Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Part 4. Choosing the Right Marketing Approach for your Design Business





Once you've decided and selected the most appropriate marketing strategy (remember our last blog? Chapter 3. Selecting the right marketing strategy for your design practice) to attract your ideal customer you'll need to decide on your plan of action.

Here's how it all works together...

Choosing your distribution channel (Chaprer1. Selecting the best sales distribution for your design practice) is about deciding *where* you’ll be able to reach your best prospects.
Deciding on you're marketing strategy is about choosing*what* you’ll be doing to reach those prospects.
And implementing your specific approach are all about *how* you'll make it happen...
  •  Distribution channel = WHERE 
  •  Marketing strategy = WHAT
  • Marketing aproach = HOW
Here's an example...
You've decided that a direct mail would be the best way to reach your potential clients

You've decided on your message "come and see me at my pop up store and receive a free gift when you purchase..."

Now, there's several options to consider... You could send a sales letter, or send a brochure, or you could even send a postcard.
Let's think about it... A sales letter might work - if it gets opened; and if it gets read. Most people easily recognise business related sales letters and will more than likely throw letters like that straight into the recycling with little consideration.

What about a brochure?
A brochure might work if we designed it as a self mailer - that is, a piece that is mailed by itself rather than being placed into an envelope. Here again though, we may have a problem. A brochure is also easily recognised as promotion and discarded before anyone reads the information.

Would a personal postcard work? Perhaps a hand written invitation? Nice and personal, and not too "salesy"

OK, But what about cost? how much would each option cost? and what about time too? Your time is money after all. So when weighing ups the options we need to consider what the return on our efforts may be. It might be quicker to

So how do we know what works? It's about TEST and MEASURE. With everything we do we need to make sure we keep track of the results and decide what works and what doesn't. That way we can refine and keep doing the things that work for us. And just as importantly, we can stop doing the things that don't work for us.

Ready to try it for yourself?

Refer back to our previous blogs and then complete this exercise...


WHERE
The distribution channels for my business right now are:

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________


WHAT
Using those distribution channels the best messages for my ideal customers are:

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________


HOW
I'm going to get these messages to my customer by doing:

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________


Want to learn more about the right marketing approach for your design business?

It’s as simple as 1... 2... 3...


2: Come along to the ArtSHINE workshops in Sydney: http://quantumcompass.eventbrite.com

3: Contact Vinh for a no cost, no obligation coaching session on 8060 9321, or 0410 636 138.

No comments:

Pure Leverage

You Might Also Like:

Related Posts with Thumbnails