The Marketing Process

Bruce Davis — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 13:35:51 +0000

Marketing Basics With Bruce Davis | Lessons To Remember

Bruce Davis Fri, 11/05/2021 - 09:35

Want to get the most out of your marketing outlays of money and efforts? The most effective way I know to gain optimum ROI for your investment is to always follow a three-step procedure when working to develop a marketing plan or promotion. The three steps outlined below not only need to be followed they need to be followed in the order presented.

Step 1 - ID The Target of Your Marketing

First you need to dial in on the target of your efforts. Clearly describe the people or organizations you hope to attract. Take time to dig into traits, characteristics, and current behaviors of your marketing target. No matter if your target is made up of individuals, couples, groups, or companies, you need to take time with your staff to discuss all the things that the specific target might find attractive as part of your offer. Building an offer to appeal to everyone or a large segment of the population usually results in a watered-down offer that appeals to no one.

A bonus to true target marketing: once you tighten who your target is, you will be able to save on costs to reach them as well.

Step 2 - Build the Message of Your Offer

Once the target of your efforts is well defined and their traits, characteristics, and current behaviors are identified, you can then proceed to the task of building the story of your offer. Your story should tell the individual or group target what is in it for them to spend their time and money with you. No matter if your offer is carried by an online post, an email, a flyer, a video, or other means, it is crucial to develop a storyline that can come across as though you were having a conversation with them about the benefits they will receive if they take you up on your offer.

You wouldn't talk to someone in bullet points so avoid using bullet points pointing out features unless your target is very familiar with you and your business. Remember, people only buy for one of two reasons: either to solve a problem or create happiness. Let them know your offer can do one or both.

Step 3 - Determine the Best Way(s) To Get the Message to Your Target

Once your target is selected and your message is crafted, then and only then should you begin to determine the most efficient way(s) to deliver the message to the target audience. Never start out with a pre-determined choice of media. I repeat, never start out with a pre-determined choice of media. Be sure to keep this step as Step 3.

It is often best to employ a multi-media approach when sending an offer. With that said, if you stick to the best target and media matches you can find, you will be able to avoid wasting some of your marketing budget on media that your target isn't a fit with. If this sounds like a delicate balance, it is. Doing a quality job of researching your target market will pay back big dividends and is worth the effort fine tuning it.

A solid offer made to the wrong target audience through the wrong media will no doubt fail, while a weaker offer sent to the right target audience through the right media will no doubt get some response. Strong offers sent to the proper target through proper media spells success!

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Lessons To Remember