During these challenging economic times when companies are being forced to do as much or more with less, marketers can’t afford to be wasteful. And that doesn’t apply just to dollars. We can’t afford to waste time, ideas, or opportunities either.
A local private school recently took advantage of our Marketing Consultation service. During the initial meeting, our client revealed that they typically take a shoot-from-the-hip approach to marketing, sporadically using only traditional venues to increase their recruitment of K-8 students. They had, to that point, neglected to recruit from their current “customers” - parents of the children who already participate in their pre-school programs. That’s when the light bulb went off over our heads.
It is drastically less expensive to KEEP customers you already have than to always look outward to find and win new customers. By deepening existing customer relationships you also build a more stable - and maybe even more recession-proof - customer base.
That’s where strategic planning comes into play. Have a solid plan to follow. Have goals and benchmarks to measure against. Without a clear focus and an arsenal of tools, marketing becomes more difficult, especially when the bottom drops out of the economy.
Once finished, the successes - and shortcomings - of the strategic plan can be evaluated. Did the increase in on-site promotions bolster sales of the featured product? Did posting to the company blog on a weekly basis increase web traffic? These are just a few of the “cause & effect” examples that can be measured after a strategic plan is put in place.
