Marketing strategy and planning

Are you frustrated, confused, and not sure what to try next? Has your company lost faith in marketing as a revenue-generating business activity? Wouldn't you like to have every campaign you produce be right on target?

If so, you're not alone.

Recent studies have shown that many companies today are throwing away up to 90% of their marketin dollars.

It doesn't have to be that way....

Here's’ the good news by using an easy to follow, step-by-step process you'll be producing measurable results improving what matters most: your company’s bottom-line.

There's a reason why you're not getting great results already

Successful, effortless marketing starts with an understanding of where your company is at and where what exactly you want marketing to accomplish. Your level of success is determined by how well you know your objectives and then apply the proven fundamental principles. One of the problems is that most people start midstream by building marketing collateral, like creating a brochure or conducting an activity, like advertising.Not everyone needs a brochure or advertising. You have to figure out what will work for your business, measure the results and apply the learning to the next plan building one success on top of another.

Here are the 5 step process we use when developing your marketing strategy and plan

1. Define your goals and objectives. The first step in building an effective marketing program is to know what result you are after. The more quantifiable the result the better. At the beginning of every project we sit down with the client and help them to clearly describe what their expectations are.

2. Understand your customer. In this step our goal is understanding. To persuade someone, to motivate someone, to sell someone something, you really need to understand that person and their point of view. From the well-known success author Napoleon Hill “… it is as useless to try and sell a man something until you have first made him want to listen, as it would be to command the earth to stop rotating.”

We begin to understand the people you are trying to communicate with by creating a profile that will help us gain a “"feeling"” for them. Once we have a good understanding of your prospect we can then more accurately begin to develop your core messages and compelling offers.

3. Messaging: Convey your key benefits and offers. Now to communicate the features and benefits of your product or service to the prospect. Most people overdo the feature part instead of emphasizing the benefits. Remember, people do not buy things for what they are; they buy things for what they do. How the offer is delivered is part of the system. A web based landing page or dedicated area on your website is created to describe the offer. The offer can be a quick tour of your product/service, a web event or webinar, a white paper or free report. These components are relatively inexpensive to produce and can be leveraged in a variety of ways.

4. Develop the “"Go to market"” action plan. The plan we build for you will be based on our researched findings. Recommendations will include a combination of print and electronic marketing techniques including advertising, direct mail, tradeshow, web site, eMailers and eNewsletters. The actual tactics we recommend depend on budget, timing and gauged effectiveness.

5. Measure results. Tracking your campaigns and seeing the results for yourself is the real power of this methodology. You're building a bridge between your marketing campaigns and your sales efforts.

Your situation and goals will undoubtedly be very unique so we're flexible on how we can work with you.

Here are the three levels of marketing services we provide:

The “"Drive-by.”" This is a case where you need help on a specific project, yet you still realize the value of taking a strategically, thought-out approach.

The “"You take it from here."” In this scenario we help assess your situation, build the core messaging platform, and create a customized action plan. You handle the implementation and creation of the tactical tools and delivery mechanisms.

The “"A to Z."” Of course we believe this is the way you'll get the best results. Here we assess your situation, create the strategy and plan, then our creative and web teams implement and apply the strategy to the various communications materials recommended in the plan. We also mange all the projects. We build timelines and keep track of deadlines. Plus, we supervise and coordinate the efforts of any outside vendors needed to get the job done.

Click here to get in touch for more details.

Our Marketing Results Guarantee

Our number one objective is to improve the effectiveness of your company's marketing. Once we begin to work together we will determine the specific desired marketing results. We will give you a proposal that describes the ideas we have on helping you achieve those results. All we ask is that the recommendations we make on specific projects are FULLY IMPLEMENTED. If you do, we guarantee we will accomplish the agreed upon minimum results or we will continue to work with you at no additional cost, providing consulting services and making recommendations, until we do.

Click here for our FREE REPORT, “"15 ways you can boost the effectiveness of your marketing and bring in more customers without spending a penny more."”