Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

This month’s e-letter. (To subscribe, go here)

Topic: Marketing Budgets. In which I respond to that common question, “How much should I allocate to marketing this year?”

Tip: Real-World Marketing - Goals Before Budget

Trap: “Pie in the Sky” Thinking

(If we spend a whole lot, we’ll get great results!)

I’m all for fiscal responsibility, but academic formulas or conservative budgets based on past years just won’t do the trick in our fast-paced 24/7 world. Set your goals (and keep them simple and realistic, with a little stretch) before allocating funding. That “Pie in the Sky” thinking? One of my favorite examples is Mickey D’s horrendously expensive failure in rolling out its new “Adult menu.” I’m sure it sounded good in the boardroom, with lots of colorful PowerPoint charts showing billions in new revenues, etc. But, the targets for the new menu weren’t interested and McD’s also confused their core market - all while wasting hundreds of millions on marketing tactics. (And, this is just one of their many marketing missteps.)

So, what to do?

“Dress for the job you want.” If you try to do everything “on the cheap” - your organization will look - well - cheap. You really do have to spend money to make money, but that doesn’t mean you just blindly throw it around. Often, when people talk about marketing - they go right to talking about PR, advertising, web sites, direct mail or brochures - and spend thousands (even millions) on just one of these tactics, with no clearly defined goals or ways to measure ROI. More than one company has thrown money at things like ad campaigns, only to see revenues actually go down. (Just one example: Nissan with that cool toy car commercial a few years back.)

Think “what’s changed?” If your goals were set in last year’s strategic planning process - it’s time to review them. Also, revisit that strategic plan and the tactics (Be honest, have you even looked at those since last year?) What worked? What didn’t? Did you have accidental successes?

Keep in mind that advertising, PR, direct mail, web sites and such are tactics - and in and of themselves NOT marketing. In fact, some
people, such as Al and Laura Ries, have gone so far as to say advertising is pretty much dead (The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR). Same has been said of the press release. Some people don’t even need a web site - or should immediately take down the one they have. Web designers are usually not the same thing as web developers and unsuspecting clients often end up with horrible sites that do nothing for their business (and can actually drive business away.) A brochure, no matter how pretty, never closed a deal (and often ends up in the customer’s circular file or the trade show trash can, unread.)

Can You Hit the Target? Can you even find it? In setting your (new)
goals (X new clients, X new donors, X increase in revenues, X% increase in profitability) - take a look at your supposed targets. Your real target market may not be the one you think. I see this a lot in technology start-ups. Their basic technology or widget is so versatile, they can go after many different market sectors, and as a result lose focus and dilute impact (and spend a lot of dollars trying to be all things to all people - which confuses the heck out of their target buyers.) If you do decide to advertise, make sure you’re doing it where your target markets will at least see it. (Getting their attention is a whole different challenge.)

Cost-Effective isn’t the same as cheap. Once you’ve confirmed (or reconfirmed) your targets and set your goals - think how many different ways you can get benefit from the same marketing dollar. Keep your messages simple and consistent - and repeat, repeat, repeat across all tactics. This will save you both dollars and time (and increase your brand recognition).

For example: 1. Write Once/Use Many. Repurpose your published articles into a web site posting, a blog entry, an e-letter, event hand-outs, etc. Write white papers and use as hand-outs, mailings, leave-behinds (such things have much more credibility than brochures anyway). 2. If you do decide to use direct mail, provide value first in the form of a tidbit of information or invite people to a cool event (that you’re also promoting with other tactics) or offer a free educational/information report (that white paper you’ve already written.) Also, that direct mail postcard can also be used (in place of your boring ol’ business card) as a handout to people at networking meetings. (P.S. business cards don’t have to be boring.)

The Bottom Line: Whatever you do - make sure the tactics are consistent, complementary and you’ve got a measurement process in place. You can measure anything (despite what some PR or ad agencies will say.)

Could you sometimes use quick one-on-one consultation on topics such as this? My virtual support “Ask Mary” is a pack of ten emails, good for six months. For those “what” “where” “how” and “why” questions that come up when writing a biz plan, developing a product, or trying to troubleshoot a marketing problem.

Questions, comments - let me know!