Why Organizations need Marketing Communications Plans

Too often we run into small business owners who are disenchanted with the time and money they are investing in marketing communications as they don’t believe they are getting the return on investment they are looking for.

We hear it all of the time: “I put all of this time and effort into a website and get very few qualified leads from it,” or “We put together this fancy brochure and I don’t think anybody even reads it,” or “We put some videos on YouTube and got a Facebook page going but I don’t see our revenues going up.”

And just about like anything in life, if you head out without a plan and just see what happens, you get exactly that … whatever happens. Adventurous spirits are wonderful for say backpacking around Europe, but when it comes to marketing communications, adventurous spirits usually get drawn into creative fads that seem “snazzy” and “fun”, but often do not result in the revenue expected.

Reaching your customers: In today’s frenzied media world, where millions of messages are being sent daily on countless media channels — websites, social media channels, print publications like brochures, emails, texts, phone calls, in-person meetings, etc., — getting through with YOUR messages to the RIGHT target audiences (customers who are likely to buy what you are selling) is tougher than it has ever been.

Formulating a plan: To reach your customers efficiently, maximizing use of your resources, takes a calculated assessment of what your business is, where you want to go with your business, who the audiences are that are likely to buy, what messages will move those audiences to buy, and on what channels those audiences are likely to digest your messages … and then act on a possible buy. Sounds like a plan! YES. It is a plan.

Marketing that returns results: By engaging with a marketing communications professional on the above steps, a marketing communications plan is created that can be measured, and altered if necessary, to maximize return on investment.

And … you may be surprised how traditional marketing channels that require little financial investment may indeed be the best use of your resources.

It’s about identifying who they are, what they want to hear and see, and getting those messages to them in the way they will receive them.

Instead of wasting thousands of dollars putting the cart before the horse, get some help with a marketing communications plan first, and strategically and methodically invest the resources you can afford, to get results.

(By the way, I read somewhere that only 2% of golfers take lessons … yet the vast majority of decently serious golfers complain continually that they never seem to improve. Hmmmm …)