How to prioritize your marketing opportunities and why?

The Advertising Spectrum infographic illustrates how you should prioritize your marketing efforts and budget – working your way from the core of the spectrum outward through each layer. Understanding each layer of the Advertising Spectrum and how it interconnects with other layers enables you to understand why you need to prioritize from the hub outward.

Priority #1: Strengthen Your Hub – Your business, brand and website

Your business, brand and your web site are at the hub of your Advertising Spectrum. How your business represents itself, how it operates, the quality of your products and services are the source of your survival and growth. There is no business without this core hub.

Today, a company’s website is so intertwined with the business itself that it essentially IS also at the CORE of your business. Often a web site is the first point or only point of contact with a business.

Ensuring the core/hub of your business is strong and effective should be the top priority before engaging in any other marketing opportunities.

You own your business, your brand and your website which is your Hub. Any efforts or cost associated with improving your business is an investment in your company. If you invest strategically and intelligently in your core (website, brand and business) it will always pay off and improve the bottom line.

Priority #2: Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Focusing on great products + great customer service + a great web site that truly satisfy customers’ needs will automatically help your first level and most inexpensive form of advertising: word-of-mouth referrals. Word-of-mouth is a natural bi-product of doing business. Ensure that you receive positive word-of-mouth advertising.

Word-of-mouth leads to sharing good or bad experiences, and today everybody shares experiences on social media through Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest etc. Therefore the better you are performing and interacting with your customers at your “Hub”, the better will be your word-of-mouth advertising and social media interactions.

Positive word-of-mouth referrals are the fastest and most inexpensive sales to close. And as long as you keep your referrals as happy as the clients who referred them, they will most likely turn into loyal long term customers that will also refer more sales.

Priority #3: Search Engine Marketing

The next layer of advertising that needs to be addressed is Search Engine Marketing. Everything is accessible on the web and everybody searches for and researches everything online.

Be found when your prospects are looking for exactly what your business has to offer. If they find your listing and click through, then it’s up to your site to convert those leads. (That’s why it’s important to have a strong web hub, otherwise you’ll be losing hot web leads).

Not being found on search results means you’ll have to create more noise to get your brand, business and web site noticed.

Priority #4: Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing can no longer be ignored! However, having a Facebook and LinkedIn page are not enough. Build an online Social Media Strategy that will build an entire community of followers who will become ambassadors of your brand. Whatever you do, make your social media efforts relevant, meaningful, interactive and engaging for your audience. Give followers an opportunity to interact and a reason to share information, images, videos, contests, games or something completely out of the box.

Priority #5: Traditional Media

Outside of the first four layers is the largest outer layer of the Advertising Spectrum – Traditional Media – TV, radio, newspaper, magazines, billboards, direct mail etc. All these traditional forms of Media have worked for generations and still work to this day. However, one must have the appropriate budget to develop effective creative that will generate the desired response. Generally, one must also consider frequency and long term campaigns in order to build brand awareness, recognition, familiarity and credibility.

Optimally, a brand would want to have many advertising touch points and be engaged in every layer of the advertising spectrum. But when marketing budgets are an issue it’s important to understand which layers to engage in based on your budget and what the potential short and long term results will be based on that investment.

Note:
Advertising tends to cost more, the further you get away from the hub. And you require a lot more touch points and repetition in order to build enough brand awareness and recognition to generate a lead.

If you work your way from the hub outward, then when you get to the outer layer, those investments will pay off faster and stronger. But if you work your way from the outer layer inward, you will most likely find that your investments will run away with themselves and you’ll be constantly trying to catch your tail because you’re ignoring your inner core, and not nurturing what will pay off most for the short and long term growth of your business.