Everyone’s business needs a solid foundation on which to survive, strengthen and grow. Each foundation will differ due to the nature of the business, but will or at least should, consist of the following: a business plan, marketing plan and stringent financial control as a minimum. Your business plan and marketing plan need not be scary, if you imagine your business plan is ‘who and what’ then your marketing plan is the ‘how’.
In the same way, the marketing plan needs to be formed of a solid platform, a cohesive range of activities. If one imagines a building supported by only one wall or pillar, it cannot stand. In the same way, your marketing plan should consist of both online and offline activities. Social Media is now a must to avoid marginalising your business opportunities (be careful of course, to choose the right one most appropriate to your products and services, your customers and whether you are Business to Business (B2B) or Business to Customer (B2C). But, assuming its not solely an online business, will require additional activity to support and strengthen, including networking.
Your website, whether a brochure site or e-commerce needs traffic. And that traffic can be directed a number of ways, through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click campaigns (PPC) obviously, but also by PR, advertising, radio, direct mail, customer relationship management, customer service, feedback and testimonials, and outdoor activity such as poster sites, bus backs, hospitality and events. If you are using Social Media, ensure that people can find you by including the icon links on your website.
Ensure your activity is consistent in terms of messaging but also look and feel. Confusion will create unnecessary uncertainty amongst your customer base. So whether a letter, invoice, piece of direct mail or visiting your website, your customer needs to understand who you are, what you do and what you can do for them. And finally, make it easy for them to get in touch! Ensure your details are presented simply and cleanly on all communications, whether online or offline.
I hope this little snapshot will prove useful and please do get in touch with your comments! You can find me on twitter @thealisonpage or via my own blog www.alisonpagemarketing.co.uk/blog.
I’m absolutely delighted that Alison Page has written a ‘guest post’ for my website; we’ve only known each other for 12 months, or perhaps less, but I have a great respect for her both personally and professionally, so thanks for making the effort Alison!
We have amassed a small number of joint clients over the past year and regularly demonstrate how well traditional marketing works alongside online activities. For those of you who aren’t fortunate enough to be using our services, then she has some great tips!
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For those of you who liked this blog post, you might also be interested to read this article: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/02/23/facebook-may-be-worst-option-for-consumer-engagement/.
Thanks for the post, insightful .
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