TARGET CUSTOMERS

Develop a profile of customers you would like to target

After analyzing the customers currently being serviced by the company, the next section of a marketing audit is where you describe the customer audience you would like to target. The retention of current customers and acquisition of new customers are the underlying concepts of business development and what marketing should support. The potential for increasing sales and raising awareness can be just around the next corner.

By understanding the total sales of a market and what your current customers represent to that market, you can begin to see your market share. After understanding your current customer, you can research if this is a developed market or if there room to go. Are there untapped customers still to be targeted in that market? You may see lateral markets as a way to increase sales. There also may be niche, unsaturated or growing markets worth putting marketing dollars towards. Fringe markets may be ones you have a smaller percentage of customers but see the need to raise awareness and could be worth developing. The need to increase marketing budgets, to help achieve these increased revenues and market share, may reveal itself.

By developing a data-driven marketing plan, it allows for definition, measurement, analysis and improvement throughout the execution. And ultimately, giving you control and the ability to report on the results.

After some research and conclusions, develop your target customer profile.

• What is the title of your target customer? What is their job function? One way this information might be used is in developing a messaging addressing their job responsibilities and challenges.
• Describe the industry being targeted. Apply Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes to industries. How a particular industry receives its information could help shape the vehicles chosen.
• List the geographic location of your target customers. This demographic can further reveal communications vehicle correct to reach these potential customers.
• Add the size of the company to your target profile. How many employees, sales volume, number of locations.
• List other information that may be used to describe demographics, ethnicity or behavioral issues. All of the above information can be used to help define the audience size of your target customers. Demographics can be refined to keep reach attainable.

As an advertising agency, Brigham & Rago is here to help businesses develop marketing communications plans to keep or capture new market share. We are ready to consult with you, then based on our experience and the information we gather, help put together a communications plan. We believe this plan will be a framework for a powerful marketing communications program. Our goal is to help you meet your marketing objectives by assisting in implementing and delivering a clear, consistent message. Call 973-656-9006 to set up a meeting to discuss your next communications project. Visit our online portfolio to see examples of work we’ve created for our clients.

CURRENT CUSTOMERS

For a marketing audit, develop your current customer description.

The next section of a marketing audit is where you describe your current audience. If you are a new company, you could describe whom you would like to target. These descriptions can also become part of guiding questions used later to develop marketing messages. By knowing your customers, you can develop your unique selling proposition, differentiating yourself from the competitors.

Most companies have different kinds of clients, so subgroups will most likely occur. By developing a description of who the users of your product or service are, you may see how to put these customers into subgroups. You will be able to identity which group your primary customers fall into as well as who are your secondary markets.

Here is a suggestion of the type of information needed to develop of a customer profile.

• What is the title of your customers? What is their job function? This information can reveal their responsibilities and challenges.
• Describe your customers industry. Apply Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes to industries. Additional market research can be performed to tell you how many companies there are in these industries.
• List the geographic location of your current customers. This is a demographic that can reveal your service areas are as well as find potential customers.
• Add the size of the company to your customer profile. How many employees, sales volume, number of locations.
• List other information that may be used to describe demographics, ethnicity or behavioral issues.
• Ultimately you should be able to state your current customer audience size.

As an advertising agency, Brigham & Rago is here to help businesses develop marketing communications plans to keep or capture new market share. We are ready to consult with you, then based on our experience and the information we gather, help put together a communications plan. We believe this plan will be a framework for a powerful marketing communications program. Our goal is to help you meet your marketing objectives by assisting in implementing and delivering a clear, consistent message. Call 973-656-9006 to set up a meeting to discuss your next communications project. Visit our online portfolio to see examples of work we’ve created for our clients.

MARKETING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

How do you describe your marketing goals and objectives? Think in terms of long- and short-term and put them in priority order.

The second portion of a marketing audit is where you describe your marketing goals and objectives. Divide your goals and objectives in two categories: long-term (things that might be accomplished in 24 months or more) and short-term (things that might be accomplished in 12 months or less). You should also put them in an order of priority with 6 to 8 goals in your long-term section and 3 to 4 goals for your short-term.

By writing these down they can be continually evaluated, measured, and enhanced so they can be successfully achieved. Goals and objectives should be precise about what is to be achieved. You should also quantify when the results are to be accomplished so it is measureable. All goals and objectives should be reasonable. Make sure that you have the resources to make them happen. Ask yourself if you have the men, money, machines, materials or minutes to achieve these results? Don’t attempt to do too much.

Here are some examples of quantitative goals and objectives to consider for your marketing audit:

• increase company visibility or advertising awareness from 12% to 25% in 24 months
• increase market share or audience size by 20% end of 4th quarter
• differentiate from competition by making preferred luxury brand within 36 months
• increase sales dollars or sales units from $200,000 to $400,000 in 24 months
• generate qualified 5 – 10 sales leads or new distribution channels in South American region in next 12 months
• maintain market share through next six months
• increase usage within existing customers by 10% within 12 months.

As an advertising agency, Brigham and Rago is here to help businesses develop marketing communications plans to keep or capture new market share. The marketing audit process can help your company analysis and evaluate your approaches, activities, aims and results achieved. We look forward to working with your company to develop a powerful marketing communications program to meet your business objectives. Call 973-656-9006 to set up a meeting to discuss your next communications project. Visit our online portfolio to see examples of work we’ve created for our clients.

Brigham and Rago Marketing Communications, Morristown, NJ
Visit our Website: http://www.brigham-rago.com
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SITUATION ANALYSIS

How do you begin a marketing audit? Start by doing a situation analysis about your company.

A marketing audit is a self-examination companies can use to collect their thoughts on activities and needs, goals and objectives, business and marketing descriptions, competitive intelligence, and communications planning.

A place to start is with an overview of the company. Start by writing down details like locations, sales history, and mergers, as well as how aware and perceived the company is among buying influences. This is the beginning of a situation analysis that will help define your market dynamics and begin to identify current position in the market. Begin to see your company from an internal and external perspective.

Here are the basic facts about your company to collect for the situation analysis portion of a marketing audit.

• What is the company’s incorporated name? Do you have a “Doing business as” or a DBA name as well.
• What is your company’s location(s)? List the headquarters as well as any others that might be significant to the marketing process like manufacturing and sales locations.
• What is your company’s website address? Do you have product websites as well as company?
• Do you have a company profile on LinkedIn? Do you maintain Twitter or Facebook pages?
• What is the date the company was established?
• What is the annual sales history for 3 – 5 years? What is the current number of employees?
• Who are key personnel? List any that are stakeholders in the marketing decision process.
• Is there a chronology to the company’s events like mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures?
• In 50 words or less, can you state the company’s business philosophy?
• What is the current awareness level of your company among buying influences? Are you known for your price? Performance? Quality? Service? Availability? Features? Etc.
• What is the current perception of your company among buying influences? Do they have a positive or negation perception about your price? Performance? Quality? Service? Availability? Features? Etc.
• Begin to organize the 4P’s (product, price, place, and promotion) of your company.

• What are my products? Do I make a thing or provide a service? Does your product have the right features? What is the quality of this product compared to the marketplace? List all products or services produced, with brand names if they have them.
• What is the pricing of my product compared to the competition? Do you need to sell large or small numbers to produce profit?
• What is the place my company sells it’s product? Can your target audience get it easily? Is it for use by consumers or businesses? Do you distribute it through resellers or direct?
• How are they made aware of the existence and availability of product? What promotional factors should be considered between seller and buyer? What might influence, inform or persuading the purchaser? Put in order of importance of the promotion mix: personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations or demonstration.

As an advertising agency, Brigham & Rago is here to help businesses develop marketing communications plans to keep or capture new market share. The marketing audit process can help your company analysis and evaluate your approaches, activities, aims and results achieved. We look forward to working with your company to develop a powerful marketing communications program to meet your business objectives. Call 973-656-9006 to set up a meeting to discuss your next communications project. Visit our online portfolio to see examples of work we’ve created for our clients.

ANALYTICAL VEHICLES

How can you better understand your audience? Introduce analytical vehicles into your communications plan.

Analytics can help marketers begin to understand their market position and target audience because you can measure just about anything. The information might help you see what is working and what is not. You might see how to tweak your communications plan and create a roadmap for areas of future improvement.

You might also begin to see what kind of “return on investment,” or ROI, your marketing plan is yielding. You can come one step closer to the holy grail of marketing -- proving that marketing communications is linked to sales. In a down economy, marketers are focused on every dollar spent and have higher performance expectations. They don't want to spend their budget on wasted programs that don't deliver results.

But the popular saying attributed to John Wanamaker, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half," illustrates how difficult it is know what is working and what is not. Internal and external variables can make measurement a complex assignment. Marketing analytics are part art, part skill, and part science. It’s whether you have enough data and the right variables to measure. Tactics differ widely and across many different levels from awareness, interest, desire and action.

Here are just a few suggestions of how to approach different analytical vehicles and what variables you may want to measure.

• Database analysis of variables like name, address, SIC/NAICS codes and transaction history can yield information like: current customers base, customer behavior, target prospects as well as geographic considerations. You might go further down data to company size and customer retention, for example. Ultimately, the information yielded can allow for targeted communication to a customer that will be of interest and benefit to them, and yield a better result for the marketer.
• Market research gathers, records and analyzes data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The questions could be about competitors, market structure, government regulations, economic trends, technological advances, and numerous other business environment factors. Marketing communications could use this data to craft a consistent message across multiple media platforms. The message will hopefully be attention getting, well branded, and have the proper motivational points to yield results.
• We know that for every marketing action, there is a reaction to track. Tracking the marketing results of your communications plan is where you can begin to measure the ROI and each individual vehicles performance. What were your set objectives? Where they met? Can you track the results of your advertising and promotion programs? Public relations? Other types of data tracking could be number of online clicks, offline calls, online and offline revenues and inquires, tradeshow attendees, inbound responses, and market share.
• SWOT analysis is a situation analysis tool used to help marketers understand their Strengths and Weaknesses, and look at the Opportunities and Threats they face. This information can be used to shape communications from a strategic perspective. It can help in the development of positioning and key messaging. What is your unique selling proposition? What are your deficiencies or problems? What are the opportunities to exploit your strengths or turnaround your weaknesses? Are there external treats that could impact you negatively?

As an advertising agency, Brigham & Rago is here to help businesses develop marketing communications plans to keep or capture new market share. We are ready to consult with you, then based on our experience and the information we gather, help put together the analytical vehicle portion of your communications plan. Our goal is to help you meet your marketing objectives by assisting in implementing and delivering a clear, consistent message. Call 973-656-9006 to set up a meeting to discuss your next communications project. Visit our online portfolio to see examples of work we’ve created for our clients.

EVENT VEHICLES

What is the best way to make your event a success? Plan, Plan, Plan.

Whether you are looking at third-party trade shows, corporate events, an experiential event, online trade shows, meetups or tweetups — putting together your event vehicle portion of your communication plan is the place to begin. Events can be used to build brand awareness as well as drive sales.

In order to get the most return on your marketing objectives, all communications vehicles are up for grabs. You may find the need for online or offline tactics — like advertising, public relations, SEO, e-mails, social media, direct mail — to engage your target audience.

Here are ideas to consider if you want to add event vehicles to your communications plan.

• The best events should be chosen because the target audience and marketing objectives are considered. Are these events for customers, prospects, influencers, decision-makers or senior management? Are you trying to arouse interest in a product? Is there an event that a large number of your target audience will be attending? Is there an event that your competitors will be at? These are just examples of questions to ask yourself as you begin scrutinizing business events based on target audience.
• Additional questions can be asked to help choose from the different types of event options to closely match your marketing objectives. Does your product benefit from a live demonstration? Does putting on an educational seminar on a business topic or product make sense? Is it an entertainment event, executive briefing or a partner conference? Can you accomplish the presentation in a road show or single-customer event? What are the relevant trade shows or user-group meetings to consider? In the online world, there are Webinars and online trade shows to explore. The relevancy of the event will help optimize your event budget.
• Identify possible dates and prepare the list of who you want to invite or attend. Prepare requirements needed so you can begin to get proposals from an offsite venue as well as any additional vendors that might need to be contract in advance. Do you need outside consultants or professional help? What are your food and beverage needs? Is this a complimentary or fee-structured event? How about travel considerations, audiovisual, entertainment or speaker services? Insurance or security needs? Are there giveaways or awards needed? Do you need to hire a photographer or videographer? Create a checklist of deadlines to a timetable. These will be milestones to help keep you on track.
• Once the events have been decided, now you have to identify what you need to successfully promote these events. Add to your timeline promotional deliverables needed. How are you going to invite your target list? How do you want them to respond? Do you need to have any other printed materials prepared like posters, signage, special decorations or programs? When should press releases be sent? Are there “community calendars” that your event should be added? What website information needs to be created or added and when should broadcast e-mails be sent? Are there sponsors that could be leverage for the event? Will you need to invite the press or hold a press conference? If the event is newsworthy, you might get the media to interview key members of the event as well as attendees.
• Creating a timeline will keep you organized by what needs to be done as soon as possible, leading up to the event and the weeks prior to the event. The checklist will also help you identify items so you can put a budget together. Managing your event closely will keep budget expenses from unexpectedly growing.
• Finally, for the day of the event details. Prepare your registration lists and name badges if needed. Prepare an agenda and make sure everyone involved knows their role in this event. Be clear about your expectations and provide training if necessary. Who is doing the introductions, speaking, and closing should be attached to a rough timetable. You want to keep your guests as happy as possible and leave feeling they received the best treatment. Ensuring an adequate staff will help ensure a smooth running of the event and save you headaches.
• Confirm, confirm and confirm all details. The offsite venue, food and beverage suppliers need to know final number of attendees. Is rental equipment confirmed? Has all other supplies or decorations arrived and put in place?
• After your event, make sure that any reusable items are packed and inventoried for the next event. Make sure that invoices are correct to agreements. Also think about how you want to follow up with your attendees. Do you want to send a thank you letter, follow-up e-mail or a personal phone call?
• Always perform a post-budget review to see what you could do better next time so your next event will go easier. Keep track of costs for your various events. This information will be the beginnings of calculating the ROI of different types of events.

As an advertising agency, Brigham & Rago is here to help businesses develop marketing communications plans to help promote their events. We are ready to consult with you, then based on our experience and the information we gather, help put together the event vehicle portion of your communications plan. Our goal is to help you meet your marketing objectives by assisting in implementing and delivering a clear, consistent message. Call 973-656-9006 to set up a meeting to discuss your next communications project. Visit our online portfolio to see examples of work we’ve created for our clients.