4.02.09 Teleclass Doing Your Best Marketing In The Worst Of Times

Alyssa Dver, CPM & CPMM

Author, “No Time Marketing”

Doing Your Best Marketing in the Worse of Times

@ 2009 Alyssa S. Dver

Ms. Marketing

• Author of:• No Time Marketing: small

business-sized steps in 30 minutes or less

• Software Product Management Essentials

• Chief Executive, Mint Green Marketing, www.mintgreenmktg.com

• Contributor to: Forbes, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur, Promo, Readers Digest, Software Magazine, etc.

• 2007 BusinessWeek Female Entrepreneur to Watch


Agenda

1. Why doing ‘good’ marketing is hard in any economic climate

2. Clarification about what marketing is and what it should be doing for your business

3. A step-by-step “no time” method to build a solid, defendable marketing plan

4. Realistic checks and balances – both short and long term


Sound familiar?

“What has marketing done for me lately?” “Marketing is a necessary evil.” “We have no good leads.” “Marketing is a cost center, not a revenue

generator.” “Anyone can do marketing. Its intuitive.” “The Internet makes it so easy and affordable to

do marketing.” “Marketing is a luxury we can’t afford.”


Modern Marketing

1 x 1 marketing

LinkedIn Groups

Second Life

Affiliate Marketing

Tipping Points

Chasms

Permission marketing

Clickthroughs

Mobile adsFlash demos

Track backs

SEOTwitter

Facebook

Blogs

Opt in/Opt out

Customer relationships

Loyalty programs

Virtual events

Corporate responsibility

Web video

AdWords

Landing pagesMavens

YouTube


Misleading Marketing Measurements


Downmarket Doubts


Manic Marketing

“I should do marketing”

I shouldn’t do marketing”






Maxed Out Marketing


Today’s goal: calm, confident marketing


Marketing Definition

Marketing identifies, attracts, fosters and retains qualified

sales leads.

Marketing Objective:

…profitably find prospects and then help them make efficient buying decisions.


The No Time Cure

Step 1: do a marketing inventory

Step 2: fill in the missing blanks

Step 3: develop powerful positioning and messaging

Step 4: validate pricingStep 5: acquire new leadsStep 6: foster leadsStep 7: create a defendable

marketing plan Step 8: refine plan over time


Step 1: 30 Magic Questions – Your Marketing Inventory


Section 1: Your Prospects & Customers

1a. B to B or B to C? • Size: revenue, # of employees• Type of companies: industry, public/private,

domestic/international, franchised/wholly owned, for -profit or non-profit, etc.

1b. Who buys/approves?• job title (including homemaker, student, unemployed),

gender, age, income and education level, professional and personal interests

1c. Who uses? Same or different than buyer? • job title, gender, age, professional and personal interests

1d. Who participates in the purchase decision? Are there multiple people or a committee?

• role each person plays1e. What other types of people, companies, or industries would

you like to sell to? • Why


Section 2: The Buying Process

2a. Steps prospects go through evaluating • Talk with people inside your company? • Use your website or other marketing collateral?

2b. How long to a yes or no decision?2c. Requests for proposals (RFPs) or other formal

methods of evaluation?2d. References or other purchasing input?

• When in the buying cycle is this required?2e. Product demonstrations

• Run on their own or done by a company representative?

2f. Trial period or return policy? Warranty? 2g. Part of prospect’s budgeting process?2h. How often win ? Why do you lose?


Section 3: Your Marketing Channels

3a. Media - magazines, websites, blogs, newsletters, TV, radio are prospects (users, influencers and buyers) reading or watching?

3b. Read/watch at work (during work time) or at home (on their own time)?

3c. Tradeshows?3d. Associations?3e. Industry analysts, other thought leaders?


Section 4: Your Competition

4a. Similar products or services?4b. Other ways to accomplish the same thing?

• manually or using other tools? • Why is it better to use a product or service like the

one you offer?4c. Replace existing solution or new budget money

required?4d. Why are you a better value to a prospect?4e. Your company and product /service weaknesses 4f. What happens to prospects if they don’t use your’s?

• Risk liabilities?4g. Priced competitively?

• Relative to competitors’? • Relative to manual or substitute solutions?

4h. Admire any of your competitors’ products/services or their marketing techniques?

• Why?


Section 5:Your Market

5a. Key trends in your market today • 3-5 years?

5b. Market crowded?• Must you educate?

5c. Short- and long-term market share goals?5d. What does your company want to be known for?


Step 2: Obtaining the missing answers


Step 3 : Develop powerful positioning and messaging

For [describe target customers/businesses][Your Company] provides

[Describe product/service in layman terms]

that

[The benefit of using your product/service instead of alternative means to address the problem].

Unlike other solutions, our product [compared to the competition, describe why your offering is uniquely valuable].

A positioning statement says what you provide, why is it the best, who it benefits and how.


Messaging Exercises

1. List the words that you want people to use when describing your company: (e.g. innovative, inexpensive, quality, smart, organized, etc.)

2. If you could pick any celebrity (alive or dead, real or fictional, Hollywood, literary, political – essentially, someone well known to the public) to be your company spokesperson, who would it be and why? Describe the qualities that make them ideal to hypothetically represent your product or service.

3. What other companies (in any industry) do you feel have the same or similar attitude or look and feel as yours or that you would like to be more like? Why?


Step 4: Validate pricing

PriCCCCing• Cost (margin)• Competition (market position)• Customers (elasticity)• Change (maintenance)


Step 5: Acquire new leads push marketing

* Require lead lists

• Advertising• Direct mail *• Internet Mail/newsletters *• Media/PR• Face-to-face seminars *• Tradeshows, conferences, associations• Webinars & teleseminars *• Telemarketing *• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)• Frequent Buyer and Customer Loyalty Programs• Referral Programs• Etc…..


Step 6: Foster leads pull marketing

• Brochures• Data/spec or information sheets• Whitepapers and briefs• Website(s)• Blogs, online discussion groups• Videos• Customer Case studies• Cost and ROI tools• Demos• Presentations• Email and phone call follow-ups• Etc…


Tracking leads – relationship building & resource allocation

• Sources• Next steps• Elapsed time• Escalation process• Closed vs. dead leads• Etc…


Step 7: Create a defendable marketing planPresent, don’t write!


Step 8: Refine plan over time

• Monitor what is working• Maintain marketing intelligence

• Google alerts• Media read time: Analysts distribution; newsletters• Advisory board• Selective conference and association attendance• Set quota of customer/prospect interactions

• Do an annual marketing plan review


Final thoughts

[email protected]

Twitter @notimemarketing

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4.02.09 Teleclass Doing Your Best Marketing In The Worst Of Times

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Transcript of 4.02.09 Teleclass Doing Your Best Marketing In The Worst Of Times