Summary
This podcast episode discusses the importance of building a marketing roadmap to achieve business goals. The guests, Tammy Coleman and the host, explore the challenges of having goals but lacking a clear path due to marketing deficiencies. They emphasize the need for research and data to uncover opportunities, gaps, and roadblocks, and to create a roadmap that aligns with the brand, customer needs, and business processes. The roadmap serves as a guide, providing benchmarks and enabling adaptability. Key points include understanding the audience, maintaining brand authenticity, leveraging emerging trends like AI and influencer marketing, and involving a third-party for unbiased research. The discussion covers various aspects of developing an effective marketing strategy tailored to the business’s unique goals and customer base.
Chapters
00:00:04 Introduction and Overview
The host introduces Tammy Coleman, a business partner and marketing expert, as the guest for the episode. They set the context for the discussion, which revolves around unlocking growth and building a marketing roadmap to achieve business goals. The episode aims to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with having company goals but lacking a clear path due to marketing deficiencies.
00:01:28 Defining ‘Unlocking Growth’
Tammy explains her understanding of ‘unlocking growth’ as uncovering information, data, and insights about opportunities, gaps, and roadblocks. She emphasizes the importance of looking beyond external customer data and considering internal processes, communication, and touchpoints that impact growth.
00:03:24 The Importance of a Roadmap
Tammy uses an analogy to illustrate the significance of a roadmap. It provides benchmarks and milestones, allowing businesses to track progress and see movement towards their goals. A roadmap is crucial for achieving any type of goal, whether financial, audience-related, or efficiency-based.
00:06:14 Distinguishing Strategy and Roadmap
The discussion delves into the distinction between a strategy and a roadmap. Tammy explains that a strategy is derived from understanding the brand and the customer, while a roadmap bridges the gap between the brand and the customer’s journey, identifying touchpoints and opportunities for improvement.
00:11:28 Consequences of Lacking a Roadmap
Tammy shares examples of businesses that lack a roadmap, leading to issues such as lack of accountability, reactive marketing based on trends, and siloed efforts without connectivity or analytics. She emphasizes the importance of having a plan and understanding the ‘why’ behind marketing efforts.
00:13:43 The Role of the Audience
The discussion highlights the crucial role of the audience in building a marketing roadmap. Tammy stresses that the audience plays a 50% role, as understanding their motivations, behaviors, and needs is essential for creating a roadmap that resonates with them and aligns with the brand’s values.
00:30:59 Generational Shifts and Roadmap Adaptation
The guests discuss the importance of adapting the roadmap during generational shifts in business ownership or leadership. Each generation may have different goals, perspectives, and ways of interacting with the world, necessitating a reevaluation of the roadmap to align with the new vision and customer expectations.
00:36:50 Addressing Employee Concerns
Tammy emphasizes the importance of involving employees in the roadmap process. Internal interviews and research can help understand the brand’s culture, values, and processes, ensuring that employees represent the brand effectively and addressing any concerns about potential changes in the company’s culture or operations.
00:40:37 Selecting Marketing Channels
When selecting marketing channels, Tammy advises considering alignment with business goals, audience engagement, bandwidth, budget, and the ability to execute consistently. She cautions against blindly following trends or relying solely on a marketing company’s recommendations without understanding the ‘why’ behind their choices.
00:49:47 Adaptability and Agility with a Roadmap
The roadmap enables adaptability and agility in marketing efforts. By uncovering all possible opportunities and touch points, businesses can prioritize and adjust their investments based on revenue fluctuations, scaling up or down as needed. The roadmap eliminates guesswork and the ‘set it and forget it’ mentality, allowing for continuous evaluation and optimization.
00:59:24 Future Trends and Considerations
Tammy discusses emerging trends shaping marketing, including AI, augmented reality, influencer marketing, and the shift towards authentic brand-customer relationships. She emphasizes the importance of maintaining the human element and focusing on positive community impact while leveraging these trends.
01:02:52 Recommendations for Starting a Roadmap
For businesses considering building a marketing roadmap, Tammy recommends hiring a third-party research company to conduct unbiased customer and employee research. She stresses the importance of clear goals, understanding the research company’s expertise, ensuring anonymity for participants, and involving the team in the process to foster understanding and buy-in.
Action Items
00:02:09 Conduct thorough research to understand your audience, including their motivations, behaviors, and needs, as well as internal processes and touchpoints that impact growth
00:04:23 Develop a comprehensive marketing roadmap that aligns with your brand values, customer journey, and business goals, serving as a guide for achieving growth
00:17:52Regularly review and update the roadmap, at least every two years, to adapt to changing market conditions, customer preferences, and generational shifts within the business
00:38:29 Involve employees in the roadmap process through internal interviews and research to understand the company’s culture, values, and processes, ensuring effective brand representation
00:41:14 Evaluate marketing channels based on their alignment with business goals, audience engagement, bandwidth, budget, and ability to execute consistently rather than blindly following trends
01:00:54 Leverage emerging trends such as AI, augmented reality, and influencer marketing while maintaining authenticity and a human element in brand-customer relationships
01:02:52 Consider hiring a third-party research company to conduct unbiased customer and employee research, ensuring clear goals, anonymity for participants, and team involvement for buy-in.
