It’s common sense, really. You can do it all by yourself. That is, develop a basic marketing plan that has a reasonable chance of actually working. Actually, paying for itself. As in, turning a tangible profit. The secret?
Measure twice, cut once. A simple carpenter’s credo that saves material and ensures a quality outcome.
A few years back, when I had my marketing agency, I developed a marketing methodology I called MarketCasting™. It incorporated four levels of upfront research, followed by a brainstorming session on how best to market a product or service, followed by ongoing results-monitoring. The idea was to strip out all the waste in a go-to-market program, aiming only at the most promising prospects, tactics and messaging, while continuing to learn as the program unfolded.
Let me say, big companies have armies of consultants, marketing scientists and expensive technology to perform this work. Small companies don’t. So, if you’re small, and you don’t want to burn through precious resources playing hit-or-miss with your marketing dollars, here’s the MarketCasting™ way to proceed:
Four Research Pillars to Start
- Canvas the Internal Brain Trust: Gather top managers, sales directors, customer service directors, product developers and anyone who’s been with the company long-term (that has a perspective), and interview each one separately, so they have the freedom to speak their minds. Ask them how they think the company should go about increasing sales, improving business, growing the bottom line. Then, compare the findings with the group. You’ll likely see that few participants are on the same page. This step builds an understanding of the business from the inside out and, more important, serves to re-align and unify the story across departments. You want everyone on the same page before you start spending money.
- Survey Your Customers: At one point, your customers never knew you. Now they do. You want to map their road to “customer-ship.” Ask them what triggered their search for a product or service like yours. How did they hear about you? Who else did they consider? What was their buying criteria? What was the most important factor in their choosing you? How would they go about marketing to someone like themselves, if they were in your shoes? What would they say given the opportunity? These are questions most companies never think to ask. Ask them and the lights will come on.
- Scope Your Competition: The internet makes this easier than it used to be, but there is still value in good old-fashioned “gum shoe” competitive espionage. Walk into their store, pick up some of their literature, call their sales desk, read their reviews, talk to their customers. Try to discern how they go about their business and pay attention to the leaders in the category. Whatever you learn, use the good stuff and throw out the bad.
- Talk to Industry Experts: These may include analysts, consultants, writers, bloggers, editors or retired execs who understand the industry. This last layer of data-gathering serves to validate what you’ve already learned and also provides a broader perspective of who the players are, what big movements are anticipated in the market and where the industry is headed overall.
Brainstorm Ideas
With your homework complete, reassemble your team and share the findings. Whiteboard where you see the low-hanging fruit, what “cherry” accounts or segments you covet long-term and how you can start raising audience awareness to the point of a customer trial. Map the customer journey and identify what marketing content you’ll need at each juncture to encourage trial and build sales. Block out a step-by-step plan using a calendar and calculator and fund the project. As sales come in, continue to fund it, but always be cognizant of the next step.
Monitor Your Performance
I’ve heard people say that there’s no way to measure marketing success. I beg to differ. Certainly, in the age of Google analytics, you can count every click, like, share, swipe and unsubscribe to see what’s working (or not) on a message penetration level. You can also measure before and after sales, growth of sales tickets, number of appointments set, number of items sold, audience gain or loss and regional drift. Remember to monitor customer reviews. Throw in an occasional follow-up customer survey to recalibrate the machine. People pay attention to what gets measured. Make sure your internal brain trust is keeping score. And move the needle as you measure twice and cut once with MarketCasting™.
To learn more about MarketCasting™, feel free to contact me directly. I love talking about this stuff!
