What is your current Marketing Strategy?

We all have had parties we have hosted and invitations sent. There are those that respond quickly with an RSVP and then there are those that respond late or not at all.  Well, sometimes it is the person and sometimes it is the way we are promoting the event or marketing it.

The next time you are marketing for your company or for yourself, keep these things in mind.

• What is the mission or outcome desired? (this can be the number of people attending or amount of sales or number of early RSVP's)  The important thing to remember is to have this goal in your mind.

• Analyze past efforts. What worked and what did not? If this is your first time, be sure to get feedback for the next one.  

• Determine how you want people to respond.  Identify the perfect scenario or outcome. (This can be something like "I sell 100 new items to new customers" or "I add 50 new people to my contact list", or "Everyone that RSVP's actually shows up and has a great time").  This is subjective and is up to you. (At some point between #3 and #4 you should perform a SWOT Analysis, which is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats.  More on this next time). 

• Tactical Marketing Programs - The Product, Promotion, Distribution, Pricing.  So if you are planning an event or fundraiser,  in this section you might think about what people will receive for their donations? What are the sponsorship levels? How am I promoting this event? Is the event (product) something that can be advertised easily or can most of the people I am targeting understand the concept?

• Budgeting Performance, do you have a specific amount that was budgeted for the marketing and promotion of the event or product line or service?  Even the best laid plans should have some type of monetary goal or starting point.  It will be hard to track your efforts unless you start off knowing how much you have and how much you can spend and how much you want to make in return.  The ROI - Return On Investment is a tried and true benchmark for hitting your goals.  If you are losing money, then analyze the how and why's.  The current path you may be on could be a bad one and if that is the case you want to get out quickly so you don't continue to throw good money after bad.

• Any Additional Considerations - Everyone's marketing plan will be different depending on the outcomes.  I suggest you take a look at any other factors that may contribute to your desired outcome.  This could be a partner that is frugal, or an event where people have to travel over 50 miles to attend, or anything else.  

So the above is just an outline of some things that could possibly help you with your next marketing campaign or event.  For more information or to ask questions about any of the concepts above, please contact me at Realtor-Yolanda@comf5.com 

Be sure to drop me a line with an update on how you used the above information and if it helped.