Don’t leave your marketing to chance. Make sure you set out a plan and implement it in a structured and measurable way. Here’s some ideas, even if you just do some, you’ll be able to measure the results and keep or change your stratgey accordingly.
Don’t forget, you can call me on 01488 674200 if you need help.
Marketing Strategy
In Press works with its clients to implement a marketing communications strategy that complements and enhances the company’s own Marketing Strategy. For companies who don’t have a Marketing Strategy in place - the model from the CAM Foundation is a good place to start.
Objectives
From the Marketing Strategy, In Press looks at the stated Objectives for the company. Through new client brainstorming sessions, these objectives may be reinterpreted into true objectives. The objectives are then made SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable,
Realistic, Time-related).
Marketing Communications Plan
With our Objectives and Budgets fixed and agreed, the next stage of the process is to develop the marketing communications plan.
In Press would investigate the marcomms opportunities available providing recommendations and limitations of each method.
Methods considered would include:
• PR (of course! 
)
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Internet Lead Generation
• Advertising
• Exhibitions
• Direct Mail
Implementation and Measurements
Once the methods are agreed, metrics will be set to measure the success of each activity.
Direct marketing, for example, is straight-forward in that a finite number of mailers would be sent out, with a call to action (eg. return an enquiry card, go look at a dedicated page on the website, call a special freefone number etc). The return can easily be measured. The same
for advertising and e-marketing where specific call to action responses can be measured.
Public Relations can be measured in several ways.
For raising a company profile, market research should be carried out both before, during and after the campaign to customers and potential customers. The campaign will have worked the level of people recognising and understanding the aims of the company in question rises throughout the campaign.
Column inches in target markets. In Press guarantees that all clients receive at least twice the fee spent on press relations in Equivalent Advertising Spend ( calculated by measuring the number of column inches of editorial published and converting it into how much that
would cost if it was bought as advertising).
Sales enquiries. In Press considers all clients as partners and evaluation of all marketing activity is a joint effort. Staff need to be encouraged and trained to ask all customers and potential customers where they heard the company name and what prompted them to call. This can then be fed back into the system and the success of the different marketing activities analysed.
For PR and advertising, very few journals still use the ‘bingo-card’ systems but enquiries can be measured this way. Mostly contact details are published in the journal and the potential customer will use the phone or internet as a preferred contact method.
The website visitors need to be closely monitored to look for peaks around particular PR campaigns.
Schedules and Timescales
A timed schedule of activity is compiled, although be aware that flexibility is required and the schedule, along with objectives and progress are monitored on an ongoing basis.
