Sometimes marketing is treated like a necessary evil – something that you know you need but are just a bit uneasy about dealing with. Things don't have to be that way at all! Think of marketing as your company's voice – the way you reach out to the world and introduce yourself to new customers, attract new business, and build revenue. That's marketing's purpose and it can be a lot of fun!

Yes, fun is how we approach marketing. We see it as a very important, exciting, and creative challenge that lets us stretch our brains as we help you develop the means to grow your business. It gives us great satisfaction to help your business prosper as we bring our thinking, skills, experience, and perspective to your company. Marketing is the underlying force behind everything SPIA does and our one true focus.

Please keep that in mind when you ask us to develop a logo, web site, brochure, signage or... anything. As we're listening to you describe the products/services you're looking for, the little gears and mechanisms in our brains start spinning and thinking of how to give you what you need, but in a way that harnesses its maximum marketing power!

SPIA does offer a palette of more structured marketing services that are independent of any specific creative project, to help you organize, focus, and strategize your business plan and enable it to succeed. Generally, these services are used by our clients as part of a whole package that includes a smattering of conceptual and tangible items, but we can simply help you with any single area that you would like to focus on.

marketing plan analysis

You do have a Marketing Plan don't you? Uhhh... presuming that you do... a plan needs to be fluid and flexible and needs regular tweaking and adjusting with the ebb and flow of business. Sometimes though, a complete overhaul is needed. It all depends upon how well the plan is serving you - often a function of how long it has been in place. It can be difficult to judge your plan objectively when it's your baby, so we're here to help.

SPIA starts with understanding the basics of your business like target market, price point, competition, etc., then listens to your own evaluation of your Marketing Plan's pluses and minuses. From their we study your plan, apply metrics and analysis tools, add a dash of experience and come back to you with our conclusions. We include a SWOT Analysis with a written assessment of how well we believe your plan positions you to meet your sales objectives and areas to focus on improving.

marketing strategy

The heart of your business is not the products you sell or services you offer, not the satisfied customers or praise it receives, it's your marketing strategy. It's true. When you dissect a business to its core, the basic principle of what you do, what you offer to customers, and your profitability, is premised upon a marketing strategy. All of the other elements that make up the world of marketing are based on or used within the context of a strategic marketing plan. The way to find the niche where you can prosper is to carefully assemble a business plan that at its core, has a very strong and logical marketing strategy.

SPIA excels at developing strategic marketing plans. No matter if it's taking your existing plan and updating and reworking it or starting with a blank canvas, we will make it work for you. We help you to determine critical issues like your USP, target market(s), time-lines, branding, positioning, goals, budget allocations, tactics, innovations, promotional mediums, feedback, and more. What it won't be is some academic exercise with lots of theory or directives that you must carry out. Rather, it will be a practical, usable, real-world roadmap, incorporating your input, fitting with your goals and comfort level, that you can confidently embrace and put into practice right away.

competitive analysis

There are many important reasons to pay attention to what your competitors are doing and how they're doing it, like knowing how competitive your prices are or where industry trends are headed, even what types of customers they're attracting, or who they're not attracting. The “go it alone” approach may work, but it may work much better with some competitive knowledge. Analysis comes from understanding the scope of your marketplace including (like it or not) a big chunk of any market: the competition.

Sometimes any one aspect of competitive information is widely known, like which products competitors sell. But good analysis gathers a range of data from as many relevant players as possible, organizes and sorts it and draws conclusions based on the gathered information.

SPIA will work with you to determine which of your competitors bears investigating and what types of data to gather. Then, information is acquired. Once that process is done, it's culled together to form a competitive profile and then compared, area by area, to your business, capped by SPIA's determination of your competitive position and suggestions on how to enhance it.

branding

Most industries are saturated with lots of competitors seeking to expand market share within a relatively fixed client base. So the first essential step to maintain, then grow your market share, is the establishment of a unique and recognizable corporate identity or brand.

A brand asserts a distinguishable entity that customers can build a relationship with. It's a thing of substance that has meaning and personality to people. By making that meaning understandable, comfortable, and desirable the opportunities for sales expands in many directions.

SPIA helps you define, refine, and focus your branding message. We establish the positives that represent your brand and pinpoint the means to convey those virtues and elicit a proactive customer response. In other words, we strive to evolve your customers into loyal fans.

customer service strategy

Undoubtedly the most ignored aspect of marketing strategy and profitability is Customer Service. Yes, Customer Service is a critical part of marketing! Studies have shown that a dissatisfied customer spreads negative word of mouth to an estimated 9-12 other people. Acquiring new customers is always a far greater investment than retaining the existing client base. Can you afford not to have a vital Customer Service Strategy?

Most often, a great Customer Service Strategy requires a solid evaluation of existing practices and employee attitudes, a plan to make improvements and change habits, and then good leadership and evaluation to make sure that service and customer commitment is foremost in all employee's thoughts. Sometimes, a campaign or promotional concept touting your commitment to your customers can yield great dividends as well.

SPIA has a range of tools to evaluate your existing Customer Service program, determine its strengths and weaknesses, evaluate customer response and retention habits, and develop a sound and strong CS Strategy that will help to increase client retention and improve your bottom line. Of all the areas to improve your business and surpass your competition, this is certainly one that we can guide you to reaping a solid long-term ROI.

event marketing

Practically everyone likes going to some type of event for music, education, networking, entertainment, socializing, etc., as long as they see a personal value in it. And the value they seek is often experiential whether they realize it cognitively or not. It's the great experience that drives them to tell friends and coworkers about it, to buy products, to evangelize for the event sponsor(s), to keep coming back, and to become brand loyalists.

Events can take on a range of forms from a company parking lot to a special destination, from a one day occurrence, to an ongoing national tour, from a simple concept to a multifaceted, multilevel extravaganza. A great event is not determined by size and scope, rather by its effectiveness at reaching potential customers. In fact, the event can be as or more effective if its someone else's, if you participate visibly as a sponsor. Ever been to a sporting event, concert, or trade show and not seen a slew of corporate sponsors?

SPIA is your event marketing resource. From pre-planning strategy through post event analysis and follow-up, we're there every step of the way to see that you get the most short and long term ROI possible from your event. We can help with sponsorship as well, either securing sponsors for your happening or determining the right place and the right audience to put your brand in front of.

Web 2.0 integration

The term “Web 2.0” usually conjures up one of three reactions: “What is it?”, “It's fabulous!”, or “We don't need it.”. Try thinking of it as the logical progression of word-of-mouth marketing.

Web 2.0 uses elements of social networking, product buzz, referrals, and reviews to spread the word about your company, products, and/or services. It's not something to be ignored, rather embraced in the right proportion and with the right methods for your particular goals and needs. For example: a jeans manufacturer that targets teenagers certainly will embrace Web 2.0 techniques to reach it's audience, but in a more limited way, it can be just as effective to reach customers of say retirement planning services, with just the right Web 2.0 nudge.

SPIA keeps up with this ever evolving marketing area so that you don't have to. It takes more than a Facebook page or comments area on a web page to be effective. So, we'll help design and integrate the correct measure of Web 2.0 into your Internet strategy so that you get the best return for your efforts.

public relations

Every business engages in public relations at some level, whether conscious or not, good or bad. The real intent of PR is to communicate and manage the flow of information from an organization to it's audience, to encourage positive opinion. Done well, it can reap the rewards of customer loyalty and appreciation, credibility, and even evangelism. Done poorly, it can be devastating.

Public relations isn't effective utilizing a “formula”, rather, it's a custom tailored group of strategies that considers a business' position in the industry, reputation, management personalities, branding, style, and desired outcome(s). While it's often used to “clean up” a problem (perceived or real), a smart company will regularly engage in PR to keep it's reputation in check and to build awareness through non-traditional channels.

SPIA believes in public relations as a natural extension of marketing strategy. Rather than turn to PR as a fix-all, we encourage our clients to link a public relations policy, along with great customer service, to their core being. We partner with you to meet your public relations goals and to craft the unique tools and events to make your organization shine. Some of the mechanisms in our PR machine include: meet and greets, community events, press releases, press conferences, media kits, endorsements, speaking engagements, direct mail, sponsorships, publicity, and more.