Construction Progress for Your Marketing Roadmap - Part 2 of 3

In part 1 of our Marketing Roadmap series, we covered the importance of designing a Marketing Roadmap in preparation for the new year.  By now, your design work is finished and you are well into the construction phase of your marketing roadmap.

Build for success

As you build out your roadmap, stay focused on the connecting points to your market.  The best way to know which routes to include is to drill into the market data and intelligence that indicates the market behaviors, trends, and habits of your buyers.  

• Consider where your market gathers information to make buying decisions (because that’s where you’ll want to have a presence) 
• Review your existing client base so that you know why they value your product or services
• Analyze your competition (yes, you need to know what they are doing) to determine what kind of marketing efforts they may be performing that is working for them 
• And, look at your own business to see how well it aligns with your market to match up with potential buyers and stand out from competitors  

This information should prove to be a goldmine for helping you know the best way to bridge the gap between your offerings and your potential customers. 

Preparing for roadblocks, the unexpected and detours

When finalizing your roadmap, make sure you plan for the unexpected or obstacles that can hinder your plans.  For your business, it could mean aggressive project schedules, a new competitor, a lost customer, budget cuts, a challenging new technology, and the like.  Although it is nearly impossible to avoid all obstacles, being ready for the unexpected will help reduce the impact.

Sometimes the plan takes a detour based on unforeseen occurrences.  This is why preparing for the unexpected with a contingency plan is important.  When this happens, remain flexible and adapt to the situation.  These potential setbacks may actually turn into opportunities.    

As you begin to wrap-up construction of your marketing roadmap, take the time to review all of the components to ensure you have the right strategy and tactics for achieving your business objectives.  Give attention to the tools you’ve included that will help you connect with your buying market and be sure you have the resources in place to implement and manage the plan.  With your marketing roadmap near completion, you are one step away from putting the plan in place to drive revenue-generating opportunities.  

In part 3, we will address Marketing Roadmap Implementation. Feel free to share this on your favorite social media sites and email it to a colleague or friend.   

Designing Your Marketing Roadmap - Part 1 of 3

As we head toward the end of another year, our attention will soon turn to the opportunities that lie ahead with the new year. Business performance will be reviewed and several questions will be asked:

•  “How can we generate more revenue?”
•  “Where can we find more customers?”
•  “How can we gain greater market visibility?”

These are good questions to ask and represent the mindset of a business that wants to do more and improve their market standing. But, how can these questions be translated into actionable items? It boils down to developing attainable goals, realistic objectives and a strategic marketing plan for achieving them. For your business, this means facing your marketing challenges head on in order to know what to do, when, where, how and why. And, you need to know where you are going and how you plan to get there.

How do you get there?

By developing a “marketing roadmap”, your business will have a guide to follow that outlines how your company will connect to the market to create revenue-generating opportunities. Your marketing roadmap will provide details about the proper “marketing routes” that will work best for your business. There may be countless options to consider, but you will want to drill down to only those that make sense for your business and align well with your market.

Include the essentials

While your basic marketing roadmap is purposed to effectively direct you from point “A” to point “B”, you will need to include:

•  Budget allocations for implementing the planned tactics
•  A timeline for execution
•  Resources that will execute the components
•  Milestones for measuring progress
•  Reporting for documenting success

All of these are requirements that will keep you on track as you grow closer to reaching your revenue goals and ultimate business destination.

In part 2, we will address Marketing Roadmap Construction. Feel free to share this on your favorite social media sites and email it to a colleague or friend.   

The Marketing Beacon, a provider of custom-developed marketing solutions designed to grow businesses, announces the launch of a new e-Commerce website for Calmettos, LLC. The site is designed to highlight the unique palmetto tree paintings called “Calmettos” by artist and company founder Calhoun “Cal” Harrelson. These original works of art along with complementing products that feature selections of these paintings are available for purchase on the website. To read the full news release, visit: GSABizWire.com. To visit the new site, go to Calmettos.com.

 Another one of our insightful marketing articles was published recently in the Upstate Business Journal.  In this article, we  discuss the importance of being known to your buying market and how to become the preferred choice among the options they may  have before them.  Bridging the gap between your offering and your buying market requires having the right tools to effectively  communicate your solutions.  With the right mix and balance of marketing tools, you will be prepared to address who buys from you,  why, when, where and how often.  There are also 10 points we discuss that are important considerations while developing and  building your marketing toolkit.  

 Occupying your buyer's sweet spot is where you want to be because that's where buying decisions are made.  Commit to the process of getting there...and remaining the preferred choice.  In the end, your marketing efforts will be more effective which will lead to increased revenue-generating potential for your business.  

Click here for the entire article:  Owning the Sweet Spot.  

Feel free to share this on your favorite social media sites and email it to a colleague or friend.   

The Value of Outsourcing Your Marketing

The concept of outsourcing isn’t new, but the trend continues to gain momentum.  From a marketing perspective, it means gaining the professionalism, expertise and deep experience of a marketing resource versus hiring someone and carrying them on your payroll.  As a result, having this kind of resource can provide you with a quick ramp-up to implementing marketing initiatives centered on business growth.  Being able to tap directly into a professional marketing resource for collateral development, brand initiatives, customer communication projects, digital marketing, public relations, event coordination, website design and more is a huge advantage.   
 
It is also a less expensive option to hiring a full-time equivalent.  You’ll have fee structures that bring a level of predictability through a defined scope of services.  And, the arrangement is often flexible allowing you to modify the scale of services to match your business situation.  Plus, your services model provides inroads to supporting marketing services that can be bundled with your monthly agreement or used to augment project work. 
 
The trend of outsourcing continues not only in popularity but in practical application.  Companies that choose to outsource their marketing function are able to remain focused on their core competencies while trusting the expertise of a marketing professional to work in parallel with them.  The value is there and companies will continue to pursue these advantageous opportunities.  

Feel free to share this on your favorite social media sites and email it to a colleague or friend.   

What Should be in Your Marketing Toolkit?

Tools exist to help us effectively accomplish a project or task.  In business, you need sales and marketing communication tools to inform your buying market about your products and services.  Often this means you need to bridge the gap that exists between your offerings and the market.  Information about your offerings should be conveyed to a prospect so that they have a clear understanding of your solution.  This can be accomplished by developing tools such as a well-structured digital brochure, video, testimonial, printed material or a presentation.  Add "more power" to these tools by including benefits-rich content for success stories, customer profiles, solution overviews, white papers, and more. 
 
In some situations you may want to customize your materials for a particular vertical market or for a specific solution.  All of these are tools that can be developed by your marketing resources to properly equip your sales team.  Collectively, these tools form your marketing toolkit to help you communicate with your buying market.  

Tools with a purpose

Your sales and marketing toolkit should be viewed as an instrument designed to accomplish an objective as effectively and intelligently as possible.  To do that, consider these points:

• Determine the purpose of each communication tool and what you want them to help you accomplish
• Focus on the intended audience and how to best connect with them
• Develop and design formats based on how your audience prefers their information to be presented
• Create a logical flow to your communication content that unfolds your story
• Use language that relates well with your audience and demonstrates your knowledge for addressing their needs and solving their challenges
• Keep your content benefit-rich and results-oriented rather than over-baked with hype
• Leverage the power of client testimonials, quotes and endorsements that offer “proof” of your marketing claims
• Provide enough information to convey a strong message, but not so much that the piece does all the selling for you
• Use visually appealing graphics, illustrations and pictures that relate well to your prospects
• Be consistent with your company’s brand strengths and reputation in all communication tools

Your marketing toolkit is purposed to enhance the sales process in order to professionally convey your solution offering to buyers.  Each of your communication tools will serve a specific purpose on their own and collectively form an integrated sales and marketing toolkit designed to connect well with your market.  

Feel free to share this on your favorite social media sites and email it to a colleague or friend.   

Recently published in the Upstate Business Journal, this article provides insights related to strategic marketing and how to map out a plan.  Just as a map illustrates the best way to reach a destination, a marketing road map serves as a guide that outlines how your company will connect to the market to create revenue-generating opportunities. Your marketing road map will provide details about the proper “marketing routes” that will work best for your business.

Click here for the entire article:  Strategic Marketing Requires a Road Map.  

Feel free to share this on your favorite social media sites and email it to a colleague or friend.   

The business climate has experienced more conditional changes within the past few years than most people can remember. An uncertain economy, rising unemployment, a weak housing market and many other factors have contributed to these conditions. Although these remain tough times, it isn't a time to fold the tent and hide under the bed. Instead, why not buy a new mattress?

While in the waiting room of a doctor's office, I noticed a couple of framed posters on the wall that caught my attention. With an emphasis on sports medicine, this particular office is well known for their expertise in treating both athletes and those who enjoy moderate sports activities.

Even if you are not a golf fan, stories about the Masters tournament played at Augusta National will interest you. Some tell of the personal side of a player like Phil Mickelson and his family while others remain centered on the game itself. Beyond the stories, though, is a mind-boggling business that makes this a big time event.

Tickets for the tournament days are nearly impossible to obtain unless you know someone. Practice round tickets are only available through a lottery system. It's all highly controlled by the tournament because they can do it. And that's how they like it.

Why? Because the demand is there. Plus, they like the prestige and tradition that are synonymous with the Masters.

For an operation that is only 'public' a few days out of the year, the tournament can turn a buck. It's done strategically and very effectively. Food and beverage options are very inexpensive considering the venue and the process for obtaining a quick meal is simple and easy. That's all by design.

But, rather than mark up food and beverage items beyond reason, it is the merchandise that sells like crazy. Nowhere else can you buy authentic Masters merchandise but at Augusta National (of course, there are those who resell on eBay). Lines of patrons file into the pro shops to grab whatever gear they can with the coveted Masters logo on it. You name it and they have it - golf shirts and tee-shirts to ball caps and ball markers. There are towels, flags, playing cards, belts and more.

Just as quickly as the merchandise flies off the shelf, it is restocked by fast moving clerks. It's an amazing process as the clerks know that everyone in the shop is there to buy something. They don't have to persuade anyone. It's a dream come true for retail selling. Imagine the margins on these products. Tee-shirts are $26, ball caps are $24 and golf shirts are $68. With the buying power that the Masters undoubtedly wields, the profits must be extremely favorable.

Even though this entire operation is an extraordinary one, it doesn't happen automatically. The Masters tournament understands their market. They understand demand and they know how to sell right into it - without really having to sell.

That's where some businesses miss it. They think a product will sell itself or that demand will somehow be there. That's not always the case. Sometimes you have to create it. And, oftentimes, you have to sell it. However, when everything is aligned (strategy, marketing, sales and service), you will reap the rewards.

Wouldn't it be great to be the 'Masters' of your market!