There is No Quick Fix for Marketing
You probably know this, but there are no easy solutions or simple fixes when it comes to marketing your business. As much as we’d like to flip the “closed” sign to “open” and then have customers magically appear and walk through the door, we all know it takes time, a well thought out strategy, and consistency to get a business’ name in front of the right consumer. When it comes to marketing planning, you can trust the experts at Louvre Media.
Whether your business opened 15 years ago or you’ve only been around a short while, our team can help. We specialize in creating and implementing marketing plans that get you to the next level.
We Look at These Three Tiers of Marketing
- Engagement
- Directional
- Branding
These tiers help prioritize and organize when building out a marketing strategy. Each of these three tiers have strengths and weaknesses. An ideal marketing plan is a balance of all three.
Engagement Marketing
Existing customers are always our number one priority when piecing together a marketing strategy. These customers already trust your brand, recognize your logo, know your services, and have a connection with your business. They will almost always be your cheapest “cost per acquisition.” That is, the cheapest person to get in the door. It takes very little convincing to get a customer if someone is already loyal to your brand.
The goal is to keep your existing customers coming back more often, increasing their ticket average, and increasing your referral business. This may include things like e-mail marketing, promotional items, loyalty punch cards, and SMS text marketing. If you have a customer address list, we can create digital ads for them to see at home while browsing the internet, watching tv, or playing games. Engagement media may can even include contests or promotions to your existing customers.
Direct Response/Directional Marketing
Directional marketing refers to marketing that gets your business’s name in front of consumers when they are in the decision-making phase. For example, a plumber would want to show up first when someone searches “emergency plumber” on Google. The phone book used to be the primary place you’d want to be as a business. As the digital world has grown, directional marketing has shifted to search engines (Google, Bing/Yahoo, Google Local Services) and lead generating platforms (Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, Yelp). We work to build your online presence with SEO and online listings to keep your business in front of customers.
Branding
When we’ve taken care of existing customers (engagement marketing) and we’re showing up where decision makers are looking (directional marketing), it’s time to get your name and logo out there for brand recognition. We call this type of marketing “branding.” Branding is playing the long game. There are tons of stats on how many times it takes a customer to remember your logo or your company. It takes even more views before they are compelled to take an action towards buying. Your customer may not need to purchase your product or service at the moment, but over time your ads build trust. When they eventually go to make a decision, they will recall seeing your name all over town.
Branding does not produce instant gratification. We like to recommend starting branding slowly until Directional Marketing is maxed out. Branding may include things like better marketing materials for your team, social media ads, direct mail, billboards, radio, digital ads and television. Your business may or may not be ready for this today.
The ideal balance of these three tiers of marketing is different for every business, and will change regularly as your business grows. When you partner with us, your dedicated account manager will be constantly working to have the right marketing plan mixed for your business every step of the way.
