Time to Get Creative

23.02.10 Part 2: The TLC Business Marketing Formula
This is the second in a five-part blog where we’re pulling apart the TLC Business Marketing Formula.

This is where it gets interesting. We’re talking about inspiration. Flair and imagination –yes, but it’s got to be careful, clear, precise and concise. It’s surprisingly difficult to get it right. And if you haven’t done your preparation (see part one) then you’re likely to be lost before you start.

It’s about taking the research, analysis, knowledge and understanding you’ve gathered and making decisions about the best way forward.

To start it’s about defining your unique position within the market, what will make you stand out. We’re talking USPs and MSPPs. Textbook stuff maybe but it’s surprising how many confused and mixed messages there are out there. Your MSPPs and USPs are things that need to be clearly defined, and understood by you and your organisation before you can start trying to communicate them.

It’s funny how widely misunderstood marketing is. For many, marketing means advertising; a costly marketing tool that is hard to get right and thus rarely delivers the desired results. Techonology continues to shape the marketing landscape and there are many new and exciting ways to reach out to and communicate with your target market that are relatively straightforward and inexpensive.

Be imaginative. This is the time to get creative; to come up with that quirky direct mail or e-marketing campaign that captures people’s attention and pushes all the right buttons. Be careful not to get carried away though. You might come up with what seems an exciting idea for an innovative marketing campaign, but if it isn’t tailored to your target market and doesn’t address their requirements then it’s simply not going to work.

Commit your ideas to paper and work them into a clear and logical plan of action that sets out exactly how and when everything is going to happen. Be realistic about time and money, and what’s possible with both.

Once you and your colleagues are happy that everything is in place it’s time to get on with the ‘doing’. But that’s for next time…

Rebecca Pash, Marketing Manager, TLC Business