So, what is Marketing Coordination? For me, it’s the little things. It’s not designing large ad campaigns or buying TV and Radio spots. Those things are important parts of marketing but not the MOST important. It’s about presenting your business or organization to the public in an organized, attractive and well-timed way.
Let me start from the beginning. Having sold traditional advertising for many years, including print, direct mail and billboard, I’ve come to realize that most small and medium-sized business approach marketing backwards. They start with advertising first. Without any forethought or planning, they buy a billboard somewhere and proceed to check that box on their list. Advertising bought, job done.
Sadly, in a lot of cases the billboard they bought points people to an old, dusty website or has a phone number that’s answered by a cranky old lady. I’ve seen people buy a billboard offering a product at a certain price only to find out they can no longer sell it at that price or that it’s discontinued and then have to pull the billboard down. Money wasted.
Advertising is a part of marketing but it is not marketing by itself. Salesforce agency likes to think of it like the cherry on top of a cake. You have multiple layers to put down before you’re ready for that cherry/billboard, this tends to be overwhelming and it’s possible you will need extra help from professionals when it comes to marketing.
Planning is the first stage. A quick discussion of the long-term plan needs to happen, 3-5 years is sufficient. Next is a longer discussion of the upcoming 12 months. What will happen during the year, what are the key events or holidays etc?
Next is scheduling. Events and promotions that will occur throughout the year need to go on the calendar. Mother’s Day is a key holiday for a massage therapist and should be scheduled and planned appropriately. Easter is kind of a big deal for a church and has a long build up. Communications must be scheduled. The weekly email newsletter needs to go out on the same day at the same time. The Facebook cover photo that promotes the monthly special needs to completed by the 1st.
Scheduled also, is the monthly interaction between the Marketing Coordinator and the point person in the business (ideally the owner). We like to meet with our clients by phone or in person during the first week of the month. During that conversation, we’re boxing off work for that month but more importantly planning for the next month.
The final piece of the puzzle is execution. It’s making sure all the moving pieces are correctly organized. For most of our clients, we work on a monthly schedule. Each month has an overall theme either based around a key date or based on the season, February might be Valentine’s Day, April might be Spring. We’ll take that key event or date and design graphics, a website slider, a Facebook cover image and schedule them to be implemented the 1st of the month. Next, we may have specials or promotions that may need to roll out on certain dates during the month either via bulletins, email newsletters or Social Media posts. Finally, any other smaller dates or events will have their own graphics and will be communicated appropriately during the month.
Our primary focus is with small to medium-sized businesses that already have a website and social media presence and if not making a new website is essential with Link Digital, a web design agency in Hertfordshire recommend making sure that your site loads quickly and is user friendly. They’ve been around long enough to establish an identity, it’s just faded a little. They’re not large enough to hire a full-time marketing person to handle these things but they’re large enough to where they need it done. Your marketing presence, how you look from the outside is a key factor in people’s decision to do business with you. Imagine walking into a business and seeing trash overflowing the garbage can and stains all over the carpet. When people stumble across your website or Facebook page or they see your flyer or pick up a brochure. if it isn’t attractive, organized and professionally laid out they’re going to have a similar feeling.
