Whether you are in a start-up or second stage growth, taking your current size into consideration is important in evaluating and prioritizing marketing tactics and spend. In a recent webinar, Launch Team’s President Michele Nichols discussed the many approaches to developing your marketing mix and how companies in the technology space can help find leads and connect with potential customers. She also elaborated on:
- Specific types of tactics that are working for customers
- How to identify what tactics are advantageous and what are outdated.
Request the recording of the webinar here.
The Right Mix
Our team works with many companies in their second stage of growth, but we have clients ranging from start up to globally established operations. We understand there isn’t a cookie cutter mix that works for all companies, but through our projects we have identified key tactics for companies based on which stage of growth they are in. Typically, we help customers make these decisions on their revenue goals. We believe that a marketing budget should consist of 1-6% of your target revenue.
Learn more about sales and marketing strategies in our CEO’s Guide to Building Company Value with Sales & Marketing
Identifying a Marketing Mix for Companies in Second Stage Growth:
Medium sized companies in their second stage of growth can handle more activities due to their resources. This allows companies to create an integrated marketing approach and drive lead generation across multiple sources
Digital Content
Web based and digital tactics can be implemented and tracked to provide useful data and insights at relatively low costs. Inbound content is a great way to bring qualified leads directly to your sales team reducing the need for time consuming and expensive outbound sales processes. It is important to use the breadth of technical resources available within your company (engineers, floor managers, etc.) to generate content and build or maintain a strong knowledgeable image of your organization. Utilizing digital marketing allows your marketing team to optimize each campaign and improve results month over month, year over year.
Tradeshows, Events, and Collateral
In the advanced technical industries that we serve, trade shows and events are usually a significant part of the marketing plan. Although trade shows come with massive costs (booth collateral, employee travel and training, and a disruption to normal workday operations) larger organizations with more resources can handle these costs, and can recoup them through lead generation curated during a show. For companies in 2nd stage growth, it’s also an important time to establish your position in the market and enhance your brand. To ensure a positive ROI for trade show attendance, proper planning is essential. Use our trade show planning and booth staff training kit to get started on a plan.
Identifying a Marketing Mix for Small Companies/Start-Ups:
Due to the lack of resources, start-ups often have different priorities. Companies in this stage need to take on a fewer tactics, so choosing the correct mix of marketing tactics at this stage is vital for the future growth of your company. Since the marketing budget should equal 1-6% of your revenue targets, there are added challenges to not spread resources to thin. 
Digital Marketing
We suggest start-ups spend most of your efforts on web-based, inbound tactics. Starting from the ground up with strong content creates a good foundation to grow, both online and offline. It’s helpful to establish a knowledgeable and experienced partnership to build an effective plan for your products.
Trade Shows, Events, and Collateral
Spending on 1-2 key trade shows is ideal for smaller firms in order to help grow established relationships and turn leads into customers. Leveraging the free PR and editorials that accompany a trade show exhibition helps increase exposure and draw attention to your product/brand. As your marketing and sales strategy becomes more advanced, you can invest in new ways to stay in front of these leads with personalized email and marketing automation.
As your company grows and adapts to specific industry changes, your marketing campaigns should be doing the same. When starting off, allocating resources effectively to the tactics with the greatest ROI is vital to positioning yourself correctly in your market without going over budget. As your company gains more resources, knowing the right strategies to implement will allow for you to better service your customers and find new qualified leads.
Click below if you would like to hear more from Michele on this topic.
