d data can send marketing teams rushing off to create inaccurate and unsound personas... which in turn spawn useless creative briefs and blemished media plans.
Other sins of omission, identified by Nicholas McDonough, Director of Marketing & Strategy, Verbatim...
“Not doing proper research and analysis, not looking for untapped market share opportunities, lack of content strategy, and cookie cutter automation.”
The Pitfalls Of Plunging Into Marketing
“Most entrepreneurs start too late on the chain,” says international speaker and entrepreneur Tracy Repchuk.
“They jump onto planning a social media strategy, and identifying platforms, schedules and broadcast content - without making sure the overall message thread and unique selling proposition of the brand, has been established.”
The Unique Selling Proposition, a concept developed by Roesser Reeves in the 1950s, draws us back to the target market. It cannot be written without identifying and understanding the desired customer.
Among other things, the USP gives this customer a reason to buy the product.
Unless the message of the USP gives a differentiating product benefit to the target, something that represents value in the eyes of the customer, it is useless.
Reason Why Marketing Plans Crash And Burn
It’s easy to get the impression that creating a marketing plan is as easy as pouring a cup of coffee.
Templates, blueprints, and other tools promise clarity and simplicity.
But plans can sail off the rails in a hurry when the process doesn’t begin with the right task.
Of all the challenges a marketing plan presents, perhaps the single most critical is identifying the target market.
Unless The Right Customer Is Accurately Isolated, Nothing Else Matters
This task is often the job of the marketing strategy rather than the plan that’s built to support the strategy.
But wherever this process takes place, time spent defining and attempting to understand the target market, the right customer, is essential.
This work is often given short shrift.
It may be glossed over because of unchallenged assumptions.
Flawed data can send marketing teams rushing off to create inaccurate and unsound personas... which in turn spawn useless creative briefs and blemished media plans.
Other sins of omission, identified by Nicholas McDonough, Director of Marketing & Strategy, Verbatim...
“Not doing proper research and analysis, not looking for untapped market share opportunities, lack of content strategy, and cookie cutter automation.”
The Pitfalls Of Plunging Into Marketing
“Most entrepreneurs start too late on the chain,” says international speaker and entrepreneur Tracy Repchuk.
“They jump onto planning a social media strategy, and identifying platforms, schedules and broadcast content - without making sure the overall message thread and unique selling proposition of the brand, has been established.”
The Unique Selling Proposition, a concept developed by Roesser Reeves in the 1950s, draws us back to the target market. It cannot be written without identifying and understanding the desired customer.
Among other things, the USP gives this customer a reason to buy the product.
Unless the message of the USP gives a differentiating product benefit to the target, something that represents value in the eyes of the customer, it is useless.
The Payoff Of Focusing The Marketing Plan On The Target
People working on a marketing plan are well served to revisit the dreams, desires, wants, aspirations, and needs of their target every step of the way.
Creating a USP driven by the interests of the prospect rather than the interests of the marketer result in a marketing asset that lasts for years.
“A Diamond is Forever” was first used by DeBeers in 1938.
“You’re in Good Hands with Allstate” debuted in 1956.
These are not simply slogans. They are positions that have earned a spot in the mind of the target market.
Each one connects more with the emotional considerations of the target than the attributes of the product. This is why they endure.
The Shelf Life Of A Marketing Plan
How long should a marketing plan be used?
“Most entrepreneurs rely on old practices in a changing world,” says John Chmela, a social media marketer with Las Vegas-based BlackNet Group.
“Marketing is a constant learning process. Proceed with extreme caution if you use anything older than 18 months ago. Business Networking Groups like LeTip and BNI use techniques developed in 1978.”
Platforms Change, People Don’t
While media consumption habits change, and what the consumer considers utility constantly shifts, human nature remains comfortably constant in a world of fluctuating variables.
That’s why DeBeers and Allstate create value for their target by appreciating the emotional considerations of their customers and addressing them in their marketing plans.
Investments in marketing strategies made more than half a century ago continue to pay dividends. Each organization began with the most thorough possible understanding of its target market.
This lack of understanding is why most marketing strategies, and the plans intended to drive them, so easily crash and burn.
Paul Talbot is President of Southport Harbor, a marketing strategy boutique based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Five Ways To Refine Your Marketing Strategy
As the CEO of an ad agency and campaign manager for digital campaigns in various industries, I've seen firsthand how marketing a business in the digital era isn’t an easy task. With multiple online platforms for advertising campaigns, it may seem like the biggest decision is which one to choose. However, there are even more strategic choices that will have a direct impact on your ROI. Over time, I've collected a variety of ways to help soothe the decision-making process. Here are my top five strategies to help market your business well — and right — from the start:
1. Understand the way your target users shop.
It's better to reach out to users who are already interested or could be persuaded into what you have to offer them. Most importantly, it's best to understand how your users shop for what you can offer them. This way, you can adjust your approach to fit their needs.
If you offer a product or service consumers are already aware of and show a need for, utilize search engine data to find more information about your target audience, like who they are, and where, when and how they search and shop. Search engines are a great way to advertise because they provide users with search results of exactly what they want.
If you offer a product or service that is new to consumers, you can find out how your target users shop by using social media to find their interests and approved approach. Couple such trends with statistic software like Google Analytics, and you can monitor consumer behavior on your site. Starting with social media, display promotions and website adjustments, consumers can be made aware of the existence of your product.
2. Split-test your landing pages.
Needless to say, if you have landing pages that aren’t performing as well as they could be, you are wasting money and missing out on opportunities. You can split-test landing pages by either setting up experiments in Google Analytics or by using a third-party tool that simplifies the whole testing process.
When performing a split-test, consider how a landing page looks to your visitors. Above the site fold is the first thing they see — therefore, it's a more important part of the page. Your information and intention should be clear and immediate at the top of the page. Always use high-quality images and compelling copy to keep visitors intrigued. When determining the results, consider the best conversion rate overall.
3. Understand what types of messaging could help your business sell more.
The type of messaging that a business uses has a substantial impact on the projected conversion rate. According to a 2012 study by the Harvard Business Review, businesses that offer simple messaging about a product or service — in a way that consumers can understand — are offering the top quality that causes a consumer to follow through with a purchase. Avoiding technical jargon and offering consumers direct paths to purchase without bogging them down with too many decisions is key.
When describing how a product is used or what benefits come with a service, recommendation videos are best. It's also a good idea to have concise pages on your website, as opposed to long ones. And product or service pages should provide users with enough tools to make a decision.
Promotional and non-promotional content should be easily accessible but shouldn't crowd the consumer. The final goals of your messaging strategy should be to streamline purchasing, provide comprehensive, trustful information, and give consumers an understanding of your product and business culture.
4. Define how you are going to interact with your customers.
What channels are you going to use to interact with your customers? What type of communication strategy are you going to use? How long of an average response time do you plan on guaranteeing? These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself in terms of customer service that will impact company operations. Using social media for customer service will lighten up emails and calls and increase customer satisfaction due to speedy replies.
5. Define how to attribute your ROI for better budget decisions.
Sales and ROI are for sure the two metrics everyone focuses on, but the way you attribute your results to specific campaigns is critical in defining how you are going to allocate your budget. For instance, are you going to focus on the last traffic source that was clicked on before a sale, or are you going to look at the whole funnel to define what originated the first interaction of a user with your site?
Making the right decision is going to have a significant impact on your budget attribution and future performance. I strongly recommend focusing on the first interaction with your website because you might divest in a channel that doesn’t generate a lot of direct sales but still indirectly contributes to many of them.
These five points not only advance your company’s digital marketing -- they also benefit your performance in customer service, brand awareness and efficient spending. While the platforms and mediums of digital marketing are always growing, these five points can help simplify any approach you decide to take.
