Marketing for a company is an intricate task to say the least. You need creative, strategic, and data-driven thinkers with a host of skills to encompass the many facets of marketing.
While your staff may be limited, there are aspects of marketing that cannot be ignored if you are going to be successful. The expanse of information on the internet leads many companies to jump into the world of marketing without any plan or metrics to track their efforts. They end up frustrated and defending their efforts to the higher ups.
The following grid represents 7 aspects of marketing that have to be managed. Ignoring one of these aspects will break the chain, causing your marketing to fail.
1. Client Experience
From website design to purchase process, you need to give your customers a satisfactory experience. Repeat customers are the heart of a successful business. To establish where you are, check your bounce rates and conduct surveys to find your Net Promoter Score.
2. Strategy
Not every campaign (or any) will include every tool a marketer has at his or her disposal. Strategy not only creates a big picture goal but finds the straightest line to that goal. Knowing current marketing trends and demographic research will help you adopt effective marketing tools for your campaigns and strategy.
3. Creative Development
Your branding is the salesman that never clocks out. It is the first part of your story to be told. You want yours to be cohesive and communicate your core values. Branding guidelines will keep your creative efforts focused throughout your campaigns and allow your designers and programmers to create more compelling collateral.
4. Public Relations
Whether you realize it or not, there is an opinion of your company floating around. This perception, for better or worse, subconsciously affects every decision your audience makes about you. By attending industry events, having a social media plan and press release schedule, and scheduling speaking engagements for your SMEs you can curate your client perception.
5. Sales Support
Sales reps need to be armed with presentations and sales materials that are written well and designed correctly. If it is left up to the sales staff, your branding will be inconsistent and reps will waste time that could be allocated to nurturing prospects.
6. Lead Generation
By producing content that drives action and by taking advantage of MAP software, you can produce leads and ensure those leads are followed-up and given to the right sales rep. White papers should be form-gated and all inbound links tracked.
7. Analytics
And finally, you need to track all your efforts and establish metrics to define your success. Discovering bounce rates, tracking ROI, and creating spreadsheets are all necessary to finding gaps in your marketing or just finding ways to improve and streamline the process. It is not the most glamorous part of marketing, but it is undeniably imperative if you are going to be successful and then prove your success.
You may not have the manpower to exhaust each of these areas, but you should make an effort to pay attention to them. Using this grid, you can identify any gaps in your marketing and take measures.
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