The Marketing Equation for Success
Most marketers understand the age-old saying that success in marketing is a simple equation – You must get the right message to the right people at precisely the right time. Do this and your campaigns will be successful. Wow, that sounds really easy!
After many years in this business I can assure you, it is not really that easy…you must also have the right tools in your marketing toolbox in order to pull this off. Let me offer some examples.
The right message
In order to deliver the right message, you have to first know a thing or two about your audience. You have to be able to create targeted, relevant and engaging content that will entice them, not turn them off to your message. You can do this a few different ways.
If your strategies are content-based, you can work to create a mix of content that will educate, entertain and add value to the consumer. Be sure not to be overly salesy in your content and remember to always keep the consumer’s interests and wants in mind.
If your strategies are direct response based, utilize your dynamic messaging tools to speak relevant messages to individuals. If for instance you are sending a postcard for a vacation at a ski resort in December, someone in the South may need an “escape to winter” message, while someone in the North may need an “escape from shoveling” message. It’s all about positioning your message when you know your audience.
The right people
It goes without saying that knowledge is power, and knowing who your audience is will make or break a marketing campaign. So get to know your audience. Whether you use overlay data or you house your own preference database, utilize what you do know to ensure your content is not falling on deaf ears.
If you can, create segmentation within your database. Speak to your consumers in relevant segments that push them further down the sales funnel. Perhaps you could segment them by categories like “interested”, “active” or “lapsed”. Categories like these should be considered when determining which message is right for them.
For more advance segmentation, views of your consumers could cluster by consumer behavior models, like Mosiac Profiles. Moderately priced, it gives you great detail on how to communicate to your customers. Segmentation is also a great way to save marketing costs and ensure a respectable level of response for your efforts. For additional information on segmentation, check out our blog from earlier this year.
The right time
I can tell you that in today’s marketing world, hitting a consumer at the right time has gotten much easier than it used to be. Marketing automation software has become a game changer and can be used to accomplish this key “right” in the marketing success equation. Automation tools can be set to trigger marketing messages, both email and direct mail, to be sent when a consumer takes an action (or no action). These tools make timing of messaging so precise it can be scary. The key is to build out your automations into cohesive and understandable journeys, utilizing if/then statements. These journeys take action on a click, a purchase, a delete or any other trigger you can imagine.
There is another philosophy for how to accomplish this key “right” – and that is keeping your messaging top-of-mind, so you will be on-the-mind when the buying decision occurs. This can be achieved through an early engagement campaign that promotes consistent and awesome content from the beginning of the relationship. Ongoing communication is key to this philosophy, balancing the need to be kept top-of-mind, while also not causing a disturbance ending in unsubscribe.
If you’re ready to implement the marketing success equation into your own marketing strategies, be sure to keep B2E in mind. While you may have the right message, the right people and the right timing, a key tool that makes this work is having access to the right data. Let us help you segment, strategize and track to reach your marketing success potential!
Always Marketing,
Matt
