Take a look at TSC's newest classified brief — Creating a Kick-ass Marketing Strategy: Find the Right Channels for Your Message and Win. In this brief, you'll learn: • Why an effective channel strategy gives you a competitive edge • Which channels could help you reach your audience • How to find the right channels through research, experimentation and tracking

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Creating a Kick-ass Marketing
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Strategy: Find the Right Channels
for Your Message and Win
Creating a Ki ck-ass Marketing Strategy
People consume marketing So if your company is going to get someone’s attention, you have
to have a compelling message. And not just a compelling message,
messages at an alarming but a compelling message in the right place. Just like real estate, it’s
all about location, location, location — which is why a targeted channel
rate — almost 3,000 strategy will help your message cut through the noise.
messages and ads per
Having the right channel strategy helps you better target
potential buyers and engage with the right audience. And when the
day.1 We also filter boss man asks how you’re spending your budget, you can prove ROI
because you have a channel strategy that’s built to be measured for
most of that. We’ve performance.
To start thinking about channel communications, you need to
turned into advertising know what channels are out there and determine which ones will help
zombies, numb to all the you reach your audience. When you know that, developing a kick-ass
strategy will be easy.
bright colors, catchy
songs and stylized
packaging shouting,
“Buy me!!!”
1 Hagel, John, III and Singer, Marc. Net Worth: Shaping Markets When Customers Make the Rules. 1999.
http://www.businessweek.com/chapter/hagel.htm

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You’ve Got to Know
»» Social media marketing: Social media is a unique channel
because it’s a layer on top of marketing communications.
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Your company may not have a Facebook page, but someone
is talking about your brand on Facebook. Social channels
the Channels
bring your content together with user-generated content
— people comment on your blog posts, share your white
papers and respond to your webinars. Tweeting, liking and
sharing make marketing a conversation with your audience.
Creating a Ki ck-ass Marketing Strategy
»» Search marketing: Search is integrated into all of your
content development. If you write website copy, you have to
think of search. When you write a blog post, think of search.
Paying for keywords can help your SEO, but you also need to
Those 3,000 messages we consume each day are coming develop interesting content. If your blog post is a string of
meaningless keywords, you’ll be dinged for that by Google.
at us from a wide range of sources. We don’t even Instead, make sure you’re thinking of the right messages
(with the right keywords), and write what people want to
think of those messages as advertising anymore. For read.
example, the Google ads at the top of search results »» Partners and alliances: Using partners and resellers can
are pretty much just results to us, not ads. make it easy for you to extend your offerings into different
markets. But partner marketing can be tricky, so you’ll have
to be very specific about the brand and message guidelines
Knowing that messages are getting filtered, you have to »» Video and commercial development: Everyone wants their you want other companies or resellers to follow. For your
change your strategy to meet people where they’re at. It’ll help video to go viral, and the promise of a viral video seems like channel strategy to be as successful as possible, work
you target more effectively. You also don’t want to start spending a better return than paying to run a commercial on TV. Yet continuously with these partners to make sure everyone
your budget like you’re buying tickets for the lottery, and targeting companies still shell out $4 million for 30 seconds of airtime understands marketing goals and guidelines.
your channels will help you invest better. Here are some channels during the Super Bowl. Interesting videos, on YouTube or
that might help you reach your audience: ABC, are what people want to see. Streaming services like These are some big buckets that include lots of individual
Hulu are another way to reach targeted audiences with channels. You might also have a mode of communication that fits
»» Print advertising: Print hasn’t gone out of style. People commercials. into a couple of these channel strategies — mobile distribution might
still pick up magazines and newspapers, even if it’s just at have some display advertising as well as using text messages for
the airport or the hair salon. People still drive by billboards. »» Direct marketing: Today, consumers are no longer random direct marketing.
Pinterest users are even sharing ads on their boards. There names on a list. Mass customization has made it easy As you evaluate your channel options and decide which
are lots of ways to still use print advertising and get to the for companies like Amazon or Target to send emails with channels to use, put them into classifications so you can determine
right audience. product recommendations relevant to your interests. Direct which messages belong in which channels. You can then focus on
marketing is expected to have some level of customization, developing your strategy.
»» Display advertising: Online banner ads are getting more and that customization means the recipient is more likely to
creative, but people aren’t always willing to click. Web open your email, letter or text. (But be careful not to get all
ads need to be compelling and interesting. One twist on Big Brother on your readers — don’t over-customize.) Events
banner advertising is magazine and newspaper apps — you can also live in direct marketing, and if you’re doing them
can extend a print ad’s message on to an iPad app. It’s an right, you’ll always have an attendee list for follow-up.
opportunity to bring a static ad to life.

4. 4
Now Get the Right
To determine if a channel is right for your company, you can:
»» Survey your audience: Not everyone likes to participate in
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surveys, but if you have access to a list of customers, you
can always ask them what they think. Finding out what they
Channels for You
read, which sites they visit and what information they share
could help you select or eliminate channels. For example, if
your audience isn’t using Twitter, don’t spend lots of money
pursuing a Twitter strategy just yet. Perhaps focus on
LinkedIn.
Creating a Ki ck-ass Marketing Strategy
»» Check out your competitors: You’re not looking to be a
copycat, but your competitors should be making it clear
what kinds of channels they’re using. Paying attention is
Selecting the right channels for your company’s
really important. You can then decide not only if you need
to be present in the same channel but also how to make
message is going to include some trial and error, your message stand out.
as well as a lot of research. The idea is not to »» Try new things: Social media is full of examples of websites
that became fads — these sites started with a lot of hype
eliminate a channel forever — especially when things and then fizzled out. Not all sharing sites will become
change so quickly — but instead to prioritize where Facebook, but there could be blogs or communities that are
newer and willing to work with you on advertising rates.
you’ll put your focus. Targeting should help you use You can also shake up your event marketing — instead of
attending the same ol’ conferences, host a food truck tour.
your resources and budget more effectively. Experiential marketing could be exactly what your audience
is looking for.
»» Track your results: Not all channels make it easy to run
analytics reports or see exactly how your dollars were
spent. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) before
you send messages or content through a channel. Some
KPIs might have to be qualitative measures instead of
If the channel is If a channel quantitative, but find ways you can measure outcomes. As
you track results, compare them with your marketing goals.
a bust: kicks ass:
If the channel was a bust, determine whether performance
can be improved or if it’s time to move on. If a channel
became a major lead generator, you know you can focus
your efforts there.
Determine whether performance You know you can focus This will be a continuous process, so dedicating time to
can be improved or if it’s time to your efforts there. regularly update your channel strategy will ensure that you’re
move on. always using the most effective channels for your message.

5. 5
Evaluate Your Channels Now
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Creating a Ki ck-ass Marketing Strategy
Once you’ve taken a look at the
channels you use and assessed whether
they’re right for you, it’s time to
upgrade your strategy. When you’re
ready to take that step, schedule an
evaluation with The Starr Conspiracy.
We’ll review the messages currently
being distributed across your
channels and determine if you’re
reaching your audience in the most
effective way possible. Then we’ll
talk about what you can do to make
your channel strategy kick some ass.
Contact us today:
marketing@thestarrconspiracy.com or 817-204-0400. About The Starr Conspiracy
You shouldn’t have to pay an agency for the privilege of learning about your industry.
The Starr Conspiracy already knows your market segment, who you are and where
you fit in. We are a strategic marketing and advertising agency devoted exclusively
to enterprise software and services. When you partner with us, it’s to build market
share, multiply brand awareness and drive sales leads – not to bone up on the basics.
We’ve been “out there” for more than a decade so that you can hit the ground running.
Founded in 1999 and located in Fort Worth, The Starr Conspiracy has won eight best
places to work awards, countless creative awards and maintains a net promoter score
of 90% (higher than Apple). On the web at www.thestarrconspiracy.com.