Step 5. Combine all of this information into your marketing mix. Now you craft a variety of marketing pieces that contain your desired messages, and start pushing them into the various channels. Traditionally, the marketing mix has four channels: public relations, advertising, personal selling and promotions.
Everyone knows what the first three channels are, but most people are confused by promotions. At the risk of confusing you further, promotions are anything that the other three aren’t. For example:
- Loyalty programs
- Events
- Lectures/personal appearances
- Coupons
- Sweepstakes
- Sampling
- Point of purchase displays
To be effective, you must maintain control of your content and hold tight to the messages you determined at the beginning of this process. If you can do this, your messages will be well integrated and consistent across all of your marketing channels. Someone seeing your point of purchase display will take away the same key messages as someone viewing your Web site or talking with a sales person. This layered approach to messaging reinforces your position again and again in the minds of your target audience.
How do you figure out which marketing channels will produce the most revenue for you? Approach your decision from your customers’ perspective. Good salesmanship is about listening to the customers and about telling your customers that you understand their needs. It’s also about reaching them at a time when they are willing to listen.
So you must determine where your customers are and when they have time to listen. What marketing channels appeal most to your customers? Advertising? Probably not. Most people flip past the ads and ignore the commercials. The Internet? Yes. People are spending more time online than ever. Do your customers like watching TV news or reading the newspaper? Yes.
Do they enjoy attending events? Yes. Once you determine which channels to use, you will want to widen those channels as much as possible. Get in there and push your messages as hard as you can. Stay focused. Follow this logical path, and you stand a far better chance of getting your promotional messages noticed.
