Punk Up Your Marketing

by guest writer Trish Lambert

To get the best return on the time and resources you plow into your marketing—which means 1) generating the most qualified leads and 2) decreasing the sales cycle so that more business closes faster—you need to have an integrated program. Achieving integration requires planning, which in turn needs a strategic marketing approach upon which to rest. And, given that you are handling pretty much everything yourself, the approach needs to be easy peasy so that you can plan and implement quickly.

The 4R Marketing Model for service businesses allows any service company to formulate the right marketing approach without spending lots of time and money. It is “good enough” to position the marketing program to be effective and can be applied without the fanfare of outside “experts.” And the simplicity of the model makes it easy to incorporate into your business day. Use it to assess the marketing program periodically—at least every six months, preferably quarterly—to make any needed changes in your tactics or objectives.

R #1: Research

Thoughtful planning and preparation will have a major impact on the speed and quality of marketing results. Even though we invariably prefer to “get right to it” so that leads get generated quickly and deals can be closed, taking the time to thoroughly understand the markets we are considering and to create an actionable plan to approach those markets will pay off with bigger returns in the long run than immediately diving in to “doing stuff.” This is why R #1 is Research.

Know your market. Know your competition. Know complementary businesses. Stay up to date on resources and tools that will help you keep streamlining your business. Keep abreast of trends so that you can keep your value proposition and offerings fresh and relevant.

R#2: Recognition

What activities in your plan make your market aware of you? There are loads of routes to recognition—the trick is to use the routes that make the most sense in your business area and your prospect population. Social networking, article writing, and forum participation are low cost ways of increasing recognition for your business.

R#3: Reputation

It’s important to be recognized; it’s imperative to have a great reputation. The quality of your work, your consistent follow through on commitments to clients, and the great value you provide are day-to-day, operational ways of cultivating a reputation. Word of mouth passed by happy clients goes a long way to enhance this R. Add to these “natural” reputation builders things like report publication, more of that article writing and social networking, and you will keep building that all important great name for yourself.

R#4: Relationship

Back to social marketing again. Cultivate your online connections in whatever ways work best for your style and personality—and make sure these connections are two-way. Givers get, and a key component of building and maintaining really good relationships is making sure you are giving away value to people. Clients, prospects, vendors, and, yes, even competitors! Trust me, there is PLENTY of work out there for all of us, and collaboration is going to send more our way than refusing to interact authentically with others who offer the same types of services we do.

Look at what you are doing in your marketing program.

• Do you have activities going on in each R of the model?
• Are you focusing activities on the Rs that you need to develop most?
• If not, what do you need to change in order to develop those Rs?

Using the 4R model in your day-to-day business will ensure that you are thinking strategically about your marketing and making the most effective decisions about where to spend your marketing budget.

Trish Lambert is president of 4R Marketing, a marketing consultancy for service businesses. Contact Trish to get a free copy of her strategy brief about the 4R Model.

This post is part of the Punk Duck series. We’ve tackled punking up job applications, client pitches and our progress. More punking is still to come. Subscribe so you won’t miss anything!