So! You're ready to start filling in your marketing map with strategies for success. In this post we'll look at how to evaluate a strategy to determine its effectiveness for your desired result.
A marketing map, or 'mix', is made up of several strategies with various campaigns therein. There are several different types of strategy and within them, even more campaign types. For example, a direct mail marketing strategy may include campaigns such as a birthday promotion or a 'winback' message. A UGC strategy may include campaigns such as a promotion led content contest, etc. There's tons of rabbit holes to get lost in here, but the focus of this post is to determine the effectiveness of a general strategy.
First, ask yourself: Will it work?
Yes, this seems simple but simplicity warrants results. Will your choice of strategy actually yield results? Consider the methodology and the use of the strategy to shape the result of this question. Let's try out an example. For a moment, pretend that you are a company which produces farming equipment and your target customer is a 60+ year old male.
Photo by Chris Ensminger on Unsplash
You want to run a TikTok campaign as part of your broader social media strategy. Now ask yourself: Will it work?
The short answer? No.
Your demographic of customer isn't on TikTok in the same density as they might be for, say, a radio show. So no, a TikTok campaign will not work because it won't find your audience where they already exist.
However, there will be instances where yes, the campaign just may work or has worked well in the past and is being refurbished. Use this first question to determine the legitimacy of the offer on the table before you spend time and money on experimenting.
Next, ask: How do we do it?
Before investing time and resources in a campaign consider each step.
For example, you are an e-commerce health and beauty brand. You know that customer X has just ordered a moisturizer and will likely need a refill in 30 to 60 days. You have their address from their initial order and they have legally agreed to being contacted for marketing purposes. Yes, you can email them but what about sending them a postcard in two weeks with a coupon code for a refill of the moisturizer?
Photo by Neauthy Skincare on Unsplash
Not sure how to go about that? Try this:
You would start with your list i.e. your customer X details including their name, address, and order date to predict necessity of reorder. Next, you would input these details in your service for direct mail as well as the creative for your specific messaging, i.e. a 'custom' coupon code for refill. Then with payment to your service your customer X will receive that coupon code in 10 to 14 days and are likely to not only reorder but use the coupon code, filtering them even further in your records.
So yes, it can be done! And the steps are clearly defined with action points on each.
Finally, ask: Did it do anything?
Believe it or not, in most instances the best thing you can do if you're on the fence about a particular campaign or strategy is to try it out. You will only need to experiment if answer to the first question is foggy. But a good rule of thumb is to set a budget and a timeline to let the campaign run long enough to warrant results worth reviewing. Don't go overboard on spending for something you don't have faith in, but let the campaign speak for itself if you're struggling to evaluate the potential. This will be relative to each use case but a good rule of thumb is two weeks before review.
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Always remember to review! These results will help to shape your decision making for that strategy in the future -- and can serve as a point of reference for broadening or narrowing the scope of a brief for your marketing team. Going with the 'gut' isn't necessary when you have so many ways to track ROI to help shape marketing decisions.
Summary:
Before committing to any strategy or campaigns ask yourself will this work for my business, and if so, how do we make it happen? Finally, the best way to learn is to experiment but remember to always review the results to shape decisions in the future.
Get in Touch:
Have a question about strategy when building out your marketing map? Ask away! Write to us at liz@litirmarketing.com.
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