Nick Stragnell – Digital Marketing Consultant

Targets

With any marketing and sales campaign, it is important to have targets in the short and long term. A rule of thumb we use when setting out targets with no previous visible results, is to work on a best case scenario of 10% investment of the expected return.

Each organisation is different, and there are many contributing factors that will influence a return on investment. Is the business proposal sound? Is there a market for our proposition? How large is our target market? That is the basis of the suggestions within this report.

If you can work out how much an average landlord or property will make you – over 12 months, then up to 5 years for example – we can start to calculate a worthwhile level of investment to meet those targets.

Sales Methods

Very few of the marketing techniques we employ actually ‘sell’ a product or service directly. The key to marketing success is to encourage the eventual client to make the decision to ‘buy’ on their own. The strongest sale is one where the customer believes it is entirely their decision.

Therefore we don’t ask the customer to buy from us at any point, we use various tools to get in front of them. For example; downloading a free report, having a ‘risk free’ assessment of their property, receiving our regular newsletter of useful information (tailored for their business sector).

These methods allow us to encourage eventual sales, leaving the door open for customers who are ready to make the decision sooner rather than later. But also to recycle the potential customers who are not ready to buy into the sales cycle. They may be ready to buy in a year’s time or more – but they will be very familiar with the good advice you give for free, and have developed a level of trust for your organisation and brand.

Routes to Market

Some forms of marketing may be more successful than others, but to only use one method could miss many opportunities. It is suggested that a campaign featuring different marketing methods, with continuous measurement and assessment, will produce the best results overall. A variety of marketing vehicles should be used, each requiring a structured approach – but each must also be tailored to fit the other, and the ‘message’ must be continuous throughout.

Database development will feed into; telemarketing, website design and promotion, email marketing, direct marketing, print advertising and the creation of presentation and promotional material.