Automatic Merchandiser serves the business management, marketing, technology and product information needs of its readers including vending operators, coffee service operators, product brokers, and product and equipment distributors in print.
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victim to apathy and the pass-the- buck-shuffe ("I thought you were doing that!") Set a budget. Even if your budget is a very modest one, write it down, make it known and stand behind it. This will send a message to your team that the marketing program is important. It's real. Plus, a clearly defned budget enables your market- ing team to make appropriate deci- sions about spending. Focus on strategy, not the tactics Have you ever heard someone say, "I don't believe in marketing, it never works for me?" It is fair to assume that person charged ahead with a lot of random tactics before develop- ing an effective messaging strategy. That's a sure fre way to burn through your marketing dollars and get next- to-nothing in return. Tactics don't get results; strategy gets results. Think about it, the very act of creating a Website does not auto- matically mean that you'll get leads. That's like assuming your company softball team will win just by show- ing up to play. Your site needs to deliver the right messaging to have any positive effect on your business. The same goes for your ads and your direct mail. In fact, all of the market- ing pieces you create need to strike the right chord with prospects and compel them to take the action you want them to take. So, don't worry about WHERE you are going to place your messaging until you fgure out WHAT your mes- saging should be. Once you've got the right strategy, all of your tactics will be more effective and you'll get more for every marketing dollar you spend. Five key steps to marketing success There is no shortcut to success when it comes to creating an effective mar- keting campaign. However, the good news is that your path to success is clear — you can use these fve steps as your guide: know your audience, know your competition, be different, be creative and tell your brand story. Know your audience — This is perhaps the most important of the steps. After all, how can you cre- ate messaging that will appeal to an audience if you don't understand that audience? One of the best ways to get this deep understanding is to create perso- nas. Personas are character sketches that represent your customer types. Get your team together and brain- storm about the different personas that are important to your organi- zation. Pick several, but try to keep the number to three or four. For most vending operators, key perso- nas would include human resource (HR) directors, company presidents and facility managers. Use your col- lective experience to describe each one. By assigning personalities and characteristics to these personas you can develop a more detailed under- standing of the target audience and why they act a certain way. Armed with this deeper insight you will be able to build the most effective messaging and promotional campaigns to meet their needs. Know your competition — Evalu- ating the messaging your competitors are using is key to creating an effec- tive marketing plan for your com- pany. Use the Internet to fnd out all you can about your competitors. How are they talking about their products and services? How are they trying to appeal to customers? What colors are they using? What type of graphics? What style of content — humorous, serious, boring, exciting? Pay close attention to all of it. That is the bar that is being set for you. That is what you need to beat. Be different — Once you have a clear understanding of how your competition is connecting with the market, you can create a messaging approach that separates your com- pany from all the others. Make a list of all the ways you believe your company is truly dif- ferent from your competitors. Use all you have learned from creating your personas. Focus on those differentia- tors you feel will be most important to those personas. Now take a closer look at your list. Do yourself a favor — if you have "price" or "customer service" written down, cross them off! Every company believes that "price" and "service" differentiates them. It's usually not true. Worse yet, in most markets every other company is already claim- ing both. So, it is usually not a very effective messaging strategy. Be creative — Now that all your strategy and planning is done, it's time to create the images and words that your audience will see. This is where the rubber meets the road for your marketing program and it should be the time when your mes- saging really shines. Use humor to make your points. Or perhaps you may decide that a sincere approach will connect with your key personas. Whatever you do, make it exciting and interest- ing. It is a well-established fact in marketing that no prospect has ever '' Don't worry about WHERE to place your messaging until you fgure out WHAT it should be. '' 40 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com April 2014 B U S I N E S S B A S I C S autm_38-43_0414BusinessBasics_F.indd 40 3/25/14 3:01 PM