Evidence-Based Marketing Ramps Up Success
By: GAIL MARTIN

Marketing—like medicine—is part science and part art. Because marketing attempts to influence human behavior, it is possible to do everything “right” and get an unexpected outcome. Successful marketing builds a solid base of evidence—statistics, studies, research, trend analysis and industry best practices--along with competent execution to yield good results.

This article won’t use the term “evidence-based” quite the same way as in the medical world; however, it is possible to employ the fruits of research, observation and experience to develop marketing approaches that create consistently good outcomes.

Here are five ways to use solid marketing information to increase your professional visibility, enhance your professional reputation and attract new clients.

#1—Start with good information. It is difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to marketing. Everyone has a theory about how it works, and everyone has a story about something that happened to a friend of theirs.

Good marketing information can be found from many credible sources. The Business Marketing Association (BMA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and many other professional groups publish industry studies, detailed white papers and research that deal with marketing trends and outcomes in specific industries. These materials are not inexpensive and often require group membership, but they are among the most complete, most unbiased and most detailed studies available.

#2—Get a baseline. To know whether you have improved, you must know where you started. If your goal is to increase your professional visibility, keep a record for one month of how often your company is mentioned in the local press or how frequently your name or your company’s name shows up in Internet search rankings or in speaking/writing requests on your area of expertise. Or, if you want to increase your customer’s knowledge about a specific service or product, start with a survey to find out what the customer knows (or doesn’t know) before you begin marketing. A baseline gives you a point of comparison to see how much you are improving.

#3—Set realistic expectations. One dose of medicine won’t control a chronic disease. It’s surprising to find how many people expect one advertisement, one press release or one burst of marketing effort to “cure” the effects of years of marketing silence.

It is wonderful (and rare) when a single action results in a dramatic positive increase in visibility. Successful marketing is the result of sticking with a course of planned action even when initial results are not immediately apparent.

Marketing takes time to work. Newspapers or magazines may have their editorial calendars booked solid for months, meaning that your article or news release will have to wait. Your target audience may not feel an immediate need for your services. Patience, persistence and consistency eventually pay off. Lurching from one approach to another on a weekly or monthly basis is a sure prescription for failure.

#4—Get an expert opinion. Credentials matter. Significant amounts of money and irreplaceable blocks of time can be wasted by following unqualified advice. Marketing is a profession, and you have a right to expect your marketing advisor to be properly credentialed. This can include: holding a graduate or undergraduate degree in marketing or a closely related specialty; having an M.B.A. to provide a sophisticated business perspective; and having experience working with physicians, hospitals and medical personnel.

Resist the urge to skimp or to rely on volunteers. Follow up expert advice and strategy with expert execution to write, design and produce materials that convey the professional and credible appearance you desire and deserve.

#5—Results require reimbursement. Good marketing isn’t free. Expert advice, quality writing, solid strategies, and the creation and execution of professional-caliber surveys, advertisements, brochures, web sites and newsletters require thoughtful budgeting and best results come from professionals with valuable experience. The recommended ideal marketing budget is five to six percent of revenues, but it is possible to get started on much less.

Evidence-based marketing works. When you combine solid information with a valid baseline, realistic expectations, expert assistance and a workable budget, your plan for heightened personal, professional or company visibility will produce results.

Gail Z. Martin owns DreamSpinner Communications and helps companies in the U.S. and Canada tell the Real Story of their business through exceptional writing and marketing. Gail has an MBA in marketing and over 20 years of corporate and non-profit experience at senior executive levels. She leads webinars and teleseminars for organizations and professional associations on marketing topics, and she is the author of The Summoner and The Blood King novels in the Chronicles of the Necromancer fantasy adventure series.

Sign up for a FREE email mini course, FREE marketing conference call and a FREE teleseminar on Telling Your Real Story, at http://www.DreamSpinnerCommunications.com. Find out more about Gail’s books at http://www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com. Contact Gail at gail@dreamspinnercommunications.com to start telling the Real Story of your business.

Rush Hour, Time Zones and Marketing.

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