Keys to Effective Marketing

Slimming Down Your Keychain

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky is credited in saying, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” The same is true with marketing techniques. The key is taking a shot you feel confident you can make.

With 28 million small business in America, it’s hard to find a way for your voice to be heard. There are two main challenges in marketing a business. Creating the right plan and then implementing that plan effectively.

Creating the Right Plan

Three things: 1) Know your audience, 2) Know your objective, and 3) Create the right message.

1) Know your audience

This all starts with knowing what you want to accomplish and who is going to help you reach your objective. The best way to do this is to scour your clientele and find your best customer. This customer already believes in your brand and will freely impart their feelings about your company. From there research that demographic and build a strategy targeted toward that audience. Which brings us to our second point, know your objective.

2) Know your objective, be SMART

If you don’t know where you’re going you’ll run out of gas long before you get to the right destination. You need to clearly define what you want to accomplish with this segmented audience and make SMART goals.

Simple
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound

Saying you want to increase sales isn’t good enough. Clearly define how you’ll accomplish that goal by saying you’ll increase sales by X amount through promoting a specific service or product line to that specific audience within a certain time.

3) Create the right message

This key is paramount.

Once you have your audience targeted, you need to create a message that will resonate with that audience. This is accomplished through solid research and in many cases holding focus groups and sending out surveys. You need to know your audience almost better than they know themselves and pull on the right strings.

A Successful Implementation

Now that you have your beautiful package wrapped and ready to send, it’s time for the rubber to hit the road. This is when you have to take that shot. With every campaign you run the risk of failing, but the payoff for a job well done is well worth the gamble. Here are three tips to ensure success: 1) Be aggressive, 2) Track measurements, and 3) Have an insanely simple way to comply.

1) Be aggressive but not overbearing

LeBron James didn’t make it to the top by watching people play basketball or becoming proficient in NBA 2K14 on the XBOX. He worked hard. When you start your marketing efforts, you need to be aggressive and get on people’s radar. But if they tell you to leave, leave. Don’t stay there and bug them unnecessarily. You need to work hard, but don’t be overbearing in your efforts.

2) Measurement, measurement, measurement

This is the best way to see if you’re really reaching your objective. There are online programs that can help you do this…hint hint…but that need to be used if you hope to have time for anything else. Here’s more information on the importance of measuring your analytics.

3) An insanely simple way to comply

Your marketing efforts need to be insanely easy to follow. If you want people to sign up for a service, it should be as seamless as switching on the lights. To ensure that your invitations are insanely easy, send test runs out to your employees and outside sources that can evaluate the effectiveness of your process.