Tuesday 15 March 2011

Developing Successful Marketing and PR campaigns

The Marketing Think Tank call hosted by BrightBlue Marketing and Big Noise Communications was facilitated this month by Andrea Lamarsaude of BrightBlue and focused on the topic of: Developing Successful Marketing and PR campaigns when resources and budget are limited.

The following are the points we discussed:

1. Examples of good marketing/PR tools that would fit this cost savings criteria:

-Social media and email. Email is especially good because of all the available analytics. Social media is improving in the ability to monitor your success there as well. Social media is a big arsenal to have in your pocket for free or low cost marketing/PR tools. It has become a “go to” for marketing, but the excitement is wearing off and people are trying to figure out how to harness the power it has. Check around to see what works best for your target market. Be sure to spend a couple extra hours each day to mine for opportunities within your local newspaper or online articles to stay on top of all the options available for social media.

-PR is never as simple as people think it is. If you end up coming out of the gate with a bad approach with a member of the press they will black list you quickly. You want to be sure you have good information that the media wants or needs. PR is something you can figure out on your own but you have to take the time to do the research.


2. Ways to develop a successful PR campaign with limited resources and budget:

-Create a library of messaging with compelling and coordinated content to use in all your social media outlets tweaking it to fit each channel.

-Partner with others to sell for you to their networks with a referral payout plan and also share the cost of joint campaigns with viable partners.

-Make each dollar count by establishing goals for each dollar spent on a campaign before you commence.

-Make sure that you understand that even when working with a PR company that you will still have to be involved in the planning and execution of any campaign – not just handing the money over for a PR company to do it all.


3. Specific social media tools that play a more effective role when money and resources are limited:

-Which tool that will work the best for you depends a lot on your market, target audience and goals.

-Blogging is a great way to get out there as a thought leader in your field because you can become known as an expert and you will be able to get clients engaged in a conversation with you. You must have good content for blogging to work. If you don’t feel like you can write compelling content, then you can have someone that is a better writer interview you and put it in your words into a more compelling blog.

-A Facebook fan page is a form of social media that can also be used effectively; however, it should not be more important than your website. Your Facebook page should point to your website as well as add another format to reach your customers.

-Realtor created a Twitter page of one of her house addresses as the Twitter name and gaining followers to market that home for sale. What about a Realtor or service type business to use Facebook? A realtor created 3001 things to do in Austin. They can list things to do in the area where they have a house for sale. You can also make a page or events of top 10 most unique homes for sale in town; you can create an event and take a group around to see those unique homes.


4. Examples of how email marketing is a strong tool to use when resources and budget are limited:

-Successful email marketing comes from analyzing the results and following up with those that clicked through. Focus the links in your email on specific pages on your site so you know specifically what that person was looking for when they clicked through. With specified click through information, an email is a great telemarketing tool to get more specified information before ever calling on the client.
-Create a contest for your contacts to get their contacts involved by giving a prize for the most clicks from their contact list, etc. This makes it fun for your contacts and also brings you new contacts that are already interested in what you do.


5. Marketing effectively at a trade show or event with a limited budget:

-First and foremost, make sure that you choose the right tradeshow/event for your marketing goals.

-Partnering with other companies that compliment what you do or sell. Get creative with sponsors who will donate their services to help your booth be more attractive (catering, booth graphics, etc.). Find a partner company where you can both send contacts and leads to and from each other.

-You can piggy back onto other events by inviting your clients to an event that has already been planned by others or attend an event without purchasing a booth with some sort of gimmick that gets you noticed, just be sure to adhere to the guidelines of each tradeshow.

-Do something unusual at your booth that is a little out of your comfort zone but gets positive attention. Make it fun because people buy from people they like.

-Be likeable.

-Don’t spend all your time trying to get new customers and forget about taking care of your current customers. It is easiest to sell to those that are already your customer!


6. How to set expectations for a client: Should you have lower expectations of ROI with a reduced budget?

-A reduced budget many times just means a slower build and not necessarily a lower ROI - just maybe a slower build of ROI.

-Using people that are willing to help for a lower cost; such as employees that are not necessarily professional marketing/pr people, can work, but this will slow the ROI slightly.


Suggested further reading:

1. Use Marketing to Stay Strong in a Weak Economy
By Tami Hernandez - Entrepreneur.com:
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-article-a-114375-m-6-sc-41-use_marketing_to_stay_strong_in_a_weak_economy-i

2. Ask Emma from MyEmma.com - 5 ways email marketing can help you save money:
http://myemma.com/ask-emma/5-tips-for-using-email-marketing-in-a-down-economy/

3. Twitterpated by Joey McGirrhttp: www.joeymcgirr.com/2010/11/twitterpated/

4. Establishing an effective marketing budget when resources are tight - Michael Littman - SVP - CMO Doe-Anderson:
http://michaellittman.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/putting-luster-on-a-small-marketing-budget/

5. What is Automated Marketing? - Brint Driggs/Brint Driggs and Associates - BrightBlue Marketing guest blogger: http://brightbluemarketingblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-is-automated-marketing.html

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