Many businesses are in the midst of making their marketing plans for next year. If you are in charge of your company's marketing efforts, 2013 is shaping up to be a very critical year for many businesses and a difficult one to predict. For one, this is an election year where the economy is the issue at hand and two vastly different philosophies are battling for votes. Whoever wins the election will have a huge impact on the business climate for the coming year. Also, there is more pressure than ever to convert marketing efforts into sales. In other words, the heat is turned up on marketing and uncertainty is in the air.

Marketing to sales cycles

Marketing plans are essential "how-to" guidelines for achieving sales goals. They are typically based on what has been tried in the past - kind of like going with what has been thrown against the wall and stuck. That is in the good old predictable past. We are not living there as we approach 2013. So how do you begin to plan for an uncertain future? First of all, take a good look at your sales cycles. How long does it typically take from the point you put marketing in front of a customer before they decide to buy from you? Unless you are selling fast food, gasoline or other life staples that are simply cash and carry commodities, your marketing to sales cycle is longer than a few minutes. The typical marketing to sales cycle looks something like this: your marketing makes your customers aware of your products or services, entices them to purchase from you, and gives them a reason to buy from you instead of the competition. For some, that sequence of events can take several weeks or even months. If you typically have a longer sales cycle, understanding it will help you make plans in uncertain times. How? First, look for ways to shorten the time between making a customer aware of your products and approaching them with your offer to purchase from you. There are ways to gage sales interest, especially with online marketing tools. If you are using an email marketing tool or smart web analytics, you should be able to pinpoint people within your target market who have more than a passing interest in your products. They are the folks who are clicking for more information on your web site. If you can transition your marketing efforts from awareness of your product to specific sales propositions in short order, this will help you speed up the cycle.

Let me give you an example of this. If you send out an email marketing campaign for Product A that teases the viewer to click to learn more, and you have built links to your web site that explains the benefits of Product A, within 48 hours you should have a good idea who has an interest in it. Follow up with those who are showing interest by sending a sales eblast for that particular product. That would include a special price for a limited amount of time. Have your sales staff contact the click-through viewer. Ask them to buy Product A now. The email tool helps shorten the typical lag time between making the customer aware of the product and making a pitch to get their business. In this example, we are simply equating clicks on the web site as interest on the part of the customer. Another way to track this interest would be to track the path of the customer on your web site. This is a bit more technical, but is doable with web tracking software that reports the IP address of viewers on your web site and what pages they are spending time looking through. Whatever device you use to gage interest, the key to making a sale is to keep the high-interest potential customer engaged in the process. That means you have to build a quick response into your marketing plans. 

Retaining old customers

Another key component of your marketing efforts in 2013 needs to be focused on the area of repeat sales. Staying in contact with your current customer list is important. But in uncertain times, you need to do more than stay in touch. You have to find ways to make continued sales to your existing base.  Are there products or services that will enhance what you have already sold to your customers? Take a close look at the peripheral products that your customer may be purchasing from someone else. For instance, you might have noticed that Ford Motor Company has a current marketing campaign advertising their tire sales at dealerships. It goes beyond their typical sales model of  selling automobiles and providing service on those vehicles. Everyone will eventually wear out their tires. This is a logical add-on sales item for Ford.

Another aspect of retention marketing has to do with customer follow up after the sale. This encompasses customer service; making sure the client is satisfied with what you have sold them. It also forms a relationship beyond the sale. It gets you close enough to the customer that you make their business your business. Are you staying close enough to your customers that you can anticipate their needs? Retention marketing makes sure there are opportunities for you to get to know your customer better. This is where your marketing plan comes into play. It should create occasions for engagement with the customer. This may call for you to do several lunch and learn opportunities with your customers. It may require you to do a golf outing. It may just be a conversation over a cup of coffee every few weeks. To be effective, you have to know your customer very well. The value of creating retention marketing opportunities is that it gets you to the customer's needs before your competition becomes aware there is a need. Typically the first to the customer's need is the winner.

Flexibility

The last thing I will say is build some flexibility into your 2013 plans. None of us have a crystal ball on the economy. Even if it begins to emerge from the current murkiness that keeps pulling the economy down, there will be starts and stops along the way. Economies rarely pull out of recessions like a rocket. Be prepared for the unexpected along the way.