Everyone has heard of, and maybe you have even done a Marketing Plan. It likely consists of section headings like "Executive Summary," "Market Overview," "Competitive Landscape," "Product Positioning" and "Promotions," among a few others. However, it still seems a bit arbitrary. What's the guiding principle? What's the real overarching structure that the tactical plan is a part of? There should be a higher structure that guides your marketing plan and efforts. I propose a Three Tier Marketing Approach.

Darin's three tier approach helped us see our selves and our clients in a totally different way. -Heath Ashby

If you have a marketing plan, good for you! Many companies don't. If your plan is organized and written to address your target audiences, even better. However, even a good plan is not a strategy. To marketing professionals and larger organizations, there are two main marketing plans that combine to make to full marketing strategy, the Strategic Marketing Plan and the Tactical Marketing Plan. Both of these can be combined into one plan for smaller companies. However, both strategy and tactical efforts need to be addressed. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of books on business and marketing strategy, so I won't go into it here. However, I do want to point out a pretty simple concept of a three tier approach. Any size company can employ this, from a single barber to a fortune 100. However, it's surprising to me how many companies do not have a concerted effort. I haven't made up or coined any new terms or concepts here. These are well known and written about concepts. However, I rarely read anything that pulls all the approaches together into a simple plan. 

 In my opinion, a good marketing strategy will incorporate three main tiers of targeting, or tactical activity. There is much more to a strategic marketing plan than these three things, but I often see elaborate marketing plans with 50 spreadsheets, competitive research, comprehensive pricing data and so on, but after I look at all the data, 

 Tier I - Guerrilla Marketing This is the old "word of mouth" approach. However, in today's world it can include things like social media and you tube videos. It can also includes things like flyers at all the local clubs, recreation places, colleges, Co-op marketing efforts like getting local restaurants and shops to let you put a stack of your mailer post cards at their counter, word-of-mouth referrals, etc. This is BY FAR the most effective and cost effective plan. I found a graphic artist from a business card her mom put on a bulletin board at a local doughnut shop. Not a news paper ad or internet search. 

Tier II - Direct Marketing This is a targeted, specific message  aimed at a particular market segment or target audience. It generally has less impressions (people who actually read it), but a higher efficacy rate. Several reasons for this. It's targeted, and the message is specific. This is usually the best approach on a limited budget. This includes things like sales calls, direct mail campaigns, eblast campaign, telesales efforts.

Tier III - "Air Cover" This is a non-targeted, general message approach. Basic advertising is air cover. Air cover also refers to, and I would assume draws its name from the "cover" it provides for direct sales staff. In many cases, you can't really pick who sees your message, you just put it out there and hope a lot of people see it. This would include things like news paper ads, magazine ads, a sign, billboards, radio spots, etc. It usually has limited measurable impact, but serves to create an "impression" with as many people as possible. It serves the purpose of brand recognition. Air cover marketing, or advertising can be good, but it has it's limitations. In other cases, it may consist of things like a trade show or social media campaign (this is different from the guerrilla style viral social media). In this case, the company may put a press release out to the twitter-verse about a new product release. Regardless, it's still very difficult to measure any results.  The pros of air cover marketing are that it usually reaches large numbers of people. Up to a million people may hear your radio ad on the way to work. It's good for PR or to create public opinion. In some cases, it can be very cost effective. Air cover marketing is best suited, and in some cases required in markets such as retail, public services (such as salons), or in highly competitive markets. If you are an auto mechanic, and someone has heard your radio ad, or passed by your billboard on the way to work for a year, there is a good chance that they will come to you when their car breaks down. People do business with people the know and trust. By advertising to them on the radio over and over, they feel like they know you. The cons are that you can't track ROI on advertising. Many advertising firms will say they can guarantee X number of impressions, or a XX% rate of return. The fact is, they can't. No on really knows how many people heard your ad, and how much business it brought you. A point to consider, if you are going to advertise, make sure you have a good message aimed at your target audience, and use the media that your target audience consumes. For instance, if you are a hip boutique with a target audience of 18 to 30 year old women, it may not be the best idea to run expensive ads in the new paper. I'm not stereotyping women, nor downplaying the importance of newspapers, but in my experience, you would get a higher impression rate with younger women in other forms of media. The same holds true for any target audience. If you sell industrial supplies, don't advertise in fashion magazines. Choose media that your target audience consumes. Remember, advertising is not a marketing plan, it's a tactic that may be part of a marketing plan. It should not be used alone. 

Why you need a digital marketing strategy

In today's fast-paced online world, you need to reach people and get the message about your brand into the marketplace. It can be difficult, with all the competition, to grow your business online in the way you want. One way to grow your business is to use digital marketing. Here are several reasons your business needs a digital marketing strategy to see success online.

Costs Less Than Traditional Media

One of the top reasons you need a digital marketing strategy is that it costs less than traditional media marketing. It makes sense to use digital marketing, as you have a lot of free resources you can use to market your business, such as social media or YouTube videos. These options allow you to reach your audience without the expense that traditional marketing entails. A growing business doesn't have a lot of income to spend on marketing, so digital marketing makes it easier to get your messages and brand awareness out to the masses.

Digital Marketing Converts into Sales

If you want to reach people online, you can't just build a blog or website and sit on your hands expecting people to find you. Gone are the days when a simple website would bring in tons of traffic because there was no competition. If you want to make sales and get people to your blog or website, you have to have a digital marketing strategy.  Traffic is the key factor in making sales online, so you need to market your business if you expect it to grow online and put revenues into your pocket. You need to get eyes on your sites; online marketing is the way you're going to do this.

Interaction with Your Audience

Today's consumer expects some sort of interaction with businesses. This can be through a Twitter page, Facebook page, or video, and answering blog comments or using other media to reach your audience. If you don't reach out to your target audience, you're not going to make sales. If you make a concentrated effort to be available to potential customers, you'll get more sales in the process.  One part of digital marketing is to reach out to the audience and show them that you care. When you engage with your audience, they are more likely to spread a positive message about your business to others.

Mobile Matters

Today, we are on our mobile devices all the time. As a business, you need to take advantage of mobile, and this is where a digital marketing strategy comes in. If you want to reach mobile users, then a digital marketing strategy is essential. You can send messages and push notifications to encourage interaction with your brand through mobile devices. Most users have a mobile device within reach all the time, so it makes sense to market to these users through their device.

Build a Brand

To build your brand in today's marketplace, you need a digital marketing strategy. You have a lot of competition, and if you want to build your brand and stay ahead of your competition or at least with them, you have to market to your target audience.

A marketing strategy is essential in today's marketplace. If you want to reach your audience, engage them and get them talking about your business. The best way to do so is through digital marketing.

There is no denying that social media has become one of the most popular and effective ways for companies and individuals to access their audiences directly while being contacted directly in turn. It has reached the point where entire careers can be made by social media successes. There is now even the possibility for people to use certain social media platforms, particularly those with built-in advertising like YouTube, as a profession. There are volumes of books, articles, and videos about how to use social media platforms. This article isn’t trying to be an all-encompassing how to, but rather give a few simple items to think about as you build your social media presence. The key to having success is to understand what makes each social media platform unique as well as understanding the Do’s and Don’ts of marketing on social media.

The Do's

There are no real hard and fast rules on how to market on social media, except the rules enforced by the platform itself, or laws such as the CAN-SPAM act of 2003, CCPA in California, and so on. However, there are a few things that any business owner or marketer should do as a part of their social media program.

Assuming you’re doing some posting and advertising, DO use high-quality professional looking artwork or creatives. This is easier than it sounds. You don’t have to do it all the time, in other words, it’s good to mix in regular posts or phone pics as a post now and then, but if your asking someone to do something such as like your page, give personal information, sign up, purchase, and so on, then use professional art. Also, only use art or images that you have the right to use. This means subscribing to a stock image site, use a royalty-free site, hire a photographer, etc. There are many online services and apps you can use as well. Most of the platforms and several apps make it super easy to do now days. Just make sure you look professional and stay out of trouble.

After high-quality creatives are produced and ready, the next process is deciding where and for whom the ad or post should be targeted toward. It’s very important to define and target the correct audience. If the business posting the ad is a brick and mortar, with no online sales, then they shouldn’t target audiences in a different state or country. If the business is targeted toward teens and young adults, it might make sense to limit the age range of the audience. Getting this wrong will waste a lot of money, and limit results, because the money spent is in areas that are outside the intended target audience.

Another extremely important but often overlooked is the capture process.  This is the process by which the information requested or that can be obtained from the platform, is actually captured. If you are spending money on online ads, it’s very important you’re getting what you pay for. Potential customers may not decide to sign up or purchase with the first contact. It may take several touches for the conversion. Capturing the information and storing it in a CRM is an important part of your online presence.

The Don’ts

There are several common traps that must be avoided if anyone is to use social media platforms successfully.

The first of these is DON’T treat a business account as a personal one and don’t use a personal account as a business page. This mainly involves learning how to become a true administrator of the platform as it relates to your target audience and your business. Content is very important, but it isn’t enough to simply post random pics of the staff, lobby, customers, etc. You have to provide valuable content your customers and audience find relevant and important. Then you need to have a system to capture those that are truly interested in learning more, signing up, purchasing a product, whatever your deliverable is. Furthermore, the official company social media stream is not the place to discuss opinionated topics like politics, etc. Most businesses need to ensure they are keeping the content they produce relevant to the target audience. No matter how much a fan loves a particular product, nothing will turn them away faster than the source of that product expressing an ideological view that is opposed to their own.

The next is treating social media in the same as an advertisement. It is not enough for any business to simply post their new product on a platform like Facebook or Twitter in the same way that one might purchase an advertisement on a roadside billboard or on television. This is because social media is inherently dynamic where those other forms are static. They allow for the audience to be engaged directly and even pre-qualified in some cases, which leads to a much greater rate of conversion and retention when handled appropriately.

Finally, be wary of using a personal account for personal reasons. This may sound ridiculous, as that should be exactly what a personal account is for. However, there comes a point usually after some success that individuals begin to represent their businesses in the ways that they behave. They are seen not as singular entities but as extensions of the companies that they work for. There comes a point where there is no difference between a noteworthy employee expressing an opinion and the official social media platform doing the same.

If you would like to learn more or how Bluedge Business Solutions can help, contact us