A marketing strategy that delivers
How we deliver a marketing message is critical to the success of any business. In my post on developing a marketing system I said there are three critical components to any marketing system:
You need a product or service.
You need a marketing message to communicate.
You need a delivery system.
Today we'll look at delivery systems. How you take that finely crafted marketing system and deliver it to your potential customers is vital to your success.There are hundreds of ways to deliver a marketing message. On my website you'll find a list of marketing channels that have been successfully used by others. Which ones are best for you?In working with hundreds of businesses I've found that most only employ two or three of marketing channels. We don't need to use them all, but we do need to find out which ones are the most effective.Imagine that your business was on main street. Think of the marketing channels as doorways into your business. The more strategically placed doorways you have, the more ways potential customers can find you and come in.Now if the doorways into your business were only on the side and back of the building, think how many customers you are missing. Many just wouldn't find you. Obviously in my example you would know enough to put a doorway onto main street. But in real life we don't always know which marketing doorway is best.Remember in my last post on developing a killer marketing message, I said the only way to know if it was an effective message was to test it. The same applies here. Test the different marketing channels to see which are most effective for you. You'll likely have an idea of which should work best, but until you test them, you can't really know.If you'd like to read more on marketing channels and delivering your marketing message to your ideal customers, I'd highly recommend the book Changing the Channel by Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby. It's a great read and will really help your thinking on this.I know it's a lot of work, but it's worth it. Customers are harder to come by during this economic downturn and we must all learn to be more effective in our marketing or we'll see our sales shrink and risk failure of our businesses. These are techniques that should always be applied, in good markets and bad.Greater market share, growth in sales, and better profitability are there for those who do. What are you waiting for?by Steven Schlagel