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Effective Channel Strategy
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Creating a Kick-ass Marketing Strategy: Find the Right Channels For your Message and Win

Jan 13, 2015

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Take a look at TSC's newest classified brief — Creating a Kick-ass Marketing Strategy: Find the Right Channels for Your Message and Win. In this brief, you'll learn:
• Why an effective channel strategy gives you a competitive edge
• Which channels could help you reach your audience
• How to find the right channels through research, experimentation and tracking
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Page 1: Creating a Kick-ass Marketing Strategy: Find the Right Channels For your Message and Win

Effective Channel Strategy

Page 2: Creating a Kick-ass Marketing Strategy: Find the Right Channels For your Message and Win

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People consume marketing messages at an alarming rate — almost 3,000 messages and ads per day.1 We also filter most of that. We’ve turned into advertising zombies, numb to all the bright colors, catchy songs and stylized packaging shouting, “Buy me!!!”

Soifyourcompanyisgoingtogetsomeone’sattention,youhave

tohaveacompellingmessage.Andnotjustacompellingmessage,

butacompellingmessageintherightplace.Justlikerealestate,it’s

allaboutlocation,location,location—whichiswhyatargetedchannel

strategywillhelpyourmessagecutthroughthenoise.

Havingtherightchannelstrategyhelpsyoubettertarget

potentialbuyersandengagewiththerightaudience.Andwhenthe

bossmanaskshowyou’respendingyourbudget,youcanproveROI

becauseyouhaveachannelstrategythat’sbuilttobemeasuredfor

performance.

Tostartthinkingaboutchannelcommunications,youneedto

knowwhatchannelsareoutthereanddeterminewhichoneswillhelp

youreachyouraudience.Whenyouknowthat,developingakick-ass

strategywillbeeasy.

Creating a KiCK-ass MarKeting strategy: Find the right Channels For your Message and Win

1 Hagel,John,IIIandSinger,Marc.NetWorth:ShapingMarketsWhenCustomersMaketheRules.1999.

http://www.businessweek.com/chapter/hagel.htm

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Knowingthatmessagesaregettingfiltered,youhaveto

changeyourstrategytomeetpeoplewherethey’reat.It’llhelp

youtargetmoreeffectively.Youalsodon’twanttostartspending

yourbudgetlikeyou’rebuyingticketsforthelottery,andtargeting

yourchannelswillhelpyouinvestbetter.Herearesomechannels

thatmighthelpyoureachyouraudience:

»» Print»advertising:»Printhasn’tgoneoutofstyle.People

stillpickupmagazinesandnewspapers,evenifit’sjustat

theairportorthehairsalon.Peoplestilldrivebybillboards.

Pinterestusersareevensharingadsontheirboards.There

arelotsofwaystostilluseprintadvertisingandgettothe

rightaudience.

»» Display»advertising:»Onlinebanneradsaregettingmore

creative,butpeoplearen’talwayswillingtoclick.Web

adsneedtobecompellingandinteresting.Onetwiston

banneradvertisingismagazineandnewspaperapps—you

canextendaprintad’smessageontoaniPadapp.It’san

opportunitytobringastaticadtolife.

»» Video»and»commercial»development:»Everyonewantstheir

videotogoviral,andthepromiseofaviralvideoseemslike

abetterreturnthanpayingtorunacommercialonTV.Yet

companiesstillshellout$4millionfor30secondsofairtime

duringtheSuperBowl.Interestingvideos,onYouTubeor

ABC,arewhatpeoplewanttosee.Streamingserviceslike

Huluareanotherwaytoreachtargetedaudienceswith

commercials.

»» Direct»marketing:»Today,consumersarenolongerrandom

namesonalist.Masscustomizationhasmadeiteasy

forcompanieslikeAmazonorTargettosendemailswith

productrecommendationsrelevanttoyourinterests.Direct

marketingisexpectedtohavesomelevelofcustomization,

andthatcustomizationmeanstherecipientismorelikelyto

openyouremail,letterortext.(Butbecarefulnottogetall

BigBrotheronyourreaders—don’tover-customize.)Events

canalsoliveindirectmarketing,andifyou’redoingthem

right,you’llalwayshaveanattendeelistforfollow-up.

»» Social»media»marketing:»Socialmediaisauniquechannel

becauseit’salayerontopofmarketingcommunications.

YourcompanymaynothaveaFacebookpage,butsomeone

istalkingaboutyourbrandonFacebook.Socialchannels

bringyourcontenttogetherwithuser-generatedcontent

—peoplecommentonyourblogposts,shareyourwhite

papersandrespondtoyourwebinars.Tweeting,likingand

sharingmakemarketingaconversationwithyouraudience.

»» Search»marketing:»Searchisintegratedintoallofyour

contentdevelopment.Ifyouwritewebsitecopy,youhaveto

thinkofsearch.Whenyouwriteablogpost,thinkofsearch.

PayingforkeywordscanhelpyourSEO,butyoualsoneedto

developinterestingcontent.Ifyourblogpostisastringof

meaninglesskeywords,you’llbedingedforthatbyGoogle.

Instead,makesureyou’rethinkingoftherightmessages

(withtherightkeywords),andwritewhatpeoplewantto

read.

»» Partners»and»alliances:»Usingpartnersandresellerscan

makeiteasyforyoutoextendyourofferingsintodifferent

markets.Butpartnermarketingcanbetricky,soyou’llhave

tobeveryspecificaboutthebrandandmessageguidelines

youwantothercompaniesorresellerstofollow.Foryour

channelstrategytobeassuccessfulaspossible,work

continuouslywiththesepartnerstomakesureeveryone

understandsmarketinggoalsandguidelines.

Thesearesomebigbucketsthatincludelotsofindividual

channels.Youmightalsohaveamodeofcommunicationthatfits

intoacoupleofthesechannelstrategies—mobiledistributionmight

havesomedisplayadvertisingaswellasusingtextmessagesfor

directmarketing.

Asyouevaluateyourchanneloptionsanddecidewhich

channelstouse,putthemintoclassificationssoyoucandetermine

whichmessagesbelonginwhichchannels.Youcanthenfocuson

developingyourstrategy.

you’ve got to KnoW the Channels

Those 3,000 messages we consume each day are coming at us from a wide range of sources. We don’t even think of those messages as advertising anymore. For example, the Google ads at the top of search results are pretty much just results to us, not ads.

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noW get the right Channels For youSelecting the right channels for your company’s message is going to include some trial and error, as well as a lot of research. The idea is not to eliminate a channel forever — especially when things change so quickly — but instead to prioritize where you’ll put your focus. Targeting should help you use your resources and budget more effectively.

Todetermineifachannelisrightforyourcompany,youcan:

»» Survey»your»audience:»Noteveryonelikestoparticipatein

surveys,butifyouhaveaccesstoalistofcustomers,you

canalwaysaskthemwhattheythink.Findingoutwhatthey

read,whichsitestheyvisitandwhatinformationtheyshare

couldhelpyouselectoreliminatechannels.Forexample,if

youraudienceisn’tusingTwitter,don’tspendlotsofmoney

pursuingaTwitterstrategyjustyet.Perhapsfocuson

LinkedIn.

»» Check»out»your»competitors:»You’renotlookingtobea

copycat,butyourcompetitorsshouldbemakingitclear

whatkindsofchannelsthey’reusing.Payingattentionis

reallyimportant.Youcanthendecidenotonlyifyouneed

tobepresentinthesamechannelbutalsohowtomake

yourmessagestandout.

»» Try»new»things:»Socialmediaisfullofexamplesofwebsites

thatbecamefads—thesesitesstartedwithalotofhype

andthenfizzledout.Notallsharingsiteswillbecome

Facebook,buttherecouldbeblogsorcommunitiesthatare

newerandwillingtoworkwithyouonadvertisingrates.

Youcanalsoshakeupyoureventmarketing—insteadof

attendingthesameol’conferences,hostafoodtrucktour.

Experientialmarketingcouldbeexactlywhatyouraudience

islookingfor.

»» Track»your»results:»Notallchannelsmakeiteasytorun

analyticsreportsorseeexactlyhowyourdollarswere

spent.Establishkeyperformanceindicators(KPIs)before

yousendmessagesorcontentthroughachannel.Some

KPIsmighthavetobequalitativemeasuresinsteadof

quantitative,butfindwaysyoucanmeasureoutcomes.As

youtrackresults,comparethemwithyourmarketinggoals.

Ifthechannelwasabust,determinewhetherperformance

canbeimprovedorifit’stimetomoveon.Ifachannel

becameamajorleadgenerator,youknowyoucanfocus

youreffortsthere.

Thiswillbeacontinuousprocess,sodedicatingtimeto

regularlyupdateyourchannelstrategywillensurethatyou’re

alwaysusingthemosteffectivechannelsforyourmessage.

iF the Channel is a bust: Determine whether performance can be improveD or if it’s time to move on.

iF a ChannelKiCKs ass: You know You can focus Your efforts there.

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evaluate your Channels noWOnce you’ve taken a look at the channels you use and assessed whether they’re right for you, it’s time to upgrade your strategy. When you’re ready to take that step, schedule an evaluation with The Starr Conspiracy. We’ll review the messages currently being distributed across your channels and determine if you’re reaching your audience in the most effective way possible. Then we’ll talk about what you can do to make your channel strategy kick some ass.

ContaCt us today: [email protected] or 817-204-0400. About The Starr Conspiracy

Youshouldn’thavetopayanagencyfortheprivilegeoflearningaboutyourindustry.

TheStarrConspiracyalreadyknowsyourmarketsegment,whoyouareandwhere

youfitin.Weareastrategicmarketingandadvertisingagencydevotedexclusively

toenterprisesoftwareandservices.Whenyoupartnerwithus,it’stobuildmarket

share,multiplybrandawarenessanddrivesalesleads–nottoboneuponthebasics.

We’vebeen“outthere”formorethanadecadesothatyoucanhitthegroundrunning.

Foundedin1999andlocatedinFortWorth,TheStarrConspiracyhaswoneightbest

placestoworkawards,countlesscreativeawardsandmaintainsanetpromoterscore

of90%(higherthanApple).Onthewebatwww.thestarrconspiracy.com.