Start with strategy.
Marketing adds value when tactics support the company’s vision and mission. If the organization doesn’t have a clear business strategy and a marketing strategy that aligns with that overall plan, or if each tactic is not aligned with the company’s goals, the effort could be a waste of resources.
Effective strategy clearly identifies high-level goals and helps employees to know where the company is heading and where they fit. If your company needs a fresh look at strategy, read more about our services and results on our website.
Know what you are measuring.
Effective teams measure success. However, just because a goal has a number associated with it does not mean that number is adding value to the business. To better align each tactic with the company’s strategy, ask yourself what the end-goal is for each tactic and establish both input and output metrics. Input metrics are numbers you have complete control over, i.e. behaviors. The majority of metrics are output metrics and they measure results.
Knowing what you are measuring will help you identify successful behaviors and results. Below are some examples:
- Goal: Lead generation
- Tactic: Increase Twitter followers by x each month (output metric).
- Tactic: Grow e-news distribution list with x opt-ins each week (output metric).
- Goal: Partnerships
- Tactic: Attain x new sponsorships this fiscal year (output metric).
- Goal: Customer Satisfaction
- Tactic: Respond to each Google review within x hours (input metric).
- Tactic: Text a satisfaction survey to each customer within x hours after purchase (input metric).
- Goal: Website tracking
- Tactic: Decrease bounce rate to x percent on home page (output metric).
- Tactic: Increase number of conversions to x per month (output metric).
- Goal: Increase visibility
- Tactic: Post x blogs per month and x social posts per week (input metric).
Plan your work, work your plan.
Before executing, design a plan. Below are some questions to help you get started:
- What is the goal of each tactic (lead generation, partnerships, etc.)?
- Who is responsible for getting it done?
- What is the level of difficulty (Low, Medium, High)?
- What is the impact to the organization (Low, Medium, High)?
- What will each tactic cost?
Once you have developed a marketing action plan that aligns with the company’s business strategy and marketing strategy, then you are ready to implement. Make sure you track the status of each tactic on the plan, and communicate the results of your marketing efforts.
If you would like help with maximizing marketing for your company, contact us by emailing consulting@butler.edu or calling 317-940-6517.