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advertising agency calicut

Business Needs a 360-Degree Marketing Plan

Like any business owner, you want to expand your customer base so you can increase sales. To do that, you must ensure your marketing efforts are as effective as possible. But unless you have a 360-degree marketing plan in place, you’ll miss out on opportunities to reach, engage, and eventually convert prospects into customers. 

Ultimately, implementing such a plan means maintaining a solid presence across multiple channels (both online and offline) and connecting with prospective customers where they are. It means taking a holistic approach to marketing so you can avoid leaving any gaps.   

At Viral Solutions, we focus more specifically on a 360-degree marketing plan, in which a company uses all the resources at its disposal to reach prospects and customers at all possible points of contact. 

Here are some of the advantages:

  • It ensures consistency in messaging and design, which leads to brand recognition.
  • It allows prospects to engage where and how they want, which improves lead generation. 
  • It provides more comprehensive data, which shows what’s working and what’s not.
  • It delivers greater exposure, which gives companies an edge over the competition. 
  • It helps nurture existing customers, which increases retention and brand advocacy. 

Putting 360-degree marketing plan into action means you’re not relying on a single method of reaching potential customers. It makes your company more flexible and quicker to adapt to market trends. Moreover, it allows you to pivot with ease when customer needs and preferences change. 

 

What Resources and Tactics to Use

 

It’s important to note that successful marketing takes both discipline (strategy – a written plan) and execution (tactics – the people and the tools). Strategy must come first; otherwise, you’ll end up wasting time and money on tactics that don’t fit. So, you need to conduct some in-depth research and follow the appropriate steps to develop your 360-degree marketing plan. Once you’ve done the legwork, then you can deploy it. 

With that said, here are some of the marketing resources and tactics (beyond your company’s website) you can use…

  • Social media. This is one of the most important resources for marketing in the modern age. Social media networks allow you to engage in direct contact with current and potential customers at any time. It is also a great method of word-of-mouth advertising, as followers who love your brand will share posts with friends and others in their extended network. 
  • Direct mail. What may have fallen out of favor is once again new. This tactic, often referred to as snail mail, is still extremely relevant. There isn’t much in the mailbox any longer, which is why you should consider being there with pamphlets, flyers, etc. You can even determine how effective this tactic is by including tracking URLs or QR codes on the materials you mail out. 
  • Live events. The landscape has changed a bit, especially over the last year, with more events taking place virtually. However, there’s still a great opportunity to connect with potential and existing customers. Look at getting involved with conferences, speaking engagements, and other events related to your industry. Additionally, you can host your own events online—from prescheduled webinars to more laid-back “Ask Me Anything” sessions.   
  • Blogging. It’s important to consistently create quality content through a blog and establish yourself or your business as being an expert in your given field. This builds not only authority but also trust with those in your target audience. The key is to determine what potential customers need and provide real value through the content you create.  
  • Apps. Both web applications and mobile applications are always great for enhancing the customer experience and staying in touch. Mobile apps are especially useful because they allow you to reach customers anytime, anywhere.
  • Email. Email marketing is an excellent method of spreading the news about sales or special deals you have going on, as well as for making announcements related to your business. It also allows people to subscribe to a mailing list so that you can specifically target your messages to people with the greatest interest.
  • Video. Video marketing continues to be one of the most popular and effective forms of advertising. Having a presence on YouTube and posting videos to your website can help extend your reach and engage potential customers. You can even create interactive branching videos. This is where a piece of software stitches together a series of variables based upon a series of questions and answers. The video morphs as the answers change, allowing viewers to create their own narrative. 
  • Mobile web design. It’s not enough to have a great design for standard web users; you must also optimize your site for mobile browsers, especially as the percentage of people who browse the internet on mobile devices continues to increase at a rapid pace. Make no mistake—mobile isn’t going anywhere, so if your site isn’t already mobile-friendly, you need to catch up fast.  
  • Your employees. Your team is your most valuable asset. Nobody represents a business better than highly trained and passionate employees. No amount of print media, social media, video, or email can replace the customer experience of working with the talent you’ve hired and developed.