To say that everything feels a little uncertain right now with the current pandemic would be an understatement. With the latest mandate of wearing masks in the state of Ohio and talk of another shutdown, many business owners are on high alert. Now is the time to assess your marketing strengths and weaknesses to reassess strategies on how to best reach your target audience.
When we first start with a new client, we always start at the beginning by learning where there are gaps in their marketing plan. We use a simple marketing assessment tool called Marketing Strength Metrics that covers 5 areas of marketing that will help you determine very quickly where the biggest gaps are in your marketing.
5 areas of marketing to assess:
1. Branding
Taking a hard look at all areas of your brand from the logo to the messaging is a great place to start when assessing your marketing. Getting feedback from your target audience could also be a great way to determine how people view your brand image and if that matches the messaging.
2. Culture
Oftentimes we forget that company culture ties directly to marketing. If there are a lot of internal disagreements and disunity regarding the direction, vision, or mission, this will severely affect marketing. When all employees and departments in an organization are aligned with the company’s culture, the marketing plan is on the right path to being successful.
3. MarCom
MarCom is short for Marketing Communications, which is everything from design collateral, advertisements, PR strategy, social media, e-newsletters, or any promotional material. Knowing what makes your organization unique needs to match your brand strategy through MarCom.
4. Sales
Over and over again, we see that sales and marketing seem to clash and are typically not on the same page. Sales and marketing strategies should complement and support each other. Staying targeted together by moving in the same direction makes a marketing strategy much more successful.
5. Customer Service
Having exceptional customer service should be a key factor in your marketing strategy. Good customer service means over-delivering, responding timely, and being transparent if there are issues with products. Treat your customers as an individual by building trust and a relationship so they don’t feel like just a number.
Take the test.
Answer the following and rate your organization on a scale of 0–10 with 10 being the best:
- How confident are you in your organization’s brand?
- Is your organization’s culture aligned with your brand?
- Does your MarCom match your brand strategies?
- How are your sales? Do your sales activities coordinate with your marketing strategies?
- How well do you deliver on customer service?
So, how did you score in these 5 areas? Hopefully, this will give you some insight into where the gaps are in your marketing strategies. Not sure where to start? Contact us at info@orig-dimalantadesigngroup.devsquad.tech to get a free one-hour consultation from marketing expert, Ernie Dimalanta.
Get real-life examples by watch the Marketing Strength Metrics webinar at https://bit.ly/2WO63Mv