4 Reasons EVERY company needs to market

1. 9 Easy Steps to a Winning Marketing Planby Jay B. Lipe, author of The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses

2. 4 Reasons EVERY company needs to market • Most buyers won’t take action the1st time. • Buyers are lazy. • Your competition is marketing. • Most buyers don’t need your product…today. • Our economy is now marketing-driven. • Typical 1st Grader can name 200+ brands • U.S. children view over 400,000 commercials a year. www.emergemarketing.com

3. 6 Reasons EVERY company needs a Marketing Plan A Marketing Plan… • Lays the groundwork for action • Can be hung in front of your nose • Breaks tasks down into manageable chunks • Gives you hope. • Acts as an idea sifter. • Gives you a place to return to in slower times. www.emergemarketing.com

4. Step #1—Set Goals Why? • Gives you something to aim for • Helps measure progress • Gives employees a rallying point “The achievement of one goal should be the starting point of another.” Alexander Graham Bell www.emergemarketing.com

5. Step #1—Set Goals • Quantitative AND Qualitative www.emergemarketing.com

6. Step #2—Identify your Problems Most Common Marketing Problems • We’re not generating enough leads. • No one has heard of us. • Our buyers don’t know all we offer. • We don’t have a marketing plan. • We lack the right marketing tools. • Our brand isn’t consistent. • Our marketing efforts are helter-skelter. • Our prices are too high (or too low). • We only have one product (or service). • Our market is declining. www.emergemarketing.com

7. Step #3—Study your competition What will I learn from them? • What the market wants • What their weaknesses (and your strengths) are • What their strengths are • Best ways to market • New markets & services • Unfilled niches www.emergemarketing.com

8. Step #3—Study your competition Where to find competitive info: • Ex-employees • Mystery shop • Yellow Pages & other directories • Websites • Advertising (display & help wanted) • Get on mailing lists • Trade shows www.emergemarketing.com

9. Step #4—Target ALL Audiences Initially, target on two dimensions: • Company • Size • Geography • Industry • Person • Title • Affinities www.emergemarketing.com

10. Step #4—Target ALL Audiences • But shouldn’t you also target: • Referral Targets? • Champions? • Gatekeepers? • Decision influencers? www.emergemarketing.com

11. Step #5—Identify your Key Messages • Pain What pain does your audience have? (“I feel…”) ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ www.emergemarketing.com

12. Step #5—Identify your Key Messages • Benefits “After working with XYZ, I can now…” _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ www.emergemarketing.com

13. Step #6—Strategies • Draw Strategies from your Problems • Understand where buyers get information • Publications • Websites • Online communities • Conferences, seminars, trade shows • Opinion leaders www.emergemarketing.com

14. Step #7—Blend Personal & Non-Personal Marketing Personal Marketing Marketing activities that expose a company to buyers, AND require a physical presence. Non-Personal Marketing Marketing activities that expose a company to buyers, yet don’t require a physical presence. www.emergemarketing.com

15. Step #7—Blend Personal & Non-Personal Marketing • Buyers process information differently • some like paper • others online • others like in-person • Good marketing blends these methods www.emergemarketing.com

16. Step #7—Blend Personal & Non-Personal Marketing www.emergemarketing.com

17. Step #8—Tactics • Each tactic must answer: • Who (is the leader?) • When (will it be completed?) • How much (will it cost?) • Use a timeline • For a free download, go to: http://emergemarketing.com/publications/index.htm www.emergemarketing.com

18. Step #9—Commit to Implementation “A great idea that’s 99% implemented… is still just an idea.” • Establish project leaders for each project. • Hold everyone accountable for their deadlines. • Hold biweekly project meetings to review progress. • Schedule quarterly updates. • Schedule annual planning sessions. www.emergemarketing.com

19. Some Marketing Truths • If your service sucks, fix that first. • Every employee is a marketer. • Marketing covers far more than you think… www.emergemarketing.com

20. Take the Marketing Quiz: • Which of these are Marketing Activities? • Mailing a flyer. • Advertising in a trade journal. • Making a sales call on a prospect. • Getting interviewed on a radio station. • Developing prices for a new product. • Opening up a new distributor. • Researching your customers. www.emergemarketing.com

21. Take the Marketing Quiz con’t • Now, which of THESE are marketing activities… • Answering your business phone. • Describing your business to someone at a party. • Interviewing job candidates. • Sending an email. • Submitting a proposal. • Faxing information to a business partner. • Answering a customer complaint. www.emergemarketing.com

22. 7 Points of Contact On average… 7 contacts are needed… between a seller and a buyer before a sale is made. www.emergemarketing.com

23. 7 Points of Contact • A real-life case study • Variety helps… www.emergemarketing.com

24. In closing… • Today, EVERY company must market. • It’s a matter of survival. • Successful marketers usually have a marketing plan. • A good marketing plan details: • Actions steps • Strategic thinking behind the action. www.emergemarketing.com

25. Who is this Jay Lipe guy? • CEO, Emerge Marketing Fortune 500 Marketing Expertise for Growing Companieswww.emergemarketing.com • Author of The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses www.emergemarketing.com