Marketing, Media and Message
In the last year I have written several hundred posts about marketing, with a real emphasis on strategy. Why? Because I believe effective marketing is not just a slick campaign, but a well thought out strategy which brings together the 3M’s
- Market
- Message
- Media
For marketing to be effective these three elements must be in alignment.
Market: No matter how big you are, you can not afford try to sell to everyone. And even if you did have a large enough budget, the reality is some people are more likely then others to buy your product. So begin by focusing on a segment of the market. Select a profitable niche, and exceed their expectations.
Message: Now that you have identified your customer, what do you say to get their attention? Think about what is important to your customer, what keeps them up at night. Craft a message which addresses their concerns, not what you want to sell. I once had a finanial planner tell me what his customer wanted choices. I had a hard time imaging many consumers laying awake at night worrying about not having enough choices. … This was an important element to him, but not his clients. What keeps them awake? Worries about retirement and college tuition! My advice to him, stop talking about choices till you have their attention!
Media: In marketing, it is not just what you say, but where you say it. Ask yourself, where are your customers going for information? Select your media, based on the ability to reach a large concentration of your target. To do this, you have to really understand your target.
So what about your marketing? Do you have your 3M’s in alignment?
Need some help lining up your 3M’s? Join Matt Nettleton of Sandler Training Trustpointe and me for a conversation about how to transform Random Strangers to Raving Fans.
March 25, 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Sandler Training Trustpointe Offices, 6666 East 75th Street, Indianapolis
Fee: $29.99 Seating is limited, so be sure to register soon. Click here
Episode # 23 Permission Based Marketing with Ingrid Cummings
About a year ago, Ingrid Cummings invited me to be a guest on her radio program Rubicon Salon. In the course of the hour, we talked about marketing, social media and staying ahead of your competition in an economic downturn.
While the entire program is too long for More Than a Few Words, I thought it would be fun to share a few excerpts over the next few weeks.
In this segment, we talk about the shift in marketing strategies, from push to permission based and the challenges and the rewards for business owners who adopt this approach.
From the interview: “While the medium has changed, the fundamental methods have not. It is still about identifying your customer and talking to your customers in the places they are most likely to find you!
Click here to listen to the interview.
Roundpeg On-Line Education for Small Business Owners
Most small business owners will admit they have a lot to learn about business planning, marketing, web design, social media, pr and networking. However, with the day in, day out challenges of running a business, there isn’t really time to take off for a seminar. And when you do, there is always so much information to digest and act upon.
I know this is true, because I run a small business.
So I have developed a series of FREE on-line courses on Marketing, Business Planning, Web design, and PR/Social Media Each program includes emails, blog posts, worksheets and the occasional podcast or video.
Episode # 27 Will You Hullabaloo?
What is Hullabaloo? Well if you are as old as I am, and odds are you aren’t you might remember a TV show from the 1960’s . It featured musical performances by folks like: Sammy Davis Jr., Petula Clark, Paul Anka, Jack Jones, and Frankie Avalon. I included the links so you could figure out who I am talking about.
Anyway, I am off topic, because the Hullaabloo I am really excited about being a part of the Spring Hullabaloo hosted by Address Two . I interviewed event organizer, Nick Carter the other day about the program and learned a few things.
I got a run down on who was speaking, why Nick organized thte program, and discovered Nick can’t spell Hullabaloo! We had a good time recording the conversation and I hope you will enjoy the interview and the event.
Date: Thursday, April 22nd
Time: 1:00-6:00 PM
Where: Crowne Plaza (Union Station)
What: Sales & BizDev Training
For questions, call 317-594-9550 or email contact@addresstwo.com.
From Random Strangers to Raving Fans workshop
I’m excited to be team-teaching a course with my sales coach, Matt Nettleton of Sandler Training Trustpointe. The class is called “From Random Strangers to Raving Fans: Using a system to create the right messages for the right people at the right time.”
We’re going to talk about how important it is that your sales and marketing support each other. After all, the best marketing plan in the world won’t help you if you can’t seal the deal, and the best sales strategy won’t help you if you don’t have leads in the first place!
Check out the details below. Hope to see you there!
March 25, 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Sandler Training Trustpointe Offices, 6666 East 75th Street, Indianapolis
Fee: $29.99 Seating is limited, so be sure to register soon. Click here
Marketing Drip Campaigns
Around the world, large canyons exist because of the steady drip of water. The small, but constant impact wears down the rocks, eroding the surface, and cutting a path where there wasn’t one.
The same process works in customer interactions. It is easy for a prospect to miss or ignore one message, a consistent, small campaign, of email, print, or some combination of both, can wear down objections and open up a door to a sales opportunity.
At roundpeg, I have been experimenting with targeted drip campaigns or marketing sequences. This is a process in which I identify a small audience with a common interest, send them a series of messages over time on a specific topic. We have been really pleased with the results of our first camp How to Write a Business Plan in Ten Weeks. As a result we have added programs on Web Design, PR and have several more in the works.
I spoke recently with Barb Jones of Stellar Infusionsoft Coaching about our experiments with Marketing Drip Campaigns or Sequences as she calls them. It was fun to be the interviewee not interviewer for a change!
If you are still sending mass emails to thousands of people, you are probably being ignored by most of them. Now is a good time to consider an alternative, more focused approach. There are a number of tools which will help you create campaigns like this.
For small business owners, we recommend AddressTwo. It is what we use, and have found the ability to do both email and print campaigns from the same data base a real plus. And in the interest of full disclosure, we are a partner provider for AddressTwo, so we can help you get started.
“For larger firms, with more robust requirements, Infusionsoft offers many terrific features including extensive customization, templates for both emails and sequences, and trackable links that allow you to adjust to every choice your prospect/client makes or doesn’t make.”
This decade is about personalization, so consider using a drip campaign to personalize your email.
Marketing Budgets
Don’t wait till the end of the year, to figure out what you spent on marketing. Take a proactive approach!! Not sure how to get started? Listen to this interview with Howard Cox as he shares some insight into how to buidl an ROI based Marketing Budget. Click here to listen to the interview.
And if you want the worksheet he refers to, simply fill out the form below
Episode 21 – Finding Your Ideal Customer
With Matt Nettleton
This blog has been very focused on business planning for the last two weeks. I think it is time to change it up just a little. Today I want to share an interview with sales professional Matt Nettleton.
I am an active participant in a Sales Training Class with Matt Nettleton of Trustpointe. I love his direct, no nonsense appraoch to building my business.
One of the things we have focused attention on lately is the difference between my average customer and my ideal customer.
The average customer, are the clients I attract now. But the ideal, are the clients I want to do business with. Doing business with these companies will help me grow my business over time.
Want to learn more about the difference? Take a moment, and listen to the interview with Matt
Valentines Day – Bring Back the Love!
I get tired of staying on the same topic too long, so today we are going to take an intermission from the business plan series and celebrate the holiday with something I think I am going to make this a Valentines Day Tradition.
I originally wrote this post a year ago. It features one of my favorite videos, poking fun at traditional advertising. As you enjoy this extremely funny video by Geert Desager ( Trade Marketing Manager South East Asia for Microsoft.) think about how much advertising and marketing has changed in fifty years.
50 years ago, advertising was easy, figure out your target audience, and talk at them. Today, you have to talk to them. What about your marketing? Are you really focused on your customers, or are you focused on you?
Business Plan Mistake # 3 Too Much Detail or the Wrong Type of Detail
As we continue to explore the mistakes business owners make in their plan, less # 3 is particularly common among engineers and technical folks.
Business Plan Mistake # 3 – Too Much Detail or the Wrong Type of Detail
There is a story about an impatient young man who went to visit an old Bible scholar. He demanded the old man tell him everything he needed to know about the Bible while standing on one foot. The old man smiled, stood on one foot, and said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you! All the rest is commentary.”
Why do I include this story in a book about business planning? It is not because I think business owners require divine intervention (although maybe they do sometimes). I include the story because it contains a wonderful lesson for business owners.
Regardless of what you believe about the origin of the Bible, most people agree it is a complex work with multiple themes and messages contained in its pages. And yet, in a few words, the old man summarized the content, presenting it in a form many people would agree captures the essence of the document.
The lesson is simple. As you write your business plan, imagine you are writing for an impatient young man and try to meet his challenge. Boil down the description of your business to a simple message, deliverable while standing on one foot.
In a recent blog post, Ben McConnell gives a great example of how when we try to impress our audience, we often complicate our messages when the simple will work much better. He gives two examples of a company mission statement. The first, written to impress:
Understand how to create better innovation opportunities for our products by listening closely to our customers’ needs through a world-class community solution that deepens our customer relationships and helps customers share and collaborate together
The second expresses the same idea, in a way everyone can understand.
Innovate using customer feedback.
Which makes more sense to you?
