For centuries, man has searched for the meaning of life, the fountain of youth and of course, the Silver Bullet to Marketing.
The first two are easy. The fountain of youth is available to everyone who adopts a lifestyle of good diet and exercise, and the meaning of life can be boiled down into one word. Love.
But sometimes a healthy lifestyle and love can be overrated, so man turns toward the burning question that haunts him at night:
What is the Silver Bullet to Marketing?
Even companies that have the world’s largest marketing budgets, hire the sharpest creative minds, and develop the most sophisticated distribution channels cannot sustain success if their products are poor, customer service is lacking, or pricing strategies miss their mark.
- Perfect your product first.
- Stand behind your products with outstanding service.
- Price products effectively in the market.
I don’t have the bandwidth or mental energy today to get into a dissertation about the benefits of customer service or pricing strategies. And you know better than anyone if your products outshine your competitors’. What I will tell you is that if you fail at any of the first three bullets, every dollar you spend on marketing will be wasted.
Let’s assume that your products are superior and your service is outstanding. You’ve positioned yourself perfectly in the market regarding pricing. You’ve even created a branding strategy that clearly defines who you are. You are ready to invite the free world to buy from you. You are ready to load your sales gun with the Marketing Silver Bullet!
Before I reveal this magical marketing secret, let me first provide a disclaimer. Every product and service has different target audiences. Each strategic marketing plan is unlike any other.
Although tactics of many marketing plans may be similar, there are many variables to consider:
* Target Demographics
* Competitive Environment
* Brand Awareness
* Type of Product
* Economy
* Budget
* And others
For example, radio may be a perfect medium for a car dealer to reach prospective consumers, yet radio has little value for a supplier of plastic materials that markets to the manufacturing community.
Every marketer must use unique ammunition to hit the mark. Before loading the gun, the savvy marketer will have first invested time analyzing market conditions. Understanding competitors, suppliers, customers, and local market conditions are prerequisites to developing an effective plan. Secondly, every business has budget constraints that require marketing planners to evaluate opportunities and allocate financial resources with the idea of maximizing long term Return on Investment (ROI).
- Competitive Analysis
- Realistic Budget
- Strategic Marketing Plan
You may think that I’m eluding my promise to reveal the Silver Bullet. In fact, I’m leading up to it. But I must first warn you that no matter what the plan is, it’s people that implement the plan. In the world of marketing, I challenge you to seek out and recruit talented people that have the right mix of characteristics: vision, passion, and creativity.
I run the risk of disappointing you when I share a simple secret: There is no one single activity or marketing campaign, that when implemented, will propel your company to stardom. The fact is that successful marketing consists of implementing a multichannel marketing initiative that may be sophisticated and complex.
But here lies the beauty:
A marketing program can enjoy great success when it takes advantage of a variety of opportunities available on the “marketing spectrum”. The synergy created from a multichannel approach can be very powerful.
Aristotle said it best: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.”
Your strategic marketing plan dictates what colors of the marketing spectrum will be the brightest in your portfolio of marketing initiatives. How colorful is your marketing plan? How many of these opportunities are you taking advantage of?
* Branding
* Website Development
* Web Marketing including SEO and PPC
* Mass Media Advertising: TV, Radio, Print
* Direct Mail
* Tele-Prospecting
* Email Marketing
* Social Media Marketing
* Conferences
* Personal Selling
* Referrals
* Cooperative Marketing
* Affiliate Programs
* Sponsorships
* Promotions
* Events
Finding the right mix from the list above will enable you to create your Marketing Masterpiece. When your plan is finally set, it’s time to put the brightest people to work on the most critical pieces of your plan. (BTW…every piece is critical)
And thus the Silver Bullet:
Hard work (creating and implementing strategic marketing plans) that is performed by exceptional people and sustained over a long period of time.
(Note: The best get rich quick schemes take about 10 – 20 years.)
You were afraid I was going to say something like that! Hard Work? UGH! But the truth is that successful businesses have superior products and service. They recruit bright people with energy, passion and creativity. They take the time to analyze the market and work hard to improve their business. Successful businesses invest in marketing to create and communicate value to their target audience. They achieve this by creating and implementing a strategic marketing plan is comprehensive and measurable.
It may take a Herculean effort to achieve marketing nirvana. But if it were easy, the market would be flooded with many more competitors… and then it wouldn’t be that easy after all.
John Urogdy writes for the Ink-Spot and owns and operates a Website Development and Marketing firm in Michigan called Black Ink!
