An integrated marketing plan takes a strategic approach by defining the target audience (WHO), the desired actions (WHAT), and how to execute the plan (HOW). Simply being on Facebook is not a strategy without understanding WHO the target users are, WHAT the business wants them to do, and HOW the plan will be implemented. An effective plan requires determining objectives, conducting research, setting a budget and goals, analyzing strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats, testing and measuring results.
10. Why are companies using social media? 94%: Increase awareness 76%: Create a community for customers 55%: Increase website traffic 50%: Identify customer needs 49%: Identify new business opportunities Source: SmartBrief Inc, 11/3/2010
11. Why do consumers use social media? Why Facebook users like pages: 25% to receive a discount 21% existing customers 18% to show others I support the brand 5% someone recommended it to me Source: Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies, 3/10/2010
51. Assign It Did they post daily? How many reactions did we get? How many customers are active? How many leads did we generate? How many support cases did we resolve? How much money did we make?
I will hand out notes at the end.I will talk a lot about “marketing”. Please consider that a catch-phrase for PR, communications, advocacy, business development… however you define communications for your organization.
Not a social media guruGrew up in constructionEducation and career has focused on the intersection of communications and technology.Connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn, and of course Facebook
How do you use it individually?How do you use it professionally?How do you use it for your company?Online media lets us create conversational snapshots of what people are saying.
Let’s look at some numbers…Why would you take time, not to mention time so precious early in the day, to talk about what social media can’t do? Because it’s time consuming! And it’s expensive! Even if you’re not paying someone to sit at a desk and update your Facebook page, you might be taking time to do that. Is it worth it? Is it working? Are we seeing any results?Your time is too valuable to expend organizational resources, including the time and money for yourself and your team, to waste.Does anyone remember blogging? Technology changes, and how we use it changes, so let's focus on WHAT we need to do, then on HOW we can do it. Social media is just one "how" and while it has a lot of potential, let's keep it in proper context.
So let’s dive into the WHAT by looking at our main objective: developing an *integrated* marketing plan. So what is an integrated marketing plan? Since an integrated marketing plan is first and foremost a strategic document for our organization, let’s answer the question…
An exchange of goods.
Marketing involves three things:Lead GenerationLead ConversionFulfillment
You want to detail this audience in two ways: by Demographics and by Psychographics
Asking “Who would benefit from our product?” is another way to look at creating a target audience.
During fulfillment, we want our customers to stay involved… but not too involved…Don’t we want to conduct our business, so that at the end of the transaction, the person on the other side of the table or the other side of the counter says “Thank You.”
We may know that we want our customers to buy our widget or come to our store, but how many? How often? How much will they buy, or donate, or respond?
The same plan cannot be executed the same way twice by two different organizations in exactly the same way. McDonalds does its promotions by media market, because they know that what works in Seattle may not work in Birmingham. So it is going to be your responsibility in the process of executing this plan to test how you do things and measure whether or not they met the GOALS.
Product: The good or service we are offering the marketplace.Price: What will it cost? Under what circumstances will that change? Specials for bulk orders, slow seasons, or bundles?Place: How will we distribute it? Is it a store, a download, an office of expensive specialists?Promotion: How will we communicate it with others? This is often mistaken as the sole purpose of marketing, but it is just one piece of the pie.I’ve added a 5th P – ProcessProcess:Having a process is critical to executing a marketing plan, or any other business function. Unless you know HOW you will execute each stage of the customer’s experience, then you will have a difficult time both testing against goals and innovating. After all, if you have no process, what baseline do you have to use to innovate?
Need everyone on board. Sales must work with Accounts, who must work with IT, who must work with Legal, who must work with Billing. While it takes a leader to drive the vision and drive the plan, it takes the entire team on board to execute.
What tools and technology are available to help execute an integrated marketing plan?First of all, be ready to do some research. Marketing technology is changing rapidly.
It should be easy for you to build forms, and to add new content (including blog posts).
You need one place for your organization’s contacts – clients, potential clients, suppliers, vendors – and you need to know when you last talked to them.
If you can invoice your clients online, your receivables will improve. If you can automate this, even better.
Consistently communicate with your customers and potential customers. Once a month is a lofty goal. Remember, they don’t necessarily love your service as much as you do. Don’t smother them. There are all sorts of statistics as far as what day of the week is best to send, or what time. The key is – once again – to test and measure. The same plan will never work the same way twice. Know what works best for your organization.
We’ve talked a lot about testing and measuring. This is how. Almost any website or email plan will have a way to look at analytics. Google Analytics is a good option. Our platform comes with an analytics package built in. But you should take the five minutes to see how your emails perform, how many people come to your website, and what actions they’re taking. It makes the effort worthwhile.
We saw earlier how companies plan to use social media to build awareness. We also saw how Facebook users want brands to use social media. But social media is about more than just promoting our service or product…When would we not use social media?
I believe social media can be used in a couple of different company functions. First, in promotion. Let people know about a great deal. This is the essential service of Groupon.Also, use it to provide customer support. Look at @ComcastCares on Twitter as an example.Finally, generate awareness, but be careful not to count on something going viral. It is *great* if your customers or supporters want to share your page with their friends. That's when things go viral. But there's precious little you can do to encourage that other than build a compelling product or experience. Focus on what you can control, communicate with the people you can, and the others will do the rest.Look at all of your communications, from invoices to emails. Look at print. Don’t just add the Facebook logo – add the link.
When it comes to Twitter vs. Facebook vs. YouTube, I have a suggestion… Tone is everything. Transparency is everything. Authenticity is everything. Unless you have someone in your organization who is wholly dedicated to social media, you should focus on one platform. That doesn’t mean you abandon the others. You can link your website to almost any platform in the world. But primarily, you should focus on one. Build your audience, provide support, encourage your customers to invite others to participate, and offer them something.
Put one person in charge. Make it part of their job description. Then create KPIs to determine success.[READ POSTS]I realize that last one will ruffle some feathers. There are people who will tell you that you cannot tie social media to sales, that it's more about branding. Completely agree. BUT -- that does not mean you should not measure it.
Social media might be important for your organization, but figure out why first. Our time is too valuable to do something so important with so little planning.
An integrated marketing plan brings order to the chaos of marketing, especially with technology. Proper research, knowing WHO you want to target, WHAT action you want them to take, and HOW you will execute your plan will not only give you confidence, but a baseline off of which you can innovate.
Execution is critical. Take advantage of technology that lets you merge your data and automate the process. Don’t neglect traditional marketing techniques. But most importantly, don't jump before looking!