What is Your Marketing Strategy for 2011?

With Q410 starting, so does the planning in terms of evaluating how effective your marketing was in 2010 and what the plan will be for 2011.

Three key steps:

1. Evaluate the Return on Investment from 2010 marketing efforts.

Much can be learned from all that has been done correctly, but a lot can also be learned from areas where the efforts may have been lackluster in terms of performance and customer satisfaction.

Some tips include creating a marketing dashboard that is made up of your marketing efforts for your small-medium business (SMB) and or large organization. To assist you in this step, check out, How To Create Your Marketing Dashboard in Five Easy Steps, which offers some quick tips to get you started.

2. Evaluating whether your marketing organizations and or efforts were siloed or integrated?

One of the common errors evaluated in SMB's and Enterprise organizations is the lack of integration of marketing efforts. For example, if you were looking to leverage social media as a marketing tactic, perhaps by creating a business Facebook page, how would this be tied in to your branding and overall message and perception you would like for your customers (target market) to have of your brand? How would your marketing campaigns be tied into your brand and your Facebook strategy?

Bottom line, your marketing efforts should be integrated for consistency and simplicity of your message.

How did you do on this for 2010?

3. Know what is trending for 2011.

According to Forrester research the article, US Interactive Marketing Spend, 2009 To 2014, the top three areas in the coming years that will grow are:

2011: 1. email marketing, 2. social media, 3.mobile marketing
2012: 1. email marketing, 2. social media, 3.mobile marketing
2013: 1. social marketing, 2. email marketing, 3. mobile marketing
2014: 1. social marketing, 2. email marketing, 3.mobile marketing

Ensure that you evaluate your target market, and remember as you do this that the economy has changed perceptions, so be aware of what is currently important to your target market(s) and apply them to the marketing tactics that are trending.

Is Strategy Over Rated and Unnecessary in Marketing?

I am currently reading a book 'Strategic Learning' by Willie Pietersen

As it relates to strategy Pietersen states:

"Strategy is simply, the sum of an organization's choices about where it will compete, how it will create superior value for its customers and how it will generate superior returns. In a world of limited resources, a company that tries to be all things to all people, with no specific focus or direction, will soon squander its resources and either fall behind its competitors or go out of business."

Considering this statement, is taking the time to create a strategic marketing plan before implementing marketing tactics necessary? In my opinion YES.

I recently consulted with business owners to better understand their frustrations with marketing. Their top three concerns stated were:

1. There are so many options to choose from, but which ones are the right marketing tactics for achieving increased revenue?
2. The marketing budget is small to none so the importance of getting it right the first time is important.
3. How is the return on investment for marketing dollars measured? Am I getting what I paid for?

Creating an effective marketing strategy addresses these questions and provides that defined road map to ensure that marketing recommendations are based on fact and not whim.

This starts with a firm understanding of the business plan to understand the 2 -3 year goals and objectives including but not limited to the exit strategy and operational plan.

Secondly, preparing a profit and loss projection provides an understanding of the products and services offered and determines the current pricing model and net income return. Understanding this allows an effective marketer to focus the marketing tactics and target market segments on those products and services that generate key revenue.

Finally, integrating the business plan, P&L projection into a marketing strategy provides a firm foundation from which smart marketing decisions that truly generate revenue and create sustainability can be made and most importantly implemented.

Strategic Marketing Innovators differentiator is we take the time to understand your business before prescribing marketing tactics. Only then do we create a road map for your business with an integrated marketing strategy that is tied to your revenue goals.

Email Metrics on The Decline

Email open and click rates continue to decline. Why is this the case?

According to a study by eMarketer.com, the reason points to list fatigue. Open rates had a decline of 12% in the first half of 2009 and 11.2% in the second half.

The study in the article was conducted by MailerMailers, and the reasons noted for the decline were:

• Cluttered in boxes
• Use of mobile devices
• Habit of turning email images off, which can prevent an open being triggered

I would also add that emails going to the junk file in addition to over inundating business owners/consumers with email newsletters. In a focus group study that I personally conducted I found that business owners/consumers were frustrated after attending a networking event to suddenly end up on attendees newsletter lists. There was no permission given to receive these email newsletters and in many cases email news letters were not relevant to what these business owners/consumers would choose to read.

The study further detailed the industries that had the highest and lowest open rates:
Highest open rate:

• Agriculture
• Transportation
• Religion
• Large Business

Lowest open rate:

• Entertainment
• Banking
• Marketing
• Medicine

In terms of click rates, the decline was much higher with a descent of 38% in the second half of 2009. According to the article this may be due list fatigue, but also noted that anti-phishing security measures sometimes stop links from going live. Email recipients must then take two actions—one to enable the links, and a second one to click on them.


What are some key marketing tactic to consider to increase open rates:

• Identify your target market
• Personalize to attract your target market to read on
• Keep it short, concise and to the point
• Always ask permission/opt in options, don't assume everyone wants to be on your list.
  

Mobile Marketing – How is your Business Website viewed on a Smart Phone?

Imagine a business person, Tom Jones, who is at a local venue waiting for his next meeting with fifteen to twenty minutes to spare. Tom Jones pulls out your business card and decides to review your website and service offerings discussed in an earlier meeting on his smart phone. Tom types in your URL, and his first experience is the website is slow to load due to all the images. Finally, Tom can view your website, but he becomes frustrated as there is so much information that he has to constantly move the page and the links are so jumbled together that he keeps selecting the wrong one. Frustrated, he closes the browser window and makes a mental note to review your business website later when he is back at his office PC, but will he?

According to a white paper by Gomez.com, by 2013, the US mobile internet audience is expected to reach 134.3 million users. In addition, the white paper states that out of 1000 US mobile internet users, 58% of them expect website load speeds on their mobile devices to be comparable to, or better then, what they experience on their desktops. When creating a marketing strategy, it is important to define a mobile marketing strategy that is in sync with all other marketing efforts and tied to the user preferences to ensure marketing success and revenue generation to exceed profit margin.

Social Media - Do you need a Strategy?

Yes!

According to emarketer.com 52% of marketers are acting without a game plan. What are the impacts to this that I have observed?

I have heard Marketers and Clients say....

1. "Let's sign up for all the Social Media Applications so we can increase optimization."

• The issue with this is while you may have solved one issue (partially) you have created another if you are not updating your social media sites in a way that supports your brand.
• In addition, optimization is also maximized by how often you update your social media applications.

2. "Don't worry about the business plan, our focus is the marketing plan."

• The issue with this is your marketing plan needs to be 100% tied back to your business plan. If I were asked to create a marketing plan to sell 1000 widgets in one state, I would create a marketing plan to support this as I would if asked to create a marketing plan to sell 4000 widgets in four states...the bottom line is the plans would look very different.
• Know your business goals and build your marketing plan to support them

3. "Let's just focus on the Social Media Strategy."

• A quality marketing plan is integrated and all marketing components are evaluated and tactics are designed to work together and complement one another to reach revenue goals.
• The old saying..."No Man is an Island" also stands true in that Social Media is not an island....integrate with your overall business and marketing strategy...see image at beginning of post.

Be smart in your approach and create the social media strategy (road map) and integrate within your overall business and marketing plans.

A Smart Business Model

It starts with a smart business model. You cannot market a product or service that is not valued by the customer.

Last week I presented for a business group and reiterated the importance of the business plan. Make sure you have one or dedicate time to finish it and make a commitment to dust it off and review at least once a year.

The business plan is that guiding light that provides a road map to achieving your goals. It answers such questions as: How much PROFIT do I want to make this year? What will my business look like 2-3 years from now? When is a good time to add an additional service offering to my portfolio?

Once these questions (and then some) are answered, you can build a quality marketing strategy to help you exceed business goals. Otherwise, from a marketing perspective, you are trying to throw your marketing net so broad and wide that you capture nothing in the way of leads and or brand recognition.

Remember.....Aim at Nothing and you Hit it every time.

Be Smart, and Wise....and be Successful!

2010 Marketing - Why WIll Interactive Media Trump Traditonal Marketing Efforts? Part 2

Are you aware of the marketing trends for 2010 and beyond? Awareness of these trends will position you to define a marketing strategy that is profitable for your business.

I base the facts provided from Forrester Research who conducted a survey of 204 marketing executives across multiple industries for US Interactive Marketing Forecast - 2010-2014 report.

Visit Forrester Research at: www.forrester.com to access this report and beyond as they have a wealth of information.

Bottom line: Social Media (Interactive) Will Grow At The Expense of Traditional Media

Part 2 - What Specific Changes Will Be Seen?

1. When asked how funding increases will be targeted for a social media marketing budget - According to Forrester, 60% acknowledge that they will increase budget for social media by shifting money away from traditional marketing. 15% acknowledge that they will increase budget for social media marketing with no change to traditional marketing. Finally 14% acknowledge that they will increase budget for both social media and traditional marketing. This indicates the recognition of the importance that social media plays in an organizations marketing strategy. In addition, it further indicates that while there appears to be a decrease in traditional marketing, it by no means indicates that traditional marketing principles are no longer applied. As always a strong marketing plan aligned with the overall business strategy should be strongly considered while factoring in target market and industry.

2. When asked which of the traditional marketing budgets will be decreased in order to fund increased social marketing. According to Forrester, the surveyed group indicated the following: 40% decrease in direct mail, 35% decrease in newspapers, 28% decrease in magazines, 12% decrease in television, 11% decrease in yellow pages, and an 8% decrease in radio spots. This trend is showing a more conservative approach to traditional marketing and perhaps targeting that approach with a more defined outlook as it pertains to an organizations target market.

3. When asked about the next three years and how marketing effectiveness will increase in terms of mediums, these mediums were targeted in terms of preference in the following order: social media, online video, search engine optimization (SEO), mobile marketing, paid ad placement in social media applications, email marketing, followed by online display of ads. These options for marketing prove to be affordable and effective.

As I write this blog I am in Las Vegas, and as I walk through the various casinos, I am amazed at the advertisements to connect via Facebook or Twitter. Connect to win, download coupons for free offers and beyond. Further, I observe the amount of users who are in constant contact via their mobile devices (not at the table of course) but the amount of contact, not just to have a conversation, but to find a location, a great restaurant or tickets to a show. Social media marketing and mobile marketing are a trend to watch, follow and strategically participate in.