Integration of your marketing mix
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the definition of synergy is “The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.” Consider buying a new grill. You’re ready for that big, juicy burger, but the means to cook it are neatly packaged in this fairly large cardboard box that’s stapled shut. The reason is? There are more parts inside that box than there are teeth, and each one has a purpose. Individually, they mean nothing. But when assembled correctly, according to the instructions and diagram, they will create the most magnificent grill where you can cook the Mac Daddy of all burgers. And, if you skip just one piece, you could be left with a grill that doesn’t deliver!
Think of your marketing calendar like that big box of grill parts. You have all these areas of “marketing” you want to explore: special events, print advertising, direct mail campaigns, website promotions, email blasts, and maybe even some trade show attendance or booth display. Separately, each component can drive sales, but when put together, they deliver a knockout blow. Let’s say you want to generate more sales through your website. You’ll need to combine a traditional tool, like direct mail, to reach those people who aren’t actively browsing. Use the piece to drive them to your website, where you have a dedicated landing page that reaches their nerve center and solves their problems. . If you rely solely on your website to drive traffic on its own, you are missing out on those other leads that could have been gained through an integrated approach!
Every item in your marketing toolbox can (and should) deliver positive results to your bottom line, but when mapped out on a marketing calendar, you can clearly see the marketing mix you’ve created with all the winning parts working in synergy. .
And keeping a marketing calendar not only makes you feel (and be!) more productive, but the positive results of keeping your marketing mix alive allow you to get out there and honk your own horn. It will allow you to really analyze which parts of your business will stand out and create a clear vision of your true value proposition. So you can tell your customers, and they’ll tell new customers, and so on!
A marketing calendar allows you to map out your basic monthly marketing programs and guides you on a path of focus. Creating structure is key to your success. By writing all of your individual goals for each month in one place (using a dry-erase board or pencil and eraser), you can modify and adjust the plan while you’re on the go, clapping and repeating programs that are successful and repeatable. – adjusting or eliminating those that are not. Experts say that if you literally write your goals down on a piece of paper, you’re more likely to achieve them. The same goes for your marketing programs. Writing them on your calendar makes them real; This simple act turns the wishes in your head into real goals in front of your eyes. If they live, then you have to feed and nurture them. Writing them down also makes you accountable for them. Take a look at the marketing calendar below and see where you can connect some of your existing programs. How do they fit? Where do you need to make adjustments? If you plan to launch your new website in April, do you want to send a postcard by direct mail in February? Probably not. But the calendar will help you realize that late March or early April might make more sense. Do you have a new product or industry trend that you want to share with your customers? When will the product be released? A calendar will allow you to see the big picture of how you need to market this new product and when. And then be sure to keep track of your costs and results for each one.
Your timeline for success
Many times it’s hard to get the “buy” from coworkers, your bosses, vendors, or customers because even though you know your product is a success, you have no way to back it up and tell your success story. This is where the measurement of all those results comes to fruition. Let’s say you have a great idea that you know will sell thousands of widgets. He is an innovative thinker and has an unwavering confidence in the marketing mix that will get the word out and drive sales. But their sales professionals are balking at the idea and not jumping on the bandwagon. Do you let naysayers deflate your enthusiasm? Nope! Instead, modify your marketing calendar, creating a timeline for the pieces that are necessary to make this marketing alignment campaign a success. This way you create a visual map to success.
You project a return of 16% based on your knowledge-based expectations, and that’s a good number. But because your initiatives are trackable and measurable, you get a 20% return instead. Now take that horn and blow! Start by telling your story to your sales reps. This will give them firepower, and facts, to sell more for you. Then create a case study for your website to show how the successful plan worked and why. Finally, go to the people who are always desperately trying to find newsworthy material to write about, your press release team, and let them tell you the story even though they were the ones who dismissed the idea in the first place. You now have a fantastic story to tell and you also have the statistics to back it up, thanks to your combination of marketing and planning. It’s like building a house out of Legos: you may not need all the blocks, but they fit in there somehow. Creating a marketing mix through calendar planning will help you stay true to your vision and allow you to celebrate your successes.
