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Recently I received an enquiry from a company who we will name “CHP” for this blog: “How would The Brand Surgery, with limited budget, work to get new corporate hospitality events into the market and increase the number of hits to CHP’s website as there are not currently enough. We send emails to our own database and do a bit of pay per click. Certainly not enough social media is done though. And what could The Brand Surgery realistically could achieve?”

This is a common question and our response is that online marketing is not a magic wand. It requires the same amount of strategic planning as an offline marketing campaign.

Understand your customers’ objectives

Before you start posting, tweeting and getting carried away, you need to understand your customers, decide what they want to hear and how and when they want to hear it!

  • Why should companies choose to go to your corporate hospitality events? At a time when businesses are squeezing every last drop out of their budgets, what would your events do for them? What objectives will your events meet?
  • Do all customers have the same needs or would they go for different reasons? Think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
  • Are prospective clients allowed to access social media sites at work? Do they enjoy using social media?
  • Are your HTML emails getting through customer’s servers?
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    Then create a message for success

    Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In), SEO, websites and e-marketing are simply mediums for getting messages out there – hopefully louder and more effective than all the other messages. How you deliver a sense-making and appealing message requires the strategic thinking so you don’t damage your corporate reputation.

    A little research revealed that half the audience for the corporate hospitality event project were being excluded because many corporate IT servers don’t allow HTML emails through/and company leader’s don’t allow staff to have social media access. A social media campaign of this type would be best complemented by an offline marketing communications (direct sales/promotions) so a budget would need to allow for this. If the correct background work is done (see below) then return on marketing investment (ROMI) will be high.

    Is online or offline marketing more effective?

    Online and offline marketing are both effective if used correctly. It is all about the right way to get to your audience and we all have different preferences. If you want sales then understand your customer.

    The Brand Surgery has all the online marketing and offline marketing expertise required to create the appropriate message for your chosen audience.

    Call Vicky Vaughan, Chartered Marketer for a confidential, free chat today on 01903 824229 or email at vicky@thebrandsurgery.co.uk.