When you try to manage a decent quality of a product or service you need more than a simple once-in-a-while one-time fixes. It is not enough to just fix quality issues for one or two customers a week…
If you are a decent business manager or business owner you are thinking about creating efficient and effective system which will take care of all these issues and make sure same problems don’t happen again and again.
Same logic applies to anything in business. This is the reason why successful companies have business systems in place like customer experience system, accounting system, safety system, CRM system, reporting systems, HR systems….
The major benefits of any of these business systems are reliability (you can count on the system), cost efficiency (it costs you less than focusing on simple fixes) and effectiveness (delivers results for your business).
The same is true for marketing. However, if you are like any typical company in any industry, chances are you don’t have an effective marketing system in place.
Here is a simple test:
Is your marketing system reliable and predictable?
Reliable and predictable marketing system means that you are in control – you can forecast based on your marketing system how much new business you will generate next month, how many new customers you will get, how many products and services you will sell… which of course help you plan your scheduling and capacity.
Is your marketing system measurable?
Are you able to calculate the ROI on each of your marketing campaigns, channels and media? Without ongoing tracking and management it is impossible to maintain a profitable marketing system.
Is your marketing system diversified? Do you rely only on one or two channels for lead generation, publicity and selling?
This kind of marketing is risky because you rely on 1 or 2 channels which are outside of your control – the cost, reach and quality of these channels can change at any time (this is what happens daily these days with social media marketing). Thousands of companies that used to rely on Google as the only lead generation platform went out of business.
Simple change in the cost of advertising or the search algorithm had impact on their entire businesses. If all these companies had used Google as only one of the many channels and media in their marketing systems – the outcomes would have been different.
Facebook just made some changes that will impact many companies as well (people are complaining that now they have to pay to promote on Facebook – they need a reality check if they expect someone to promote their business for free forever).
The same is true in offline lead generation. If you don’t have organized system but you only rely on a few channels like print advertising – competitor can decide to enter this channel and buy your placements.
One of the main characteristic of successful marketing systems is using diversified, multi-media and multi-channel strategies and tactics.
The difference between small business marketing and large corporation marketing
In addition to understanding the importance of having reliable and diversified marketing system, you should understand that small business marketing must be different.
Compared to small businesses, corporations have large (think unlimited) budgets. Small businesses with limited marketing budgets require well-disciplined marketing systems. These approaches focus on lean systems for lead generation, conversion and sales.
These are well-disciplined marketing processes that are continuously monitored and the results are measured. Successful small business owner knows the ROI on each marketing channel, process, campaign, media…
This is not the place for guesswork because even a small change has an enormous impact on your budget and the success of your business overall.
According to Rachel Werner, lead generation specialist at Small Biz 1, while these types of lean marketing systems were originally developed for small business owners, large organizations can definitely benefit from these approaches.
“We see more big businesses using our services today compared to 5 years ago. The increased competitiveness in any market demands both creativity and discipline at the same time for exceptional marketing results”.