Marketing 101: Ready, Aim, Fire!

1. Marketing 101:Ready, Aim, Fire! Presented by: Randall Borror, MBA, PMP NCTech4Good Conference May 4, 2012

2. Speaker Bio • Name: Randall Borror • Experience: • Large company and small • IT, Financial, Project/Program, Marketing, etc. • MBA (graduating this month from Elon U.) • PMP (Project Management Professional) • Have volunteered with various non-profits including churches, aid for the poor, youth/children, etc. • Enjoy working for betterment of organizations and individuals

3. What to Expect • Interaction (try to minimize ‘lecture’) • Session Extract: • Ready: Understanding organization and market • Aim: Preparing marketing goals and plan • Fire!: Executing your plan • Create certain elements of new marketing plan, or refine or bolster an existing plan • Take a ‘quick pass’ in the 50 minutes we have, to help set you up for doing a more complete plan / campaign when you return to office • Interrupt with questions and/or to share helpful insights • Mix of Concepts and Application

4. Who’s Here • Name • Organization • Level of marketing knowledge / experience • Biggest marketing challenge • Why you chose this session / what you hope to gain from it

5. Ready: Get Ready to Pick / Define a Marketing Project • As we go through the next few (high-level / framing) slides, be thinking about a specific marketing challenge, issue, or project to start working on in this session • Can be an existing effort you’ve already started that you may want to refine or re-define • Even if no obvious candidate comes to mind, pick something that will help you apply concepts and be ready when a real project comes to mind

6. Ready: Definitions of Marketing • Identifying and meeting human and social needs • “Meeting needs profitably” (e.g. within a budget) • (from the AMA – American Marketing Association) “Marketing is… • an organizational function and a set of processes for… • creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for… • managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” • Marketing is NOT selling – but if done well, it makes selling easier or even unneeded / spontaneous

7. Ready: Marketing Activities (the ‘4 Ps’ of Marketing) • Product: Variety, Design, Features, Name/Identity, etc. (applies to services as well) • e.g. variety of services offered by homeless shelter, do people stand in line or get served, how do people tell what this place does, etc. • Price: List price, discounts, terms, etc. • Are your clients expected to give something in return for what they receive? • Promotion: Advertising, public relations, sales events, etc. • How do you attract clients (e.g. billboards, signs, fliers, referrals, special events, etc.) • Place: Delivery channels, locations, logistics like transport, etc. • Where do clients access your services, how do they receive them, etc.

8. Ready: Understanding your Organization • SWOT Analysis • Strengths – what are we good at doing? • Weaknesses – where do we fail and/or need improvement? • Opportunities – where can we serve (or better serve) potential and/or existing clients? • Threats – what factors or events can hinder (or even prevent) our ability to serve our clients? • Core Competency(s) – how do we benefit clients, in a widely applicable way, that is at least somewhat unique? • Do we have a clearly stated mission, and do I truly understand it? • Should be brief, easy to digest, and in ‘laymans terms’

9. Application: Document a SWOT analysis (a few items for each letter), and/or core competencies, and/or mission for your organization Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

10. Ready: What Is (Are) Your Marketing Challenge(s)? • Unknown or well-known? • Damage control or accelerating momentum? • Change in mission / new effort or boosting existing? • Promote awareness or generate actions/responses? • Who are you targeting? • Clients to whom your products/services are targeted • Volunteers who help deliver your products/services • Other stakeholders, especially those who fund / support your organization (donors, boards, partners, etc.)

11. Application: Select (and record) a marketing challenge / effort to focus on (can further define / refine as we go)

12. Aim: What is Your Strategy? • Could be organizational (high-level), or specific to one particular marketing campaign • One framework: Porter’s Generic Strategies: • Cost Leadership (often translated Efficiency or Productivity): e.g. ‘we’re going to process the most people through our food line at lowest cost, and accept donations from almost anywhere (not just premium brands)’ • Differentiation (Uniqueness, ‘Best at…’): e.g. ‘everybody that comes through our door gets a hug and a hat’ • Focus (Specializing, Honing In): e.g. ‘we’re going to provide a job search counselor and resume service’ • Thinking through strategy helps direct goals and effort

13. Aim: Establishing Goals • What do you want your marketing to accomplish? • Raise awareness (e.g. if new org, service, area, etc.) • Public relations, improve image (e.g. if recent damaging news, want to establish ‘brand’ in peoples’ minds, etc.) • Generate response (e.g. get people to visit web site, bring people to location, get them to take some action) • Inform (e.g. public service announcement) • Gain market share (proportion of people using your services) • Your goal(s) will heavily influence / direct how you conduct your marketing campaign

14. Aim: Specifying Goals • Your marketing goals should be: • Prioritized (most important goal first) • Quantified (e.g. ‘bring more people in the door’ is measurable if stated ‘increase clientele by 10%’ (over established/agreed base)) • Realistic (e.g. founded in current capabilities of your organization) and achievable (e.g. not expecting every person in town to respond) • Consistent (e.g. don’t expect to double the number of people served while at the same time reducing wait time)

15. Application: Determine and record consistent, realistic, quantified, and prioritized marketing goal(s) Image: tungphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

16. Aim: The Marketing Plan • Executive Summary & Table of Contents: Give high-level overview and organization of remainder of document • Situation Analysis: Background of situation, especially research you’ve done / information you’ve obtained (market/environment, clients, trends, needs, data, etc.) • Marketing Strategy: Goals and plans for meeting them, including (to some degree) steps for implementation • Financial Projections: What’s it going to cost, and are we raising funds for this particular campaign (and if so, comparison of expected incoming vs. outgoing funds) • Implementation Controls: How are we going to monitor success of campaign, and potentially make adjustments

17. Aim: Gathering Market Data / Intelligence • Why? To create valid campaigns, or for those already going perhaps re-direct or improve to maximize (or help avoid wasting) organizational resources • When? Continuously, including inception of organization, and before/during/after campaigns • How? Specific web sites, Google search, client surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, publications (paper, magazine, newsletter), documentaries, news reports, informal polls, databases, social media, top clients panel, government studies, research/polling companies (e.g. AC Nielsen), observation (incl. primary and/or secondary), etc.

18. Aim: Demographics & Psychographics • How well do you understand your target audience? Background, how they live, how they think • Factors that may influence (or need to influence) your campaign / efforts: Age, cultural background, religious beliefs, life experiences, attitudes/perspectives, generation (incl. eras: depression vs. WWII vs. postwar vs. baby-boomer vs. generation X vs. generation N or Y), level of education, income, identification / affiliation (political, hobbies, famous people), etc. • Profile – develop archetypes of typical clients to better understand, portray, and anticipate their behavior

19. Application: Identify one or more things you need to learn about your market or clientele, and how you intend to do so (including methods from previous slides)

20. Fire: Marketing Communications Mix • Plan ahead which of these modes of communication to use, then execute intentionally and skillfully: • Advertising • Promotions (incentives, deals, extras) • Events / Experiences (e.g. services ‘fair’ w/ games, food) • Public Relations / Publicity • Direct marketing (mailings, phone calls, e-mails, etc.) • Interactive marketing (online activities – e.g. chats, contests, webinars, etc.) • Word-of-mouth (tends to be spontaneous, unplanned) • Personal (pre-arranged, e.g. presentations)

21. Fire: Promotion Tools / Ideas • Even if you don’t sell anything, you can use most or all of these ideas in one form or another: • Samples • Coupons (can also be ‘bring coupon for free book’) • Packaging / Volume • Premiums / Gifts • Frequency Programs / Patronage Awards • Prizes • Tie-in Promotions / Partnering • Displays / Demonstrations

22. Fire: Making It Personal • Ways organizations can ‘personalize’ marketing efforts: • Direct Marketing: • Direct Mail (not generic, name on envelope and in letter) • Catalog / ‘Newsletter’ • Telephone Calling • Interactive Marketing (online / internet): Web sites, Microsites (site within a site, section of a site, site owned by other party), Paid Search (PPC), Organic Search (SEO), Display / Banner ads, Sponsorships, Alliances, Communities, E-mail marketing, Mobile • Word of Mouth (can occur online too): Social media, Buzz, Viral (e.g. YouTube videos), Opinion leaders, Blogs

23. Fire: Tools That Can Help • Free or low-cost tools that can aid your marketing efforts: • http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/ - advice, products, and resources for the novice and/or low-cost marketer • http://www.surveymonkey.com/ - create, conduct, distribute, and track surveys / questionnaires • http://bufferapp.com/ - allows you to schedule / queue social media messages to your followers (FB, LI, Twitter) • http://mailchimp.com/ - design, send, and track e-mail newsletters and other e-mails to large(r) groups • https://bitly.com/ - when you have limited space (e.g. social media posts), allows you to share short version of URL (i.e. web site address) – and track user response (clicks) • http://www.hostgator.com/ - low cost web site hosting, good for web site beginners / new and basic sites

24. Application: Consider which of the tools, modes, and/or ideas from the last several slides you want to utilize, and record your initial ideas on what and how

25. Closing • Thank you for your participation • I love to see individuals and organizations succeed (especially those who are doing good – i.e. improving society and/or peoples’ lives) – so if I can answer any follow-on questions or help in some other way, feel free to contact me • Contact info: 919-523-7324 or rsborror@yahoo.com or www.linkedin.com/in/randallborror • Business cards with contact information available • Appendices with additional information follow

26. Appendix A: Unfairly Left Out • Important marketing concepts we didn’t have time for include: • Pricing (or costing) • Forecasting demand • Measuring effectiveness of marketing efforts • Advertising • PR – Public Relations • Integrating with Sales function

27. Appendix B: Process for Marketing Research • 1. Define Problem, Decision Alternatives, and Research Objectives • 2. Develop Research Plan (including methods for gathering data) • 3. Collect Information • 4. Analyze Information • 5. Present Findings (to management / decision-makers) • 6. Make Decision (proceed with new service, alter, scrap?)

28. Appendix C: Concepts Worth Additional Attention / Study • Market Segments, Scope, and Targeting Efforts Wisely (Mass vs. Niche vs. Local vs. Individual) • Potential Objectives for Conducting and/or Sponsoring Events: • Identify with target market / lifestyle • Increase awareness of organization and/or specific service • Create and/or reinforce perceptions / image • Enhance organizational image • Create experiences / evoke feelings • Express commitment to community and/or social issue • Entertain key clients, volunteers, or other stakeholders • Create forum/avenue for promotional opportunities