M & A Rainmaker

Just thinking about marketing strategy for a meeting that I have got next week. I am not sure about you but I like to try and keep things ( relatively ) simple. I have got a simplify and focus attitude to most things. ( Although some of them stubbornly refuse to be simplified 🙂 )

So, I think that the really key issues are:

What your strategic objective is ?

Typically companies that I get involved with have an exit strategy ( see – selling a business ) so included in  the objectives is the creation of  as much value in the brand, the processes and the customer connections as possible.  We want clear and consistent brands and messages; linked traditional, word of mouth and internet campaigning; creation and maintenance of a good customer and prospect database.

What the tactical objective(s) are ?? 

Perhaps we want to promote certain products and services to certain types of people to generate leads; perhaps we want to improve our Internet Marketing profile as our Traditional and Word of Mouth marketing is working pretty well.

What is our message ??? ( What are we offering ?? , what is it that we want to say to people ?? ) 

Is our proposition clear ?? What do we really do ( best ) ??

Who do we want to get our message to ??

Geographically( What area ?? ) , vertically ( Which sectors ? ) and horizontally ( What size of businesses ? ) I also like to visualise and describe the ideal, perfect customer. Hopefully we will have at least some of those 🙂

How are we planning to get our message/proposition to our target markets ?

We have got these three main routes of Internet, Word of Mouth and Traditional. We can also ” push ” our message or we can allow it to be ” pulled ” ( eg we make sure that when people are enquiring about an area that is one of our main offerings they are going to find us )

What will we do to provide proof that we know about these areas and establish our credibility ??

We will talk about people that we have helped with our solutions. Case studies. Testimonials. Referrals.

What are the competition doing ??

Who are they ?? What are they saying ?? What are they doing ??? What are our advantages and strengths ?? 

These are some of the main areas that we need to be thinking about.