What’s your front door? Do you have a logical path for your marketing — A way to roll out the red carpet and invite your customer in? Do they need to know how to ring the doorbell or use the knocker?
Today Patti Renner had an interesting article at Making Words Stick called “What flavor is your marketing?” Sometimes you can provide too many choices to a new customer and it’s hard for them to know which one to pick. She compared it to a time when she ran a coffee shop:
To make it easy on their brains, still numb from lack of java, I started suggesting my favorite drink – a caramel latte. And very soon, caramel lattes became our best seller.
At my marketing firm, sometimes we like to start our working relationship with our clients with a full blown strategic marketing plan. It just makes sense to start with a plan, rather than doing tactics that might not support the overall objectives.
On the other hand, some clients need to put their toe in the water before they are ready to go swimming. To those clients, we sometimes offer a press release program. So, I guess, in a way, our press release writing and press release distribution programs could become our caramel lattes.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Chris, Thanks for checking out my blog, and for the mention (You rock!). It’s funny. There are times when I offer my “just handle it” package that bundles together everything the client says they need… and then they end up just wanting a slogan to start. It always evolves into more, but the “toe in the water” is the perfect description of the start — especially when it’s a new relationship. Keep up your great work. Love your stuff!
—- It just makes sense to start with a plan, rather than doing tactics that might not support the overall objectives ——
I can’t get the difference between those two options, staring with a plan or doing tactics, I would appreciate it if you made it a little bit clear for me.
Great article, I hope you can publish more of those articles that include case studies.
Hi Axe:
Your question didn’t have a ? so I saw it as more of a request than a question. Here’s a quick way to sort out the difference between strategy & tactics:
Strategy is the
Strategy is the why & who, the reasoning behind selecting a segment, the ideas on how to reach the objective.
A tactic is a what. Tactics are the “visable†pieces of marketing: the website, the direct mail campaign, the brochure, the shiny stuff.
Hope that helps.
Chris