Phil Lauterjung

Everyone wants to know where they can get the best return for their marketing dollars.  And, lots of people think they have the answer.  Buy my solution and your ROI will sky rocket beyond your wildest dreams.  Yeah, sure it will.

For the next few posts I will give you ideas on how to use your marketing dollars more effectively.  I know that’s a bold claim, but take a moment to read these tips, consider them carefully, and then make up your own mind.

Here’s smart way #1 – don’t spend any more money on marketing.  I know that might sound heretical to some who make a living selling solutions, but they will also agree that there are some things that you must do before you spend any money on marketing.  Here are three things to have in place before you start spending money on marketing.

• Have a Sound Value Proposition. Not one full of buzz-word-bingo language.  You know what I’m talking about, you see them all the time and they all start sounding the same – blah, blah, blah.  Instead, survey some of your customers and find out how they describe your company and your products or services.  Develop a Value Proposition that clearly states your value in the customer’s language.  A good resource for some tools you can use in this process is Product 180.

• Develop a Buyer Profile, sometimes called a Buyer Persona. Review the customer data you have for your past customers.  Talk to your sales and customer service people about which customers are the ones that they would like to have more of.  Sort out the common characteristics of those customers – company size, what level makes the buying decision, locations, industries, vertical markets, etc.  Then go to the next level.  Do something really weird, talk to your customers.  Find out what problems you solved for them (in their own words).  What media do they use to search for answers to their problems?  What are their goals?  What images and multimedia appeals to them?  A buyer profile should be a short biography of your typical customer.  For more help with this start with the Buyer Persona Blog by Adele Revella.
• Your Marketing Plan. Now you are ready to start putting together your marketing plan.  Your plan should address how you are going to reach your Buyer Persona with your Value Proposition.  Your research of your Buyer Persona should give you very good ideas as to what channels you will need to use.  Beware of the “shiny new toy” syndrome.  It all depends on where your potential buyers hang out.

Once you have done these steps, now you are ready to start spending your marketing budget.  The above steps will give you a tremendous advantage in allocating those dollars effectively.

Coming up next:  The next smart way to spend your marketing dollars and time.  You do remember that time is a cost too, right?

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