Welcome to this Month’s issue of Marketing Magic where we’ll finish the last 2 steps to creating a successful marketing plan using the 5M’s of marketing principle. Before we get started I’d like to first acknowledge the efforts of our loyal subscribers. Over the last month we have been inundated with emails from subscribers who wanted to share with us the marketing strategies that they have created using the information that we have discussed in our last 3 newsletters. So well done to all those who shared with us over the last month, keep up the good work and we look forward to hearing of your success.

Before we teach you the final steps to creating a successful marketing strategy we wanted to give you a quick update on some exciting things that we have done with the Network Marketing Business School website over the past month.

Network Marketing Business School Update Free Product Prospecting Chapter There has been a lot new stuff published on our website over the past month, in particular a new comprehensive product prospecting chapter that will help you to understand the marketability of your product and teach you the best way to find new customers. If you haven’t already had the chance to check it out, now’s a good time. Click here for our new product prospecting chapter. Publish your articles Network Marketing Business School is vastly growing to be one of the best network marketing websites on the net and in the true sense of networking we would like you to share in our success. Just this week we have posted a new chapter that will allow visitors to our website to publish their articles, market themselves and earn a link back to their website. In reward for subscribing to this newsletter we wanted to offer this opportunity to you, our loyal readers first. Whilst this article submission chapter is live it is not currently linked from our homepage as we wanted to give you the opportunity to publish your articles (and market yourself) first. After we have received our first 5 articles we’ll then open it up to the rest of the world, so start writing. For more information about submitting your articles to us or how to write a good article, Click here. If you’ve been following this newsletter series you should be familiar with the 5 M’s of marketing and well on your way to creating your own lead generation campaign. If you’re new to this newsletter and haven’t already read the last 3 back issues (starting on the 1st May 08) we strongly encourage you to do, such that you’re ready to finish the series. Click here to read about first 3M’s.

Now that you’re up to speed, you should be familiar with the first 3 of the 5M’s – the market, the message and the media. To finish this series we’ll now take you through the final 2 stages:

• The Method – how to deliver your message?
• The Measures – how to measure the effectiveness of your campaign?

The Method

Throughout this entire newsletter series there has been a common concept that underlies the 5 M’s of marketing and that is to create and deliver your marketing campaign in a way that is appealing to your target audience. If you can get this simple concept right, your campaign should produce results.

In last month’s Marketing Magic issue the activity we set was to design a poster that delivers your marketing message. Let use this as an example and assume you have designed a poster that is:

• appealing to your target audience such that it draws their attention
• has a marketing message that is appealing to you target audience and influences them to take action

What’s the final step? The method. It’s no good creating a poster that nobody will see. It doesn’t matter how good your poster is, if your target audience doesn’t see it, then naturally it’s not going to produce results. The method involves getting your marketing media (and message) in front of your target audience such that they can be influenced. Once you have designed the media, the next step is the method in which you deliver it.

A good question to be asking is –

• How can I get my marketing message in front of my target audience?
And / Or
• Where can I place my marketing media such that it will reach my target audience?

Let’s use children as an example target audience, if you have designed a TV commercial to sell a product aimed for children, what time of the day would you show it? During the children programs or during the news? It sounds so simple, but so many small businesses get it wrong, too often they create a great campaign but use the wrong method to deliver it.

Naturally the best place to reach to your target market, is in a place that you will find your target market. This is where we throw it back to you, what are you trying to promote and who is your target audience? After answering these 2 questions consider where or how you can deliver your campaign such that it reaches your target market?

Let’s look at a few examples. Below we have listed a few target audiences and places where you are likely to find them.

• Teenagers – schools and regular hangout areas (skateboard ramps, movie theatres etc), sporting fields.
• New and expecting mothers – Baby clinics, mothers groups, play groups.
Those looking to lose weight – health and fitness centres
• Entrepreneurs – Business or self growth seminars

Now that you know where to reach your target audience the next question is how? Face to face, flyers in a resource stand, posters on a notice board etc. In last month’s issue we discussed the different media, however here I want you to think about how your media (and message) will be delivered to your target audience? For example if you make a flyer, where will you put it? On a table, in a stand or will you give it to them personally? Regardless of what method you choose, it needs to be visible, a poster for example needs to be seen to have an effect and therefore placement of your marketing material (the method) is very important. Depending on what you are trying to promote (marketing message) you might need to try a few different strategies.

In summary it doesn’t matter how good your marketing media is, until you can get it in front of your target audience, it is unlikely to produce results. A flyer in a resource stand for example does not have the power to influence someone until they decide to pick it up. The key to developing a successful marketing method is in understanding your target audience and knowing how and where to target them. This background information can help you to deliver your media (and more importantly your message) using a method that will effectively reach your target market.

The Measures

Quite often businesses invest time and money into developing a marketing campaign, but neglect to measure its effectiveness and why it is performing the way it is? When working with large corporate organisations we always recommend that they allow 10% of their marketing budget to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. Most people are reluctant to do this, but you’d be surprised how much you can save in the long run. For example it is much easier (and cheaper) to tweak an existing campaign such that it performs better, than to repeat the whole process and develop something new.

How you decide to measure the effectiveness of your campaign is essentially up to you, however your goal should be to measure the following factors.

Target audience exposure

1. Estimate of how many people have been exposed to the campaign (eg how many flyers have been given out)

Target audience perceptions of your campaign (through interview or survey)

1. Is the marketing message being understood?
   
2. Are they influenced by your campaign?

Lead generation

1. How any leads are being produced from the campaign
   
2. Cost per lead (ie total cost of campaign divided by the number of leads generated)
   
3. Lead conversion rate

Measuring the effectiveness of campaign allows you to compare marketing strategies to see where you get the best return on investment. A few months ago we discuss a campaign developed by Toby from Perth. He was going through 1500 flyers a month and was only generating 1-2 leads. It wasn’t until he sat down to measure the effectiveness of his campaign that he realised that his time and money could be better spent using a different strategy.

Summarising the 5 M’s of marketing

The Market
This is the most important step; the more you can learn about your target audience the better prepared you will be to develop a successful campaign. Don’t just create a campaign based around what you think you know about your audience, do your homework.

The Message
It’s one thing to know what you want to say, it’s another to say it in a way that it is understood. Developing the right message requires you to style your message in a way that is both appealing and influential to your target market.

The Media
Developing the right marketing media allows you to deliver your marketing message in a way that is appealing to your target market. This requires a lot of thought and factors such as resources, budget and practicality need to be considered.

The Method
The key to a successful marketing campaign is being able to deliver your marketing message in a way that reaches your target audience. Until your target audience has been exposed to your marketing campaign it is unlikely to produce results.

The Measures
Measuring the effectiveness of your marketing campaign allows you to calculate a return of investment and compare different marketing strategies to see which is the most cost effective for your business.

Now that you have a understanding of the 5 M’s of marketing, in the coming months we will discuss how to develop different targeted campaigns, such that you can use them locally, or tackle the global market using the internet.

As always please share with us your thoughts and experiences and if you’ve got a topic you’d like us to discuss, please feel free to email us.

One last quick reminder to write and submit your articles to Network Marketing Business School over the next few days such that we can help you to promote your business. Click here. Until next month, happy prospecting.

Wishing you and your business all the best.

Troy Rocavert