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Eliminate Marketing Heartburn

By Debra Murphy, Vista Consulting

Why does marketing give many business owners heartburn time after time? Maybe they perceive marketing as an expense and start to feel that simmering every time they evaluate their budget line item for marketing activities. Maybe they really view marketing as an investment, but they are not achieving the desired results. I can pretty much guarantee that if marketing spells heartburn for a business, it is because they are treating marketing like a Chinese menu – executing multiple programs in a disjointed fashion and not really looking at every program in the context of an overall strategy.

Random Ingredients cause Indigestion

Let’s do a direct mail campaign! Ah the words of excitement thinking that assembling a postcard and sending it to your list of prospects within your database will land you a pipeline of opportunities to make your revenue goals. Sounds like a great idea, but what is your strategy for the direct marketing campaign? And, how does this activity build upon or augment other marketing activities that have been done?

Many companies select marketing activities as they would food off a Chinese menu. What I like about Chinese food is that you can order many different dishes, totally unrelated, but somehow they all seem to go together. Unfortunately, when it comes to marketing, the Chinese menu approach does not work and usually results in a bad case of heartburn. You spend time and money on activities that start from scratch in the minds of your prospects and wonder why they don't work. You never get the chance to build the mindshare that is possible if all the activities relate to each other and send a consistent message.

How to Spell Relief

Before you spend money designing a postcard, an ad campaign, an event, a web site, or a brochure, you need to develop a simple, but useful integrated marketing plan. If you haven’t taken a look at the diagram on our Web site called VistaPlan™, now is a good time to review it. This diagram represents all the pieces you need to develop an integrated marketing plan. By starting at the bottom and working your way up the diagram, you can easily develop a plan that gives you the solid foundation you need for all of your marketing activities. Then you don’t run the risk of sending different messages, different brands, or contradicting campaigns to your prospects.

Simple integrated marketing plan means just what it says.

  • Simple, to the point strategy for reaching your prospects
  • Integrated set of marketing activities that send the same messages to all of your prospects in a way that builds rapport with your prospects over time
  • Plan that determines your target audience, positioning, messages and brand that becomes the foundation for all of your marketing activities.

Where to Start

Start with a review of your fundamental messages, positioning and brand image and identity. If you don’t have these components, then you need to work on them for your company because without them your marketing campaigns lack clarity and will not be remembered by your audience. If you need help developing your messages and positioning, read the article “Cultivate Market Perception”.  If you want a refresher on brand identity, read the article “Create Your Company’s Identity”.

Once you have those components developed, then take a look at your Web site and sales tools and make sure they reflect these messages, positioning and brand identity. If they are inconsistent, determine how you will get them aligned.

The final step is to determine what programs you want to execute, when and what is needed to put these activities into motion. Your plan should be a living document, reviewed quarterly. The review is to make adjustments if things aren’t going the way you wanted, add new programs if you have the budget and time, and to stop programs that just aren’t working.

An integrated marketing plan is guaranteed to eliminate the heartburn of marketing activities that are inconsistent, cost too much, and don’t return the desired results. Save the Chinese menu for Peking Ravioli and General Gau’s Chicken.