Busy schedules, less coworkers and too many hats to wear seem to justify the lack of planning in some minds. We all know the next vacation would be pretty short-lived if we didn’t at least pack the car, grab a map and fill up at the gas station on our way out of town. (Kids! I thought you told the kids to get in the car.)
How long did it take to figure out people just were not going to break your door down or visit your website in such volume that the server crashed? Not long huh?
What are the unique qualities of your business model? What sets you apart from the competition? Why should people buy your service or product line?
We have the opportunity to work with large enterprise companies and small business and get the same blank stare when we ask, “What’s your value proposition?” Continue reading »
When a baseball player knocks the ball out of the park. He doesn’t drop his bat at home plate and walk back to the dugout. He rounds the bases to score the run. He’s not only paid to hit, he’s paid to run.
Many marketers execute winning marketing plans that generate new revenue and then sit back on their laurels as the good news rolls in. Thinking perhaps, my job is secure. My work here is done.
When I attended one of my favorite networking events recently I ran into two colleagues; one that has more business than she could handle and a second friend whose business was dying on the vine. I know they both know their business, have been successful in the past and have good reps in the business community. So what gives? Why is one person successful while they other is stumbling?
Is it their approach to landing new business – their strategy? Indulge me for a moment.
Let’s settle on some basic elements of any communication plan before we get too far.
Perhaps, the first item on our list is to itemize the goals of the communication plan. Here are some examples:
- Engage current, past and potential customers
- Solve support issues
- Make new product announcements
- Have customers share stories, photos, and product enhancement ideas
- Build awareness
- Tell our company’s story
- Collect buyer demographics
All laudable goals; some will easier to accomplish than others.
Okay, so your company is blogging, it has a website, you’ve been talked into doing social media and have even added the creation of a few case studies to your 2013 budget. But what about the results?
Let’s draw a distinction between marketing content and content marketing. The words are not interchangeable as some think.
Marketing content might be the copy on your website or blog, our social bursts, or the collateral that gets dropped in the mail. Yes, some companies still use the U.S. Post Office.
Are you engaging your readership? It’s great sharing your thoughts and ideas, but what about finding out what other people in your sphere think? Are they in agreement? Do they see any shortcomings with what you have to say? Do they have a better idea? You won’t know if you don’t ask them. Blogging can build community and consensus if the blogger is strategic.
Try writing in an open, modest manner instead of a declarative, “I already know all the answers” format. Blogging should not a one-way communication channel. Make sure the posts are reader-focused.
Sep 072012
After Labor Day, do your thoughts turn to ways to grow the business come the New Year? During the fall do you start to scourer the web, talk to colleagues and work your way through your favorite bloggers compiling ideas? Do you put together a list of questions that need answering, questions such as, “Am I still as excited as I was about the forthcoming business opportunities as when the New Year started, Did the deals that were on the table come through, Did new opportunities appear that were not even on the horizon, Did any customer leave the fold whether for good reasons or bad?
If you’ve been in marketing any time at all you know, oh so well, that tactics change from campaign to campaign product to product audience to audience and month to month. Nothing remains the same. What worked the first time fails the second.
Let’s suppose we want to launch a YouTube channel. What might the marketing tactics look like? The first thing that may come to mind are the channels the message will be pushed out from, channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Email and blogging. The next thing to look at are items like frequency of messaging, what the goals of each message will be. You can’t send the same message out through all your channels. The professional business types on LinkedIn won’t be stimulated to take action by the 140 character bursts from Twitter. They’ll need educating, coaching.
Perhaps the best place for all this information is a spreadsheet. Here’s what the column headings might look like:
- Platforms (Twitter, Email, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Frequency
- Content (What will go out over the wire?)
- Goals (What goals will each piece of content achieve?
- Landing Pages (Where will your marketing piece send the prospect?
- Business Goals (How does this marketing campaign dovetail with your existing marketing plan?
Brian Tracy
Jay Conrad Levinson
Chris Brogan Coauthor New York Times Best seller "Trust Agents"
Gini Dietrich