The MAP & The Money
The MAP: Marketing Attracts People
The map is all about ways to reach out and pull people in to persuade them to be customers.
Your best customer is a current one, and the map is about getting more visits, or filling a larger basket per visit, or selling more profitable products. These customers need little persuasion but do react to reminders and incentives to buy more. In some categories a CRM system and loyalty program work really well.
Your second-best customer is a “look alike or digital twin” They are similar to your best customers in matters of consumption, interests & activities, buying behavior, location (IRL or digital), and demographics such as age, income, and gender. Give them a nudge and convince them using your many benefits, a competitive difference, and visibility at decision points like the point of sale.
Third are the people who are not engaged, who need convincing, and may have entirely different needs. Buying is a flip of a coin whether they choose you or the competition since they don’t care or see no differences such as with National brands vs. Store brands. These people may be price sensitive, require influence by family and friends, or might be susceptible on special occasions.
After identifying these 3 tiers, all others can be largely ignored as too costly to reach or too difficult to convince. These people may be non-category users, i.e., drive not fly, or drink wine not beer. They may also be entrenched or highly loyal to another brand, i.e., Coke not Pepsi, Jif not Skippy.
The Money
As a function of Marketing Physics and the Laws of Motion, you need the force of money to create action and to sustain momentum. This money comes from internal sources or external sources.
Internally, most companies try to establish ROI metrics then set an A/S (advertising-to-sales) ratio in line with industry and competitive actions, plus objectives for growth, maintenance, or milking.
The actual budgets are established according to strategic, operational, and financials plans such as an “invest-grow” strategy used by many large companies including Proctor & Gamble, Apple, and Nike, or a or “starve-milk” strategy used by private equity firms or post-M&A.
External sources for marketing growth funds are typically debt or equity based. A small startup might start by using a credit card, then upgrade to a line of credit, and then some long-term debt instruments.
Equity financing often this starts with personal networks, strategic partners, or Venture Capital (VC) firms. The ability to “go public” generates substantial funds to grow MAP and dominate their sector.
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MAP & Money are intertwined as a system and process for growing any business.
This is exceedingly difficult not because any and every company lacks the knowledge or competence about its business, but because having the skills and language at the intersection of a “rock & stone” is a rare skill.
What’s more business growth is neither easy nor a solo activity. @HBxC have extensive experience and the skills to create an effective solution. We know startups and how to create new businesses appeal, we excel at branding and communications, and we have the diverse skills to speak many languages to bond the many groups at the table.