Como maximizar o impacto do Marketing, com recursos limitados

Quer esteja a iniciar o seu próprio negócio ou seja já um CEO ou Marketing Manager numa PME, encontrar formas de "esticar" e optimizar o orçamento é sempre um desafio. 

Já sentiu que por muito esforço que dedique a criar estratégias de Marketing, continua a não sentir o impacto das táticas escolhidas, as vendas teimam em não crescer e o seu nível de stress não pára de aumentar? Começa a sentir um desespero e que não haverá tempo e recursos suficientes para atingir os resultados desejados. Soa-lhe familiar? 

Não se preocupe, não será o primeiro lider a enfrentar este problema, muito comum do Marketing. Num contexto de negócios sempre em evolução, pode ser dificil saber exatamente onde e como deve investir os seus esforços de Marketimg para obter o máximo retorno. 

Partilhamos 6 dicas para maximizar o impacto do Marketing, com uma equipa e orçamentos reduzidos.

1. Recorra ao storytelling para contar a sua história

Antes de começar a fazer planos de acção e mergulhar em folhas de excel, porque não dar um passo atrás e relembrar a missão e a história da sua empresa. É importante definir os objetivos e ambições do seu negócio e ligar o mindset de "storytelling", criar uma imagem e reconhecimento positiva da sua empresa, colaboradores, seguidores e amigos....

De acordo com a Quantified Communications, "mensagens entregues como histórias podem tornar-se 22 vezes mais memoráveis do que apenas factos."

Coloque o foco no “porquê (why)”, irá cativar e envolver mais pessoas na sua organização, unidas por um mesmo propósito. Assegure-se que os colaboradores gostam do que fazem, aceitam a cultura da empresa e têm clara a missão e visão para o futuro. Colaboradores satisfeitos serão os maiores embaixadores da sua empresa. E vão fazer questão de o partilhar. 

Partilhe a história da sua empresa em diversos momentos: eventos, conferências, sessões de networking. Partilhamos alguns exemplos a seguir: 

• Inclua uma sessão de "A nossa história" no seu website. Onde pode explicar a sua vião e missão, do seu ponto de vista. Quanto mais cativante for a história mais hipóteses terá de ser notada e aproveita pelos media e seguidores online. É uma excelente forma de aumentar a confiança entre os seus visitantes e promover referências. 
• Crie posts de blog e nas redes sociais para falar sobre a cultura da sua empresa e sobre os seus colaboradores. Este tipo de matreriais, com o "behind the scenes" mostra o lado humano do seu negócio. Considere escrever para outros blogues, levando a sua mensagem ainda mais longe. 
• Procure parcerias com marcas ou influencers do seu setor, que partilhem os mesmos valores e missão. 
  
  

2. Defina ou reoriente o seu roadmap de Marketing 

Estabeleça onde os seus esforços de Marketing o levarão no póximo trimestre, semestre e ano. Defina acções contretas e atribua objetivos. 

Pontos que deve incluir na sua estraégia de Marketing:

• Defina objetivos concretos: Deve conhecer os resultados que pretende obter e certificar-se de que a sua equipa está consciente dos mesmos. Reúna a sua equipa para definir objetivos e estabelecer responsabilidades. Utilize objectivos SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely).
• Foco nas ações de Marketing mais indicadas: De acordo com a regra de Pareto, 80% dos resultados provêm, de 20% dos esforços. Investigue quais as ações que lhe trouxeram melhores resultados e replique-as. Comece por focar-se apenas numa campanha ou canal - não deverá "esticar" os limites dos recursos da sua equipa. Mais tarde, com mais recursos disponíveis, poderá escalar. 
• Desenvolva um processo editorial: com o apoio de um calendário editorial poderá planear, organizar, e monitorizar as suas campanhas e atividades. Saberá sempre o que foi feito e o que está em pipeline e a sua equipa estará mais ciente das suas responsabilidades. Falta de organização e colaboração pode prejudicar a performance da sua equipa, por muito boa que seja individualmente. 
• Medir e monitorizar resultados: só saberá se atingiu os resultados se os monitorizar. Garanta que está a medir, testar e monitorizar os seus resultados - não espere pelo final da campanha para o fazer. Desta forma será mais ágil e poderá corrigir erros e fazer alterações, atempadamente. Como líder, garanta que a sua equipa prepara templates para medir a performance ao longo do tempo, o que será fundamental para tomada de decisões a médio prazo.

3. Optimize a sua equipa de Marketing

Este é um passo que pode parecer mais óbvio mas que pode ser importante, especialmente em tempos de crise ou de picos de trabalho. Defina, de forma clara, o papel de cada membro da sua equipa. Ao contrário de grandes empresas, com diversos perfis disponíveis, quando estamos a dar os primeirows passos prcisamos apelar á criativade para encontrar o mix perfeito para a equipa de Marketing.

Vejamos 5 tipos de funções que irá querer ter na equipa:

• Diretor de Marketing:This is probably you! The Marketing Manager serves as the ringleader of all Marketing efforts, implementing a clear and well-defined strategy to promote and position the company. They use reports to observe trends, make decisions regarding future actions and tactics, and organize their team to assure everything stays on track and on budget.

• Content Marketing Specialist: Not only creates valuable & high-quality Marketing materials (such as blog posts, landing pages, ebooks), but also understands content strategy, or how to target specific Buyer Personas at different stages of the Buyer's Journey. Content is at the core of the Inbound Marketing methodology, so you may want to consider a team of writers or freelancers to help you generate sufficient content. Finally, your content specialist should ideally have knowledge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in order to maximize your content's online visibility. 

• Graphic Designer:Takes care of your company's visual materials, from infographics to website photos to your logo. The graphic designer should create a style guide or brand book that defines your brand's colors, typefaces, choice of visual elements, sizing, etc. in order for all visual materials to be cohesive and in line with the image your company is trying to present. 

• Community Manager: In charge of your brand's online presence, mainly via social media. Their role is to create a social media strategy in line with your content plan and business objectives, curate social content, share Marketing messages, and interact/engage with your followers. Don't forget, even for B2B, social can be a powerful channel for lead generation. 

• IT Specialist:The "techie", they take care of the functionality and maintenance of your website and CRM. Top priorities include fast loading times, easy navigation, device responsiveness, fixing errors, etc. Above all, they should be focused on a quality user experience and seamless website. 

Now, small businesses often find employees wearing multiple hats; that’s to say, they perform more than one role. That’s okay, and that’s actually encouraged as it fosters creativity and collaboration (as long as employees aren’t overworked – this can lead to burnout). Make sure you're aware of each employee's strengths, and actually ask them what duties they'd like to perform or explore. The best way to maximize your team is to improve the abilities of existing team members!

4. Automate, Automate, Automate…

Why spend time grinding out reports or performing manual tasks when automated processes and programs can do it for you? Automation is key to scaling any business and focusing on more strategic business decisions.

Nowadays, automated tools, like those included in the HubSpot platform, help us take care of our prospects, leads and customers in a personalized way, but without dedicating a huge amount of our precious time! Enabling automation lets your company work around the clock, no matter where you’re based or what time zone you’re working in.

Moreover, automation combined with the Inbound Marketing methodology will help you always provide your leads with the right information at the right time and place…without spending hours analyzing your database.

All of these areas can be automated in your business:

• Email Marketing:Send personalized emails to your leads and customers with the use of personalization tokens, automated emails, and lead nurturing cycles. You’ll strengthen your company’s relationship with them without needing a team member to write personalized emails all day long.

• Marketing and Sales Processes: From form submissions to email replies to document downloads, you can automate follow up processes for just about any Marketing or Sales activity.

• Database Organization: Maintain your database by automatically updating database properties according to contacts’ behavior, web activity, etc. You’ll no longer need to manually go in and update contact records, so your data will be more reliable and you’ll also save tons of time.

• Internal Communications: Gone will be the days of sending annoying follow up emails to team members, asking about the status of tasks. You can now automate emails, notifications, and tasks for your internal team and check in on their progress on the platform.

• Chatbots:Add chatbot automation to your website or blog to handle customer queries. The HubSpot chatbot, for example, can do everything from search your knowledge base to give automated responses to schedule meetings with a sales agent.

• Sales Materials: Set up automation to send meeting links, quotes, or invoices to prospects from your Sales team.

The power of automation is incredible and will help you maximize your Marketing impact in ways you never thought possible. For small Marketing teams or budgets, automation is the answer to getting all of your tasks done and achieving those lofty goals!

5. Invest in Marketing tools and training

A small Marketing team equipped with the right tools can be very effective. Use of the right technologies can streamline, complement, and automate many of your business processes. Important tools for any business include:

• Marketing Automation Platform & CRM: At mbudo, we are proud to be Platinum Partners with HubSpot, a top-ranked Marketing Automation platform that allows your to manage all Marketing, Sales and Service activites in one place. And it comes with an impressive CRM. Other great choices include Marketo or Pardot. Discover our comparison posts: HubSpot vs Marketo andHubSpot vs. Pardot. 

• SEO/SEM Tools:The importance of SEO can't be overlooked in the digital age. It's the best way to grow your organic traffic online - for free! Thus, SEO tools like the Google Keyword Planner are key for researching keywords for organic and even Paid Ad campaigns. HubSpot recommends these additional tools for SEO. 

• Graphic Design Programs:For high-quality ebooks, infographics, and photos, many businesses rely on programs like Illustrator or Photoshop; however, there are also great free tools like Canva. 

• Analytics:Maybe you use Excel spreadsheets and that’s fine. But automating your analytics will save your team a ton of time and energy. Tools like Google Analytics or the HubSpot Reporting Tool can provide you with customized metrics and graphics to track traffic, contacts, performance, and more. 

Did you know that only 21% of businesses invest in training or tools to improve employee productivity? It’s important to invest in the right tools, but it’s also important to show that you’re investing in your employees and that you care about their knowledge and growth. Training will make sure that you are all engaged with the latest trends, strategies, and know-how, which will in turn give you an edge on the competition and increase your chances for business success. For example, the HubSpot Academy features dozens of courses to train your team in all things Marketing and beyond. 

6. Outsource Marketing activities for expertise (and to save resources!)

No matter how much you’ve optimized your strategy and internal team, sometimes you still need outside expertise to take over certain accounts or specialized tasks. Let's say you must come up with a detailed proposal for lead scoring for your most important client. It’s always best to count on professionals who have years of experience and a good track record of successful results.

In outsourcing your Marketing activities, you will be delegating tasks to proven Marketing experts or a specialized Marketing agency that can implement new strategies or improve existing ones. An outside perspective will also bring new ideas and viewpoints to your team and clients.

The 3 main reasons businesses externalize all or some of their Marketing tasks include:

• Expertise:Contracting a specialized Marketing agency ensures that important tasks are handled with care and that your clients are always satisfied with proposals and results.
• Cost-effective: You won’t need to spend time and money hiring new people, and you'll also avoid the risks and legal obligations that come with adding a new team member.
• Save time: Now that you’re not wasting time on tasks that are out of your depth, you can focus on your team’s strengths and strategic business decisions.

As a leader, you want to be confident about succeeding with your small Marketing team or budget. By following these 6 tips, you will be! Remember, it’s all about maximizing and optimizing, and of course, being creative and thinking outside the box. If you're interested in learning more about Marketing Strategy for Startups/SMEs, get in touch with mbudo. We are a specialized Inbound Marketing agency, and our team of experts can make up for any Marketing role or specialization that you lack.