Thread: Is your company's marketing plan maximizing ROI?

Whether your company uses business cards, a website, direct mail, newspaper ads, or any of the various options available for marketing, doing so without a strategic plan will result in an inefficient Return On Investment.

Overview
As the market goes into a recession, the value in specialty service companies is diminishing. As a result, many of those companies start to offer more services in order to fit the bill. For instance, web design companies start offering services such as Business Card Design, Logo Design, Brochure Design, and more. These are all services that fall outside of the specialty services they provide. This would be comparable to asking a plumber to take care of your electrical needs, or asking your Project Manager to do your taxes. Just because they say they can do it doesn’t always mean the end result will be what you expect. And don’t expect this type of company to tell you any different. They are not there to build your brand, but rather attempt to solve as many of your marketing needs as possible in order to survive. They are there to give you exactly what you think you need, and build upon that idea with as many extra add-ons as possible that you may not.

Strategy
Developing a strategic marketing plan will ultimately maximize the efficiency of your marketing efforts and generate a higher ROI. In order to do so, several aspects must be considered.

- Develop 6 month marketing Goals
- Develop 1 year marketing goals
- Develop 3-5 year marketing goals
- Develop 5-10 year marketing goals
- Analyze marketing plan for strengths and weaknesses
- Revise and Improve your marketing plan
- Research your target market
- Identify Industry Trends
- Identify Target Audience and demographics
- Develop a brand identity
- Identify Competition
- Establish your marketing budget
- Invest in solutions that reflect your current budget.

Develop Goals
Developing your Short-term and long-term marketing goals will help to create an effective strategy for your marketing plan. Be reasonable. The best marketing plan allows for growth, and takes an investment of time and money. Luckily, there are different solutions for all types of budgets, many of which are free.

Market Analysis
Analyzing your current marketing plan for strengths and weaknesses will help to eliminate inefficient methods, and allow an investment in a solution that produces better results. So before you go out and buy a new website, create your business cards, and hire a salesperson, take a look behind you before you decide to move forward. Don’t jump head-first into popular marketing options without first considering how and when you plan on using them.

Identify Target Audience
After you have determined what variables that you will implement into your marketing plan, it is crucial to understand who you are marketing to.

Without targeting the right consumers, even the best marketing strategy will fall on deaf ears. That is why it is so crucial to identify your target audience, their demographics, and their specific demands. In doing so, you will serve to maximize the reception of your brand from your target audience.

Develop a Brand Identity
Ok, so now you’ve got your marketing strategy down, you know who you are targeting, but does your company have the look and feel of a reputable and quality company?
In order to answer that, first ask yourself three main questions:

1. Do I have a Logo?
2. Is my logo working for me, and my overall business identity?
3. Is my identity kept consistent through each and every piece of material that I present to the public and/or my clients?
4. Is my identity similar in genre, but better in quality than my best competition?

If you answered no to any of these questions:
1. You need one
2. Your logo must effectively tie into the application of design in your identity.
3. Consistency is a crucial key to strength in a brand.
4. Let’s test out #4 by going to Google, and enter: “Your City + Your Service Provided + Company” - for example, “Chicago Web Design Company”.

Take a look through each result on page 1-3. Notice the fluctuation in quality for each page? It is guaranteed the ones who stand out and look better have much better reception and retention from that market. Now, if you have a site, and it didn’t show up on page 1-3, then we can get into Search Engine Optimization, but I’ll save that for another column.



For more information on Branding & Identity, Web 2.0, PM ME