Which marketing weapons do you use? And why?
The other day I went to SpecSavers to get new glasses. Outside the shop was a man giving out leaflets. They have someone there every day.
They also send me regular letters telling me it’s time for an eye test.
On my way there I passed a vet’s. A big banner on the front of their establishment tells people to join their Pet Health Club.
I must declare an interest; I’ve been involved in such a Club. And I can tell you that the way it is promoted to vets and their customers is via direct mail and the telephone. I can also tell you that perhaps the biggest marketing challenge is to get the vets’ phones answered intelligently when prospects ring.
SpecSavers are hugely successful. The vet makes a fortune. Neither are blinded or muzzled by the endless river of guff about social media.
This polluted river drowns one important fact.
You must use the media that work best for you. Not the ones that are most fashionable or most profitable for those who promote them but the ones that do best for you.
I’m sorry to disillusion those who think they just have to follow the latest fad, but this means you must think. Even worse, you must think what marketing tools might work for you – regardless of fashion.
This means you must understand what is available. Hardly any marketers do. In large organisations most are far more concerned with how to ingratiate themselves enough to climb the next step of the corporate ladder.
Besides the man handing out leaflets and the big banner on the front of the vet’s, here are the marketing weapons I listed a while ago for the seminars I do for the Marketing Agencies Association.
You should understand a little about all of them. Do you?
Research
PR
Advertising
Point of sale
Sales promotion
Direct and interactive
Product placement
Word of mouth (viral, MGM)
Sales people
Experiential
Pack design
Sponsorship
Workplace marketing
Cause related marketing
Guerrilla marketing
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By the way, did you notice I didn’t mention social media or emails?
ALL media are social. Emails (and everything on the internet) are direct and interactive.
Why do I mention all this. Because, as Mark Twain observed, “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail”.
You need to consider how and when to use many tools, not just the ones that are fashionable.
