10 Practices To Make A Marketing Impact!

[Howard Larson]

1. Revisit inventory management.
Yield-management and scheduling tools can help get more value from your inventory and bolster thinning margins. You need have it on the shelf you can’t sell it, yet too much inventory is death.

2. Use facts for your business.
Making decisions is often a rushed practice based on perception rather than facts. Necessary information can take too long to collect into digestible, actionable analytics. Take in all the facts you can then go for it.

3. Embrace measurement.
Digital and direct are measurable. Expectations in all media now go beyond basic delivery and fulfillment metrics.

4. Develop creative packages.
Marketers, agencies and planners are selecting media partners based on their ability to drive consumer action, as well as impressions across multiple media platforms, brands and geographies. Creative packages deliver greater engagement, and bundling products and services enhances greater consumer brand affinity.

5. Partner for innovation.
Be opportunistic as well as strategic. Leading organizations work with customers to develop and adapt to new platforms, technologies and measurements, as well as to build innovative business models. New trends can present immediate opportunities

6. Build an adaptive organization.
People and organizational structures can create as many operational issues as they can competitive advantages. Organizational hazards -- from misaligned skills to internal competition for valuable resources -- damage productivity. Leading media firms react with the speed, skill and flexibility that marketers and agencies need, thanks to well-defined and self-adjusting roles, procedures and processes.

7. Make it easier to do business.
This is perhaps the most underrated differentiator in the market. The goal should be to create strong relationships and to become the partner of choice. Make sure every transaction is as easy as possible.

8. Don't lose sight of the little things.
Operational setbacks are more than mere annoyance. They negatively affect margins, cash flows and client relationships. Even "minor" communication breakdowns have significant impact. Instead of celebrating the short-term heroics needed to resolve inevitable operational crises, leading companies focus their efforts on redesigning processes and improving procedures to avoid inefficiencies.

9. Promote areas of expertise.
Companies frequently focus on delivering at the best price but often don't highlight their other stronger points of quality. Avoid being viewed as a commodity; diferenciate yourself from your competition.

10. Deliver on promises.
Marketing plans are about driving product awareness and consistent messaging. If you can’t live up to what you say you can do, don’t say it. Of the initial promise adversely affects the media planner's credibility and relationships. Identify the root causes of under delivery and place better controls across media scheduling and execution to minimize lost revenue.

In times of crisis, it's easy to miss some of the basics. Having a solid foundation of operational excellence will create competitive advantages and position your firm for the future


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
[e-mail]
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://chicagosblackbusinessnetwork.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations per week to talk about marketing for businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

*Source: Howard Bass