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Effective marketing strategy

Taking companies from egg to butterfly

Why are we talking about butterflies? What has marketing got to do with a butterfly? Have we gone nuts? Well... no. Read on and found out why, because the question is how do companies and butterflies compare? Really in more ways than at first seems obvious.

Butterflies go through four life stages, and look very different at each stage. If you didn't know that they were the same creature........

CLICK HERE FOR BUTTERFLY DIAGRAM

A company's inception takes energy, engagement and enterprise much like the creation of the egg of the butterfly.

The egg has lots of promise and at this stage of its life so do many companies - but not all survive, like the eggs they fail to prosper in the open environment in which they have been laid. They need parents who have given them the right protection to survive - well camouflaged on their leaf. An interesting observation is that, like companies the shape of butterfly eggs is remarkably variable.

If a company survives the formative stage then it grows and emerges from the egg to become a caterpillar. This is a process that that changes it out all recognition.

A caterpillar is an eating machine. It needs to grow to move on to the next stage so it needs to eat - companies at this stage need cash and as a different form the dangers in the environment change too, just like the situation for the butterfly.Now comes the really difficult bit - the time that it seems like you have to go back to go forward. Becoming a chrysalis or a pupa is an act of consolidation for the butterfly that will allow it to fulfil its destiny, but it is remarkably dangerous as massive changes take place to its structure and during this phase it has absolutely no protection from predators.

Sound familiar?

Then there is the butterfly. But to become a butterfly the creature must leave behind its case. Companies have similar 'decisions' to make about people, products and many other actors.

The real point is that massive change is the normal order of things and for a company to be successful it has to understand this and know how to deal with its changing environment and its changing status. Companies need to know how to survive those changes and how to prosper from them.

Marketing is concentrating on the customer

This requires proper concentration on marketing - the wide range of activities involved in making sure that you're continuing to meet the needs of your customers and are getting value in return. It also requires concentration on people and relationships within the business.

E-CRM is experienced in taking companies from egg to butterfly. Call us to find out more or look at the marketing performance checklist below and / or try out how well you are doing with your marketing using our Marketing Performance Checklist.

Vision

• I have a clear vision for my business and have made it explicit to all
• I understand my missions and have made them explicit to all
• I have business objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant & timely
• I know the strategies that will achieve my vision, missions and objectives
• I have developed the tactics that will deliver my strategies
• I have developed 3 - 7 clear and simple to monitor and drill down key performance indicators [KPIs]
• I can easily make decisions because we are clear about the above
• I have structured the company to carry out effective marketing
• I have strong marketing expertise within the company or it’s key advisors
• I have a simple and easy marketing planning process and I follow it through regularly

Market segment or niche

• I have identified a valuable market segment(s) that I could “own”
• I clearly understand my market segments size and its future potential
• I know who are my key competitors and monitor them
• I know who my existing and potential customers are in sufficient detail to write to them all
• I know what my existing and potential customers wants and needs and why they want and need those things
• I can describe my target customer groups, especially the high value ones in plain English
• I have developed my products / services based on my target customer groups needs, desires & requirements

Core message

• I understand that the brand is about the customer’s memory of what we are
• I have developed a simple, powerful core message that is focused on solving the customer’s problem
• I have made my message as clear and concise as it could be
• I have made my message distinctive from the competition
• I make sure that my communications have real impact
• I make sure to built benefits and features that are compelling for my target customer groups, especially the high value ones into my message
• I have made sure my message will attract new customers, get existing customers to buy more, keep valuable customers for longer and help with referrals
• I know which media to use to communicate my message to each segment and why to use it/them
• I make sure my core message cost effectively reaches my target customer groups
• I am making the best use of all the marketing communication options available

Customer experience

• I understand that the brand is also about the actual experience received
• I know that our customers know exactly what they get when they come to us
• I know exactly what our customers get when they come to us
• I know that we create a memorable and customised experience for each customer
• I know that our customers know why we are different from the rest
• I make everything simple and easy to understand for our customers and staff

Customer Relationship Management [CRM] systems

• I know and have mapped all the ‘customer touch-points’ in our business
• I have clear guidelines about how to treat customers at each and every touch-point
• I have created processes that work for the customer and not just for us
• I have processes that convert a high percentage of sales prospects to customers
• I use new technology systems to automate the process and to capture vital data
• I have processes that enable me to evaluate the performance of each step or activity and for different customer groups or channels
• I can determine which marketing activities give me the best results for each £ spent
• I know the ‘lifetime value’ of each customer and customer segment and I can accurately forecast future customer flow, cash flow and profits

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