I recently had a client who had to explain to upper management why they work with World Innovators...
Marketing is a blend of science and creativity. There is no right or wrong way. You can follow best practices along with tried and trusted methods of getting results, but in the end it does not guarantee success. #1 Thing for a successful marketing campaign - You need to understand your goals and research the different ways to achieve them. These tips will help you plan a path to reach your marketing goals and reinforcing your companies mission.
1. Begin at the end - What???
Most people start implementing marketing initiatives to get customers before they determine what specific goals they want to achieve. Like playing golf but not knowing where the whole is.
Determine your SMART Goals - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely
Everyone involved should be aiming for the same result - be that a rise in sales, greater engagement, brand awareness or another goal. For a campaign to be successful that goal needs to be shared, communicated and understood with total transparency.
To get the best results, you should work as a team throughout the entire marketing campaign. This ensures greater continuity so that your campaign moves along seamlessly on the path to reach your goals and reinforce your mission.
Make Sure Everyone is On the Same Page
Ask questions - lots of questions - this way there is complete clarity on what is going to be done to reach your specific goals.
What are the Right Questions to Ask?
Simply asking random questions isn’t a good strategy. Asking direct, specific questions is much better. Here’s an example:
Think about what you really want to know - it should be results orientated. Try being very specific:
“You want to create a buzz around the product, what does that mean for you? More engagement on social media? Mentions in the press? High click through rates on emails? - which metrics will tell us if we’ve hit the target?”
This instantly translates the clients needs into tangible, measurable attributes that we can work with.
2. Start small and push to get results quickly
Marketing is all about Testing, Testing, Testing . . .
Companies do not embrace failure because they do not want to waste money. Healthy businesses aren't run on experiments but rather sustainable revenue streams.
As a marketer you know when you are testing a new channel you need to start with the smallest budget possible. Once you start to receive results you will be able to determine whether to continue down this path, change it or try a different path all together.
Don't dwell on poor results, use this information to make a positive change.
Must Stay Positive
As a marketing partner we are always mindful of our client’s expectations. We share our years of knowledge and experience, stories of successes and less valuable tactics we’ve tried - all of these things help us formulate a marketing plan that is robust with a high probability of success. We also take the time to understand the client’s campaign in context.
3. Use your failures as research
The goal is to be successful, right? But it does not always work like that, so you have to rethink your strategy and zig zag in a different direction. As you traverse up this marketing mountain it is important to learn what isn't working so you can quickly turn onto a new path.
For instance, I have a client who just began an Audience Extension program that will run for one month. At the end of each week we are evaluating how it is doing and make adjustments based on the following:
1) How are the banners rendering?
2) Are we attracting the right people?
3) Are they clicking through to the landing page?
4) Does the tracking make sense? Are all the landing pages directed to the right place and are all the pixels in the right place.
After the first week we got tracking and it showed that several of the impressions were people in companies with 1 - 10 Employees. The client's sweet spot is mid-size company so we quickly went and adjusted the criteria to omit smaller company.
Make sure you are working closely with partners that are nimble enough to change criteria and get back on the right path to achieve your target.
4. Results Rule
Nothing matters more than the end result, data never lies but it's open to interpretation. Read our blog on analyzing results.
Knowing what works for your product, service, or brand is essential for long term marketing success. Dissecting the results of all campaigns - no matter how successful - will help you achieve this. If the result has fallen short of expectation then ask why - could you change something and test it again or should you avoid the resource in the future? Increasing your knowledge with each campaign will help you understand your audience and be able to keep you on a straight path to marketing success.
If you want to work with a partner that ensures honesty and transparency -
Call me: Donna Peterson (860)-210-8088
Email: dpeterson@worldinnovators.com.
