A Marketing Podcast with Matt Coco

In session 10 of A Marketing Podcast I discuss how to write your executive summary as well as how to execute your strategy now that we’ve put in all the work to develop it! The execution includes the setup, the monitoring and adjusting, and the measurement of success. I also release my new strategy development crash course. Session 10: Show Notes Recap of Previous Sessions (related to strategy development): * Session 2: What is a marketing strategy and why do I need one? * Session 3: Establishing goals and objectives * Session 4: Understanding and developing your target audiences * Session 5: Performing a marketing SWOT analysis * Session 6: Creating your selling proposition * Session 7: Developing a marketing mix * Session 8: Tactical and Campaign Planning * Session 9: What Should I budget for marketing * [FREE DOWNLOAD] Small Business Marketing Strategy Template Writing an Executive Summary The summary is exactly that, a summary! So all you need to do is summarize your strategy for yourself and anyone who will be involved in your marketing. This will allow others to get an idea of what you’ve developed and what you plan to do with your marketing. There’s no need to spend hours on your executive summary either. Write one or two sentences for each section of your strategy and you’ll be just fine. Keep the same order as your strategy in your summary, so it makes sense as someone flips through your strategy document. Apart from being the way for others to get an idea of what you’re doing with your marketing, the summary serves as the first place to reviewing your success measurement and throughout your marketing (more on executing in a minute) Executing your marketing strategy Online presence setup First off, make sure your business’s online presence is setup. I’ll link to a checklist I created to walk you through setting up your business online. This is important to ensure that your marketing provides somewhere for potential customers to find out more, but more importantly that you can track your marketing results. Tactical/Campaign setup Setup ongoing tactics first Setup the tactics or campaigns that are ongoing for the period of your strategy. For example, Social media channels or Search engine marketing. Get to work on the complex tactics next This is just a personal preference, but I like to get the complex tactics setup and ready to go first while I’m still pumped about getting started. Then setup the remaining tactics according to your tactical/campaign planning schedules. Pretty straight forward stuff. Marketing In Motion Now that your marketing is in motion it’s time to monitor and adjust throughout the strategies period. Depending on the tactics, the time span between monitoring and adjusting will differ. For example, if you’re advertising through Search Engine Marketing – I like to review the results daily for the first week or so, then back off to weekly. Making adjustments each time I review if I’m missing obvious opportunities or there are any issues. But for things like direct mail, obviously you would review how the tactic went a couple weeks after the mail out.

In session 9 of A Marketing Podcast I discuss how to develop a budget for marketing using one of three different calculations/methods. At the end of this session you’ll have developed a budget that suites your business and delivers on what we’ve worked to achieve in our marketing strategy. Session 9: Show Notes Recap of Previous Sessions (related to strategy development): * Session 2: What is a marketing strategy and why do I need one? * Session 3: Establishing goals and objectives * Session 4: Understanding and developing your target audiences * Session 5: Performing a marketing SWOT analysis * Session 6: Creating your selling proposition * Session 7: Developing a marketing mix * Session 8: Tactical and Campaign Planning * [FREE DOWNLOAD] Small Business Marketing Strategy Template Some stats on SMB marketing spending Some amazing numbers around small business marketing budgets of SMB’s in North America. * 70% are spending less than $500 on marketing per month (vs. 73% in 2013) total of less than $6,000 a year – making the average marketing budget for small business less than $6,000 a year. WOW – that’s not much. * 83% are spending less than $1,000 on marketing per month (vs. 85% in 2013) * Just 16% are spending more than $1,000 on marketing per month (vs. 16% in 2013) * The highest percentage of smb’s spending between 0-100 per month. * As the smb company size grows so to does the budget – makes sense. *  31% of smbs saw phone calls as the major metric measuring success (collection of emails was no-where to be seen) Some notes on the stats presented: * In this survey we had a wide-range of small & medium businesses take part; from plumbers, event planners and private investigators, to locksmiths, mechanics and party entertainers. It’s fair to say that the participants don’t come from any one industry alone, and so the results should be treated as such. * The study was conducted in October / November 2014 * 736 SMBs completed the survey with 95% located in North America These numbers are according to Bright Local – you can see the report here: https://www.brightlocal.com/2015/01/07/37-smbs-plan-spend-internet-marketing-2015/ Different methods for establishing a budget for marketing There’s essentially three methods of developing your marketing budget. They are: * Percentage of previous years sales * Percentage of previous years overall budget * Tactic by tactic, prioritized, and scaled approach 1. Percentage of sales approach As a general rule look to spend around 5-10% of your sales number on marketing.  In my research as to the percentage other marketers recommend, it ranged from 5 – 15%. This approach requires that we divide the established number towards our marketing mix in the prioritized order we created when developing our marketing mix. 2. Percentage of Budget This is the more traditional, and simplified calculation used to figure out your marketing budget. If you’re just starting your business, it’s likely that you’ll be looking to grow at an increased r...

In session 8 of A Marketing Podcast I discuss tactical and campaign planning and strategies as part of your marketing strategy. This is the section of your marketing strategy to provide further guideline to the execution of your marketing mix and the tactics within it. I walk through some basic social, email, website, and content marketing strategies. Session 8: Show Notes Recap of Previous Sessions (related to strategy development): * [FREE DOWNLOAD] Small Business Marketing Strategy Template * Session 2: What is a marketing strategy and why do I need one? * Session 3: Establishing goals and objectives * Session 4: Understanding and developing your target audiences * Session 5: Performing a marketing SWOT analysis * Session 6: Creating your selling proposition * Session 7: Developing a marketing mix What this section of the strategy is for To help further plan your tactical and campaign executions now that we’ve developed our marketing mix. I break it down into two types of planning tactical strategies and campaign plans. An example of an ongoing tactic would be a social media strategy. The 5 Essential strategies for Small business * Marketing Strategy – The big one (so need to cover it) * Social Media Strategy * Email Marketing Strategy * Website strategy * Content Marketing Strategy Related: 5 Essential Small Business Marketing Strategies Social Media Strategy I like to use a social media strategy to focus on the development of my community within each channel. As opposed to including things like social content marketing, or advertising in social to drive website traffic. These types of social marketing belong in content strategies or website strategies (in my mind). Things to consider: * Which channel/s to target (make sure your desired audience is there) * What kind of content we need for that channel (how to talk our audience, specific type of content) * An editorial or content distribution calendar * Timing and volume of content distribution * Divisions of content (internal divisions, by product service, etc) Email Marketing Strategy I like to break my email marketing strategy into two pieces: * Email list building * Marketing to your list List building: * Strategies on how you plan to build your list * Check out Brian Harris of VideoFruit.com for some great list building ideas – find one of his webinars that are full of value. Marketing to your list: * Ways to market and communicate with general email list subscribers * I talk about the AMP community list and marketing around it. Website Strategy Your website will play a role in other tactical strategies but I feel it still deserves its own strategy and plan. It can include things like: * Functional improvements (may cross over into IT but if you don’t have IT department it needs to live under marketing strategy) * I’m referring to lead gen tool development, or functionality that improves user experience to drive more lead generation.

In session 7 of A Marketing Podcast I discuss the development of a marketing mix as part of your marketing strategy. The marketing mix is the biggest and most complex part of your strategy. In this session I break down the development into three simple steps and identify some things to keep in mind as you validate your mix. Session 7: Show Notes Recap of Previous Sessions (related to strategy development): * [FREE DOWNLOAD] Small Business Marketing Strategy Template * Session 2: What is a marketing strategy and why do I need one? * Session 3: Establishing goals and objectives * Session 4: Understanding and developing your target audiences * Session 5: Performing a marketing SWOT analysis * Session 6: Creating your selling proposition What is a marketing mix? Some marketers associate, or even assimilate, the 4 p’s of marketing to the marketing mix Quick overview on the 4 P’s – thanks to E J McCarthy in 1960. Product/Service Place Price Promotion At AMP I refer to the marketing mix as the group of tactics you plan to use to execute your marketing strategy Goals for your marketing mix By defining a set of tactics it allows you to focus on tactics that are determined to be highly likely to succeed, and avoid others along the way It’s not to shut down the potential of doing other tactics, we’ll talk about adjusting as we go in the session about executing your strategy To provide yet another guideline for your marketing – it’s another piece of the road-map Things to consider when developing your marketing mix * Now is a good point in the development of your marketing strategy to get help from a professional marketer if you feel you need some help * The marketing mix, although it will guide us, is not set in stone. We still need to be realistic and somewhat agile in regards to the tactics we use * Forget about budget – we’re not there yet – plus it kills your brainstorming Developing your mix Step 1 – Brainstorm List out all the tactics you can think of: * Tactics you think will work * Tactics you’ve tried in the past * Tactics you’ve seen others try * Tactics that are popular at the time * Online and offline In the template I have outlined some basic tactical groups to get you started, those are: * Advertising (TV, radio, magazine, newspaper, SEM, display network, video on sites like Youtube, sponsorship’s of events, etc) * Content Marketing * Inbound Marketing * Social Media * Presentations * Public speaking, conferences, trade-shows, webinars, etc) * Events * Print Media (direct mail, coupons, pamphlets, newspaper, magazines etc) * PR * Email Marketing & Communications * Experiential marketing * And so on Again this is a good step to get a marketing professional involved. This is where they will provide a ton of value from a tactical idea point of view. Step 2 – Order by effectiveness Reorder your tactics in order of effectiveness using the following criteria: * Refer to our goals and objectives * Refer to our audiences Step 3 – Validation The following list of items must be checked off for each of the tact...

In session 6 of A Marketing Podcast I discuss what a USP or Unique Selling Proposition is and why you need one. I walk you through creating your unique selling proposition and 3 simple questions you need to answer. As well, I demonstrate with A Marketing Podcasts’ USP, how I developed it and the final version that I use on the site and in all my marketing messaging. Session 6: Show Notes Recap of Previous Sessions (related to strategy development): * [FREE DOWNLOAD] Small Business Marketing Strategy Template * Session 2: What is a marketing strategy and why do I need one? * Session 3: Establishing goals and objectives * Session 4: Understanding and developing your target audiences * Session 5: Performing a marketing SWOT analysis What is a USP USP stands for “Unique Selling Proposition” among others such as: * unique sales pitch * Unique Sales Proposition * Unique Sales pitch * Unique Selling pitch * unique selling point The USP has been around since the 1940 – so it works! A USP is how you separate your business/product/service from your competition An example of a USP A&W Fast Food Restaurant A really good USP is as much a sentence on your marketing strategy as it is a mindset for your business. What a USP is not * It’s not your mission statement – that’s what you want to be when you grow up, not how you’re different * It’s not a slogan – although you can create a slogan to encapsulate your USP, but there’s more to it as you’ll see * A Sales pitch – it’s used in your sales pitch, or helps define your sales pitch, but once again there’s more to it. * It’s not the BS line like “we provide the best customer service!” Honestly, every time I read that I want to punch something! Why do you need a USP? To separate your business from your competition – there is always competition. Another reason is your USP will help you create messaging in your tactical executions Creating your unique selling proposition Step 1 – List out the differences between you and your competition Create a list of things that you have or do differently than your competition Step 2 – Think as your customer We’ve already done some work on our target audiences (click to listen to session 4: Understanding and developing your target audiences) so you should have some great insights already on who your target audience is and how they make their decision to buy from you vs your competitors Dig deeper into the real reason customers buy your product, or why competitors customers buy their products over you! Step 3 – Answer these three questions Here’s a list of questions to help you think like your customer. Remember your audiences whilst answering… * Why should I do business with you and not your competitor? * How do your products/services separate you from your competition? * Once I’ve done business with you, what am I going to feel? (Guarantee) DON’T GET DEFENSIVE WHEN ANSWERING – because it’s easy to. Attack with confidence instead! Another thing to remember as you’re answer these questions is that you should focus on the customer’s desires, not their needs. Step 4 – Sum up your answers ad you’ve got your USP

In session 5 of A Marketing Podcast I discuss performing a marketing SWOT analysis as part of your marketing strategy. I walk through why your need to do one, and what you will get out of the process. I also walk you through developing each element of the SWOT and provide plenty of examples. Session 5 Show Notes: Recap of Previous Sessions (related to strategy development): * [FREE DOWNLOAD] Small Business Marketing Strategy Template * Session 2: What is a marketing strategy and why do I need one? * Session 3: Establishing goals and objectives * Session 4: Understanding and developing your target audiences What’s the purpose of a Marketing SWOT Analysis To identify marketing opportunities and marketing weaknesses, so that you can exploit opportunities and protect yourself from threats This process will be instrumental in the development of your marketing mix. If you’re not starting a new business and you’ve done marketing before the SWOT analysis, through no extra work, can be used as an Audit tool as well. How is it different to a regular business SWOT analysis A marketing SWOT is strictly concerned with marketing Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats For example, the business strength of a long standing history – would be comparable to a marketing strength of a well established brand We’re doing this to help us develop our marketing mix later in the strategy, so focusing on marketing SWOT’s is how the process and outcomes are different from a typical business SWOT. Get your marketing strategy template that includes a SWOT template Marketing SWOT Analysis: Strengths Strengths are the elements of your marketing that you should lean on and use to position yourself, and your business above, your competitors Internal and Helpful Elements You should build your marketing mix to make use of as many strengths as possible Compare yourself to your competitors and identify how you will stand out from them in your marketing As a new business (no marketing yet): You can develop strengths by thinking about your personal knowledge and experience and how that could apply to marketing for the business Example: You’re starting a new personal coaching service for corporate 50+ year old males. You’ve worked in the corporate world for 5 years, and you know about the logistics and challenge to get to the gym. This knowledge is a strength. Example 2: A less complicated example would be if you had 500+ connections on LinkedIn – the strength is a strong LinkedIn presence As an audit tool (previous marketing performed): When using the SWOT as an audit tool, think of the outcomes from your marketing and where you stood out from the crowd those are strengths Example: if you were using  Facebook to drive traffic to an inbound marketing landing page, and you saw great results in terms of conversions- you could identify that you delivered a coherent message between platforms – your strength – understanding of your social community and how to communicate to them As you can see, to develop and identify strengths from previous marketing, you have to do some research and find out exactly what it was that was successful or failed – this is auditing A business strength example as the last two were heavily focused on personal marketing strength here’s a bu...

In session 4 of A Marketing Podcast I discuss developing your target audiences as part of your marketing strategy and how to build out each audience to help you develop your marketing mix later in the strategy. I help you understand how many audiences to develop and what factors determine if you should develop a potential audience or not. Session 4 Show Notes: Recap of Previous Sessions (related to strategy development): Session 2 – What a marketing strategy is and why you need one Session 3 – Establishing goals and objectives and how they are different and work together You have more than one target audience! Every business I’ve worked with has had more than one target audience. I try to find one, but as you can see even a shaving razor company has multiple target audiences The example was: Clearly for men who like to shave -bearded guys need not apply However, wouldn’t it be a cool present from a girlfriend or wife to their significant other? And therein lies the other audience we need to develop Harrys.com shavers  Make sure to consider if additional target audiences are viable for marketing within your strategies period It’s not about developing as many target audiences as you can, it’s about identifying your target audiences that pose a real potential to be marketed to. Identifying your target audiences I like to start with these two categories to develop audiences for my strategies. Current Customers First off look at your current customers But don’t just look at their customer records, call them, survey them, talk to them, see where they hang out and what made them choose your product or service Potential Customers Brainstorm on customers that you may not have yet but could benefit from your product. Create a list of potential customers and keep the ones that you feel are viable for marketing efforts within this strategic period Don’t get rid of the audiences that didn’t make the cut this time round, they may be valuable at a later date. As a side note, understanding your target audiences by product or service may help you develop additional audiences or clarify some that you’ve already considered. Developing your target audiences – the details * Give the audience a name something like “Middle age dudes” Or female teenyboppers * Description age range, Sex Hobbies Professions Summary of the audience will work as well – my examples for A Marketing Podcast use more summary then demographic. Example for “Middle age dudes” – 45-55 year old males who shave and typically have white collar jobs in suburban areas * Where are they Where you can reach this audience with your marketing efforts The more intimate you can be with the location and channel the more chance you have to convert * Messaging for this audience Develop the general tone and speech to use for this audience You are not developing copy to place in your marketing design right now, just figuring out the way to talk to this audience from a personal feeling point of view Remember your brand’s voice when developing this detail as that should come through regardless of how your audience would prefer to be communicated to Meaning if your brand is a little cheeky then include that for each audience For example one of harrys.com audience is 20,30,40 year old men. Talking to them means being direct and informative whilst still ke...