I just read a wise response to an interesting online LinkedIn discussion that followed a business owner’s question “Can anyone suggest the best areas to spend marketing budgets in difficult times such as these?”.

In a nutshell: a host of suggestions flew in on the theme of a “guns-a-blazing” tactical marketing campaign, such as you can achieve on a budget.  Proposals included SEO optimization, blog makeovers, video testimonials, white papers, client dinners and so on.  The aforementioned response pointed out that you might need a bit more information to go on before putting together a marketing strategy on a budget.  Nobody had a clue about what the company was or what it really needed – “just shout about it” seemed to be the order of the day.

One size fits all doesn’t work – a case in point

The topic was exactly what I was pondering for a start-up company whose web-based tools had the potential to serve a broad range of B2C and B2B markets.   Their market research work had identified a short-list of priority sectors, each requiring different key messages and product positioning and their own product development needs.   Not to mention different marketing channels.

A generic tactical marketing plan would have whooshed £10K straight up the chimney, attracting interest from diverse sectors whose needs could not be met.  The mess it would have created: angry clients, stressed out operational team, ever-dwindling financial resources and little chance of a bailout via a steady revenue stream, not to mention the bad press.

The solution:  A mixture of strategic and tactical elements with a very tight focus on a single, manageable market segment.

The £10K marketing budget in this case needed to include a way to engage with target customers from a single market segment.  This would enable the company to deliver a unique and attractive offering serving an unmet need.  Being a start-up, it also needed to generate early adopters and demonstrate that it had the potential to deliver attractive profit margins that could be replicated in other sectors.  This would gain the trust of would-be investors.

Whilst I did include SEO work and a revamp of a neglected blog in the plan, these elements were targeted at attracting and engaging with the chosen market segment alone.  An industry feedback forum, follow-up interviews and questionnaires were also included in order to draw up a refinement of the product development plans and create a buzz around the product from a group of users who would be involved in its development from the very beginning.

What would you have done?