CRM & MARKETING AUTOMATION AGENCY

The 2020 Marketing Checklist For Marketing Newbies (And Experts!)

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Marketing can be a risky business. 

And even more so for those businesses who don’t have a dedicated marketing budget.

If you’re new to marketing or want to spend your money a little bit wiser, then here are the key questions to ask. Answering them will allow you to minimise risk and maximise return.

For both offline or online marketing activity, here are our top things to consider

What is your marketing objective?

Being clear on your goal is a crucial starting point. More sales or customers is a vague marketing objective, and in truth, is more of a sales objective. Think marketing. What do you want your audience to do as a result of your communication?

Think of shorter-term objectives. Do you want more visits to your website, more followers on your Instagram page or better quality telephone enquiries? 

Start with your objective and that should steer what channel you choose to use. Not vice versa. An objective of ‘more website leads’ may be best suited to a PPC or SEO strategy. Whereas an objective of raising brand awareness within a target audience may be better suited to sponsoring a niche event or trade show.

How much do you want to invest?

A fairly obvious point, but a major factor in what marketing activity is right for you is cost. So carefully consider your budget.

Above-the-line advertising includes channels like TV advertising and national radio campaigns. Through these channels, you can reach millions of potential customers in seconds. And with such media, you can expect a higher price tag.

Smaller budgets will need smarter spending. Social media campaigns are typically extremely cost-effective in comparison. You can set daily budgets on your spending and take a hyper-targeted approach when designing audiences.

What value do you have to share?

The very best marketing campaigns are those that deliver value to the target audience. So what is the message you want to convey? Think about what your audience really cares about, rather than what you think they should care about. 

If you’re a marketing agency who has recently hired a new employee, that’s great news for you. Well done, but what does it mean to your audience? Do they care? This is a great example for flipping an internal story into a powerful, customer-facing message. What value will this new person bring to your business? How will it positively impact the results your agency delivers to your clients? What does it mean to THEM

Messages of high value might include sales offers and new service or product announcements. Be clear on what your message is and the value it brings. And thinking about our first point, does it align with your defined marketing objective?

What do you want your audience to do?

More forgotten than you’d imagine, the trusty call to action is probably the most crucial element of your messaging. Without it, you can wave goodbye to a successful marketing campaign. 

Whether you want your captured audience to sign up, buy, learn more, click, ask a question, share, follow, like, comment or book, don’t forget to tell them to do so!

Make your call to action clear; the clearer it is the more impactful it will be. Consider your marketing objective when doing this as it will often directly apply. If your objective is to increase sign-ups to your newsletter, your call to action will be: Sign up to our newsletter!

How will you achieve your marketing objective?

Depending on your audience, budget and messaging, you might choose to promote your message through one channel or a mixture of many. Our advice would be to run multiple tests and compare performance, making sure you’re spending budget most effectively.

If you’re brand new to the world of marketing, you might take great reassurance from advice from a specialist agency. Marketing agencies will have worked with many channels and with similar businesses in your sector, so will know what works. 

Ask them for some examples and I’m sure they will be happy to share them. Feel free to ask us; we’ll be more than happy to share our success stories.

Do you need a helping hand?

Do you need your marketing objectives defining? Or do you need a message creating or want to explore available marketing channels? 

Here at Airbase, we work in collaboration with our happy clients. We pride ourselves on working with beginners and experts; informing, educating and advising along the way.

And as for our call to action: Get in touch today for a free consultation.

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