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Our Approach Let's Get RESULTS! Strategic marketing and marketing strategy are meaningless terms to most small and medium business owners. There is no time for brainstorming sessions and no money for facilitators and fancy plan documents. Everybody is too busy working to improve the bottom line—increasing revenues and decreasing costs—to place any importance on “strategy” when it comes to marketing activities. Getting the brochure done, putting a web site in place and keeping it maintained, and sending out an email newsletter—those are things that will produce immediate results, and are therefore more important to dedicate resources toward than activities around “strategic marketing planning.”
But wait. I am not saying that business-oriented marketing strategy isn’t necessary. Without some sort of planning, the brochure, web site, and newsletter are created as separate items with no similarity in look or content and no tie-in to overall business objectives. Costs are often high in dollars and time while results are low. It can be frustrating to look at the income and expense statement, see all those marketing dollars on the expense side with no upswing in revenue to associate with those costs. You do need some kind of marketing strategy, but it had better be focused on driving revenues and it had better be tied to measurable results. Service companies rely on communication to snag the markets' interest. Written and verbal communication of the "one to many" variety is the keystone of services marketing, and the basis for any marketing strategy. Speaking engagements, online and live seminars, downloadable reports and white papers, print and electronic newsletters--these are just a few examples of the communication vehicles that form part of a marketing strategy and program. Well thought out and executed programs that "get the word out about us" need to get your market's attention and grease the wheels for sales. Executing quickly and cost-effectively relies on two key skill areas:
Services marketing can't be done without both of these skills in spades. And 4-R offers both at whatever level you need, always at top quality and of high value to your business. And we measure. How will you know that your investment is paying off, that you are getting the attention of the right people, that your voice is really being heard in the marketplace? Though measuring the effectiveness of marketing programs can be difficult, it is not impossible. We design projects and initiatives with results in mind, and incorporate metrics that will serve as indicators of success. Those metrics tell us whether we are on the right path or if something needs to change--before all the money gets spent! Do you want to have
confidence that your marketing efforts are paying off? |
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