2012 Marketing plan – 10 top tactics to consider

With so many choices it’s hard to know what blend of today’s diversified marketing channels will drive your business. Keeping a constant eye on tracking & testing out new routes & propositions are obviously vital but where to start?

Here are 10 marketing tactics that I see consistently appear in the plans of the fastest growing companies. 

1.    Associate with someone famous

A new business that no one really trusts will find it hard to get free publicity so borrow some by association. Don’t overdo it but done well it can significantly boost your traffic.

Notice I said traffic – bring your marketing back to your site & its measurement tools. Analyse & refine & yes justify your investment recommendations with the data.

2.    Timed discounting

It seems everything is on offer all the time but instead of continued lower prices try a limited time offer such as a 12 hours sale. Many businesses are finding these ‘call to action’ offers are generating some of their best results.

3.    Don’t  under fund AdWords

There are far too many ‘most successful marketing’ quotes out there from all types of businesses to ignore Google AdWords.

To paraphrase Mr T in the Snicker’s ad ‘Quit your jibber jabber & get some AdWords’

4.    Optimise your site for search engines

You need to be online with rich, regular content and a site that is coded to attract the top search engines – Google, Yahoo & Bing.

A small investment in a well proven external SEO expert will return that investment many times over.

5.    Position yourself as an expert

You know your business & you have views on your industry. It’s becoming more and more important in a highly competitive environment to be seen as a thought leader in your industry.

Blog posts, webinars or speaking events, your company needs to be seen as the ultimate authority. From this will come not only possible partnerships (see 1 above) but also referrals.

6.    Get the word out through social media

Simply put you should be using social media to market yourself even if it’s just promoting specific deals and offers online or running interactive competitions

Facebook and Twitter are now some of the fastest ways to get the word out about your business. They are also a readymade consumer panel to test out new concepts & designs.

7.    Don’t forget display advertising

Physical in store and/or online display advertising can go a long way, especially when used effectively with strong propositions & prominent (& consistent) branding – don’t discount the power of advertising.

8.    Good relationships = word-of-mouth

Go out of your way to offer outstanding but consistent service then go out of your way to give customers an easy way to share your services with others in their area.

See 7 above – good proposition, branding & simple sharing.

9.    Target prospective employees

Companies often scrimp on recruitment campaigns. Engage with recruitment fairs & career talks. Treat recruitment ads with the same rigour as any other marketing tactic & over time the right people will seek you out rather than you having to spend time hunting for them.

10.  Trade shows are worth it

With careful analysis of the available shows & good planning around the event, stand, visitors & exhibitors you can end up getting some great business from them.

It’s also an opportunity to refine your offering, gain feedback, competitive knowledge & stake your claim to being a serious player in your field.

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I hope you find some or possibly all of the above on your 2012 Marketing plan. If not why not get in touch & see how we can help you create an effective Marketing plan for your business this year.