ME TOO-ville”. Well it’s quite simple: change your way of thinking. Start looking for the opportunities that are not being satisfied, rather than being a copycat.

What marketing is not – the tactics and the tools

At home I have a toolbox. It is filled with all the latest gadgets, widgets, devices that enable me to fix things around the house. So, my toolbox is overflowing with all the best tools in the business – then why is my house in such a state of disrepair? It’s actually quite simple; just because I have the tools does not make me a handyman. And if I was handy, would I really be able to fix those electrical and plumbing problems that require a little more knowledge, all because I have a full toolbox. Absolutely NOT.

So what’s the key to this problem? It’s knowing, AHEAD OF TIME, what you can and cannot do. Don’t buy the tool and keep it in the toolbox if you have no real need for it, OR if someone else should be using it because they have the right knowledge and experience. In actual fact, having THAT tool is a waste of money and could in fact be very dangerous in the wrong hands.

What are the tools of marketing that we have in our marketing toolbox? Well there are tons of them (to name just a few: business cards, brochures, flyers, adverting, social media, a website, a trade show etc), and like most tools in a toolbox, only a few get used. The others go to waste and it is those others that are often the most important and impactful. So how do we work that out?

Decide before you buy (or use) the tool, whether it’s appropriate to have. And that is called PLANNING.

Recently a very clever quote caught my eye: “If you don’t have a plan for yourself, you’ll be a part of someone else’s”. I realized that it was absolutely true and totally inevitable. Destiny of any kind is in your hands if you make it your plan. If it is not part of a plan, then that destiny is in someone else’s hands. Would you really be satisfied with that? If not, then get planning.

Sometimes finding a sample marketing plan to use as a guide for writing yours can be a challenge. The problem is that there is no “one-size-fits-all” plan that you can specifically use for your business without some kind of modification.

In this article I will outline the 6 necessary elements you need in your marketing plan and some applications that will help illustrate each element. The six things you must include: an evaluation of your marketplace, the profile of your ideal customer, what you want to accomplish as a result of your marketing, the big picture view of media tools, an accountability structure that will aid in implementation, and strong financial proof that your plan will work.

Evaluate your marketplace

No matter what format you use the concept of evaluating your market is always the first step. In this part of the plan you research your top 5-10 competitors and come up with a list of strengths and weaknesses for each. You do the same exercise on your own company. This will help you create a clear picture of how you are different from everyone else.

It is on this foundation that your marketing efforts should be built. In the car rental business Hertz has always been the number one company. This made Avis come up a slogan that could help set it apart… “We’re #2 but we try harder.” This helped position Avis as a company that would work harder for you by giving you that extra level of service.

Profile of your ideal customer

The worst thing you can say about your product or service is that, “everyone has a need for it.” Segmenting your market and defining a specific profile of your best customers will help build your marketing plan in strong and healthy ways. The benefit of clearly defining your target market will not only make your job of creating and choosing marketing materials easier, but it will also save you money because you can focus your efforts on a very specific market segment.

What do you want to accomplish as a result of your marketing?

You can’t measure the success of your plan unless you have clearly defined benchmarks for comparison. Every marketing effort needs goals. They can be long-term or short-term but need to be measurable. Also, part of your plan should include evaluation points to gauge progress of your efforts.

Getting the big picture view of media tools

Before choosing what media tools you are going to use in your campaign it is essential to evaluate each tool based on the information you gathered in the first three sections of your plan. Can you effectively deliver the message of how you are unique through a particular tool? Does the tool clearly reach the ideal target market? Can it help you achieve your goals without making you go broke.

If you have done the appropriate research these questions are typically easy to answer. It is only when you decide on your desired media tool first before evaluating it’s attributes on a big picture level that you can get yourself into trouble.

Creating an accountability structure that will aid in implementation

All of the best laid plans are for nothing if you don’t have a proper implementation system. In most sample marketing plans you can see how a typical marketing calendar is laid out. It really doesn’t have to be that difficult or pretty. You simply need a week-by-week list of the specific marketing activities you want to accomplish in order to complete your overall plan. This involves taking each marketing strategy and tactically dividing it into weekly chunks. The marketing calendar should also contain the evaluation points we discussed before to help measure the progress of your goals.

Having strong financial proof that your plan will work

The final element of any plan should include a budget that gives strong financial proof that your plan will work. This is accomplished by projecting sales as a result of your marketing efforts, accurately costing out the various pieces of your marketing mix and then doing an ROI analysis (Return On Investment). Your ROI analysis should clearly show that your marketing efforts will produce a return. If your company has a long sales cycle then sometimes this will involve simply a break-even on the marketing costs up-front with the promise of larger future sales.

These six necessary elements should be included in any sample marketing plan format you are evaluating: an evaluation of your marketplace, the profile of your ideal customer, what you want to accomplish as a result of your marketing, the big picture view of media tools, an accountability structure that will aid in implementation, and strong financial proof that your plan will work.

Almost every Internet user is familiar with YouTube – the leading video sharing network. YouTube is able to make you well-known all over the world after just one night. Millions of people have become famous by making various types of videos. And obviously, money will flow into your pocket once you are famous, in one way or another. Companies will look after you and offer you their sponsorship to advertise products. Even YouTube itself has a revenue sharing program for its notable members.

For us – the online marketers – this is an effective channel to promote your products. So what elements are needed for a video to spread at lightning speed? Let’s find out!

Firstly, be aware that we are online product marketers, not talented individuals who show off incredible skills (singing, dancing, playing music, and performing magic tricks…) in order to become famous. The uniqueness and strong emotions often make the video widespread over the Internet. And make sure you have a director’s mindset to produce good videos. This is in fact very easy so you should invest some time to learn it on movie forums. You should choose the topic, film, then edit… all by yourself. These are totally within your reach.

Always remember that the effectiveness of video marketing is directly proportional to the sales revenue from the website, as well as the number of visitors who come to the website to view product information.

You don’t need to be very pretty. You only need to have the ability to speak, a decent sense of humor, the ability to attract your audience and so on, your videos will be very impressive. You can also find a partner who possesses the skills above. And never forget that a good video must be directed by you yourself.

Do not exaggerate your product on the advertisements or try to cite the media praises as well as criticisms about it. Even though your purpose is to advertise your product, always try to focus on consumers’ experience and be honest about the product. Of course, advertising is an art in which you need to show evidences to make the audience rest assured about the value and quality of your product. Analyzing a sample product in deep details is the good thing to do.

Editing and staging a video is undoubtedly a very important part. Try to combine speeches and products images in the video. Do not focus too much on your prettiness and bore your viewers with that video.

Nowadays, digital cameras often have the functionality to record HD videos. Even a mid-end mobile phone is capable of doing that well enough. In addition, you can get a free edition of the video editing software that is able to run smoothly on your average computer. That should be all you need to make a video

Traffic to an organization web site will be enhanced when both online and offline marketing approaches are put together, as an example, you’ll experience an increase in leads, customers, and prospects.

In order to have this process to be more effective, you need to have a highly optimized and well designed website, and your offline marketing material should give out the same message as your online marketing does.

You are probably wondering exactly why this works so well and the answer is because analytics is much easier to track online versus offline, hence you could apply such an advantage to you offline marketing campaign in an effective manner in order to have enhanced leads to every aspect.

The very first strategy which you can use as it pertains to tracking marketing offline is to place a URL on the printed material that’s unique, and also creating a web page that enables you to see and track the efficiency of the campaign that’s not online. If you track these analytics, you can observe several critical factors like the geographical locations of your readers, which pages they mostly visit in your website, what proportion is completing the forms, and lots of other aspects that you formerly planned on viewing. Consequently, this would give you a good understanding of your offline, and also your online marketing campaign techniques for that specific product or service.

Interestingly enough, the exact opposite could be followed, which is another strategy. In a nutshell, your offline strategy could be enhanced with your blog or other social networking by bringing in visitors. Take for example, offering a unique item for those who follow you online, or even for your customers or prospects, which will involve getting them to stop in and visit your display at a fair. Doing this will give you with a wise idea of precisely how successful the marketing strategy is both offline and online, that is very valuable information.

Additionally it is crucial to remember the ever growing technology of cell phone, called QR codes. Such codes may be applied into offline campaigns. In using these codes, prospects found offline will be driven to your site, your video, a special offer you are giving out through a survey, and a lot more. Some way, this can be a very powerful tool to combine your offline marketing campaign with your online marketing strategy.

How about placing the URL of your social media pages, instead of giving out free advertising to social media companies simply by putting their logos on your offline marketing material. Yet another strategy is to make special deals to those who will follow you on those social networks. You should always push your business to the front instead of just putting logos and telling people that you’re on Twitter or Facebook.

Yet another approach you can follow is with your offline mailers. This strategy is particularly great for firms who send out mailers, where prospects fill in simple questions and send them back. An excellent way to gain a prospects trust and create relationship is to collect information about him before picking up the phone, and you do this by understanding background information and about where the prospect lives. Both your conversion rate and campaign effectiveness in marketing will be increased as a result.

These are just a few main approaches that you can put into action to mix your offline marketing strategy with your offline marketing approaches. Nevertheless, there are a lot more plans of action, the next objective is to convert your prospects into the clientele; nevertheless this requires far more information and facts.