Marketing Excellence 3.0

Following the economic and financial market crashes of 2008, the recession of 2009, and the advent of social media, a new approach to marketing is a necessity. In the Post-Crash World:

• Customers are now used to getting more for less, and they aren’t going back to their old definitions of value
• Budgets have been slashed and burned. And it will take new more compelling evidence of marketing program impact to build them back up
• Customers are even more in control than before the crash. They are well informed, fickle, and demanding
• Crowding, media and message confusion, lack of trust in brands and institutions is higher than ever due to the crash
• The market requires vendors to provide high-quality and high-value content and services that demonstrate subject matter expertise.

So marketers need a new approach. This is not about new, "cool", untried approaches to marketing. It’s about doing what is needed most to succeed in this environment. The approach – Marketing Excellence 3.0 - has four components. It incorporates the best techniques from the past and new methodologies that respect the new power and mind set of your customers.

1. Proven Marketing Principles. Marketing is driven by Value Propositions. Companies need to be able to clearly communicate the benefit experiences their customers have and address the costs of attaining those experiences. Not all of those costs are monetary. The Value Proposition provides direction for every customer touch point and all business operating units. It dictates your communications and content development. It informs your sales strategy. Getting your Value Proposition right is more important than any other marketing effort.
2. Social Media. Conversations build relationships, which lead to loyalty and success. Given the social media tools available today, there is no excuse for not having conversations with all of your customers. And, you need to have high touch conversations with your top customers. Most of all you need to listen more and talk less. We will design (and implement if need be) your social media strategy and integrate it with your existing marketing and communications platforms.
3. It’s the Experience, Stupid. What kind of experience are your customers REALLY having? Get down to basics and fix what is most important. Are you wasting your customers’ time? Are you confusing and frustrating them? Sadly, this happens all the time. You might say “that’s not the job of marketing”. Well, guess what? In the post-crash world, it is your job.
4. Don’t Be Afraid of Process. Effective marketing requires discipline and lots of metrics. Do you have a marketing framework that gets used and reused in your company? Or do different people have to make it up every time? If so, that's just not going to cut it. And be a maniac about ROI and attribution. If you can’t measure the return on your marketing or advertising investment, don’t do it. Your CFO isn't going to relax about marketing budgets anytime soon.

Marketing Excellence 3.0 provides the insight marketers need to be successful in the very different business environment that now exists. Benefits include:

• Marketing programs that drive qualified leads from the right market segments to your sales team
• Delivering the right content at the right time
• Increased Web site transaction performance
• Better alignment with post-crash world customers and prospects
• Marketing programs that showcase your competitive advantage in the post-crash world
• Having a clear understanding of what it takes to be a successful marketer in the post-crash world
• Rebuilding slashed marketing budgets and justification for the spending request

Marketing Excellence 3.0 is offered as a consulting engagement or a marketing team training workshop.

For more insight, please read the blog post "Seven Questions on Marketing Best Practices"

Let's start the conversation about how Marketing Excellence 3.0 can put your organization on course for more effective marketing and better business results.