The "Austerity Marketing Challenge" (or how to make more impact with less).
Test yourself with ten questions in ten minutes.
The economy may be out of recession (…just!) but we live in austere times. The economic outlook, though not as bleak as it once was, is fragile and there's plenty to rock the boat in 2010 (take post election government cutbacks, rising inflation and rising interest rates for starters).
As customers or clients we’ve all picked up prudent buying habits in this recession and look set to keep them for a while longer whether at home or in business. Marketing should be the motor for growth in the business but will have to work harder than ever to win people over. Call it “Austerity Marketing”; more marketing impact from less budget.
So if you already have more budget and more business than you know what to do with, then read no further (…hey, take an early lunch!). But if you need to do more with what you’ve got, try this austerity marketing challenge – you could unlock more than you realise!
For a bit of extra fun why not score your business on these questions? If you answer a question “Yes, absolutely” then award 10 points. Alternatively, if the answer is “Sort of” its 5 points, “Thinking about it” 1 point, and “No” is 0 points.
Have fun.
Q1. Do you have a marketing plan?
OK, it might seem obvious but not everyone does have a plan. Perhaps you are running a business and know its something you ought to get round to but other “priorities” get in the way. Don’t let the competition get a better start off the blocks than you, get a plan. As my friend Sean says "Running a business without marketing is like winking at a girl in the dark; you know what you’re doing, but nobody else does."
Q2. Does your marketing plan power the business?
The priorities of the business must be the priorities of the marketing plan – marketing that targets the key customers, channels, distributors or end users, and focuses on the products or services to deliver profitable growth. I see many examples of marketing operating in ‘splendid isolation’ from the business priorities. Marketing time, effort and money is a limited resource, make it count.
Q3. Do you set goals for your marketing effort and investment?
You’ll see there’s a theme running here. Stuff that seems obvious but we don’t always do it. Does your plan have clear marketing goals and objectives? Does it deliver the results needed to drive business performance. These might include measures for brand awareness, lead generation, customer loyalty, order values, product trial, enquiries. Invest in results and avoid the “hit and hope” approach.
Q4. And do you measure marketing performance?
So you’ve set the goals, but do you monitor the actual results or is that plan neatly tucked away at the bottom of the drawer? These results can inform your next round of decisions. If it works, do more. If not, stop it.
Q5. Do you test and learn?
When you decide where to allocate resource, does your plan allow you to test campaigns first before they are launched fully? Testing ideas, and messages or running test sample campaigns on activities such as mail shots or e-marketing will help improve effectiveness, and before too much money is spent.
Q6. Do you have flexibility in the plan?
A plan is just that, a plan of anticipated activity, but circumstances and your understanding of what works will change. Does your plan retain the flexibility to adjust marketing effort as the year unfolds? Can you put more into what works and pull back on what doesn’t or are you committed from day one?
Q7. Is your plan well “paced”?
Customers, distributors, sales teams and colleagues in the business feed off marketing activity. Long periods of marketing “silence” can quickly undermine the best campaigns. Front-loaded and the plan leaves a vacuum later in the year, back-loaded and it could be too late to deliver business impact. Does your plan deliver a spread of activity through the year to keep your business or brand front of mind?
Q8. Is the plan focused and efficient or spread too thin?
Look closely at the activity planned. Are there too many activities delivering too little impact? Have you inherited campaigns that no longer matter or repeating campaigns out of habit? If you had just half the time or money for marketing, what are the things you would keep? Do you have projects or activities that aren’t delivering results that you can stop? Doing fewer things better can unlock resource and deliver more cut through (see notes on ‘pace later’)
Q9. Do others buy the plan?
Whether you are running the business or running the marketing operation does your plan have the support of the team around you? The leaders that will back it, the people that will make it a success (e.g. customer service, sales, frontline teams) and the team that need to deliver the plan.
Q10. Does your marketing energise the business?
Marketing activity can energise the entire business and help create a greater sense of pride and satisfaction beyond those directly involved. A ‘bunker mentality’ (launching campaigns without engaging the wider business) is wasteful. Involving others will make campaigns more effective and deliver more impact. Do you ‘pre-sell’ marketing campaigns internally before launch? Try it and you won't be disappointed.