Posted on 05 December 2009
Tags: basic marketing, Business, business development, company, Design, Development, effective marketing, las vegas, Marketing, marketing communications, marketing objectives, marketing strategy, Perkolate, professional, strategy, target customer, target customers, tips and tricks, website
Many Las Vegas companies may decide to follow a shortcut method of planning their marketing communications strategy. Whether you’re an individual business or a company, skipping this step of business development will hinder your sales growth long term. It is important to recognize the focus on advancement by those that take the time to develop an effective marketing communications strategy. You will definitely spend several hours putting this together, but you will know that it’s useful because a marketing strategy provides you with a plan of how to handle projected successes and when it’s completed, you will have gained valuable intelligence about your target customers, brand strengths and weaknesses, competitive landscape, and finally the marketing objectives that will lead you to the top.
Start with what you know.
Take a few moments and capture your thoughts on the ideal target customer for your business. Write it down. Your final notes will give you the detail you need to formalize your Marcom strategy. Consider who you are and what you represent. What image would you like to project in the marketplace? What’s most appealing to your customer? This should be your perspective when putting a marketing communications plan together. Question everything from the customer’s point of view. Note common themes that come to mind – industries, trade associations, demographics, or anything else you notice.
Next, decide where you want to go.
Brainstorm ideas of how you can promote yourself to gain awareness of your brand as you advance through this process. Evaluate your brand’s strengths and weaknesses. Follow the basic marketing S.W.O.T. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) formula by developing several bullet-point statements to define each section of the analysis. Create a list of competitors in your industry, region, or specialty. You may even wish to complete S.W.O.T.s for your top, three competitors as well. It’s good practice to spend the time getting to know your competitors and this will make you much, much smarter in the end. Everything you do should be viewed through your customer’s eyes. If you have more than one, majority-type of customer, include each perspective throughout your strategy.
Now map it out.
Now that you’re fully armed with detailed knowledge of your customer base, company goals, and strengths you are in a perfect position to map out the marketing venues that will lead you to success. Begin this process with what I call a ‘zero budget.’ Author your dream list. There are no monetary blocks here and this encourages you to consider all possibilities. Explore advertising paths, customer events, trade shows, associations and chambers of commerce. Refine this list with a dose of reality then put it into action. Remember to design your ad promos from the customer’s perspective.
Try to have fun with this process and take some time to review these web sites for great tips and tricks:
More on marketing intelligence and considerations:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_94.htm
Great tips for individuals looking to market:
http://self-employed-marketing.suite101.com/article.cfm/create_a_marketing_strategy
Marketing strategy formats with templates:
http://www.businessballs.com/freebusinessplansandmarketingtemplates.htm
For professional Las Vegas Marketing Communications consulting, contact Perkolate at 702.341.0085 or visit our website at www.perkolate.com.
Posted on 14 August 2009
Tags: basic marketing, Business, company, integrated marketing communications, las vegas, Links, Marketing, marketing communications, marketing plan, powerpoint presentations, target customer, target market, website
When you started your Las Vegas business, you most likely created a business plan to map out the strategic business direction your company would follow and projected sales, profits, costs, etc. In the same vein, you need to create a basic marketing communications plan for your business as well.
The goal of a marketing communications plan is to make potential customers in Las Vegas (and beyond) aware of your business and its products and services. This is accomplished by creating websites, brochures, flyers, powerpoint presentations, press releases and more.
In order to write a meaningful marketing communications plan, you need to do research to understand your target market and target customer, what materials would be most appropriate to reach that customer and what budget and timeline will help you reach your marcom goals.
The following are some great links to help you understand exactly what a marketing communications plan is and some templates and information to help guide you along:
Posted on 18 March 2009
Tags: Advertising, advertising firm, advertising strategies, advertising strategy, Business, company, effective advertising, firm, las vegas, las vegas review journal, Marketing, marketing budget, strategy, target, target audience, target customer, vegas city, vegas company, vegas sun
Advertising your Las Vegas company or business is critical. Even in a slow economic time, advertising plays a key role in marketing your company and if you aren’t advertising, you competition is.
Before you consider advertising for your business, you need to devise a basic effective advertising strategy to help guide you along. The basic principle behind advertising is making potential customers feel comfortable and identifying what those potential customers needs are.
There are some things you should define before you begin. Here’s a basic checklist:
- Determine your target customer or client. Male or female, age, career, income, ethnicity, hobbies, likes and dislikes.
- Learn what your target customer’s behavior is. How they think, what makes them act. What would convince them to choose your company over your competition.
- What does your target customer need? Providing solutions to your potential customers needs is equally important. Help them solve problems.
There are a few other things to consider before beginning a marketing campaign for your Las Vegas business. You should have some rough numbers as to what your budget will be, what you will spend. In general 5-10% of your gross revenues should be spent on advertising and marketing. You need to decide how much of your marketing budget you will spend on advertising.
You also need to consider how to reach your target audience. For example, if you’re trying to reach Las Vegas residents over 50 years of age, you probably wouldn’t consider advertising in Las Vegas City Life, as the target reader is of a much younger demographic. You might instead consider advertising in In Business or the Las Vegas Review Journal or the Las Vegas Sun.
If you don’t feel comfortable doing all of the due diligence required in forming an advertising campaign, you should search for a
Las Vegas marketing and advertising firm and hire a reputable firm to assist you.
Posted on 02 March 2009
Tags: Business, business owner, city of las vegas, company, firm, las vegas, logo, Marketing, marketing efforts, marketing materials, strategy, Summerlin, target, target customer, target customers, target market, website
If you are a company that is focused on doing business in our fine city of Las Vegas, then there are great benefits to understanding your target market when marketing your business here.
A dog grooming business, for example, would not be trying to sell their services to people who own birds; they need to find effective ways to reach people who own dogs in town. Furthermore, they may find that their target market of dog owners is narrowed down to a few zip codes near their place of business. By identifying who your target market is, you’re not just taking a “shot in the dark” with your marketing efforts.
The official definition of a “target market” is the specific group of customers that you market your products and services to. They are the customers that are most likely to be interested in your products and services. Unseasoned marketers or business owners might attempt to market to “everybody” which is a very unwise strategy to take. Aim for your target and you will have a far more successful shot at a “bulls eye” with your marketing efforts.
Las Vegas is a metropolitan area of great extremes. There is everything from the underbelly of Sin City to conservative business people, entertainers, blue collar workers, people of many different types of religions, families, young and old.
Here are some points to consider in helping you identify and understand your target market:
- Is your target customer a man or a woman (or both)?
- What is the age range of your target customer?
- What geographic area/s do your target customers live?
- What is their income and what do they do for work?
- How does your target market thing and feel?
- What messaging and what offers will appeal to your target market?
- Create an email or written survey to find out more about your target market.
- Talk to customers, ask questions, what they like, what they don’t like?
- Keep tabs on your competitors to see how they are communicating with your target market.
Once you have a target market identified, you should create all of your marketing materials, the look and feel of your materials, the copy writing and the delivery methods of your materials appropriate to that target market.
For example, let’s say you are opening a law firm in Summerlin and through your research, you find that your target customer is male, 35-49, conservative, lives close to the area, owns a company employing 50+ people and is concerned with the high cost of retaining an attorney.
The business owner of that law firm should develop materials that speak directly to that target. Perhaps the colors used in their logo, business cards, website and brochure are conservative blue and gold colors. The messaging and copy would be targeted to that target as well. The places you might advertise would be in the areas where that target market lives, the publications they read, the television shows they watch.
Now, more than ever, it is very important to have an idea of just who your target market is and by doing so, you’ll know how to communicate with them and gain their business!
For more information, visit:
