SIZE doesn’t matter – STRATEGY well executed levels the playing field for any size business
Our CCO & Founder, Monyka Berrocosa is giving a talk today on Marketing Insights and Trends from the CMO’s perspective for a group of business leaders as a guest of Baltimore Means Business. Baltimore Means Business is a great, non-profit organization founded by a visionary and highly successful business woman – Christine Richardson of Q. Marketing.
In the 2012 Edition of the Women in Business Review she stated the following…
“In early 2012 the Wall Street Journal ran a feature that focused on the reality that in the future, Marketing’s Information Technology expenditures will surpass the IT industry. What does that mean and why is it important when it comes to you and your business’s marketing strategy, whatever its size? If I had to predict one overwhelming trend that was on the horizon last year and is increasingly becoming a bigger issue is the reality that whatever size business you have – you need to be aware of as you plan your Marketing and Promotion investitures in the year ahead “the devil is in the data, and data is everything.”
Increasingly successful Marketing’s viability and future lies in the MarCom professional’s ability to predict trends, respond to the market’s needs and focus (whatever the product, service or industry) and effectively engage the desired audience to positively influence conversion rates. Effective, marketing isn’t just about designing a great logo or brand program, nor having a sexy online interface with your customer. Great marketing truly communicates your company’s unique value proposition, responding to your target customer in a manner that appeals, connects and resonates.
In a continued challenging economy smart marketers know the dialog has moved well beyond “doing “more for less” or “more with less”, that is a given. If your marketing is not hitting the targets you need it to, now more than ever, it’s critical to be prepared to do things not just cheaper but differently.
Particularly if you are a small business the need to maximize your marketing dollar is paramount.
With this in mind growth oriented companies should strategically focus marketing in in the following areas:
The need to be open to the opportunity and benefit of rethinking mindset and approach
It’s widely accepted the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over…Why not plans to make 2013 the year your Marketing impacts positive change?
The importance of being willing to re-engineer and rework strategy and processes to achieve desired results
No matter how challenging, being prepared to so methodically and going for the highest impact first (making improvements over a time so things get where you want and need them to be eventually) is what you should be moving towards.
It is important to remember, Rome wasn’t built in one day.
The critical need and benefit of reaffirming your research and evaluation of different marketing and promotion initiatives before making critical investments in anything
This will provide your company ample opportunity and means to guarantee interest and reengagement of your audiences through multiple touch points and using better ways
With that in mind now is the time to…
Place increased emphasis on mobile technology
Is your existing web site mobile friendly? Are mobile apps in the future of your ideal marketing mix?
In the Baltimore region where we are based, we recognize there’s quite a bit of industry leadership in that space. Two companies we love include:
Motifworks – Which understands the business case for apps and is committed to partnering with clients to build apps that make the world a better place. Led by Nitin Agarwal and committed to doing business fairly, with integrity and a paramount commitment to innovation, Motifworks “gets it”. They are our own go-to for cutting edge, fairly priced and reliable mobile app development.
LCG TECH – LCG is the region’s specialist in Microsoft application development for mobile and other environments. CEO and GB.TC board member Nigel Knowles knows quite a bit about enterprise mobile app development. Having worked on teams that helped to launch Advertising.com and been in higher level IT Executive management at multi-nationals like Proctor & Gamble gives Nigel a great perspective and ability to apply technology to efficiently resolve and address enterprise tech challenges.
Note the increased desire for physical objects and experiences
As technology continues to increase its importance in our day to day clients long for the reassurance of paper, events and personal opportunities to connect with a message, and vendor, face to face and trust has never been a more important game changer. How will that affect the way you do things?
Think Pink
Slowly the world is waking up that women in business are big business, are you yourself taking advantage of that trend, and using it to leverage your own company effectively? Are you doing so with integrity, in a manner that builds trust or are you just “pink washing” (a term I’ve coined for all the manic, increasingly vapid women in business based initiatives that have no real focus or purpose and are just seeking to capitalize on a growing opportunity.)
Top 10 marketing things to any sized business should think about…
- Business Intelligence – how are you gathering it, storing it, making good use of it?
- Mobile and responsive design – Flash is dead, get a web site that’s mobile friendly and responsive
- Collaborate & Partnership – Works brilliantly to cut costs, and helps grow complimentary brand association
- Marketing to MINORITIES – They are increasingly a vibrant part of the eco-system, don’t overlook them – or risk being left behind and losing a lot of potential good business.
- The PERSONAL TOUCH – Now more than ever, in the age of tech and instant information that’s not warm and fuzzy – connect with potential clients and clients often in person, or at least over the phone.
- Concentrate on what your existing client base wants and needs – Think Long Tail strategy – sell more of less
- Global business and the opportunities there – no business is too small to seize global market share.
- Social consciousness and the role it plays in brand awareness, association and market share
- Budget – Budget – Budget – to this we’d add the need to not be penny wise & pound foolish
- PRINT IS NOT DEAD – anyone saying so is lying, it’s just different.
To learn more about our CCO and Founder Monyka Berrocosa, please visit her web site by clicking here. If you have additional thoughts and/or comments, please share them below so our audience can benefit. Thank you & much continued success.