Shepherd Advisors

As we work with our private sector clients helping them grow revenue, we frequently encounter a few themes when it comes to building their marketing action plans. For service-focused B2B companies, common tactics include conferences, workshops, webinars, industry events & networking.

While building a list of ideas similar to this can be fairly straight ahead, and although it will vary for each business, the real value is found in determining the parameters, priorities and points of emphasis for those tactics. We have found answering the classic "who, where, why, what, when, and how much" questions can be really helpful.

The goal is to develop a marketing plan that employs these and other tactics and strategies in a manner that optimally achieves the client's goals. Targeting marketing investments to the right audience and in an effective way will allow companies to get the most out of their investment. In order to effectively target marketing efforts, the marketer needs to have a strong sense for the company's target customer (the who & where), his/her key needs (they why), and the value proposition (the what) the marketer will use to meet those needs. We have found that many clients may have a good starting point sense for these important questions but can significantly benefit from applying more critical thinking to arrive at more specific and higher quality answers. This process itself can yield significant insights on the business product offering and why it has or hasn't been connecting with the market.

The marketer must also determine "how much" investment to make in each of the tactics and "when" to optimally implement each tactic. This will yield a targeted mix of tactics that are deployed in an optimal framework increasing the likelihood of sales success. Knowing how much and when to employ these tactics not only requires understanding of the customer and value proposition but also experience and knowledge in the field to identify the best practices for your business. Ongoing marketing efficacy and competitive success requires this type of analytics-driven approach focused on generating marketing insights and knowledge. Building this type of capability will be discussed next time...