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There are several new marketing trends for 2010 that will have an impact on practically every marketing organization because of new trends in customer behavior, such as:

• Shift in consumer mentality from recession to recovery
• Changes in how customers make purchase decisions
• New technologies for communicating with customers

Let's take a look at the major marketing trends for 2010 that will affect both business-to-business (B2B) and consumer (B2C) companies so we can update our marketing strategies for 2010.

Spotting marketing trends

When something becomes a "hot trend" it does so for two reasons. First, it's a product or activity that has been proven and refined. And, second, it's growing in adoption. The hot marketing trends for 2010 are all visible as we enter the year, and these trends are growing to the point where we need to adjust our marketing communications and sales strategies to take advantage of them.

Big marketing trends for 2010

Some of the hot marketing trends are rather obvious, such as the growing use of social media. But it's important to identify the "big marketing trends" for 2010 that can help define effective marketing strategies for 2010.

Big Marketing Trend #1: Personal — Communicate with individuals to carry on conversations about meeting their needs and solving their problems.

Big Marketing Trend #2: Local — Participate in personal, face-to-face meetings, events, and activities near where your product will be used because fewer customers will be flying to national events and conferences.

Big Marketing Trend #3: Mobile — Reach customers anywhere at any time with the 24/7 connectivity of mobile devices.

These three big marketing trends for 2010 overlap and reinforce each other to provide marketing opportunities to connect with your customers and increase revenue.

Marketing trend opportunities for 2010

Here are four ways you can combine these big marketing trends to create actionable marketing strategies that your competitors may not have thought of yet:

Marketing Trend Opportunity #1: Personal + Mobile — Provide personalized product, service, and solution information when and where customers are thinking about their problems and needs

Marketing Trend Opportunity #2: Personal + Local — Tailor marketing messages based on each person's purchase process, starting with their information gathering and continuing through their searching, purchasing, and reordering.

Marketing Trend Opportunity #3: Mobile + Local — Deliver product and solution information to customers at the location where the purchase decisions are being made using mobile devices and local Internet searches.

Marketing Trend Opportunity #4: Personal + Local + Mobile — Use one-to-one marketing to treat different customers differently — anywhere, anytime, and using any medium they want, whether it's text, telephone, Web, mobile app, or video.

Raising awareness of your product in your target market is where sales begin, and this is where marketing communications activities begin the selling process.

With today's multiple channels for content to reach potential customers, the art and science of marketing communications has become increasingly important.

The marketing communications function (commonly called "marcom") has many communications tools available. Some companies in an industry might rely on paid advertising in print and online media. While other companies in the same industry might rely on a very different media mix, such as public relations and events.

However, no company can be sure they are using the most efficient media mix without creating a marcom strategy that is aligned with their overall strategic marketing direction.

Turning the strategic direction into marketing messages

The marketing communications strategy process usually begins with creating a "messaging strategy" -- determining the consistent theme or fundamental selling message that will he used in all marketing materials.

Another key part of the messaging process is creating the positioning statement. This two sentence statement tells what you sell, to whom, and why customers should buy it.

As you move through the process of creating a positioning statement, you'll want to capture your brainstorming results, such as in your marketing strategy mind map. Then, refine and test those creative approaches until you settle on your company's positioning statement.

Your positioning statement is critical to making all of the other parts of the marketing communications strategy work well. This is because every awareness-building and product information program needs to paint a clear, concise picture of what you sell and how customers will benefit from using your products.

Selecting effective marketing programs

Once you have settled on a strong positioning statement, you can develop sound strategies for your marcom programs. For most companies this means considering programs such as:

• Public relations
• Advertising
• Web site
• Seminars
• Conferences and trade shows
• Downloadable materials
• Direct marketing (offline & online)
• Packaging
• Event sponsorships
• Merchandising promotions

A mind map is a good way to capture ideas about which programs look like they will be most effective. Add these programs to the Marketing Communications section of your strategic marketing mind map. Later, evaluate each program to see if it should be in your final strategic marketing plan.

In large companies where each marketing program has its own manager, you can link your main strategic marketing mind map to each program's own planning mind map.

In companies where the whole marcom strategy is implemented by one team, you can add details about marcom programs in the team's main marketing mind map.

Benefits of a sound marcom strategy

The process of creating a marcom strategy has gotten more complex as more marketing activities move to the Internet. This has made it even more important to understand customer segments and how to communicate with those potential customers.

When you develop a marcom strategy based on a sound strategic marketing view of your market your marcom program will be more effective -- and customers will have a better, more consistent brand experience.

Next:

• Evaluating Potential Marketing Programs


• Developing a Sales Strategy


• Developing a Distribution Strategy


• Developing a Customer Service Strategy

Every good strategic marketing plan includes two elements: strategic direction and plans for moving the company in the new direction.

After you have developed your strategic marketing direction, it's time to develop strategies for each of your major marketing functions.

Unfortunately, many companies can't seem to convert their marketing strategy into the marketing plans that guide their day-to-day marketing programs. You've probably seen companies where the advertising didn't match the actual customer experience at the point of sale. This occurs when the manager of each marketing function does their own thing instead of aligning with the company's strategic marketing direction.

Either the company didn't have a strategic marketing plan, or senior management didn't use the plan to guide their marketing program managers. Whatever the cause, the "silo" effect occurs, keeping the marketing managers from working together harmoniously, like a concert orchestra.

Eliminating the "silo" effect

Instead of keeping the marketing strategy safely hidden away, I like to integrate the strategic marketing direction into the marketing communications strategy, sales strategy, and other marketing functions.

This unified approach to developing a company's strategic marketing plan makes it easy for the managers to align their marketing activities with all the other marketing programs.

In other words, this alignment helps ensure that the strategic marketing plan is actually used to guide the day-to-day marketing programs, such as advertising, public relations, social media, and sales.

As we move through this process of creating a strategic marketing plan, two business realities should become clear:

1. Everyone within the company who comes in contact with customers is part of the marketing function, even if they don't report up to the company's chief marketing officer.


2. Every marketing program needs to present a clear, consistent message that's in harmony with all the other marketing programs.

Part of this "best practices" approach to achieving harmony is to develop an internal communications process that ensures that everyone knows their role in communicating with potential customers.

How to use a marketing strategy mind map

I find it helpful to use a marketing strategy mind map to capture ideas, plans, and relationships so I can present them in review meetings. The marketing strategy mind map can also be used in briefings and brainstorming with your advertising agency, public relations firm, call center, distribution center, and other vendors that affect your customers' experience.

During planning meetings, such as for marketing communications, I encourage brainstorming of all the techniques that the team feels could support the overall strategy, which we add to the mind map.

For example, some companies consider the lead nurturing program to be part of marketing communications until the lead is contacted by a salesperson. However, other companies feel all communication with leads should be handled by the sales department.

Another benefit of using mind map software is that during a review meeting you can focus attention on high level strategies. Then, click an area to "unfold" the diagram to reveal program details and show relationships.

Sharing the mind map within the marketing organization keeps everyone up to date on the company's marketing strategy and implementation plans. Exactly how you distribute mind maps will depend on how your marketing organization is connected. Centralized marketing teams are on the same local area network and file server, while others are distributed across multiple locations and collaborate using the Internet.

After your marketing strategy mind map is made available, expect that program managers will want to develop their own mind map to manage their operation. Most mind mapping software allows you to link to Web pages or local documents (such as other mind maps). This makes it easy to link from the main marketing strategy mind map to each program's own mind map to see their detailed plans, projects, and tasks.

Some mind mapping software products have extensive budgeting and project management features, while others have little or no project management capabilities. Be sure to select a mind mapping product that you can grow into over the next few years.

Completing the strategic marketing plan

This unified approach to marketing strategy and program plans can help your marketing team avoid the "silo" problem that affects so many marketing organizations.

When your marketing program managers understand how all marketing programs are implementing the strategic direction, they can align their marketing activities to create a consistent customer experience. And at the best possible cost.

Next:

• Developing a Marketing Communications Strategy


• Developing a Sales Strategy


• Developing a Distribution Strategy


• Developing a Customer Service Strategy