Optimal marketing mix, a recipe for success
As a veteran in the industry of decision sciences, I can’t recall how many times I’ve encounter questions on creating the most optimal marketing mix. What’s the right balance of traditional versus online? How do you know when to scale up or scale down particular channels and tactics within your entire mix? And ultimately, what tactics are actually working better and why?
Based on evidence based knowledge, deep data capabilities, battle-tested approaches, I’d like to offer a simplified POV on how to create your most optimal online media mix. To sum it up in one sentence, it all starts with standardized benchmarks based on a fully integrated measurement plan, with easy to understand insights to make smarter decisions on what the most effective marketing strategies will be, based on your available budget.
1. Standardized Benchmarks (within Category Competitors):
The best starting point is an honest assessment of how you’re doing relative to competitors in the same category based on standardized benchmarks. It’s about knowing what good looks like and having a clear vision of where you need to be. This includes knowing the basic traffic volumes of their websites, what they’re spending online in display advertising, the relative competitiveness of search engine marketing for your category, activity in social media, conversion rates, etc. All this data is used to define the core parameters you have to work from and it’s all highly tailored within your category.
2. An Integrated Measurement Plan:
This is really where you need to set targets of where you want to be and the road map of how you’re going to get there. And it isn’t a one and done exercise – it’s more of a ongoing planning tool to make real-time decisions and adjustments based on the reality of your budget, changes in the external landscape and closed looped with business results. It’s where finance meets marketing meets analytics meets technology. Having an integrated measurement plan can be one of the real competitive advantages that takes you from good results to great results.
3. Tracking and Optimization:
Where science combines with art and in-market testing rules. The insights gained by taking a test and learn approach can be groundbreaking. I’ve seen fundamental shifts in marketing mix decisions based on small pilots, integrated channel tests and everything in-between from segment, offer, creative, timing and multivariate combinations that change how marketers go-to-market.
What’s really important to remember is that it’s all the factors, in combination, that creates the right algorithm for your business. Your budget, your competitors, your strategic objectives and your customer needs. All these dimensions will create variations in your algorithm and define what’s the optimal marketing mix for your business.
But for those who want the coles notes version for online media mix decisions, try the following 5 basic steps:
Online Media Mix Simplified (5 basic steps)
- Create your baseline SEO (organic search engine optimization)
- Meta data and image tags based on strategically defined targeted keywords
- Determine the ceiling of cost effective SEM (paid-for-performance search: how much can you effectively and efficiently spend based on the inventory available)
- Optimize click-through rates (CTRs) and conversion rates (on website)
- Max out on this cost effective channel
- Negotiate the best rates with effective Display Advertising media publishers, leveraging new advanced target technologies
- Evaluate Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM) against achieved CTRs
- Max out on your best performing media properties
- Extend baseline SEO with cross-linking and content distribution opportunities
- Track and measure, optimize with minor adjustments based on common metrics
- leverage landing pages where relevant to improve your conversion funnels
- optimize results to your key performance indicators
At Klick, we’re happy to help you identify areas of opportunity to optimize your already successful tactics, as well as uncover new areas to get more for less.
