Your questions answered (3 of 4)

by Mark Nagurski, July 31st, 2008

Over the last few days we’ve been taking our reader Stefan through the process of creating a simple, usable marketing plan. In this installment of our series we’ll take a look at how he can choose the most appropriate marketing methods to promote his ‘lifestyle management business’.

Which Marketing Methods to Use

When most people start to consider their marketing, they jump straight to which marketing methods they should use. Just because that’s what most people do though, it doesn’t make it right. In fact, it’s completely the wrong approach.

The problem is not about thinking up new ideas but rather matching the right methods to the market you want to attract and the message you want to convey.

For example, advertising in a local paper might sound great for a local business but if your customer’s are generally younger then they may not be reading the paper – they could be on Facebook, reading a blog or tweeting away on Twitter. If 70% of the paper’s readership is 30+ then 70% of your budget is wasted if your targets are under 30.

So is online the answer? Not necessarily. It can be, but only if your market is there too – this is where your research and customer personas from the first step (defining your market) come into play. The more you know the better decisions you can make – so do your research and your homework, no assumptions.

A practical tip for finding the best methods

To start selecting the best mix of marketing methods for your business try writing all the possible options down the left hand side of a blank page. This list should certainly include the following; print, TV and radio advertising, public relations, online methods, direct methods, networking, referral programs, content marketing and long term customer contact (think newsletters, blogs and the like).
Moving across the page from left to right, draw four columns titled; market, message, investment and total. In the market column score each of the possible methods on how well it targets your specific market (out of 10 perhaps). In column two, score each option on the basis of how well you can communicate your message and how well it fits in with your image. Column three should be scored on price. Column four totals the other ones up to create a (very) rough aggregate score.

The numbers will mean nothing in themselves, but should be useful for comparing your options. Faced with a choice you can either select the safest bet or think of ways of improving the scores of one particular choice. (Ex. would it score better if you could negotiate the price down or had more room to communicate your message?).

If you’d like to take it a step further, you can break down the general methods (ex. online) into more specific points (i.e. pay-per-click, blogging or social platforms) and go through the same process. You should now be able to come up with a ‘suite’ of methods to test out. Test small, track the results and make changes accordingly.

With that done, you should know who you’re targeting, what you’re going to say to them and the methods you’re going to use to connect the dots.

Congratulations, that’s a marketing plan!