Why Marketing Messages Go Unheard

The “One Size Fits All” Mentality

Does one size really fit all? Have you observed that culture, regardless of the technology medium utilized, has an affinity to respond to personal targeted marketing campaigns? If you are not targeting your specific most profitable customers you have missed the mark. One size only fits all if we are all the same shape and size, yet we are not and never have been.

“Mass marketing is a little like firing a shotgun into a flock of geese and hoping to hit a few. Although having the potential to be extremely profitable, it is often ineffective in today’s highly sophisticated and segmented markets, and what’s even worse, can easily set you back a small fortune.” -Peter J. Patsula, “Pinpointing Target Markets with Unmet Needs”

Inconsistent Branding

Inconsistent branding can be confusing to prospective clients when they visit your website, social media site, or read your collateral, and are exposed your business for the first time. Having a clear and defined message, and integrating that message across multiple platforms consistently will educate prospects as to how they can benefit by the products or services you offer. Your message should communicate what makes your business unique and sets you apart within your industry to meet the specific need of your consumers.

The Communication Gap Between Sales & Marketing

Oftentimes marketing departments find themselves communicating a different message or brand than what the sales force has been promoting. Great sales people thrive at “owning” their presentations and material in order to confidently make a powerful pitch. The gap that often occurs is in the communication process regarding what the sales team really needs to effectively sell, and what the marketing team provides. Great leadership fosters unity between marketing and sales teams to effectively resonate with, and target your audience.

How To Make Your Messages and Offers Heard

Social Media Targeted Marketing

Social media campaign research has made the effectiveness of targeted marketing through social media very clear. Did you know that a recent study conducted by myYearbook showed that 60% more website visitors can be attributed to companies that leverage social media? Another study shows that “81% of respondents said they’d received advice from friends and followers relating to a product purchase through a social site; 74% of those who received such advice found it to be influential in their decision.”

Consumer Intelligence Narrows the Playing Field

As the amount of preferences and personal choices with respect to consumer decision making increases, our messages and offers must become increasingly stronger, more focused and better targeted than ever before. So how can we do this? Consumer intelligence that tracks the individual behavior of a prospective consumer is essential in making your offers or messages resonate. As no two consumers are alike, we must utilize consumer intelligence on a 1-to-1 basis to discern exactly what is motivating customers.

Utilizing Research To Pinpoint Your Target Market

There are many ways to utilize analytical research to target your market. A recent case study shows Kaz a manufacturer for Vicks using creative ways to do targeted marketing by leveraging research. Kaz worked with Google to reveal which moms as well as moms-to-be would be most interested and likely to purchase a noninvasive behind the ear thermometer. They researched which regions were in a highly prevalent flu area and delivered effective ads through multiple mobile apps. The response rate doubled from what was anticipated.

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So how do you accurately assess which percentage of your marketing plan is working for you and which percentage is not? “The Great Marketing Mystery” is not knowing what marketing channels are the most effective and where you should seek to invest and redirect your revenue.

For the past 100 years or more businesses have been trying to put their finger on just that. Here are 3 ways to shed light on your great marketing mystery, and as a result target and reach key customers who you would have otherwise let slip away.

Performance Based Marketing

Performance based marketing can be an effective tactic, but can be costly to a business if there is not the proper follow-up or lead management in place. Many marketing agencies promise results but only deliver at a surface level. A high volume of traffic does not guarantee quality leads or conversion.

Let’s say that you’ve recently hired on an ad agency to launch a brand new pay per click campaign. They’ve promised you thousands of visitors through some mode of advertising, thus generating a great amount of traffic to your website. Let’s go a step further and say that through this campaign 5% of the total amount of traffic became legitimate leads that may or may not have been converted. The question then must be raised “What happened to the other 95% of traffic that visited your website?” Pay-Per Click Campaigns can generate traffic but they cannot measure more than the mere surface behavior of a consumer. Businesses must be able to effectively measure why leads are being created and converted as well as follow up with the other 95% that didn’t convert with a detailed and organized lead management system.

Tracking Behavior with Consumer Intelligence

Effective marketing is knowing what motivates, and drives a consumer to make a decision on an individual basis. Consumer intelligence is the High-octane fuel that makes your business run at peak performance. So how can you utilize consumer intelligence to streamline your marketing campaign? Many analytics users believe that they have access to in-depth information when in reality it is very surface level. Snapt leverages the ability to track a consumer’s behavior on a 1-to-1 basis by utilizing it’s newly developed proprietary marketing software.

Consumer Intelligence gives your business the means to measure a consumer’s behavior based upon his or her exposure to an outside factor such as an advertisement, website, etc . Based upon that behavioral assessment we can make an educated decision on how to reach the individual who responded as well as those who did not. We need the ability to track and measure the valuable information which teaches us about the “why” but also about the “why not”.

Learning From Consumer Behavior and Streamlining Your Marketing Campaign

In business we must always be teachable. Our consumers can teach us a lot. The question is, are we ready to listen and learn from them? We also must have the capabilities and technology in place to measure and manage that behavior. Snapt’s proprietary software enables businesses to measure and manage behavior through the use of an easy to understand user interface dashboard that delivers real time results to you daily. Once you receive these results, you can then assess what is motivating your consumers to convert. You will also be able to ascertain the reasons why a customer has not converted which will therefore enable you to re-adjust your marketing campaign to function at full capacity.

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A common obstacle we face is preemptively pulling the trigger when making business decisions. First, we must accurately identify the target, then take aim and execute an achievable strategic plan. This week we will address the importance of having a strategy within the context of generating sales opportunities and revenue, and what that plan should ideally consist of.

A Strategic Plan Must Be Realistic and Achievable

Andrew Carnegie, a renowned entrepreneur, who was instrumental in leading the expansion of America with the steel industry in the late 19th century once said, “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” Have you ever dealt with a leader who was all visionary and no practicality, who set lofty goals but never attained them? While it is important to have confidence in your company and team of employees, great leaders must be careful not to discourage them by setting unrealistic goals. The organization of a strategic plan is meaningless without setting realistic and achievable goals. While we must strive for greatness in our strategic plans we must in a sense aim for the moon while keeping both feet firmly planted on the ground. “There are some people, who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.” -Douglas Everett

3 Essential Elements of Strategic Planning

Assessing Where your Business is Now

In order to identify your relative business markets in pursuit of revenue growth you must have an intricate understanding of your own business. To ascertain a deeper understanding we must ask the questions; “How does my business operate internally, what is the framework and architecture? What drives your main stream of revenue and ultimate profitability? Who are your stakeholders, and who are your most profitable customers? How does your business stand up to competing businesses within the same industry? It is important to put all egos aside and take a sober look at these elements to gain an accurate assessment.

Setting Top-Level Objectives for the Future

Once you have an accurate understanding of the intricacies of your own business you are ready to set your top-level objectives in order to take you from where you are to where you want to be. Your vision is first and foremost. Balancing the vision for your business vs. the practical achievable means to getting there is important as mentioned earlier. Has that vision changed from what it once was, or is it the same? Have you identified and galvanized your businesses’ mission? Are your objectives firmly set in place so that your team can easily embrace them and stay on target? Have you considered what you value the most as an organization? Once you have raised and addressed each of these questions you will need to identify the techniques which you will use to implement the next course of action.

Identifying What You Need To Do To Achieve Your Goals

Change is often unwelcome when tradition has become comfortable in a business. You will need to take and un-biased and detached look at what needs to be changed in your business in order to reach your strategic objectives as identified earlier. Take into account any major changes the business is experiencing now and can expect to experience in the future. It is important to take a look at any investment changes that will affect these goals.

Identify the techniques you will need to implement in order to make the necessary changes required for you to experience maximum revenue growth. Put into place the key components you have identified to generate sales opportunities and create new revenue streams. Setting deadlines is an important factor in keeping yourself and your team accountable to meet the achievable goals which have been set.

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In this week’s edition we will delve into the last important principle: Engaging Your Industry = Warmer Targeted Leads. This last important principle will help you to make your blog a lead generating vehicle that targets those who already have an interest in your industry, therefore making them warmer leads. There are some important practices to look at when considering how to engage your industry and generate warmer prospects and leads.

Create a Blog Summary Video

Have you considered the potential of video in reaching your industry related audience? By creating a brief video you can describe to your potential readership what your blog’s focus is and what topics will be addressed. This will give them an incentive to subscribe and look forward to content of interest to them in later published blog articles.

When creating your video topic list, be sure to identify specific pain points and address their respective solutions. Your blog summary video should describe how your targeted industry can greatly benefit from the expert insights your blog will offer. Publish your video on YouTube and make sure to optimize.

Take a Survey of What Your Readers Want

Online surveys can be a powerful tool when assessing which topics are of interest to your blog readership and what trends are shaping your given industry. Offering insights on a topic that nobody is really interested in within your selective industry will be like trying to sell a set of steak knives to a vegetarian. You are more likely to succeed in converting a lead that is warmer. In order to do that you must pinpoint which topics are relevant and of interest to prospects who will then want to become engaged in your blog.

Network with Other Bloggers

Networking with other bloggers in your blogosphere can be very effective. You can leverage existing contacts while creating new ones. Other industry related bloggers who have an established network can be advantageous to you. When you connect with them either by mentions on your blog or through social media avenues you open up the potential opportunity for them to share your blog within their network. Inbound links are a great asset with respect to search engine ranking. The more networks you target, the greater your engagement with warmer, targeted prospects.

Running Contests

Have you considered running contests on your blog to augment attention? Once you have established the nature of your contest or offer you must then create a process that requires other industry related bloggers to link back to your blog. In order for them to be eligible for the prize or special offer you can establish the criteria to be liking, tweeting, or re-publishing your blog in their given networks. This is a helpful way to expand your blog’s readership by creating opportunities to attract new readers and subscribers.

Getting On Blog Directories

Making your blog public on directories is a great and inexpensive way to promote your blog. It is not hard to find free industry related blog directories on which to post your link. Creating inbound links to your blog is an important factor in getting on directories. The win-win is that you will attract more relevant targeted traffic while increasing your search engine rankings.

Measure Your Results and Prospects

Measuring your results is an instrumental part of better business blogging. Viewing who has visited your most popular blog posts is an effective way to assess what trends and topics are driving industry leads. If your blog isn’t successfully generating leads then you need to re-assess your blog content and your target audience.

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During our discussions and advisory work, we constantly hear about their challenges to achieving revenue growth. Over the next 12 weeks we are going to help you address and overcome 12 obstacles we’ve identified to help you achieve explosive growth in 2012.

Here are the obstacles we’ve found to be most common and will be discussing:

1. The M.I.A. C.M.O.
We lack a Chief Marketing Officer and/or do not have marketing leadership

2. Fire, Aim, Ready
We lack strategy on how to generate sales opportunities and revenue

3. The Great Marketing Mystery (100 years old)
We know half of our marketing is working – but which half?

4. Unheard Messages (Falling on Deaf Ears)
Our messaging and offers are not resonating with our target audience

5. No Leads, No Sales
We do not have enough qualified leads to achieve our sales objectives

6. Nurturing Hot Leads
Our sales cycles are too long and we don’t follow up well

7. Managing Warm Leads
How do we stay “Top of Mind” with the 95% who are not ready to buy now?

8. The Conversion Conundrum
We are not converting traffic into prospects and prospects into customers

9. Reducing the CAC
Our Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) are to high

10. Tracking the All Mighty Dollar
How do I ensure our marketing spend creates revenue?

11. There’s Gold in Them Hills
How do I pursue new markets without costly experimentation?

12. People Fear what they Don’t Know
How do I explain the opportunities of consumer intelligence to others?

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On the road to achieving revenue growth in 2012 there are many challenges which businesses will face. Over the next 12 weeks we are going to address 12 common obstacles which will help you achieve explosive growth now, and in the year ahead. After careful research, and having received an overwhelming amount of feedback, the first obstacle we are going to identify of significant importance is the “M.I.A. C.M.O.”

What is the Chief Marketing Officer’s Role?

We can often perceive our C.M.O.s as high level executive leaders who have insight which is privy only to an elite few. Though this paradigm may be characteristic and evident, the resulting consequences may not always be immediate and clear. The problem with a lack of marketing leadership within an organization is that without clear insight from the few the many may stumble forward as in the dark without direction. There is often a disconnection between what is being measured, reported and initiated, and what is being shared from a leadership standpoint.

Raising Questions of Accountability

Raising important and probing questions of accountability is not always easy but should be an essential practice of a C.M.O. When is the last time your C.M.O. sat down with the staff and shared what is driving growth evidenced by company performance against business metrics? When was the last time your marketing plan was compared and measured up against your current revenue margin, sales, market share, shareholder value, and overall ROI of marketing spend?

Where There is No Vision the People Perish

An effectual C.M.O is someone who not only drives growth, but through strong leadership shares a holistic vision with an organizational entity. Experiencing growth must first start with leadership that communicates a vision and establishes a mission based upon careful research. Without effective marketing leadership we will be perpetually aiming at an unidentified moving target. The changing business scene requires C.M.O.s to rise to the challenge of identifying important trends in advance but also developing and communicating winning business strategies that inspire, prepare, and lead their organizations to success.

Here are 10 Leadership Initiatives of a Successful Chief Marketing Officer

1. Developing and Communicating a Vision That Inspires, Prepares, and Leads Your Organization
2. Driving Growth Which is Evidenced By Company Performance
3. Being Up-To-Date and Researched in a Quickly Changing Media Environment
4. Discernment and Foresight to Emerging Market Trends
5. Building Effective Media Strategies based upon Consumer Intelligence
6. Evaluation of Organizations With The Purpose of Transformation
7. Building and Differentiating Brands in a Social Media Environment
8. Establish Initiatives to Serve Internal Stakeholders and External Customers
9. Cultivate a Performance Based, Conversion Driven Marketing Organization
10. Developing and Leveraging Employee Skills and Capabilities

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Making Early Marketing Resolutions

Analyzing prospect behavior is important in order to project what interests and motivations will be the driving force behind 1st Quarter holiday spending. It is important to pinpoint and target your most active, and least active audience so that you can engage them for the first time, or re-engage customers during your holiday marketing campaign.

Creating Promotional Countdowns

An effective tool in the hands of the marketer during the holidays is the promotional countdown. While children wait in eager anticipation to open up their gifts, this same principle can be applied when building anticipation for upcoming promotions on your company’s products or services.

Email campaigns that are time-sensitive have a higher rate of opens and reads. We must foster a sense of authentic urgency in regard to the product or services being offered. Prospects must understand that what you’re offering is not going to last. Once the promotion has ended there needs to be a considerable loss if the opportunity is missed. (Here’s an example of a time sensitive email by Neiman Marcus for your consideration.) Multiple email campaigns that count down the days left to access promotions are an effective way to create a promotional countdown. Another way is by creating a daily deal which you can have feature a specific product at a significantly discounted rate.

Social Media Holiday Buzz

We must make the most of our social media campaigns during the holiday season, and there are several ways to do this. Engaging in personalized dialogues with followers from your various social media site pages is important. Having a welcome landing page is an instant engagement when a visitor comes to your site. Customizing the welcome page with holiday promotions and design is a good practice when seeking to capture a visitor’s attention.

Once you have done this make sure to have a readily available follow button (ie. “Like” button for Facebook) for users to engage with once they have approved of your social media page content. Make sure your content is up to date and relevant because the competition is fierce to keep a consumers attention. You will want to make this experience as attractive and user friendly as possible to capture more Likes and Followers and ultimately leads.

Holiday Marketing For Mobile

We all know that Mobile has changed the way in which people make decisions. There are a few effective ways that we can leverage and influence the decisions made on a mobile device.

Including product ratings and reviews is a tremendous help when reaching customers who are conveniently comparing and contrasting your products or services with a competitors’. Having positive and powerful reviews can make or break the decision to be made favorably for you. Most companies do not have a rating and review campaign which is a bad practice in light of the mobile metamorphosis that has transformed the way we do business.

Another important aspect of marketing to mobile during the busy holiday season is to make your QR code very visible and available. Create QR code pages that are specifically designed to cater to those who will be shopping online from Mobile devices. Make sure that your ads and pages are streamlined and easily readable from your website to Mobil devices.

SMS Coupons are another effective way to target Mobil users and potential customers. Coupons that are delivered via SMS are a great way to get your promotions in front of customers which can be used in-store. It is important to make this process very user-friendly as well.

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