Events, email campaigns, social media - be it B2B or B2C, external or internal to your organization - any communication or, exchange of information, is incomplete if you are not answering the 'Why', 'Who', 'What' and 'How'. Even more importantly, once these 4 questions have been answered you must look at the 'So What'.
The concept is out there, albeit in a segmented fashion. We all know that targeting, segmenting, messaging are key to any kind of communication but only once these are put in a logical order can the benefits be truely realized.
- WHY - A marketing communication plan is not a transaction but rather a program and it should be treated as such. Before starting the entire planning process all participants must be clear as to:
- Why is this program needed?
- What purpose is it expected to serve?
- Why should X, Y, Z teams be involved?
- WHO - Before any kind of communication can be dispersed have you identified who is it really meant for? What is your key target base? Is your messaging appropriate for the CXO-level or, is it targeting to the mid-tier executives? Are you targeting other businesses or, is your client the end customer and is your messaging apt for this audience?
- WHAT - Messaging - plain and simple. What are you trying to communicate? What is the information you would like to share and what approach or, message construction will you use?
- HOW - Only once the above questions are answered can you move to this question. Answering the 'How' requires visiting -
- How will you disperse the information?
- What channels will you employ?
- Is a e-campaign the best way, or would print media give better results or, both? How will you employ social media to boost your program? Today, no one channel can guarantee success. It has to be a judicious combination of various such channels which will get your closer to your goal ...the 'Why'.
- SO WHAT - This is a crucial stage - the post-program retrospection. Studying the results, analyzing the findings and feedback... This will provide direct insights into your next program and help you build a best practice repository.
So what do you think? In your opinion does the idea of following a logical order or answering the Why, Who, What, How and So What apply to all industries, across interaction levels or, can we include more steps in this process?
Excellent post and I think most of the successful companies concentrate a lot on this logical format for Marketing. May be my thinking is wrong but i feel that the future of Marketing depends on how strong you are on Social Media platforms as a company. You don't just interact with your colleagues or customers but you also make a marking for new recruits in your organization.
ReplyDeleteI feel a lot of companies ignore that and that's the reason they lack the market share. For example i have seen a few companies who are very small in number of resources but have a huge following on Social Media. This gives them the leverage to place themselves as well established organization in the market and gain clients confidence.
You must have noticed that start ups who are mentioned on killerstartups.com and techcrunch take it very seriously. Within a year and most of the time less than that you find companies securing huge investments.
Bottom line, most companies know the Why, Who and What but very few concentrate on HOW.
Thanks for sharing. I agree social media is a key facet in any successful marketing program. I came across an interesting article '101 Essential Social Media Marketing Stats To Guide You Into 2013'(http://www.buyfanpagefans.com/101-essential-social-media-marketing-stats-to-guide-you-into-2013/) - One only has to look at the exponentially rising social media statistics to believe in the power - Today, a site like Facebook is accessed by 7000 device types everyday; brands like Coca-Cola have over 55 million fans which definitely adds to the bottom line; Over 2.6 million organizations have an active Linkedin profile; and, over 350 million tweets are sent everyday!
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