MarComms Fit
Effective marketing is like spinning plates – you need to keep it all moving
Throughout January we've been running our MarComms Fit program, sharing our knowledge on how you can get your marketing and communications fit for the future. And this page has all the useful bits in one place...
Detox
All about looking at what content you already have, understanding your audience, and mapping all the touchpoints along your customers journey.
Kick-start
Focus on setting goals, defining and refining your brand and the key benefits you bring to your customers. Look at your messages with fresh eyes and consider whether they’re still relevant.
Strength
Campaigns can focus your efforts in specific areas, to specific audiences using the variety of channels available. Using and measuring results can provide valuable insight into your customers.
Stamina
You need a regular stream of interesting and valuable content to keep your customers engaged. Recycling content from campaigns and long-form copy can provide evergreen content year-round.
In reality, these things don't work in sequence
You need to find a balance between them all, and keep everything going at the same time. Following our steps can get you on track and thinking about where you might need to focus your attention.
Creating a holistic approach to marketing and communications
The key to a winning and relatable strategy is to look at your marketing bases holistically. That’s focusing on your high level, macro-objectives whilst being in the detail of your micro deliverables. It can sound all a bit preachy, idealist and unachievable – in reality you have balancing budgets and juggling resources to contend with – we get it! But the trick is to break everything down into manageable sections.
Here’s an overview of touchpoints for you to consider – of course there’s more than this – like measuring, monitoring, reporting, budgeting, resourcing etc. But understanding how everything connects and works together helps you deliver value.
Brand
Your brand is bigger than any individual product or service – your brand makes you memorable and creates expectations, it brings everything to life. The consistency created by brand is what makes you believable.
Content
Use your content to answer questions and drive conversations. Content marketing places you firmly as the expert and aims for continual reach and engagement. When consistently done well, your content will drive the top of your sales funnel without a sales pitch.
Campaigns
Short sharp bursts of focused marketing activity across multiple channels – and probably where your sales team will want to be most involved! With one desired action promoted across your campaign these are one of the most measurable areas of marketing.
Operational
Your operational communications really build your reputation, and your reputation feeds your brand. Whizzy marketing will create engagement, but this is about ongoing delivery and customer satisfaction. Consistency in your messaging, language and layout is only part of it – ease of interaction and timing are also key.
Digital
Your website, social media, search engine optimisation, pay per click, analytics and interactive content all need to hang together to maximise your online presence. But much like your operational communications – make the journey and experience easy for your customers. Using the tools and interactions between different digital channels can create a very effective marketing journey.
Planning your marketing communications mix
What if it's still too big to tackle?
You might be struggling with how to begin, where your time and budget is most wisely invested, and how to create plans and put them into action. If you're not a marketer, it can be quite overwhelming! And even as a marketer, sometimes there just isn't enough hours in the day!
We love planning, but we can also relate to the pressures of delivery.
We'd like to help you. Just drop us a line, we can have a chat and help you work out the best way forward.
Here's the thoughts and resources we've shared throughout MarComms Fit
Holistic communications
Bring all the elements of your communications and marketing together with an integrated and holistic approach.
Campaign planning
You’ve detoxed (audited) your marketing communications, set goals, now you’re looking at campaigns the heavy lifting of content creation.
The importance of brand in communications
You’ve detoxed (audited) your marketing communications, now you’re setting goals. But where does brand fit into your comms?
Marketing comms audit
How do you get a base line and know your starting point when you want to look at your communications? You carry out a marketing communications audit.
Marketing communications that go the distance
It’s another New Year fitness program – for your marketing communications. Making sure your content can go the distance in 2021 and beyond.