Marketing Channel Integration

I was recently having a conversation with a marketing colleague about what I was doing this time last year in my marketing initiatives. As I recall one of the struggles that I had was so many clients wanted me to build a social media presence, (a Facebook page, a Twitter site) but without a marketing strategy that would support integrating these marketing channels and enhancing an online presence. It reminded me of the line from a movie..."Build it and they will come." This has not proven to be true as I have recently had several return client inquiries with the request of how do I increase my online presence, drive traffic, and make all my marketing channels work for my business? I am thrilled that the question is being asked, and now to answer the question. I won't be able to do so in one blog, but will do so in a series.

This evening I am heading to Nairobi Kenya to speak on this topic and will share the knowledge from my presentation and will follow up with other key nuggets of information I learn while on this trip. I hope this helps.

One of first things, I strongly encourage business owners to do is to take a test. How confident are you in answering the following questions:

1. What are the top 3 applications my target market uses the most to learn about my product or service offerings?
2. What is my competition doing and more importantly not doing?
3. What is a key vertical or industry I can focus on whose needs are not being met by the competition?
4. Is my marketing strategy scalable so that I can easily adapt to new technologies and applications to continue to engage my audience?

If you did not feel confident in answering the question than I recommend starting with creating a marketing strategy. Strategies are typically viewed as laborious with very little return, but I disagree, as I have seen them work and believe they provide valuable insight. To support my point I will use the analogy of the bicycle wheel and referencing the associated graphic. The business/marketing plan serves as the hub of the wheel, and the spokes are the media channels that work for your business, and the rim and tire (where the rubber meets the road) is the measurement and ROI piece (to be covered in another blog session). All components need to work together to make the wheel roll forward which of course is no different than making your marketing strategy work toward your business goals and objectives.

If you are thinking of creating a tactical marketing plan here are some resources to guide you through this initiative:

Tactical Planning for Small Business

Social Media Tactical Planning - Marketo

Marketing Plans - Templates and Samples

Sandy Williams

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.