Three elements that EVERY marketing mix must have

That is if you want your endeavor to succeed. You have made your strategy work. You have defined your target market, developed a compelling positioning, established competitive analysis and advantage, and presented your products and/or services in a clear and relevant way. Now you’re ready for the fun stuff: the marketing mix. You know, direct mail, email, brochures, website updating, public relations, and all the various tactics that you’ve determined make the most sense given your strategy.

But that’s the hard part, isn’t it? Translate your strategy into an effective and efficient (and therefore more affordable) marketing plan. We’ve had several consulting audit engagements lately where we’ve reviewed the marketing mix for our clients and provided feedback on what they’re doing right and where they can improve. In almost all cases, one or more of the following items need work:

Consistency: It’s important to your marketing efforts that everything—and we mean everything—looks, feels, and sounds the same. To reap the benefits that repetition brings, this element is absolutely critical. If your recipients hear the same message over and over again, in the same way each time, they are much better able to get the message out the way you want it to get out. This is where the “and tell two friends” becomes your most powerful marketing tool. We recommend that you audit all marketing communication pieces as well as other customer touch points (invoices, fax sheets, email signatures, etc.) to ensure consistency of your brand messaging and usage. Where it is not consistent… fix it immediately.

Frequency: It’s true, frequency makes a difference. But how often is often enough? It really depends on your market, your business goals, and your offer, however there are some guidelines. Once you have prioritized your primary, secondary, and tertiary markets, we recommend that you “tap” your primary market 2 times per month, your secondary market 1 time per month, and your tertiary markets 1 time per quarter. Without this level of frequency, your momentum is lost between marketing touches and your impact is severely diminished. Unfortunately, as humans, our memories are rather short, so constantly reminding yourself that you exist and have something to offer is necessary to establish the brand awareness we all aspire to achieve.

Variety: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Consistency is good and frequency is even better, but if your marketing mix lacks variety, your efforts will suffer. Making your marketing dependent on one or two vehicles (ie direct mail and brochures or email and website) lacks the power to “touch” your audience from the many angles they take to review their options. A combination of activities (ie, a monthly newsletter, email promotion, public relations, and networking) working together allows you to develop a “relationship” with your prospect list long before you meet them. And don’t forget that this variety should include both value-added content and promotional content and should not carry too much weight in either.

As you can see, designing the marketing mix to support your marketing strategy is much more complicated than simply choosing the communication vehicles you’ll use to “get the word out.” You should also make sure that your implementation plan includes the three elements above. Audit your own marketing mix for these elements, adjust as necessary, and you’ll be on your way to a more effective and efficient marketing effort.