This is a question I get asked often: How do I make sure I get results with my marketing?
Because marketing is a living, breathing, ever-changing thing, there’s no way to guarantee results. However, there ARE things you can do to make sure you get the best results possible. At Suite 4, we have 7 Critical Components that we try to include in every promotional item we create for ourselves and for our clients to help get the best results we can possibly get.
Watch the video we created below where I share what these 7 Critical Components are and how you can get great results from your marketing campaigns and promotional materials–from print ads and direct mailers, to emails, social media posts and more!
Assuming your promotional materials are factual and you are being clear about what people should do (what action they should take), then just make sure you include these seven points in all your promo and marketing pieces:
- What is it?
- How valuable is it?
- What does it do?
- How easy is it to do?
- How much does it cost?
- How do you get it?
- Where do you get it from?
Word to the wise: It is very expensive to omit these points. For instance, you can have the most beautiful ad or website, or Facebook page (or fill in the blank here_____) in the world, but if you omit your contact info, then people have nowhere to go. And trust me when I say, if they have nowhere to go from there, they WILL leave.
True story: One client created the coolest swag item to give to people at a trade show. They just forgot one thing: their website and phone number. Luckily, this was caught before they spent a ton of money on the swag, but if they had gone ahead and ordered a bunch of swag and given it away, it would have been a total waste of money!
You also have to keep in mind you need to develop the correct message that goes to the right market, via the right media.
If your target market hates Facebook and you place a lot of ads on Facebook, that’s the wrong media (even if you have the right message). Or, if your target market is mostly baby boomers that love to sit down to read the Sunday paper and you neglect to place an ad in the Sunday paper, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to connect with them.
Placing expensive, full-color, glossy ads in magazines with too small a circulation is also wasteful.
One final note. Placing a single ad or single message and not following it up is usually a waste as well. It’s better to spend money on a smaller ad, or send out a smaller postcard for less, and then follow up each promo piece two more times, than it is to go big once. Nowadays, people need to hear your message a MINIMUM of three times (and as much as 20 times) before they believe it enough to act on it.
So instead of boosting that Facebook post for $20, boost it for $5 and then follow it up with two more posts that are similar (one per week) and boost each of those for $5. OR, instead of placing a full-page ad in the paper, place three 1/4 page ads three times in a row with the same message.
Message repetition is a more valuable and more impactful way to spend your marketing dollars than one big bang that people will easily forget the next day. <<TWEET THIS
Have marketing questions? Tweet me @RachelKarl OR… Schedule a complimentary in-person or phone consultation with myself or one of my marketing experts here at Suite 4. There’s zero obligation and you can ask key questions and get solutions FREE of charge!