Recognise these 5 random acts of marketing?

Recently, I attended a networking event for a group of local Business Women.

Over breakfast, one of the ladies sitting at my table spoke about her disappointment at the lack of numbers that had turned out for one of her workshops.

She wanted to know if we had experienced similar challenges with our events and whether we had any suggestions that might help her gain a better turnout for her next workshop.

The topic she was speaking about on the day had been one that many of her existing clients had cried out for, which made the turnout even more disappointing.

After asking her what she had done to promote the event it was clear that she hadn’t really put much thought into her marketing.

She had sent out one email to her database; posted a note about the workshop on her Facebook page; and printed out a stack of flyers, which she left on the reception desk for clients to take as they attended other appointments at her practice.

With only 4 people showing up for the event, it was clear that the steps she had to taken to market her event just hadn’t worked.

And here are 5 reasons why. I call them random acts of marketing. That’s because the steps she took were anything other than carefully thought out. They were random at best and the results spoke for themselves.

Hopefully you won’t recognise any. If you do, you know what you need to spend time on so that when you promote your event (or any other product/program) – you’ll get a much better response than my colleague.

Random Act of Marketing 1: Not having a objective in mind

While my colleague had the goal/objective to run a workshop covering a topic that many of her current clients had expressed interest in, she hadn’t taken her market research any further.

• What specifically were her clients struggling with?
• What content/information could she cover that was different and unique from any of the other workshops being delivered on the same topic?
• What methods should she use to get her message out to alert not only her existing clients but also other people that may also be interested in attending?
• How many people did she need to get to the workshop, especially to ensure that her costs to hold her event and other associated expenses were covered?

These are just some of the things she needed to consider.

To do: Have a goal and objective in place. What it is that you want to achieve?

Random Act of Marketing 2: Not having a plan in place

Once my colleague had an objective and goal in place and had identified key information through her research she then should have put together a plan with specific action steps to help her achieve her goal, which was to promote and fill her workshop.

• What material and information does she need to create as part of her communication strategy? Videos? Articles? Tweets? Flyers? Emails?
• How is she going to get her message out there?
• How long in between emails so that people are reminded of the event without feeling they’re being bombarded with promotional messages?
• Who is going to be responsible for this? By when?

Having a goal and objective in place without key action steps, a time table and the key people that need to be involved will make it very difficult to achieve your targets.

To do: Get your plan, your action steps and your to-do list in place.

 

Random Act of Marketing 3: Not taking consistent action

Even the best plan will have little impact if the outlined steps are not implemented and followed through.

Unfortunately, for my colleague, a trip overseas during the lead up to the event meant there was no follow through or consistent action in marketing the event.

• Ensure you have specific deadlines on all of the action steps that need to be taken AND make sure these are done
• If you’re unable to do these yourself you must get a support team in place to assist you.

To do: Follow your plan and take consistent action to get your message out there.

Random Act of Marketing 4: Not monitoring and measuring results

Had my colleague monitored and tracked the number of people that had signed up for her event (or in her case – the lack of numbers), she would have seen that what she was doing was not working, and this would have provided her an opportunity to change tactics.

• Make sure your plan and marketing schedule prompts you to constantly monitor and measure your results so that if you need to, you can change or implement another strategy.
• What is generating the best leads? Terrific – continue using this method.
• Did something not work out as well? What can you do to help you get a better result?

What you don’t monitor and measure you can’t change and improve.

To do: Always monitor and measure your results.

Random Act of Marketing 5: Not tweaking and optimising your processes

Not getting the results you had hoped for? If you are monitoring and measuring as you are launching your marketing campaign then you can tweak and optimise any (or all) of the steps to ensure you get a result you’re happy with.

As Albert Einstein said “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insanity”, which is the same when it comes to your marketing.

• What methods worked well for you? Make sure you make a note of this strategy as this is something you’ll want to continue doing next time.
• What didn’t work out so well? Can you change your approach? Your timing? The information, keywords or phrases you used? How can you improve it?

Reviewing and revising the steps you took throughout your marketing campaign is vital, to ensure that next time you launch an event – you can celebrate having achieved your goal.

To do: Review and revise the steps/processes.

So in summary:

• Have an objective/goal in mind
• Have a plan and action steps in place
• Take consistent action and follow through
• Measure and monitor your results
• Tweak and optimise your processes (steps) to ensure you achieve your goals.

Implement each of these steps to ensure any marketing campaign you run is not random, but rather carefully planned and followed through.

Your bottom line will thank you for it!!

YOUR SAY:

What do you think? Have the steps you’ve been taking with your marketing been random and without much thought? Have you been implementing similar/different steps which you’ve found helpful? Please share! As always, it’s great to hear from you!