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A trio of marketing experts, speaking at a recent panel discussion in Sarasota put on by business support organization Manasota SCORE, agree on one major point: a marketing plan works best when it's well integrated.
Some examples include:
• Go wide: Susan Hicks, owner of PRecise Communications, says good PR is about communicating to your publics, including customers, prospects, employees, volunteers, suppliers, donors and investors. Hicks says the goals are to build and maintain a strong image and relationships.
• Clarify often: “Your brand is more than your logo, your colors and your font,” says Kimberly McClure, of communications agency White Studio. To help clarify, businesses should have a brand statement, a one-sentence description about what the company offers customers.
• Both sides: Digital marketing, McClure says, whether through a website or social media, allows for two-way communication between a business and customers. To measure the success of marketing efforts and help improve future efforts, business leaders can look at metrics such as how many people are sharing information, the demographics of the people sharing and what’s being shared.
• Essential response: Nick Choat, who worked in marketing at Boeing and The Walt Disney Co., among others, and now owns area Sports Clips franchises, says social media and online reviews have made a difference in his business. Right after one of his Sports Clips opened, a man gave the location a one-star review online for his haircut. Choat’s wife called him, urging him to come in and get another haircut. The man did, changed his review to five stars and remains a customer today.
The takeaway for business owners? Reviews, good and bad, require a response. “You need to let people know you listen and you care,” Choat says. A review response should include thanking the person for providing feedback, accepting the feedback and acknowledging the experience, and last, discussing future actions. He says marketing plans should address this simple but important tip: “Don’t ignore customer reviews.”
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