5 Reasons Why Every Business Must Devise an Effective Marketing Plan

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing Plan|5 Reasons Why Every Business Must Devise an Effective Marketing PlanA marketing plan, undeniably, is a crucial and institutional aspect of any business. The reason? It’s because cash flow is the life force for an organization, without which the business might come to a standstill. This cash flow originates from sales, which stems from the successful and effective marketing of products or services to the right customers.

Essentially, a marketing plan is an engine that fuels a company’s growth and drives its sales. If you wish to launch your business and are in search of funding, the banks will want to have a look at your marketing plan. On the other hand, suppose you are in quest of potential investors to expand your business. In that case, the financiers will need to understand the marketing plan to ensure they are spending money where there are chances of positive returns.

A marketing plan is primarily a blueprint or a plan of action that outlines how to implement the marketing strategy in the forthcoming years. It enables the organizations to take on a cost-effective approach with relevance to marketing campaigns to increase the ROI instead of implementing a spray and pray marketing approach.

Need more compelling reasons? Here are some more good reasons why a marketing plan is an absolute need of every business:

It helps stay focused

A marketing plan is a golden opportunity for businesses to think about something big. For instance, you need to determine your ideal customers, build the brand persona, and make the most of untapped opportunities. And for this, you need to come up with the right team members.

With that said, you must facilitate your employees and provide them with cutting-edge technologies so they can leverage them and not squander any potential opportunities. For instance, suppose there’s a marketing professional who’s unable to work at their full potential in a noisy and full of distractions environment. In such a case, portable office pods for single person are the best solution.

Not only are these portable pods discrete and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, but they offer complete privacy. What’s more? There are multiple options to choose from – from an office pod dedicated to video conferencing and phone calls to those that provide green environments and other amenities.
This way, employees can stay focused and get done with their high-concentration assignments in a quieter zone.

It assists in goal setting

Playing aimlessly with a ball in a field is just a pointless kick. Nonetheless, this game eventually attains a more significant cause when you break down some goals. While many business owners want to accomplish longevity; however, without distinct objectives and goals mapped out, it’s pretty challenging to maneuver this path.
A marketing plan enables you to create overriding business goals and define the organizational vision of the business. It expounds on the objectives precisely and shows which resources are at hand and what endeavors are vital to prosper the business. Likewise, it also helps establish metrics for success and organize the current business processes.

However, more often than not, many, but not all, organizations set forth goals such as ‘not to go broke’ or ‘sell even more than last year.’ Unfortunately, such plans fail to create tangible targets for the business. Therefore, be sure to develop SMART goals for business growth.

It identifies target audiences

While every organization wishes to flaunt its products and services and let people know how outstanding they are, unfortunately, this isn’t what the audience wants from them. Instead, people want to know how your organization’s products can solve their problems and make their lives easier.

Therefore, to prevent your organization’s image from deflating just like a balloon in the eyes of your ideal customers, you need to dig in a bit deeper. You first need to identify your target audience, comprehend their world, and understand their pain points.

And in this digital realm, there isn’t much of a reason why your business can’t identify the target audience. A marketing plan is a foolproof method to define your niche, specify the target audience, and attract the ideal customer demographics.

Marketing, undoubtedly, can be a tall order. Still, a marketing plan can offer you a clear-cut and definite direction about how to reach your target audience and ensure massive returns. Not only this, but a successful marketing plan enables the organizations to align their marketing strategy with customer wants, needs, and preferences and address their problems in meaningful ways.

It helps keep track of ROI

Without appropriate direction, it’s pretty easy for businesses to end up floundering. And this is generally a result of non-strategic marketing endeavors. So, while your business might achieve some outcomes here and there; however, when there aren’t any targets, is it possible to measure return on investment?

Also, loss of revenue – three words every business owner fears, yet they are relatively simple to avoid. Instead of splurging money on disjointed marketing campaigns, a well-designed plan allows you to invest cash in worthwhile endeavors.

A tactical marketing plan allows businesses to determine what works best in their favor and what does not. So, in this way, organizations can implement the right strategies, tweak the others, or cut off those that aren’t quite yielding results. Additionally, a marketing plan which aligns with organizational objectives strengthens the brand image, enhances customer acquisition, and improves retention.

It saves time and money

We are all aware that there are only so many hours in a day. And if there’s one thing we need more, it’s time.

While developing a cohesive and clear marketing plan from scratch may seem daunting at first. However, it will significantly save time in the long run and prove beneficial for sustainable success. An effective marketing plan enables businesses to study customers’ needs and interests and then create a strategy to attract them and fulfill their needs.

Moreover, as with time, the marketing budget is also definite. Without a proper plan, it’s easy to spend your money at the wrong places or just one-off projects. Squandering money on an email campaign one month and frittering away money on television advertisements the next month isn’t going to yield positive results.

Remember, creating a trusted and recognizable brand image mainly hinges on the successful marketing of products and services. Therefore, a marketing plan ensures that you allocate resources correctly and all the marketing campaigns tailor to the organizational objectives.

Final Words

An organization might witness some results without a specified marketing plan. However, these results will most likely turn out intermittent and shrivel up if there’s a shift in the market trend or a new competitor steps foot in the industry. In the same vein, if an organization already has a marketing plan in place but is too outdated, it’s probably a redundant working document.

Therefore, it’s imperative to develop a well-defined and streamlined marketing plan and revisit it to ensure that your organization remains on the right track. This way, organizations can also breed data that will help them figure out what’s effective and what’s not. And this, in turn, will assist them in making strategic decisions and remove bottlenecks that impact organizational growth.

Remember, the primary benefit of a marketing plan is perhaps not the plan itself. Instead, it’s mainly about performing thorough research, engaging in the planning process, and asking yourself tough yet essential questions about the business.

How To Choose The Right Digital Marketing Agency

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Digital Marketing Agency|How To Choose The Right Digital Marketing AgencyThe public’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, and as they do it’s important to acknowledge and pivot to fit the needs of your consumer base. Your marketing tactics need to be short, sufficient, informational, and entertaining, all while also ensuring your brand is distinguishable and digestible to the public.

Partnering with a great digital marketing agency can help you accomplish all of this and be game-changing for your business; but with new marketing agencies popping up every day and anyone being able to fake a good review or two online, how can you ensure the digital marketing agency you partner with is the best fit for you and your business?

More and more digital marketing agencies are marketing themselves as “full-service” firms, meaning they’ll work with businesses on any kind of marketing project. However, with a little digging, you can usually figure out the one or two areas of expertise the company has the most history with.

You want to hire experts in your field to help take your marketing to an exceptional level. With that in mind, here are five ways you can guarantee to choose the right digital marketing agency to help your business’s marketing campaign flourish.

Ask To See Their Portfolio

Digital marketing agencies should be proud to show off their completed projects. When you’re searching for a digital marketing agency to work with, be sure to ask to see their portfolio or any samples of their past work they have available. This will give you better insight into the types of jobs they’ve done and you can see if their work style aligns with what you’re looking for.

Asking to see their previous client list can be helpful in cases where their work may not be conducive to portfolio presentation; for example, their SEO services or their content marketing campaigns may not be housed in a portfolio but still give great insight into their capabilities.

Check Into Their Reputation In The Industry

Good news travels fast. Therefore if the marketing agency you’re interested in is that good, talk of their work must be happening somewhere. Ask around your industry to see if any of your peers have insight into the digital marketing agency you’re looking to work with.

Or, if you’re still looking for suggestions, ask around to see if companies in your network have worked with any digital marketing agencies and see if they would recommend them. Your community can help give you insight into the firm you may not be able to find online or through your conversations with them.

They Have A Well-Designed Website

A well-designed website is usually a sign of a digital marketing company that cares. It should be updated, easily navigated, and have all the key elements about their company present for you to peruse. A good way to gauge the digital marketing company’s SEO practices is to search for their website with keywords that match their geographical location and services offered. If they are not one of the first search results, you may want to go with another company that knows how to optimize its search results.

Their Values Match Your Own

Working with external teams can be hard. People can buttheads, there are different work styles, problems occur and deadlines get pushed. You never know what can happen in the middle of a project. That’s why working with a digital marketing agency with a team that values the same things as yours can make the experience that much better all around.

When interviewing the digital marketing agencies, ask what the culture at their company is like, see what their problem-solving techniques are, and lastly see if you get along with the people you may be working with.

Their Team Members Are Well-Versed And Experienced

Businesses turn to digital marketing agencies for help. They want experts who can execute successful campaigns. When selecting a digital marketing agency, ask to see the resumes and backgrounds of everyone on the team you’ll be working with. The last thing you want is to realize you’re paying to work with a team of fresh college graduates or with a team leader who has never worked on a project in your field.

LinkedIn is a great place to look into the background of digital marketing agency employees as well, you can see how long they’ve been with the business, in the field itself, and their specialties before meeting with them.

How to utilise suburban areas in your marketing strategy

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing Strategy|How to utilise suburban areas in your marketing strategyIf you are interested in using suburban areas in your marketing strategy, clearly you are looking for a way to entice your local demographic of customers. Suburban regions are a little different to cities. After all, there is less crowding on the streets, and people are less likely to be rushing to get to places. Instead, the areas tend to be more family-orientated or full of people looking to settle down in their dream homes. It can be more difficult to market in these areas because people may not necessarily be looking to buy something when they are trying to rest at home. However, you can still utilise these areas effectively. Here is how!

Roadside advertising

Roadside advertising is a great way to subtly market your message to people who live in a suburban area. Instead of forcing pedestrians and drivers alike to look at your advertisements, they can be placed in different areas that are unmissable but not intrusive. This includes adverts on digital billboards, bus shelters and shop buildings. The best thing about these types of advertisements is that they can be interactive. So, if someone is waiting for a bus to take them to town, the person can be taking a look at the advertisement and find out more about the product. Some of these adverts can offer free samples or special deals.

Reminders & memorable products

When you live in a suburban area, the last thing you’re going to be thinking about is a specific brand. However, there may be times where customers need something that is missing from their home without even realising it. If an advertisement is cleverly placed in a suburban area, it can act as a reminder for the person to go out and buy it when they next visit town.

Crowding

One of the major problems about advertising in a big city is that you are going to have a lot of competition. Advertisers are now going bigger and bolder than ever to bring in customers. That means unless you have a large advertising stunt in mind, it’s very unlikely that you are going to stand out. By advertising in a suburban area, you are being clever with your marketing strategy. For instance, if you chose a bus stop in a rural area, you could make your digital poster as bright as possible. That way people will naturally come towards it to feel safer in the dark.

Customer orientated

What sort of people are going to live in suburban areas? Most likely it is going to be young couples, families or people who have just retired. That’s why you need to think carefully about the type of brand you are going to advertise in a suburban area. By picking a product that is family-orientated or appeals to the older generations, you could bring in more customers. Let’s say that you placed an advertisement out for a nappy manufacturer. It would be more effective in a suburban area because it is closer to a family demographic. In this sense, you have found and targeted your target audience.

Overall, there are many ways to utilise suburban areas in your marketing strategy. By advertising in suburban areas, you can reap a whole host of benefits towards your marketing strategy.

How to Effectively Use Cold Calling in Your Business

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Cold calling|How to Effectively Use Cold Calling in Your BusinessThe digital age has impacted almost every aspect of people’s lives, including how they sell and market their products and services. The rise of social media, online shopping, and email marketing has made it more difficult than ever to reach potential customers through cold calls alone.

However, this doesn’t mean that cold calling is obsolete – in fact, it’s still one of the most effective ways to generate leads and close sales. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your cold calls:

Tip #1: Do your research

Before you pick up the phone, take some time to learn about your target audience and their needs or their biggest pain points. Once you have a better understanding of what they’re interested in, you’ll be able to tailor your pitch accordingly.

Tip #2: Start with a strong opening

Your opener is crucial – it’s the first impression that potential customers will have of you. Make sure it’s friendly, professional, and to the point. Avoid sounding too sales-y or coming across as pushy because this will only turn people off.

Tip #3: Be prepared for objections

No matter how good your pitch is, you’re bound to get some objections from potential customers. Be prepared to handle them calmly and confidently. Thank the person for their feedback and address their concerns head-on.

Tip #4: Stay positive

Cold calling can be frustrating, especially when you’re getting rejected. But it’s important to stay positive and focused on your goal. Don’t let a few rejections discourage you from continuing with your pitch.

Tip #5: Use a script

Using a script can help keep your pitch on track. It also makes you sound more confident and professional. However, don’t be afraid to personalize it to make it feel more natural since people can tell when you’re reading from a script.

Tip #6: Practice, practice, practice

The more prepared you are, the better your chances of success. Make sure to practice your pitch beforehand to deliver it smoothly and confidently. This way, you’ll be less likely to get flustered if something goes wrong.

Tip #7: Keep it short

Your pitch should be short, sweet, and to the point. No one wants to listen to a long-winded sales pitch – they’ll tune out before you even get to the good stuff. Make it so you’re only giving an elevator pitch that lasts no more than 30 seconds.

Tip #8: Use the right tools

To make cold calling more efficient, it’s important to use the right tools. IP-PBX phone solutions can help you easily make and receive calls, while CRM software can help you track your leads and sales pipeline. The right tools will help make your job a lot easier.

Tip #9: Take advantage of voicemail

If you happen to get a customer’s voicemail, take advantage of it! Leave a friendly and personal message, and briefly explain what you do and why the person should get in touch with you. This way, you can at least get your foot in the door.

Tip #10: Stay organized

Keep your leads and prospects organized so you can easily track their progress. This will help you prioritize your time and focus on the most promising leads, which will ultimately help you close more sales.

Tip #11: Set realistic goals

Don’t bite off more than you can chew – set realistic goals for yourself and your team. Trying to do too much at once will only lead to frustration and burnout. So, start small and gradually increase your goals as you become more comfortable with cold calling.

Tip #12: Take breaks

Cold calling can be mentally and emotionally draining, so take breaks throughout the day. Get up and walk around, drink some water, and take deep breaths to clear your head. This will help you stay focused and energized for your next call.

Tip #13: Reward yourself

After every successful call, give yourself a small reward to keep yourself motivated. This can be as simple as taking a quick break or treating yourself to your favorite snack. By doing so, you’ll be more likely to stick with it and see results.

Tip #14: Track your progress

Keep track of your progress by recording your calls and listening to them back. This will help you identify areas that need improvement and give you a chance to hear your pitch from the customer’s perspective. Plus, you can make changes to your script as needed.

Tip #15: Seek feedback

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your superiors and customers. They may be able to offer valuable insights that can help you improve your cold calling skills. After all, it’s always good to get feedback so you can continue growing and evolving as a salesperson.

Cold calling is one of the best ways to generate new leads. Whether you’re a salesperson, business owner, or entrepreneur, cold calling is a necessary skill set that can help propel your success. Cold calling may feel intimidating and uncomfortable at first, but these tips should make it easier.

Disappearing Displays: Can You See Me Now?

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Disappearing displays|Disappearing Displays: Can You See Me Now?For those of us in the tech industry, inventions from the iconic Star Wars saga and Star Trek series have led to decades of inspiration – some of which we are still trying to build today. Even over the last few years, I have been thrilled to see many of my colleagues pushing the envelope on next generation digital display technologies. One segment of this industry I see opportunities for innovation is what I call “disappearing” displays – displays that don’t get in the way when they aren’t being viewed, so to speak. Sort of like the character Jeeves in P.G. Wodehouse’s popular novels who could appear and disappear at will.

Let me give you a little bit more context around this. Have you noticed people turning towards their Alexa/Google Assistant devices to ask a question? Or noticed people in a conference room on an audio call, staring at the phone while speaking? How about in the car where people turn to the GPS display while speaking on their hands-free phone? Why is this? Humans are visual creatures. But we also want to see displays when we need them; the rest of the time we would prefer for them to be out of the way, merged with the background, virtually disappearing until we need them again.

When CRTs were replaced with flat panel LCD TV’s we reclaimed substantial floor space in our living rooms, conference rooms and hotel rooms. But TVs moved from the floor to the wall, while they are thinner, the monstrous mounting brackets and swiveling arms cause these ugly beasts to jut out. If you have bumped into the TV while navigating around the conference room table or into the massive TV larger than your bed in your hotel room, you know what I am talking about. We love those screens, but they are in the way, they are inconvenient after we are done with our video call or movie. They gotta go, they ought to get out of the way.
Sometimes all you want is the screen to stop flickering, dim down, disappear into the background when you no longer need it. They don’t need to physically disappear in all instances.

Disappearing displays already exist, we don’t think of them that way, until today. I came up with four buckets to put them in. Let’s review them and then I will get into more futuristic stuff.

  • Physically Disappearing Displays: These include old style TV’s inside a cabinet where you can shut the doors to make them “hidden,” to the more recent LG TV that retracts into its base, or even projector screens that can retract to the ceiling. These displays physically disappear or remain hidden when they aren’t being used.
  • Shrinking Displays: These are displays that can be folded or rolled or otherwise shrunk from their original size to something smaller in the X-Y dimension so they are less obtrusive after use. One example is a foldable phone or foldable laptop/tablet. (These are obviously not like your old school flip phones).
  • Quiet Displays: Here, the display does not physically retract or shrink; it just goes into a quiet mode. When not in use they are about as distracting as a piece of printed paper. A good example is Joan, which includes an ePaper display that doesn’t flicker or distract like its LCD counterparts when not in use, and uses 99% less energy as well.
  • Metaphoric Displays: The users lose themselves in the display such as with an Amazon Kindle where you no longer “see” the display when you are engrossed in reading. As then Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos described it, the top design goal for the Kindle device was “to disappear in your hands – to get out of the way – so you can enjoy your reading.” Another cool example is Samsung’s Wall TV, which just blends into the background.

Some other cool examples of disappearing display technologies include:

  • Boogie Board, the pioneering reusable writing tablet using cholesteric liquid crystal technology; the Boogie Board does not go into screensaver mode like a tablet, it does not flicker or distract when you pause your writing. There are also examples of ePaper single-purpose writing tablets that fit this description as well.
  • Microsoft’s Surface tabletop becomes the table and could be used to place food dishes when you are done ordering or paying in the restaurant.
  • The world’s thinnest watch is an example of a shrinking display
  • Kuori Oy’s Yeti Tablet causes both the display and technology to disappear for senior citizens and kids with learning disabilities
  • Electronic shelf tags that look like printed labels, don’t look out of place like a monitor or TV in the grocery store, they ‘disappear’ into the shelf
  • Noctiluca is enabling OLED display lampshade that causes the “bulb” to disappear or the entire lamp stand to disappear
  • Digital signage that looks indistinguishable from paper posters

And don’t ask me ‘how ‘bout them scrolls?”, those disappeared long before any electronic display was invented. So fuhgeddaboudit, that is ancient history.

Now, without sounding too out-of-this-world, I’d like to take a dive into where I see disappearing display technology going in the not-too-distant future.

  • Transparent displays to replace building and shop windows or a car’s sunroof. These displays will have sparse transistors, on a very thin sheet of plastic-like film, powering Mini or MicroLED. SmartKem is already making such a film using Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFT). For example, your “TV” becomes transparent – when you are finished watching a movie, the screen becomes your window, the display disappears. In other words, you can see through the display. Also, think of your car’s roof as a screen. Imagine if I parked my car and pushed a button and my seat reclined and the roof became a screen. We could literally build such a prototype today. Just look at what NBC’s studio did during the Beijing 2022 Games using MiniLED displays, they brought the ski slopes into their studio.
  • AR glasses. Imagine wearing a pair of glasses that have the ability to collect and display data that can, for example, alert you that a colleague is walking into the room and inform you that you owe her money from a Super Bowl bet. The display disappears into the glasses and does not impair your vision like, let’s’ say, VR glasses. eMagin is already building 10,000 cd/m2 bright OLED Microdisplays that disappear into AR glasses.
  • Large color changing ePaper displays. Have you seen BMW’s color-changing car wrapped in ePaper? Imagine using this E Ink display technology on military aircraft that disappear into the sky. The possibilities are endless.
  • NFTs and artwork disappearing displays: Ok, you paid an insane amount of money to purchase a NFT. How will you show it off? What if you had a display that “disappears” into the wall as art? Check out what Canvia is doing and you’ll get the ‘picture’. Omniply is making sticker electronics that might allow you to peel off the display and stick it elsewhere.
  • Digital “bricks”: In the future I see more buildings with blocks of displays on the facade rather than traditional bricks that might resemble this outdoor LED display on the Gold House. X Display Corp could enable this inside the building.
  • Holographic display: Let’s go back to Star Wars for a minute, where holograms were a hallmark, including the famous scene where R2D2 projects Princess Leia, who pleads, “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” Now envision holographic displays that project 3D images that could have useful application in several industries, such as healthcare, entertainment and auto. Looking Glass Factory is already headed in that direction with 3D Holographic displays.

Do some of these ideas sound a bit far-fetched? If so, that’s the point. Wild ideas often lead to breakthrough innovations. As George Lucas said, “Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it.” Or, if you’re more of a Star Trek fan, creator Gene Roddenberry said it best: “It isn’t all over; everything has not been invented; the human adventure is just beginning.”

I expect customers to demand “disappearing displays” as a feature in most applications where the display is not ON all the time. I love electronic displays of every kind but they gotta disappear when we are done viewing them. See if you can discover new disappearing displays at SID’s DisplayWeek 2022 in Silicon Valley during the month of May.

Keep dreaming and stay inspired friends.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor |Sri Peruvemba Sri Peruvemba is CEO of Marketer International Inc. in California. He has also served on the Executive Board and was former Chair of Marketing for many years for the Society for Information Display (SID’s Display Week 2022 will be held in San Jose, CA, May 8-13, 2022). With over 30 years of experience in the technology industry, Peruvemba has been an influential advocate in the advancement of electronic hardware technologies. He is an acknowledged expert on sensors, electronic displays, haptics, touch screens, electronic materials, and related technologies; and consults, writes, and presents on those subjects globally. Contact Mr. Peruvemba at sri@miinc.co.