If the responsibility of marketing & advertising in business falls on your shoulders leave your emotions at the door and start getting results!
Today more than ever, we are all facing a situation of saturated opportunity and plenty of choice. It's great to have an abundance of products and services to choose from BUT what is going to work best for you? The million-dollar question, right?
When it comes to marketing and advertising it’s very important to step back from your current methods and consider if you’re achieving the desired results. As business owners, we become emotionally invested so it's hard not to make emotional decisions when buying into a product or service. Sometimes it’s difficult not to be swept up by the pitch.
Be Analytical
It’s actually great to have such diversity and choice. Today, with so many avenues in which to advertise, we can target our audience much more efficiently. So how do we choose the right one?
The key to an effective marketing strategy is to take the emotion away from your decision making and take a more analytical approach. Remove as much guess work as you can from your advertising by looking at your figures. Are the returns are there or not in your current model? Make sure you’re collecting data year round to track the success of your advertising campaigns.
Do an Audit
A basic audit of your current marketing and advertising will reveal a number of areas that can be greatly improved upon. Analysing what is working and what’s not will help in developing a strategic marketing and advertising plan.There are a lot of variables within marketing and it’s important to understand why peaks and troughs are occurring in your turnover. For example, you may think a marketing campaign has flopped because of a period of low turnover when really it was caused by a poor conversion rate. Remember to track both prospects and sales (people coming in the door vs. people making a purchase).
Make a Plan
It’s surprising how few people actually make a marketing plan each year. Often business owners will invest in advertising due to a lull or because they are approached by an advertiser. By the time you’re in that lull it’s too late and advertisers, who have an interest in selling you advertising, won’t necessarily give you the best advice on whether it’s good for your business.
Ask for Help
For all the steps above you will probably need professional help to devise a great marketing plan. Your accountant and marketing consultants (like gocrossmedia) can help you to analyse previous years’ performance. They can tell you what your marketing budget should look like and help you to spend it effectively.
