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Staying creative in an uninspired environment
It's easy to think outside the box -- it's not so easy from inside a box. When budgets are tight and so much rides on every move we make we're afraid to make a mistake -- and creativity can't thrive.
The best way to get out of the box is to build a sturdy box to climb out of
The first order of business is to get back to basics and understand the real constraints so that we can move forward. This may mean understanding what resources are available, what is riding on your marketing campaign, understanding the market, etc. Or it could be that a more in depth understanding of the state of the business in general is required.
Basic Planning
A simple way to find out where you are is to list the marketing, advertising and promotional items you are currently running, along with their costs. Add this up and you have your current "true" budget. Now look at the strategies you have in place and see if your current marketing is in line with those strategies: are they effective? Were they put in place with this strategy in mind? Now track back to your objectives: are your strategies (or in lieu of a connected strategy - your current marketing) helping you reach these objectives? According to your answers you must adjust either your objectives, your strategies, or your current marketing devices. If things are really out of whack, move up the ladder further to your vision, mission and goals.
Got all 4 corners?
It may be fairly simple to know if your objectives are being met, but it might not be so easy to know why or why not. Tracking your marketing seems like a big task but find some realistic way of doing it. If you intend to rely on your feeling about whether a campaign is successful or not, hopefully you are really good at keeping track of things in your head and your gut is reliable. If not you will likely waste money and prolong your pain needlessly. Find something you can count and document over time. If you hold events, track your events over time using criteria that will help you with your analysis not just of the present results but with trending over time -- attendees, costs, etc., and note external factors that affected the event so that you can explain the numbers in the future. If you advertise use offers to track your success. If you rely on online promotion, track your hits, open rates, click throughs, friends, fans, responses, etc., in some way that relates to your goal for this campaign -- such as a sale or inquiry. It doesn't take too much effort to have data you can bet your business on.
Now start climbing
Eliminate or change what's not working, then get on to the fun part! Get creative and use your imagination and intuition as you craft your visual and written messaging. Be your customer, connect to your customer, invite your customer. Lament with your customer, celebrate with your customer, have fun with your customer, protect your customer, nudge your customer and improve the life of your customer. Get out of the box and have some fun with your marketing!
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