3 Concepts to Consider Before Starting a Marketing Campaign...

Most people's marketing plan begins with a simple enough thought..."I need more customers." They then begin to sift through the different media or channels they could use to get more customers. The conversation in their head goes something like this:

"I need more customers/clients/patients. Maybe I'll run a radio ad during rush hour in the morning. Or maybe I'll try telemarketing for appointments. Maybe I'll just send a postcard out...it's probably the cheapest." And on and on.

The fundamental flaw with this type of thinking is that they are approaching a problem with only one small piece of the overall solution. But not only are they analyzing a small piece of the solution, they are analyzing first what should be analyzed last!

Let me explain...

For every marketing plan there are two main components: Strategy and Implementation. Strategy is what you are going to do and how you are going to do it and Implementation is actually doing it.

Before you can implement a plan you have to develop a strategy to work from. So, here we are going to give a quick overview of the three main components of every good marketing strategy. In order they are:

1) WHO you are going to market to.
2) WHAT you are going to say to them.
3) WHERE you can find them.

Notice that most people start with the last step of WHERE to find customers by thinking about which media or channels (i.e. telemarketing, direct mail, etc.) they are going to use. This is backwards!

99 out of 100 times I ask a client WHO their target market is I get a very vague answer at best and a blank stare at worst. But, if you don't even know WHO you are targeting how in the world will you ever know WHERE to find them?

(The WHO can be further broken down into Geographics, Demographics, and most importantly, Psychographics. If you would like to read our free report on how to best determine who your target market is please download a copy of it here: www.intelesure.com/targetmarket)

Once you have determined WHO you are marketing to you will need to decide WHAT you are going to say to them. This is your messaging component. Again, a very common mistake is to simply create standard messaging that is blasted out to all of your prospects, regardless of WHO they are.

Let me give you an example of how choosing your target market carefully will influence your messaging. Let's say that you sell life insurance and you have chosen two different target markets. One is a group of 30-40 year old business owners and the other is 55+ blue collar workers nearing retirement.

If you were to try and communicate a boilerplate marketing message to these two groups your attempts will fall flat. These two groups are at a very different place in their lives and your messaging needs to speak to those differences. Otherwise you won't resonate with either group and will waste your marketing dollars on being too generic.

Once you have figured out WHO you are targeting and WHAT you are saying to them you are ready to figure out WHERE they can be reached. If you started your plan with the WHERE you may have later found out that the market you were going after couldn't be reached effectively through the channel you chose.

Additionally, you may need to use more than one channel to reach different segments of your market. In the insurance example above you may decide that the best way to reach the 30-something business owner is through professional organizations and the 55+ employees through direct mail to their home.

This initial planning is just the first step in developing a winning Strategy. In our next article we'll talk more about what needs to happen next so that you create a complete marketing strategy.

In the meantime, if you would like additional information about this process and how Intelesure can help your company create a winning strategy please contact an Account Executive at 1-866-808-7366.

Until next time...

McDonald's vs. Starbucks?

In March of 2007 Consumer Reports issued the results of a survey they completed with a team of their trained coffee tasters. The idea was to pinpoint who had the best tasting coffee around.

For the surveyed bunch (which included McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, and Dunkin’ Donuts) the winner was…

McDonald’s...?

I swear I’m not making this up. McDonald’s actually beat Starbucks in a coffee taste test! After reading this report I gained a little bit of insight of what advertising agencies like to call “brand image.”

Now, I’m not a coffee drinker myself, but even I was under the impression that Starbucks was the coffee to buy when you needed something quick and flavorful. I mean, to go head to head against McDonald’s in a taste test should have been a slam dunk for Starbucks.

Notice the operative word in that last paragraph is “impression.” That’s right, I was simply under the impression that Starbucks had a better tasting coffee because they have done such a good job branding their product. So good in fact, that it actually shaped my perception of their coffee!

A couple of things here…One, brand image can be misleading, and two, Starbucks has deep enough pockets to manipulate that perception.

But what about small to medium-sized companies that can’t really afford to spend millions of dollars trying to brand their company? What options do they have?

This is where direct marketing comes in handy. You don’t have to be a known brand for everybody…just your target market. Reread that last sentence because it is a powerful concept. The more you know about who you sell to the more relevant and useful your marketing will be to those people.

An obvious example of this would be the following scenario: Suppose you sell lawn care services. You could have a variety of target markets but on the whole you are more than likely interested in homeowners as opposed to renters.

So does it really matter if all the renters in town know your name? It’s debatable, but I would argue that it is far more cost-effective to only target those who are your most likely customer. How do you do that? Through a variety of direct marketing channels such as mail, telephone, flyers, referrals, etc.

Just keep in mind that when you are investing in marketing it is vitally important to know who you are selling to so that you tailor a message specific to their needs and wants.

Branding can be an important part of your long-term success, but approach it with a more targeted plan and your marketing will more consistently hit its mark.

Good luck!