Starting Your Marketing Plan

So you you've been updating your Twitter account like a good kid, posting to Facebook often, but not too often, you make sure your blog and your web site always have fresh content, and you may finally get that press release done this week. For some reason, though, you feel like none of this is helping. The traffic just isn't coming.

Planning Essentials: Photo: Flicker user JacQueLyne

Why?

Because it's not part of a larger marketing strategy. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web site, and PR are tactics, not strategies.  These tools play their part to support a larger plan. If you don't have a larger plan, then won't realize their true potential to grow your business.

OK, so now what?


I like to lay out an annual plan, mapping out the year and determining some major themes. Marketing events might include promotions around holidays, the launch of a catalog, a major web site update, and a quarterly PR push. This is also a good time to think about new product that will be launching in the next year, where that goes on your marketing calendar and what you'll be doing around it.

"But, I can't possibly think of every single tweet, Facebook update, or blog post I'm going to do for the next year!" you say.

And you're right. You'll plan those things out on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, depending on how you prefer to work. It's important, now, though, to lay out your year so you can see what needs to be done in advance. For example, if you're launching a major new product line in the next year, you'll need to build in time to update your web site, put together a new catalog, write a press release, and make sure the rest of your online properties are updated.

Your Takeaway?

Set a goal to put together a marketing plan for 2012 by the end of October. Think about what your major campaigns will be, and what you'll need to do to execute them. I'm happy to review what you've put together and offer my feedback. You can connect to me on twitter at @leahibraheem or on LinkedIn here.

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Creating Your Marketing Plan

You've got a Facebook page, a blog, a twitter account, and a web site. You send out emails, do press releases when you can find the time, and you made a New Years' resolution to update your direct mail program and get on top of your SEO.

But how are you connecting all of these things?
photo © 2005 Francis Bijl | more info (via: Wylio)

Does your SEO support your press releases and your new product launches? Is your twitter feed engaging customers about the same deals you're promoting on your email newsletter? How do you keep everything straight?

This is where a basic marketing plan can help you get organized about how you invest your marketing time and money. First, list all of your marketing channels. Channels are ways of engaging with your audience. Channels include things like direct mail, PR, advertising, web site, email, Facebook, etc.

I like to map out each week with related promotions for clients. That way, if we take the time to update the web site, videos, and in-store merchandising, our press releases, advertising, and social marketing all support those investments. Since we know what we'll be promoting in a strong, multi-channel way, it's also easier to forecast what will be selling best each week.

Too many channels? I can help.

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Why Marketing is not Sales
Three Ways to Drive Sales Today

Refocusing on Your Customer

photo © 2008 Buck | more info (via: Wylio)
Things are getting hectic these days, right? You're researching mobile apps, testing new channels, and preparing for the holiday selling season. With so much going on, it's easy to forget who's most important to your business - your customer.

Take some time out of your busy day today to think about your customer...

• Who are your primary customer groups? Recent retirees, new parents, high school students?
• Why do they come to you?
• What problems do you solve for them?
• What drives their loyalty?
• What else can you offer them?

Have you been letting them slip away? Now's a great time to remind them you're here for them and why they decided to do business with you in the first place. Say hello, ask how they're doing, ask how you can help. Make today Customer Day.

Need help? Let me know - I can help!

Related
Don't Rickroll Your Customers - Offer Better Service
A Tale of Two Credit Cards - Why Customer Service is Marketing, Too

Marketing News Roundup - July 8, 2011

What's new in marketing (and elsewhere) this week?

App to watch: Bitcoin, just launched to Android users. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer virtual currency that's been around since 2009. No banks are involved and it's not mapped to any existing currency - users trade bitcoins with one another. This kind of digital wallet app makes me go hmmmm.... (Wired GadgetLab)
photo © 2006 Amy | more info (via: Wylio)

In other app news, the Apple App Store reaches 15 billion downloads. Store now contains 425,000 different apps. Wow, that is a lot of apps (CNET)

Is it finally time to kiss costly college textbooks goodbye? Academic presses embracing much more affordable e-books. Definitely a boon for books with niche appeal and overall idea-sharing. So sorry, super-expensive university bookstore (um, not really). (Inside Higher Ed)

What's Google's new social platform, all about? Here's seven ways you can use Google+, if you can score an invitation.  (TheNextWeb)

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading! What's news to you this week?

Related Articles:
Last week's news (in case you missed it)
Do you need a mobile app? (In case you want one)

Marketing News Roundup - June 17, 2011

What's new in marketing (and elsewhere) this week?

Is the age of extremely conspicuous consumption officially over? Mercedes seriously considers dumping the Maybach, or just totally redesigning it. (Autoweek)

Students at Stanford have started a budget-by-text service that helps lower-income families budget and save by documenting their spending. What could you document that would help you better meet your own goals? (FastCompany)

Musician Kim Boekbinder has developed a way to fund her concerts ahead of time. Fans tell her where they want her to perform, and when there’s enough people to offset costs, she finds a venue that’s the right size and books a show. No more empty concert halls. No more cancelled shows and let-down fans. I love this way of empowering everyone but the major record labels (and really, why couldn’t they do this too? Might bring down the astronomical price of concert tickets, don’t you think?). (BoingBoing)

  

Facebook hires former Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart to manage its image and relationships with government, media. (Complex)

Not really about marketing, but important nonetheless. What would society look like free of rank-ism? What is a dignitarian society, where everyone has the right to dignity? (CNN) 

Latest industry to benefit from social media? Food trucks, which can broadcast where they are right this minute and what they're serving today to a community of fans with confirmed interest in their product. (Mashable)

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

Group Discount Sites- My Two Cents

Unless you've been doing your marketing under a rock lately, you've heard all about the exponential growth of group discounting sites like LivingSocial, Groupon, Facebook Deals, Google Offers. Now Amazon, AT&T, and your credit cards are getting in on the action, too.

The idea is that if enough people join a deal, the customers get a discount, and the merchant gets enough new customers to make it worthwhile, and the discount site gets a cut. Everyone wins!

But does it really work that way?

Not always.

photo © 2008 Benjamin Reed | more info (via: Wylio) But doesn't this kind of thing generate customer loyalty? I'll get lots of new customers who return to my business, right?

Actually, the loyalty these discounts generate is to the discount site. That's right - LivingSocial is generating loyal LivingSocial customers, not customers loyal to your business.

But the good news is that you'll get a list of customers who purchased your deal, and now that they are your customers, you can continue to market to them and entice them to return to try your other products.

Isn't it going to be super-profitable for my business to get tons and tons of new customers?

Actually, this is heavily dependent on the nature of your product, the cost of serving your customers, and which deal site you choose - they all work differently. Carefully evaluate how much this will cost you and how much you will have to pay for this exposure. Make sure you understand exactly how many customers will see your deal. Some businesses create special products or services just for the deal sites - things that are less expensive to provide to customers so they don't take such a bite out of profits.

But the good news is that the deal sites are always looking for new businesses (and types of businesses) to try, and they are happy to talk to you about what kind of arrangement might work best. Don't be discouraged if you aren't a restaurant or salon- I've seen deal offers recently for solar panels, scuba lessons, and museum passes.

I can just post my deal on any deal site and it will bring in tons of qualified new customers, right?

Actually, no. Not all deal sites work alike and not all cater to the same clientele. Before you begin this odyssey, be sure you have an understanding of who your customers are and which customer segments you'd like to attract with your deal.

But the good news is that you can scrutinize the different sites to see which would be the best fit for you and your business. You can ask as many questions as you want about who the customers are, what they buy, and at what price.

Am I a total dork if I don't participate in the group buying party?

Actually, no. If you research the issue and determine that it won't be profitable for you, don't do it.

The good news is you can always try it later, if it makes sense another time.

Need help navigating this deal-crazy landscape? Let me know.

Another Marketing Lesson from the Un-Rapture

Lots of bloggers have already written about marketing lessons from the apocalypse that didn't happen on Saturday.

If you want to read them, click here for a list.

Fortunately for everyone but Harold Camping, the rapture didn't happen on Saturday. We're all still here, hopefully enjoying our lives.

When questioned about the fact that the end times didn't begin on May 21st, Camping said that God had decided to spare the people five months of tribulation, and that the apocalypse was now scheduled for October 21, 2011. His last rapture prediction, in 1994, also didn't come true.

This reminded me of something a lot of marketers do, which is to extend their sales again, again, and again. I see this in my inbox all the time. The first promotion says:

photo © 2010 Forest Wander | more info (via: Wylio)


Sale Ends Friday!

Then, I get a:

Sale Extended through Sunday. Act Now!

and then, I get a:

Sale Now Extended through Tuesday. Don't Miss!

At this point, I think you're probably just going to extend your sale again, and your message loses both relevance and credibility. I'll just wait to buy - you'll just do another sale, right?

Don't be like Harold Camping. If you still have inventory to sell, create a new promotion. If your current sale isn't meeting your goals, instead of extending it, why not try a new approach to see if that drives better results? It's always a good idea to put something new in front of your customers.  Need help? Let me know.

Marketing News Roundup - May 20, 2011

What's new in marketing this week?

Guess what New York Times? People aged 55 and up are not "old," which is why it makes sense for the TV industry to target them like never before. They also have more money, and optimism, than other generations. (NYT)

Where are you? One in five smartphone owners using check-in apps like FourSquare or Facebook Places. (Los Angeles Times)

photo © 2010 Kate Ter Haar | more info (via: Wylio)

Trendiest IPO of the week? LinkedIn. People already saying sky-high share prices will come right back down. How does LinkedIn make money, anyway? Marketing, mostly. (Business Insider)

Love numbers? The people at the Pew Internet and American Life Project have made much of their research available in Excel (thanks!).  Also super-useful is their frequently updated chart of who's online these days.


Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading.

Have your own blog? Let me know, I'd love to check it out!

Marketing News Roundup - April 22, 2011


What's new in marketing this week?

Visa launches new mobile deal service for its retail clients, to compete with FourSquare, Groupon, and eBay. (AdAge)

Gimmicky or brilliant? What do you think of Sprint’s new ad strategy – to wish a Missouri woman happy 100^th birthday using calls, text messages, and e-mails, preferably via Sprint’s unlimited data plans. (GeekWire)

Kitten. Photo: Arthur L. via LOLcats.
Link: http://tinyurl.com/3bjvxfr

President Obama holds town-hall meeting on Facebook with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, where he discussed the economy, immigration, education, and other issues. (Event video from Livestream) 

Good Read: Great advice from Design*Sponge blogger Grace Bonney for building your brand on twitter. How are you reaching out to customers on a one-on-one basis?

Food for Thought: Are tablet computer users favoring their tablets over TV and PCs for entertainment purposes? (Phandroid)

Bonus item: Ever heard of IceRocket? It's a real-time search engine to help you watch trends. Someone found my blog that way this week. How are people finding you online?

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading, everyone!

Profiting from Off-Label Uses for Your Product

Are there off-label uses for your products?

You know, like the use of hormone injections for weight loss or coffee to relieve headaches?

Now is a great time to think about other ways your own customers might be using your product.

Tito has some great alternative uses for your extra tuna.
Photo: J. Ibraheem

Do your socks make great potholders?

Are people reheating their leftover pizza with your waffle irons?

Are they using your spreadsheet software to plan their weddings?

Or using your kitty litter to prevent odors in the fridge?

There are huge opportunities to sell, keep, save, and serve your customers if you can figure out other purposes for your products:

Sell – people might not need your product for its primary use, but they badly need a solution for one of its alternative uses. Are you letting them know about other uses in your promotions?

Keep and Save – your current customers might no longer have the problem your product was originally meant to solve. No worries- they can still use it. Just make sure to let them know how.

Serve – Customers who love your product for its original use will be delighted to find out it’s so versatile. Make sure to let them know how useful it is!

Not sure how your product is being used by your customers?

Ask them! On your blog, your Facebook page, your Twitter feed, in your stores, in your e-blasts, on your web site. Your customers are your best source of information. Ask them all kinds of questions, and ask frequently!

Not sure if your product can protect your hands, reheat pizza, prevent fridge odors, or help with wedding plans? Send me a note and I’ll be happy to help.

How are people using your product off-label? Please share.

What Were Your Marketing New Year's Resolutions?

House with snow. Photo: L. Ibraheem

Back when the temps were low and the snow was blowing, we were all making New Year's resolutions. Four months later, how's it going?

Have you:

Lost Weight? It's a great time to get rid of vendors you don't need, products you shouldn't offer, and relationships that aren't working.

Made the Most of What You Have? Your marketing channels should  be synched up so that they work together and support one another. Invest in efficiency and you make the most of what you've already got.

Tried New Things? It's always a good exercise to explore a new marketing channel or enhance one where your presence is minimal. Does Twitter now make sense for you when it didn't before? Is it time to beef up your Facebook presence? Or are all your customers hanging out on LinkedIn?

One thing I've been working on this year is SEO marketing. I've been learning how to edit web copy and keywords to be more search engine friendly. It's tricky, but very interesting, to see how people actually use search engines to find the information they want. It's also helping to drive more traffic to the web sites I work on and informing how we write e-blast, web, blog, press release, and facebook copy.


How have you enhanced your operations this year? I'd love to hear from you. If you need help getting it all done, just let me know.