By Louise Walden, Director of Big Beach Marketing
Have you got a plan? Not a Marketing plan, a business plan. Why do I ask? Because it’s fundamental to me – as a marketeer - that there is some kind of plan for your business. Marketing activity should support the agreed objectives of the business. If you don’t know where you want your business to be, it is difficult for marketing to help you get there. Sometimes producing a marketing plan can help a business focus on what is important for its success.
I have a plan, what’s next?
Working with a new client is very exciting as we have to quickly get ‘under the skin’ of the business in order to understand it, to deliver the best marketing advice. We do this by conducting a Marketing Audit; 50 questions about your business, designed to draw out the real picture and completed often though discussion. We prefer to talk through the questionnaire as it means we can quickly build trust, rapport and obviously ask further questions if necessary and involve other key members of the team.
The Marketing Audit, what kind of things do we ask?
We’ve usually had some communication prior to carrying out the audit so we’re able to tailor it around unique concerns or common industry issues. The obvious and most direct questions are often the best; what’s your historical and projected turnover? Do you have a company vision or mission? How do you segment your customers? What’s the competition like? A good ‘starter for 10’ is...
