You often hear business experts talk about a business plan being similar to a road-map – it shows you the way to go, gives you milestones along the way and helps you progress your business journey – similar to how a road map helps you reach your geographical destination. Marketing, though, requires a bit more than a road map. The marketing process is not linear. What you really need is a kind of topographical map – showing the surrounding landscape, the shape of the land, the gradient of the hills and mountains. It needs to show the multiple routes to a destination – and the fact that you may even need different forms of transport along the way.
Successful Marketing
Successful marketing unfortunately isn’t as simple as connecting the dots or paint-by-numbers. It’s a combination of many strategies that all work for your business because they match your business style but more importantly connect to your target market… bringing people to you ‘from all over’ your map. Now I’m not a cartographer, and neither, most likely, are you (with the exception of ABN Member Linda Fairbairn of course).
So how does someone like you create a marketing map? Clarify your marketing outcomes.
Ultimately marketing is about creating leads – so your question is what kind of leads do you want to create and ‘where’ do you want them? Do you want someone to sign up to your newsletter so you can stay in touch with them? Do you want prospects to call you to discuss their needs? A prospect is not a lead until they’ve taken some kind of action to connect with you – until then, they’re a stranger. So, how do you convert strangers into leads?
Identify the marketing activities that you can effectively apply resources to.
I see many business owners doing marketing ‘things’ they hate, or can’t afford to execute properly, because they think they ‘should. Such an approach is self-defeating. I blog because I love writing and it comes easily to me. What marketing activities (networking, social media, advertising, events) do you enjoy doing and are happy to invest the time and money into strong execution?
Determine how the various activities interlink to achieve your outcomes.
You may need to use a blank piece of paper and coloured pencils for this one and just create a diagram of interconnecting activities all leading to the ultimate outcome of quality leads. If you like something neater, use the drawing/shapes/SmartArt feature in Word. (If you’re a Mac user I’m sure you have access to some very easy and funky diagram-creation tools.)
Link your marketing activities back to your core business activities to see they fit.
Can you see a logical flow from your marketing activities, to your sales cycle, to your product/services, to your revenue stream?
Execute.
The best map in the world won’t get you to your destination if you don’t unfold it and use it. See my previous post on Maintaining Momentum for ideas on that one.
Have fun and make it an adventure.
Think of your map as a sophisticated treasure map, showing you different ways to find your ‘pot of gold’ – or your pot of quality leads. Marketing is a multi-dimensional process and therefore needs more than a ‘plan’ for achieving your outcomes. ‘Mapping’ your marketing, rather than ‘planning’ your marketing enables you to see a fuller picture and have a greater command over your marketing efforts.
