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Before
the first word of copy is written or the first design concept
considered, a plan must be formulated. It needn't be as complex
as a military battle plan, but it must address the basic Who, What, Why,
When, Where, and How questions. You
not only have to clearly identify the "Who" you're trying to
reach, but also all the "Who's" who may be competing with you, trying to reach the same target market.
You
need to identify What you're offering to your market, Why they should be
excited about your offer, When you will execute this plan, Where the
product will be available, How you want buyers to order and pay
for it, How it will be delivered, and so on.
Here
are a few of the plan components:
- Competitive
Analysis
-
A
Competitive Analysis is just what the name implies - gaining an
intimate knowledge of who else out there is offering what you offer,
or something similar:
-
- How much they charge
- How they promote it
- How they position it in the marketplace
- How they reach their target market
- Their brand recognition versus yours
- Their advantages over you
- Your advantages over them
This list is by no means exhaustive. You want to extend it to
contain every useful bit of information about your competition. And
be ruthlessly honest with yourself about your ability to compete in
any marketplace, with any particular product or service. If your
disadvantages outweigh your advantages, it's maturity not cowardice
to consider not moving forward on a given campaign before it costs you a lot of money.
Web sites are wonderful for competitive analysis...your competitors'
web sites that is!
-
Unique
Selling Proposition
Your
Competitive Analysis should show you opportunities where you have a
clear advantage over competitors. It could be quality, price, value,
offer, terms, delivery, support, anything that would be valued by
the target market.
You want to position this advantage as your Unique Selling
Proposition (USP). You must have a USP, or there's really no purpose
in going to the market with your product or service. You see, the
people in your target market are always asking the question, "Why should I buy from you
rather than one of your competitors?"
If you can't answer that question for them with a USP, they won't choose you
over a competitor. It's not rocket science. It's basic
psychology. You have to give them a compelling reason to take your
offer, and that's your USP.
- Niche
Identification
Another
result of your Competitive Analysis should be niche identification.
You're looking for an opportunity to position yourself in a way that
increases your attractiveness to a certain subset of the
marketplace. This may appear to reduce your attractiveness to the
rest of the marketplace, but the reality is you were never going to
attract the whole marketplace anyway.
For
example, if you're a financial planner, suppose you bone up on the
financial concerns of dentists, then promote yourself as the
"Financial Planner to Dentists." Your marketing information can be
tightly tailored to speak to financial planning issues facing a dental practice,
as well as financial opportunities such a practice can offer.
Writing in such specific terms will make a much stronger impression
on your niche market than trying to be the "Financial Planner to
all of Humanity." With such broad targeting you'd have to water down all your marketing communications to
general terms that would fit anyone. In trying to reach
everyone...you'd effectively reach no one.
Find a niche...and work it like a vein in a goldmine.
Advertising
Plan
- Once
you know the competitive lay of the land, and have sharpened up your
Unique Selling Proposition, you're ready to think about telling the
world what you have.
The Advertising Plan starts with your Copy Platform. That's your
verbal argument, designed to convince a typical target market person
to take the action you desire them to take. Whether that action is requesting more
information, buying your product or service, or becoming a member,
your Copy Platform should be convincing.
The Copy Platform is the kernel from which all your advertising
copy and design will grow. And note that I said design comes from
the Copy Platform. This is critical. The look of the Web page,
printed page, or direct mail piece should fit the Copy Platform
concept, never the other way around.
Of course, no Advertising Plan would be complete without schedules
for advertising. These could include newspaper or magazine
insertions, radio and TV spots, direct mail, direct e-mail, banner
ads, affiliations, promotions, and so on.
Your Advertising should also include projected results, including
gross and net sales. Estimate ahead of time whether the campaign has
a hope of making money. These projections should take into account
the fact that most advertising campaigns begin at smaller
"Test" quantities. Be sure to project based on the lower ad costs
you'll enjoy at higher "Roll-out"
quantities.
Public
Relations Plan
- Many
businesses and non-profits undervalue PR. It has more power than
advertising, because it's seen as an unbiased, third-party endorsement,
yet it's nearly cost-free...especially when it's used to drive
readers, listeners, and viewers to your Web site.
The first major consideration when formulating a PR plan is finding a
newsy angle for PR submissions to various media outlets. Keep
in mind that your Press Release or other PR notice should be aimed
at the publication's or broadcaster's target audience, not at
you or the media management, but at their readers, listeners, or
viewers.
Just like advertising, you need to look for some unique fact around
which you can base your announcement. It has to be interesting to
the eventual reader or hearer to make the cut past the publication
editor or broadcast producer.
Your PR plan should include a schedule that takes into account the
publication or broadcast timelines of the media to which you'll be
sending it. Many magazines work three issues ahead, and many
broadcast producers are booking interviews a similar period ahead of program
air dates. Contact them well in advance and ask what
kind of lead time they require.
Be prepared to do radio and possibly TV interviews. They can be fun,
and the sales or inquiry results can be impressive. Just make sure you answer every
question with some kind of benefit to your target
prospect. And be sure to drop your Web site address and
toll-free phone number in every chance you get.
Customer
Support Plan
- Customer
support really begins at the order. Is your Web site ordering
function user-friendly, or is it a maze? Do you offer all the
convenient payment methods? Do you offer delivery options? And do
you deliver as promised? Do you offer special "Customer-only
Discounts"? All these issues must be dealt with in the Customer
Support Plan...as well as in reality.
Customer support is one of the real strengths of the Web, because
support is usually just another name for communication. What most
customers want is to ask a question, find out about an order, or get
more information before making a buying or joining decision.
The more of this communication that can be handled by your Web site
the fewer people you need sitting by phones. That's lower overhead,
which means greater margins. But more importantly, it means happier
customers.
Many prospects and customers actually prefer getting what they need
from a Web site, because it's less intimidating than dealing with a
live person. But if they do need a live person, that can even be
worked right into your Web site, with live chat functions, or even
phone dialup.
Response
Plan
Your
Response Plan boils down to two issues: Response Mechanisms and
Fulfillment.
Again,
the Web shines as a response mechanism. It used to be that orders
either came in via phone or mail. But now a company's or
non-profit's Web site can receive the bulk of their product/service
orders, and these orders can be processed largely without human
intervention. Credit cards can be validated and charged
automatically, and - depending on the sophistication of your site -
the order can be entered right into your fulfillment program.
-
Fulfillment
is a critical issue, and it's where a lot of businesses and
organizations get into trouble. They promise 24 hour shipping, or some
other delivery benefit, then don't deliver. Your Response Plan must
include a comprehensive fulfillment plan, which takes into account all
possible levels of response. Don't get overwhelmed if response is great,
have a contingency plan.
We
at Content and Design are direct marketing veterans. We've owned and
operated businesses that have sold and fulfilled millions of dollars
of products a month, from our own facilities as well as through
outsourced fulfillment centers.
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