marketing . web . design

Strategize the 4 P’s

zacheos — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:00:27 +0000

Remember the 4 P’s of marketing (Price, Product, Place, Promotion) when you develop action strategies. Since the four P’s cover the majority of all marketing decisions you must consider strategies for each. Developing a marketing strategy not only requires that all options be considered, but that the pros and cons of every action is correctly evaluated. Good marketers are separated from the bad by their ability to asses pros and cons, not by their ability to develop ideas.

Focus Efforts & Save

zacheos — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:00:35 +0000

Focusing your marketing on specific niche groups is not only to increase the effectiveness of your campaigns, it is just good business practice. I have consulted many companies that unnecessarily market to large segments of people and get poor conversions (and wonder why). By channeling your efforts and directing the messages to smaller niche groups, you will be more successful, save money, improve conversion rates and increase profits.

Targeting

zacheos — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:00:54 +0000

One of the most important decisions you will ever make in marketing is who you are going to target with your message. Think about it. You can have the most inspiring product, brilliant idea and innovative advertising, but if you are marketing to the wrong group of people your message will fall on deaf ears. Without a solid understanding of your audience and proper targeting of your message, your marketing will never have the chance to succeed.

Soft v. Hard

zacheos — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:17:35 +0000

Marketing is all about setting goals, so it is important that you understand the difference between hard goals and soft goals. A hard goal is one that can be quantified and measured, for example: increase sales by Christmas, or complete website updates by January. Soft goals are not quantifiable and are difficult to measure, for example: improve company image, or strengthen reputation. A balance of soft and hard goals should be part of every marketing plan.

Write Your Vision

zacheos — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:00:42 +0000

Writing a company vision statement does not need to be difficult. By answering 5 simple questions your vision will become clear.
1.) What do we want to be known for?
2.) What is our business?
3.) What are our markets?
4.) What position do we want to be?
5.) How far do we intend to reach?
Example: zacheos will be a leading marketing and design blog that spreads virally through great content.

Manageable Chunks

zacheos — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:00:39 +0000

Once you have completed your marketing and business development plans, I recommend creating a yearly marketing timeline of action items. Each item should indicate the costs, staff required, notes, and completion dates on the timeline. This can be a simple Excel spreadsheet or a complex Gantt chart. The idea here is to commit your resources to the action items, and to know every Monday what you need to accomplish for that week.

Market Daily

zacheos — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:00:03 +0000

I cannot over stress the importance of marketing daily. If you ever find yourself confused about what marketing activity you should do first, just consider your time and money. Think, “What marketing activity can I do with the time and money I have right now.” Take your answer and go from there. Set priorities for this week, and don’t be afraid to re-prioritize next week.
[Today's tip by Marketing Buddha]

Something Better

zacheos — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:00:11 +0000

One of the single greatest lessons to learn about marketing and business development is simply to always be improving. Never complete a campaign or a project and sit back to admire your job well done. Every day is a new chance to improve on what you did the day before. It can be a simple thing like your email signature, or a broad sweeping thing like improving your company image. With this advice you will always be headed in the right direction.

Plans are Required

zacheos — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:00:28 +0000

Marketing plans are not optional. They are the groundwork for action and the basis upon which informed marketing decisions are made. Creating a marketing plan is a way of committing your ideas to action. By assessing your goals and ideas and defining your Objective, Rationale, Project Leader, Timeline and Budget, you will be committed with time, staff and money to the project and dramatically increase the likelihood of success.

External Perspective 6/6

zacheos — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0000

The final step in your marketing evaluation from the external perspective deals with your competition. You must have an active competitor surveillance program in place. If you customer makes a move, changes their message, or launches a new product, you need to be the first to know. Any move a competitor makes can affect your business, so keep a very close eye on their operations at all time – no matter how small your company is, this is a must.