Build Your Brand - 8 Simple Rules for
Targeted Marketing
Probably one of the most critical components to any organization, when looking
at an outbound strategy, is defining a cohesive Marketing Plan. This can mean
different things to different organizations (and divisions of such), and likely might
be staggered to encompass different business objectives, i.e. product roll-outs,
channel strategies, VAR (value added reseller) strategies, vertical entry, brand
reinforcement, market communications, et al.
Whatever you are looking to accomplish, it is perhaps fair to say that Marketing is
often undervalued within your organization, with Marketing executives often
fighting with other departments to get the precious budgets needed to do their
jobs effectively. In particular, the worst offenders of this odd behavior seems to
be Engineering, Science and Financial related fields whom, more often than not,
end up wondering why (after the fact), late entry competitors have been able to
so quickly take market-share and \"snap at their proverbial heels!\"
For any organization that falls victim to the sensibility that 'Sales People' make
good 'Marketing People', here are some rules to live by.
01. Keep Your Marketing Plan Simple: For beginners, trying to accomplish too much
without understanding - and responding to - the dynamic shifts that come from
deploying market strategies, focus on developing a marketing plan that simply and
specifically answers who you are, what you do, who needs your services - or product(s) -
how you envision capturing their attention, and what tools you'll need to accomplish
this.
02. Focus, Focus, Focus: More often than not, organizations haven't truly narrowed their
view of what their customer looks like and responds to. Try to define your customer in
the most succinct way possible, and be able to communicate this to your sales team and
reseller partners in one or two sentences.

03. Define Your \"Sweet-Spot”: Another critical thing that businesses do wrong is that they
often attempt to cast-too-wide-a-net. In this current market, Marketers must define
what it is that they do well, and understand why their customers actually are their
customers, and not their competitor’s customers! If you are unable to answer this, my
suggestion is that you call 3 or 4 of your customers and ask them why they do business
with you, and what stands out about your products or services. Even better, take them
out to lunch as a group, you'll stimulate healthy debate and likely gain precious insights
on your competitors in the process. Once you have conducted field research, through
employing polling practices and focus groups, (however deep you decide go) craft a core
message, that quickly and directly differentiates your business from the competitors.
04. Create Educational Based Marketing and Sales Tools: It still amazes me that so many
businesses don't use their website, or make use of virtual presentation tools, to their
advantage. Leverage these tools! One of the immediate things I suggest readers do is to
assess your current company website. Ask yourself, does it quickly enable a prospective
customer to evaluate your organization and your offerings? Does it inspire them to
engage you further, seeking additional information? Can your sales team and partners
easily reference your website and guide prospects to core information (found posted on
the website) while speaking with them over the phone? Is there compelling and
downloadable sales documentation, reference, and resource material?
05. Employ Virtual Training / Webinars, \"If your customer won’t come to the fountain,
then bring them a glass to drink from\": I cannot stress enough the value of educating
and supporting your customer. For most organizations, repeat and/or referral business
will represent 30-40% of your overall revenues. Therefore, in tight economic markets,
catering to this portion of your business might very well be the delta between staying in
business, or going under! Some key and affordable practices that you can immediately
employ is to develop, and market, monthly or quarterly webinars that examine the
industry you cater towards, indentifies common pain-points, and offers solutions. If your
organization ships products, then perhaps the approach might be to develop free
downloadable, or hosted tutorials, conduct monthly virtual classroom sessions, etc.
Another good way to flex your marketing dollars is to provide training sessions at the
conferences you attend - directly at your booth. This strategy will entice customers to
engage in your business while they are attending the conference, get hands-on training,
and enable them to meet the folks behind the products. But it doesn't end there, if
you’re giving hands on training, it is very likely that word will spread, and potential
customers will start appearing to examine the product as well. Remember: building
confidence in your customer nearly always translates into revenue down the road.

06. Target The Way You Drive Sales: Think about the ways that you’re reaching out to your
customer. Make sure that the way you’re advertising is geared towards generating
prospects and not customers (lead generation). It is vital that you examine ways of
educating first and selling second. Your target audience is going to want to understand
how you provide them value in a way that is compelling enough to want to pay a
premium for the services or products offered. Only after you have educated your
market, can you expect to sell to your market. Lastly, sit with your team and define all
the avenues you can employ, to get your education based messaging into the hands and
minds or your narrowly defined target audience.
07. Develop Media and Analyst Attention: One of the best ways to get customers
interested in your company, products and services, is by getting other people
independently talking about you. Identify, and reach out to, reporters and analysts that
cover the marketplace you cater towards. Set up meetings and/or webinars with them.
Give them an open forum to experience and discuss your company, services and
perspective on the industry at large. Once you have developed these relationships then
market to them. Positioning yourself as a resource, by providing industry insights, will
almost certainly translate into regular coverage, where you have influenced the
message.
08. Create a Road Map: Okay, you have examined steps 1 through 7 and you have come up
with a solid plan, now what? By developing a road-map throughout the fiscal year, you
will be in the position to finally set milestones. With this, you will be able to determine
successful strategies and also examine the failures in a way that brings checks-and-
balances to how you spend marketing dollars. Hopefully from here onwards you’ll also
be in a position to build a more comprehensive set of tools. You’ll find you have increase
awareness that directly translates to market-share and increased revenue, and you’ll be
able to predict next year’s marketing costs in advance.
Contact: Joseph Oliver, Principal - Proxivision Media, LLC
Los Angeles: (310) 420.2265 І San Francisco (408) 421.0927
www.proxivision.net І www.proxivision.net/blog І info@proxivision.net
2008 client generated awards include: