Over the years I have been amazed at the variations in how efficiently marketing departments are run. Marketing is critical to the growth of your business and there are ways to do more with less. Here are seven tips for running a lean, mean marketing machine.
1. Have a great website: Yes, it’s 2015 and everyone has a website, but if you spend any time on the Internet, you know there is the good, the bad and the ugly. Make sure you have others review your website and use their feedback to optimize its design. Seek customer input frequently. Don’t forget to make it easy for customers to find your contact information and product information. Amazingly, not all sites do.
A great website will have an amazing return on investment and help grow your business. A poor website could drive customers away and towards your competition. Spend the time to have a great website. You will be richly rewarded.
2. Use email marketing: Email marketing is one of the lowest-cost forms of communicating with your customers. You can write about tips, advice, new products and anything else your customer’s would be interested in.
Create content that engages your customers. Use a “less is more” approach and only send out emails when you have developed useful content. If there is no one on your team that can write a newsletter, hire a ghost writer. It is well worth the cost when you consider the expense of traditional advertising. Make sure your emails and newsletters look and sound professional and that you allocate resources to develop good content on a regular basis.
3. Be efficient at trade shows: Trade shows can be a fantastic way to find new customers, or they can be a money pit. Trade shows are often one of the biggest line items in your marketing budget. Be sure your team carefully controls costs to ensure efficiency. One area to focus on is to be careful you don’t send too many employees.
Additionally, you should carefully track what sales are driven over time as a result of customers you meet at a show. If there is no evidence of driving business, carefully consider if you should be attending in the future.
4. Distribute press releases: Make sure that someone on your team is trained to write press releases and then distribute them to local media and industry trade journals. Press releases may, or may not, get picked up by various media, but any exposure you get is basically free.
5. Understand your target audience: To run an effective, but lean marketing organization it is essential you understand and engage your key target audience. If your target audience is public utilities, spending money on local television ads will reach many “eyeballs,” but it would be a very inefficient way of targeting your potential customers.
The more you can learn about who your key target audience is and how to reach them, the more efficiently you can deploy your marketing dollars.
6. Be careful of retainers: If you’re utilizing an agency that requires a large retainer, make sure you train your staff on how to minimize billable hours.
Your costs can increase exponentially if your team is making frequent contact in these situations. Paying per job may be a better option and help control costs.
7. Give back to the community: I have always believed in giving back. Not only is it the right thing to do, but your employees will feel good. This also positions your company in a very positive way.
Using these tips and other ideas, you can run a lean, mean marketing machine. Remember to develop ways to measure results, so you understand what works.
As with anything else, strive for continuous improvement and reap the rewards.
Andy Singer is the president of Singer Executive Development, a professional training and development company that helps optimize business performance of employees and executives. He can be reached at andy.singer@singerexecutivedevelopment.com.
