Business people often reach out to me to help them enhance their marketing strategy by adding new initiatives. I often wonder why they didn’t start by determining their marketing objectives. If there isn’t a clear goal for adding one more channel, don’t do it. Before you begin, have a clear idea how additional avenues will help to go in the right direction to build sales and visibility.
Adding a new activity to an already jammed portfolio is always risky. If it diverts overextended resources from core marketing functions, it can mean that you will undermine your impact rather than accentuating it.
There’s a Tendency to Keep Doing More When You’ve Lost Sight of Your Objectives
Years ago I watched a painting demonstration by an esteemed artist. As he painted he continuously explained why he was adding more paint. Each subsequent layer was intended to help refine the surface of the painting. The point of the presentation was to illustrate his painting process and goals.
When he had the surface covered and was starting to complete the painting he began to cram more and more paintbrushes into his hands, all with different colors of pigment on the bristles. He even had a brush in his mouth. Suddenly he stopped. He turned back to the audience and admitted that his painting was in trouble and he was having trouble deciding how to resolve it. He said,
“You know you are in trouble when you keep trying to do more rather than following through on what you’ve already started.”
He took a break and went back to the painting after we all had a cup of coffee. He slowed down and no longer had all those brushes loaded and ready.
Marketing Strategy 101: Adding More is Often Not the Answer
There ARE times to extend your marketing program. When
- Your customers are clamoring for a new channel
- Your competitors are using a different channel and increasing their market share
- You are developing a new product or service and it is likely that your best prospects are on a channel that is new to you
If those three conditions are not met, before you add another marketing program you need to see what gap in your communications the new initiative is likely to fill. Most organizations cannot manage a mix of channels that includes more than 5 or 6 different vehicles. Usually you will want to eliminate something with little value when you add something new to your marketing portfolio rather than just adding another responsibility to an overworked department. The keys to a good Marketing Strategy are assessment and planning.
So Many Marketing Opportunities
Here is a very incomplete list of all the current marketing channels that you have available to you:
- Website
- Print Catalog
- Online eCommerce
- Email Blasts
- Email Newsletters
- Mailed Newsletters
- Conferences & Networking Events
- Expert Presentations
- Video Marketing
- Direct Mail
- User Forums
- Buyer Exchanges
- Blog
- Google+
- Traditional Advertising (TV, Radio, Newspaper, Publications, Billboards, etc. etc.)
- Digital Channel Advertising (PPC, Banner ads, etc.)
- And many, many more
It seems obvious that it should be very difficult to maintain them all and keep messaging fresh and consistent with your brand identity. The truth is that beyond a handful or so channels, there is just not much return on the investment either. The trick is to build a marketing strategy that mixes and matches from the different platforms to help build value and sales.
Marketing Then and Now
All of our communications today are fragmented and we all customarily go to some platforms and ignore others. Easy do-it-yourself publishing means that anyone can distribute marketing content so there is more available than anyone can consume.
The goal of your Marketing Strategy is to try to get the biggest bang for your buck. Extending the metaphor, if you use a scattergun approach there is likely to be blowback resulting in collateral damage and you will waste a lot of ammunition. The accelerating proliferation of marketing vehicles means that you must do more strategic planning before you initiate a new program. That is the only way to avoid monumental waste and possible unintended consequences.
In order to establish a good mix for your business for the foreseeable future, ask yourselves:
- Who are our customers and what channels do they use?
- Business-2-Business is different than B-2-C. Retail is different than services. Where do your customers go for information?
- What resources do we have for initiating and maintaining the new initiative?
- Do we have the people and money to do this in a professional way?
- Are we willing to make a commitment to those resources for a minimum of two years so that we can fairly assess their impact?
- Americans like quick returns. Marketing is a longer term business. Organizations too often lose interest just as they are beginning to have an outcome and go on to another new idea.
By all means, investigate newer marketing options but do it purposefully. Build a Marketing Strategy that does not overextend your time or money and has a fairly high probability of reaching and converting your best prospects.
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