Recharge your Communications Strategy for

Profitable Promotion

By Gail Martin

How well did your communications strategy serve you in the last year?  First, look at your business plan.  What were your major business goals?  Did you reach them?  Did you fall short?  Think about the outcomes achieved over the last year.  What would you like to get more of in next year?  What would you like to avoid?  On what product or services or in what customer segment did you realize the highest profit margins? 

Your communications strategy should grow out of your business plan.  It should be your strategy to communicate about your products and services to the most desirable customers, most influential business contacts and more symbiotic vendors so that those groups become your allies in reaching your business goals.  A good communication strategy helps your business avoid negative publicity and get positive visibility.  It should also focus on your most profitable customer segments and products to help you reach revenue goals.  Here are some key questions to ask yourself as you re-evaluate your communications strategy:

Who is your target audience?  Are there untapped customer niches you have not yet exposed to your product or services?  Do you need to up-sell or cross-sell your existing customers so that they do more frequent and profitable business with your firm?  Are there  people with similar characteristics to your existing customers whom you have not yet reached?  What about business-to-business customers—are they hearing a message tailored just for them?  Could your vendors be referral sources if they only knew what kind of potential customers to refer? 

What do you want to say?  During the year to come, will you be opening a new or additional location, expanding your physical operation or moving?  Will there be new products, services or line extensions?  How about new methods of delivery or improved processing?  Do you have the feeling that your customers would do more business with you if they only understood your full line of service better?  Or are there misperceptions or misunderstandings in the marketplace that might be keeping new customers from trying your service?  Is there something you could offer to encourage trial?

What’s in it for them?  Every customer asks, “What’s in it for me?”  Do your customers and prospective customers really understand how the features of your product could help them?  Have you been focusing on features instead of benefits?  And do you communicate different benefits according to the needs of different audiences?

How will you reach them?  How often do you communicate new information to your current customers? How often do your customers have an opportunity to communicate their thoughts back to you?  What vehicles—surveys, newsletters, sales calls—do you use?  Are you communicating with your best prospects?  Is the message they’re getting the one you think you’re sending?  Are you sure?

When will you reach them?  Timing is everything.  Do your customers know about important changes—store hours, new front-line personnel, system upgrades or process shifts—in advance?  Do you build interest in upcoming new services or line extensions?  Do your customers hear from you at key reorder points or at times in the business cycle when they are most likely to buy? Do you time your messages to prospects for the seasons or months when they use services like yours?

These questions should help you think about how effective your communications strategy was last year.  If you don’t know the answers to some of the questions, you have uncovered an area for growth.  Put these five strategies to work in your communications strategy and get set for a great year!

Gail Z. Martin