Writing a marketing plan

 

The marketing plan is a vital part of any business, whether its small, medium, or a multi-national corporation. A marketing plan, if written, researched and planned correctly will allow you to give your marketing team a starting point from which to work their plan of action from.

 

A marketing plan not only gives to a starting point, but also allows you to chart your success and progress according to how you planned it out in the initial stages.

You will also be able to keep your eye on the ball with a well structured marketing plan, as it is sometimes difficult to remember the parts of your plan that are not directly linked to day to day operations; with a proper, documented plan, you can reflect on it at any time.

 

There are a few things to keep in mind before you start writing a marketing plan, and even so, you should give yourself a few months at least to get it done, or you will find yourself rushing the job and will be at risk of dropping the ball at key moments.

 

Firstly, remember that creating this plan will mean that your marketing team will, first and foremost, have to take a look at the internal structures of your marketing campaign to identify strengths and weaknesses. They will also need to evaluate the market that your company works in to identify trends in the market that you could capitalize on.

 

Once you have done your research and are able to begin the process of writing the plan, begin with a clear and concise mission statement. This statement should be able to describe in two or three paragraphs what your company does, how it interacts with clients and which markets you serve or plan to serve in future.

 

Next, you will be compiling the bulk of your marketing plan, which includes detailed explanations of your target markets, products, your offered services, as well as your detailed marketing plan – the one that you plan to implement through your various channels.

 

You will also have to provide a thorough understanding of your competition, and come up with effective ways of keeping your company one step ahead of theirs. This step must show that you have an understanding on some level of your opposition’s business processes, customer base, product line, etc.

 

The last step of your initial write up will be the setting of your objectives. You will need to set goals for your marketing team that are both realistic (since they will need to achieve these goals within a set amount of time) and quantifiable (because you will need to be able to measure the progress by some means, for example, financially or by business growth percentages).

 

Written By Wesley Geyer

Creative Writer for ATKA SA

New Laws on Mobile Marketing in South Africa

Privacy laws in South Africa have been getting a lot of attention over the last four years, and as a result, many of the existing laws have been reassessed and some of them adapted to better suit the current technological state of our society. While the biggest change among them all is undoubtedly the proposed Protection of State Information Bill, which is still being hotly contested my many parties and organizations, some of the other fundamental electronically based protection Bills have been edited.

 

The Protection of Private Information Bill, revised in 2009, had before then allowed parties using e-mail databases for marketing campaigns to do so lawfully as long as they provided both a valid identity and the option to unsubscribe from further communication. With the new law in effect, e-mail marketing must be more strictly structured in order to be considered lawful. For instance, e-mails can only be sent to existing customers, and must only be used to promote products or services similar to those that have previously been purchased.

 

In terms of the collection of personal information, the new law does not make the sale of e-mail databases for marketing purposes illegal, but makes the collection process much more open. For instance, the potential client must be notified that their information will be used for marketing purposes, and must be asked for their express permission before the sale of their information to a third party can take place.

 

The new law also places strict emphasis on the type of information that can be collected via these means. Information on children, sexual activity, religion, political affiliation, health and criminal behavior or history may not be collected, as these are considered ‘special’ aspects of personal information.

 

As a result, the newly enforced law concerning mobile/e-mail marketing have made the process of collection as well as the distribution and use of personal information more privacy oriented, and if used correctly could make the relation between client and marketer more cohesive. However, the strictness of the law will mean that many current users of the e-mail marketing technique would have to reevaluate their processes in order to adhere.

 

Written By Wesley Geyer

Creative Writer for ATKA SA

How To Ensure an Effective Advert

 

Advertising techniques vary according to the company implementing them, but that does not mean that there are as many effective techniques as there are businesses that employ them. The reality is that many advertising campaigns either fail completely, or do not live up to their potential because of poor use of graphics, failed research, bad copy writing or any other reason that may affect potential customers idea of a company. The following is a list of a few basic tips on how to ensure good, impactful advertising campaigns. Obviously the techniques will vary depending on your company’s style, but the basics remain the effective through all fields.

 

1.    Incorporate graphic elements

 

The graphic element of your ad is there to attract the readers’ eyes and interest them enough to read your body copy. The graphic element usually calls attention to, or complements, the headline — the two elements work together to create the overall ambience of the ad.

 

2.    Make your advert eye-catching and outstanding

 

In any space you buy advertising, remember that you will be competing against other adverts, some of which may have been worked on and researched for a lot longer than yours. Take a hard look at the other ad's words, photos, colors, styles, fonts, sizes and styles, until you have a good idea and image in your head for how your ad will be better, bolder and more enticing then the others.

 

3.    Create a connection between your ad and your product

 

If you’re posting an ad for a vehicle, make sure to show the specific model you’re planning on selling. Alternatively, if your advert appears online and is linked directly to your online store or catalogue, make sure to redirect the hyperlink directly to the page for the product in your advert. For instance, if you’re advertising a t-shirt design, link the potential buyer directly to the page where they can choose their size and payment method. If you link to your home page, they might not be in the mood to buy your product anymore once they have finished browsing your entire catalogue looking for the correct one.

 

4.    Know your audience

 

Make sure you’re advertising to the right audience. Use market research if it is an advert fort an existing product in your catalogue, or for a new product, be sure that you understand what your current market is and how you can add to it with potential new customers and market bases.

 

5.    Understand your USP

 

You should know your product and company well enough to know what your Unique Selling Point is. Focus your advert on the one compelling reason that makes you different from the competition, otherwise you will confuse your reader if you were to try to list ALL the reasons you’re product works. The Unique Selling Point is often also referred to your brand positioning, and can usually be effectively used in either a hard-hitting headline, or a bold, eye-catching image.

10 Tips for effective marketing

Marketing your business is no longer restricted to traditional methods such as print or radio advertisements. However, implementing an effective marketing strategy using more than one medium will help you ensure maximum exposure, and will allow you to develop a more intricate marketing brand for your business. The following is a list (adapted from About dot com) of basic tips on marketing your business.

 

1.           Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. People read postcards when the message is brief. A small ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your web site and generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.

 

2.           No single marketing effort works all the time for every business, so rotate several marketing tactics and vary your approach. Your customers tune out after awhile if you toot only one note. Not only that, YOU get bored. Marketing can be fun, so take advantage of the thousands of opportunities available for communicating your value to customers. But don't be arbitrary about your selection of a variety of marketing ploys. Plan carefully. Get feedback from customers and adapt your efforts accordingly.

 

3.           If you send out brochures, you could include a leaflet and/or business card of another business, which has agreed to do the same for you. This gives you the chance to reach a whole new pool of potential customers.

 

4.           Send A Second Offer To Your Customers Immediately After They've Purchased. Your customer just purchased a sweater from your clothing shop. Send a handwritten note to your customer thanking them for their business and informing them that upon their return with "this note" they may take advantage of a private offer, such as 20% off their next purchase. To create urgency, remember to include an expiration date.

 

5.           Newsletters - You can use newsletters to focus your marketing on past customers. Keep costs down by sacrificing frequency and high production values. If printed newsletters are too expensive, consider e-mail–based newsletters sent to people who subscribe at your Web site.

 

6.           Seminars/hosting open-house functions allows you to plan and gain valuable face time with key customers and prospects, as well as get your company name circulating. With the right programming, you'll be rewarded with a nice turnout and media coverage. If it's a seminar, limit the attendance and charge a fee. A fee gives the impression of value. Free often connotes, whether intended or not, that attendees will have to endure a sales pitch.

 

7.           Bartering is an excellent tool to promote your business and get others to use your product and services. You can trade your product for advertising space or for another company's product or service. This is especially helpful when two companies on limited budgets can exchange their services.

Why should you build a mailing list as part of your marketing strategy?

 

If you are looking to market your goods and services online then it is important that you have

a mailing list in place but getting one started, and then maintaining it can be difficult so you will need a good starting point. If you can create a good, working mailing list then the impact on your business could be substantial.

 

Make it as easy as possible for people to sign up

 

The first rule of thumb is to make your sign-up forms really easy to find on your website and noticeable on every page that a visitor might click through. Lots of people make the mistake of thinking that they can simply add it on the final page of their site, but by the time the visitor reaches this page – if they reach it at all – chances are they won’t be bothered to. Getting traffic to your site is a challenge in the first place but having your visitors come to your site only to leave again without having signed up for more information is a huge wasted opportunity. You should aim to attract as much attention as possible with your sign-ups so that you create an expansive mailing list from the people who are looking at your site and already interested in what you have to sell.

 

Build up trust between you and your contacts

 

If you are going to build up a good working relationship with your clients then you will need to instill trust. This means making your privacy policy accessible for all. If people are going to sign up to your mailing list then they want to know that you are keeping their information secure so that other people aren’t able to access it.

 

Add incentives to encourage people to sign up

 

Offer incentives to people via your website so that your visitors will be more inclined to sign up. This doesn’t mean a free gift for everyone that joins your mailing list but perhaps a free entry into a prize draw or a discount code that they can use off their next purchase. 

 

Don’t request too much information during the sign up

 

If you are going to encourage your site’s visitors to have confidence in you then keep the amount of information you are requesting from them to a minimum. If you ask for too much people will simply turn away out of suspicion. There is a line to be crossed and it is careful that you only ask for information you are going to use. You can always obtain further information at a later date once the relationship has been established.

 

Maintaining your mailing list

 

Once you have created your mailing list you will need to sustain it to avoid people from opting out. You also need to ensure that your contacts are reading your content otherwise your efforts will have been in vain. Keep your content fresh and interesting and include promotional codes and discounts where possible. Make sure you are providing your mailing list with access to information that others do not have so that there is some worth to receiving your emails. If you can achieve this then you will drive traffic to your site on a continued basis which will ultimately convert to sales.

Facebook aims to cut out fake ‘Likes’ on Pages

 

Social media giant Facebook announced at the end of August that it would be clamping down on its Pages, which (ideally) allows businesses to gauge how many fans they have and gives them a better idea of demographics.

 

Recently, it has become more common for companies and individuals to resort to generating Likes for these pages in ways that may violate Facebook’s terms and conditions. For instance, links that promise free giveaways if users like and share their pages are often nothing more than marketing gimmicks. Other ways of generating likes en masse include spamming the Wall’s of other pages, creating fake user profiles and generating fraudulent links that force users to like a page when it is clicked.

 

Facebook officials have said that their new security systems will give users the opportunity to “authentically” subscribe to pages that they want, and will give page owners more insight into their true fan bases, with regard to exposure and demographics.

 

The clampdown will essentially remove around 1% of the likes on any given page, if those ‘likes’ are found to have been generated in any of the ways that violate Facebook’s terms and conditions, according to an announcement made public by Facebook officials in a blog post at the end of August.

The validity of Google+

 

Since Google+ has just entered into the second year of its life, it should be safe to assume that it is over the biggest adjustment period it will have to face under normal circumstances. However, it still seems to be lacking something in terms of power, especially while it is being compared to the giants of the social media world, such as Facebook and Twitter. The problem is that Google+ may have entered into a market that is so involved in social media, that every new product that pops up is directly compared, regardless of whether or not it actually fits the bill.

Google+, which has been estimated to have almost 200 million users, was created by Google to act as an extension of its other services, not as a standalone social network. This being said, it is quite unclear what the statistics really show. On the one hand, Google have said that over 100 million of their users are active within any given month. But this just seems to not be the case. Taking into consideration the fact that Google+ is linked to Google’s general login system, most of these ‘active users’ seem to be active in other parts of Google’s complicated ecosystem, and there is no real way of establishing a connection between active Google Account Users and Google+ users.

 

However, the idea of Google+ being used for marketing purposes is not to be taken as lightly as its status as a social network. Since it is part of the above-mentioned Google ecosystem, it is guaranteed to get you and your business more exposure in the web. Google+ accounts that are truly active show significant signs of increased web visibility.

 

The point is that, although Google+ isn’t ready to take on Facebook or Twitter for the spot of Social Media king, it is still a significantly useful tool to have in your marketing arsenal if you own a business and want to (and you definitely DO want to) be noticed on the Internet.

What Is Cross-Channel Marketing?

Marketing your company and brand online has become an essential aspect of any business in this day and age. Not only are there more people online now than ever before, they are interacting more than ever before. Because of this, one of the most important and effective marketing strategies your brand can have is the ability to utilize what is known as Cross-Channel Marketing.

 

Cross-Channel Marketing is often confused with Multi-Channel marketing, and in many ways the two strategies are similar, however, the difference comes in the subtle ways they are used.

 

For instance, Multi-Channel Marketing implies the use of multiple channels (hence the name) to convey a message to your audience. Channels are the forms of media you decide to relay your message through, such as the commonly used mediums like TV, Radio, e-mail, social media and various other online techniques like websites and adverts. In Multi-Channel Marketing, the message conveyed over each medium is generally the same (although adapted to the format, it is still basically a one-way communication process).

 

One the other hand, Cross-Channel Marketing also utilizes the various aspects of media and technology that have been discussed above, but with the focus being placed on the customer rather than the content of the message. The trick is to get each and every medium to work seamlessly together in order to integrate the customer’s experience of them as much as possible. For example, through Cross-Channel Marketing, information about not only how the customer uses certain technologies, but how often, and what purpose it is used for is collected and stored, and then aids in the process of interacting more effectively with the client. By tracking and engaging with the client across all media, it is easier to develop personalised content for their preferred medium.

 

Written by Wesley Geyer (Creative Writer - ATKA Online)