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Getting Started: Creating Your Marketing Strategy

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Sales, Marketing . . . What’s the difference?

• Marketing

> Roadmap

> Reach and persuasion

> 4 P’s

> Awareness, Qualified Leads

> Long term view

• Sales

> Vehicle

>Close the deal

> 6 Steps

>Revenue

> Short term view

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Why build a marketing plan?

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Why build a marketing plan?

5

Why build a marketing plan?

6

Why build a marketing plan?

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Why build a marketing plan?

Downloaded from Flickr, Does Fanta taste better in plastic? Tim Kiser

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So what would your billboard say?

Downloaded from Flickr, Blank Billboard, mediaboytodd

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Getting Started

Why SWOT?

•Set the baseline of knowledge

•Find the gaps

•Determine positioning and messaging

•Prioritize opportunities

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Getting Started

Who should be in the SWOT?

•The front line

•The executive team

Who else should you SWOT?

•Your competitors

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Bio Tile Grout & Restoration - SWOT

Attributes stated in the Bio Tile case are for example only and may not be factual.

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Bio Tile Grout & Restoration

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Voice of the Customer

In-depth Interviews with Customers & Industry Experts

• Discover if your perceptions of your business is on track

• Discover how the competition compares

• Discover your strengths that really set you apart

• Discover areas for improvements

• Discover the needs and supplier attributes your customers are looking for

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Voice of the Customer

Who should conduct them?

• You should ask

• But a 3rd party should conduct the interview

How many interviews and what type of customers?

• 6 to 8

• Happy and not-so-happy customers

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Swimming with Information

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Pull out the unique strengths, the must-fix weaknesses, and the best revenue generating opportunities

SWOT Key Highlights•Internal SWOT•Customer interviews•Expert interviews•Secondary research

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Sweet Spot

• Businesses that require “real clean” or sanitization

• Willing to pay for a real clean because it is important to their business and their customers

• Public needs to perceive a “hygienic” clean

Downloaded from Flickr, Dare, Kristene

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Key Components of a Marketing Plan – Next Steps

1. Prioritize Your Opportunities

2. Study the Target Audience

3. Determine Needs/Features/Benefits

4. Define Your Value

5. Establish Your Positioning

6. Craft your Key Messages Downloaded from Flickr, Marketing Plan and 2HPDA setup, Ema Studios

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1. Prioritize Your Opportunities

Name of Opportunity

Size of Opportunity(Deal size $, Number of deals)

Strategic Fit (see SWOT)

Critical Success Factors

Inter-relationship with other opportunities

Ranking

Healthcare High High ID administrators Also day care and animal care

1

Residential Med Low Upscale homes 6

Schools High High Approved vendor listRed tape

2

Municipal High High ID decision makersRed tape

3

Retail Small Low Corporate approval

5

Lobbies – Hotels, Banks, Theaters

High Med ID Property Manager

4

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2. Get to know your audience and never forget them

DemographicsFirmographicsPsychographics•Attitudes•Behaviors•Lifestyles

Break the wall of distraction

Focus on the selected opportunity

Target the messaging

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3. Needs – Features - Benefits

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4. Value Proposition

Bio Tile’s Deep Clean leading edge, bio-friendly process kills twice as much

bacteria as soap and water

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What makes a good value proposition?

• Weak Value Propositions

> It's the most technologically advanced and robust system on the market.

>We improve communication and morale.

>We offer training classes in a wide variety of areas.

>My product was rated the best-in-class by leading authorities

So what?

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What makes a good value proposition?

• Strong value propositions deliver tangible results like:

> Increased revenues

> Faster time to market

> Decreased costs

> Improved operational efficiency

> Increased market share

> Decreased employee turnover

> Improved customer retention levels

Think numbers.

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5. Positioning

The Battle For Your MindTrout & Reis

A product’s position is the place it occupies in the

customer’s mind.

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Effective positioning

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Positioning

The Process

1. Identify competing products or services

2. Identify the attributes or dimensions that define the product space

3. Understand how customers perceive each product in the product space

4. Determine share of mind

5. Determine your sweet spot, your positioning

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Positioning Grid

Affordable

General cleaning

Flexible

Specialist in tile

Sanitizing

Service Master

Acme

Tile Cleaners

Independent janitorial service

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Positioning Formula

• OUR [offering]• IS THE ONLY [category]• THAT [benefit].

What makes a good positioning statement?

•Unique

•Narrow

•Affordable

•Durable

•Believable

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A Tag Line – Is it necessary?

A tag line should support your value proposition and positioning.

>Who are your customers?

>What benefits do you give your customers?

>What feelings do you want to evoke?

>What action are you trying to generate?

>How are you different from your competition?

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Bio Tile Tag Line

More than clean

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6. Key Messages

• Bolster your positioning with supporting claims

• Reinforce the importance, uniqueness, and the believability of the positioning

• Support, don’t distract from the positioning>Common mistake: positioning on one thing and

sending price as the key message

• Benefit oriented – use your Needs/Features/Benefits table

• Use the Rule of 3

• KISS – “short and simple”

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Marketing Speak

• "Gunther Gore; horse thief. Sent to Tennessee Prison 1883, escaped 1887. Robbed the Tennessee Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889."

Downloaded from Flickr, Cowboy, Stoneth

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Marketing Speak

• "Gunther Gore was a famous cattleman in early Tennessee history. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Tennessee railroad company. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave to resume his business enterprise with the railroad. In 1887 he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889 Gunther regrettably died suddenly during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform on which he was standing collapsed."

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In Summary, what do we have?

What We Do – Positioning Statement

Who We Serve – Target Audience(s)

How Customers’ Benefit – Value Profile

Identity

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Let’s talk

• The Break Room at amfambusinessaccelerator.com

• Blogging

>Growth Coach Forum

>Small Business Right Now

Extra!Creative Brief

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Let’s share

Share your experience. Upload your photos and

videos.