Archive for Marketing Calendar
How I would Market your Company? – Step 1 of 10
Posted by: | CommentsYou want me to start marketing your company today. Here is what I would do:
-
Get all of the material you have and a list of all your listings and advertising you are running.
When I do this step, I am usually handed a tri-fold brochure, tons of product material, post cards, 4-color advertisements and a profile or two of the owner that was in the look business publication. I hold my breath and in the back of my mind, I think – They call this marketing! Why do I say that? More and more the concept of marketing is becoming about the connection with the customer. The material I receive is typically all outbound marketing material. Very little of it is in any way trying to create communication with their customer base. And very little of it if any of it directly relates to the customers buying process.
So, what do you do? My first step is to list their events on a calendar and post it to the wall. Look at my video on "How to make Marketing Calendar." It is a light hearted version of the process. After all the events are listed. I take the Marketing Funnel that we popularized in the Duct Tape Marketing Process. The Marketing funnel is depicted below. I take each of the pieces of literature and place it in one of the categories of Know, Like,Trust, etc. I directly relate each piece of the material see if it supports one of the steps in the funnel. If it does not support a step than what purpose does it actually serve? What typically happens is that most of the material ends up in the top of the funnel with very little of it being used in the bottom two-thirds.
So, what are we waiting for? Where does all you marketing material go?
2008 Marketing trends
Posted by: | CommentsHow does this influence your business in 2008?
A shift from traditional to alternative media
Based on an article by Kim T. Gordon for Entrepreneur.com, expect these trends in 2008:
But don’t jump to quick. Make sure before you ever click on a mouse or upgrade your web presence that you have a solid marketing plan in place and a marketing calendar. Without either you will make costly mistakes. Remember when you do change content you want it change from a static website to a dynamic style. If that is the case, who will be updating it next month?
Live by a Marketing Calendar
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the core principles of Duct Tape Marketing is to “Live by a Marketing Calendar.” I am going to write a series of blogs on this subject to expand on his concept. It is area that I feel that John Jantsch does not spend enough time in his book and proves to be valuable tool for most small businesses.
A simple idea on how to have a good one is to look at the people that use them to be successful. No, I am not talking Franklin Covey, I am talking someone that is using them for marketing and living by them, PUBLICATIONS. Go look at some media kits you have and evaluate what you like about them.
Here is why, they are simple and easy to read and they answer these questions:
1. Theme for each month = what
2. Material due dates = when
3. Mail dates = when
4. Types of material = how
5. Publication being used = where
6. Recipient = who
Oh yeah, it sounds like that Rudyard Kipling thing: “I keep six honest men. They taught me all I knew. Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.” I urge you to use these six men.
My Calendar is being updated continuously and is on my web page, take a look.
