According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the definition of synergy is “The interaction of two or more agents or forces such that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.” Consider buying a new grill. You’re ready for that big, juicy burger, but the means to cook it are neatly packaged in this fairly large cardboard box that is tightly stapled. The reason is? There are more parts to that box than there are teeth, and each has a purpose. Individually, they don’t mean anything. But when assembled correctly, according to the instructions and diagram, they will create the most magnificent grill where you can cook the Mac Daddy of all burgers. And, if you leave only one piece, you could be left with a grill that doesn’t deliver the goods!

Think of your marketing calendar like that big box of grill parts. You have all of these “marketing” areas that you want to explore: special events, print advertising, direct mail campaigns, website promotions, email blasts, and maybe even some trade show or exhibition booth attendance. Separately, each component can drive sales, but when linked together they deliver a knockout blow. Let’s say you want to generate more sales through your website. You’ll need to combine a traditional tool like direct mail to reach people who aren’t actively browsing. Use the article to bring them to your website, where you have a specific landing page that reaches your nerve center and solves your problems. . If you solely rely on your website to drive traffic on its own, you will miss out on those other leads that could have been captured through an integrated approach!

Every item in your marketing toolbox can (and should) deliver positive bottom line results, but when mapped onto a marketing calendar, you can clearly see the marketing mix you’ve created with all the winning parties working in synergy. .

And not only does keeping a marketing calendar really make you feel (and be!) More productive, the positive results of keeping your marketing mix alive allow you to get out there and honk your own horn. It will allow you to really analyze which parts of your business will stand out and create a clear vision of your true value proposition. So you can tell your customers, and they will tell new customers, and so on!

A marketing calendar allows you to map out your basic monthly marketing schedules and guides you on a path of focus. Building structure is key to your success. By writing down all of your individual goals for each month in one place (using a dry-erase board or pencil and eraser), you can tweak and fine-tune the plan while on the go, clapping your hands and repeating programs that are successful. and repeated. adjust or eliminate those that are not. Experts say that if you literally write your goals down on paper, you are more likely to meet them. The same goes for your marketing programs. Writing them on your calendar makes them real; This simple act turns the wishes in your head into goals live before your eyes. If they live, then you have to feed and care for them. Writing them down also makes you responsible for them. Take a look at the marketing calendar below and see where you can plug in some of your existing programs. How do they fit in? Where do you need to make adjustments? If you plan to launch your new website in April, do you want to send a direct mail postcard in February? Probably not. But the calendar will help you realize that late March or early April might make more sense. Have a new product or industry trend that you want to share with your customers? When will the product be launched? A calendar will allow you to see the big picture of how and when you need to market this new product. And then be sure to keep track of your costs and results for each one.

Your timeline for success

It is often a struggle to get “buy in” from coworkers, your boss, suppliers, or customers because even though you know your product is a success, you have no way to endorse it and tell your success story. This is where the measurement of all those results takes place. Let’s say you have a great idea that you know will sell thousands of widgets. He is innovative thinking and has an unwavering confidence in the marketing mix that will get the word out and sales. But your sales professionals resist the idea and don’t jump on the bandwagon. Do you let the naysayers deflate your enthusiasm? No! Instead, massage your marketing calendar, putting together a timeline for the pieces that are necessary to make this business alignment campaign a success. In this way, you create a visual map of success.

You project a 16% return based on your knowledge-based expectations, and that’s a good number. But because your initiatives can be tracked and measured, you get a 20% return. Now take that horn and blow! Start by telling your sales reps your story. This will give them the firepower, and facts, to sell more for you. Then create a case study for your website to show how the successful plan worked and why. Lastly, reach out to the people who are always desperately trying to find newsworthy things to write about, your press release team, and let them tell you the story even though they were the ones who rejected the idea in the first place. . You now have a fantastic story to tell and you also have the statistics to back it up, thanks to your combination of marketing and planning. It’s like building a Lego house – you may not need all the blocks, but they fit in there somehow. Creating a marketing mix through calendar planning will help you stay true to your vision and allow you to celebrate your successes.

Integrating your marketing mix

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