- Assess and build upon your history and existing corporate heritage
- Fill in critical knowledge gaps
- Leverage actionable marketplace intelligence
- Articulate a sound positioning strategy and branding platform
- Translate strategy into plans
- Provide interim management solutions and assistance with permanent staffing to oversee plan implementation
- Draw upon our experience and networks to find the best specialty agencies for your needs.
In combination, the following modules describe a typical full service engagement from start to finish:
Marketing Program Audit
The Marketing Program Audit helps you understand how effective your marketing program has been. It answers the following questions: learn more- How do you spend your sales & marketing budgets today? (We ask our clients to do some homework here!)
- What's working and what's not? (Some clients already know – more often this involves detailed analytical work at BottomLine, using sales data provided by client.)
- Does your marketing drive profitability? Our assessment does not end at the revenue line, so the more clients share with us about their business dynamics, the better we can help.
- Gap analysis - What's missing? What would empower you to make better decisions in the future?
Marketplace Opportunity Assessment
The Marketplace Opportunity Assessment delivers a better understanding of market size and high opportunity segments in order to focus on those activities with the highest potential return: learn more- Market sizing, dynamics, key stakeholders and influencers, driving forces, needs gaps.
- Competitive business assessment
- Regularly includes depth interviews with key internal stakeholders; may include external stakeholders, as well.
- May include both primary and secondary research to help close critical knowledge gaps.
Brand Positioning Development
Brand Positioning is at the heart of marketing. A well developed, well articulated brand positioning drives the most effective and efficient marketing plans and activities while simultaneously setting aside low-ROI distractions. Brand positioning development is a core BottomLine Marketing area of expertise. This includes: learn more- Segmentation & Targeting
- Competitive Positioning Assessment
- Brand values
- Key Features and Benefits (Points-of-Parity/Points-of-Difference)
- Value Proposition
- Brand Personality
- We employ depth interviews, informal or formal groups and simple online survey tools at critical decision points, as appropriate.
- The output is formalized as a brand positioning strategy and brand creative brief.
Branding/Branding Check-up
Assemble & lead teams to translate Positioning into sustainable Branding. In some cases this is a "blank slate" project, while in others it involves re-validating and re-positioning existing brands. learn more- Enlisting the participation of key stakeholders – not just Sales & Marketing – is fundamental to our process, both to keep it grounded in reality and to develop consensus for organizational acceptance and implementation.
- Often we will lead the brand check up at a brand/marketing planning session. We can help you develop a comprehensive annual brand planning/check-up program that can be incorporated in your company's planning process.
Marketing Strategy & Planning
Developing marketing, sales and business development strategy and plans is another core strength at BottomLine Marketing. We will work collaboratively with you to develop an in-depth marketing strategy and actionable marketing plan that cover the right time horizon for your organization to execute against. learn more- Develop a well-defined marketing strategy based on business objectives and align those objectives with key corporate and marketing performance metrics.
- Act as your CMO or work with your marketing team to develop detailed marketing plans that support corporate-level strategies and deliver on plan requirements.
- Work within your annual planning, financial planning and/or operations planning structures to develop prioritized marketing plans and budgets that "connect"¯ with overall corporate business plans.
Marketing Tactics, Execution & Staffing
We are action oriented and will work with you to help execute the plans we develop together. We will help transfer knowledge to your team or help you identify the right players for your team. We will: learn more- Develop a prioritized marketing calendar
- On a short term basis (6-12 mos.) assemble and oversee a team to act as your marketing department in executing against that marketing calendar.
- Help to identify outstanding candidates to staff the marketing function on a permanent basis.
Agency Selection
Decisions to initiate ongoing agency relationships – advertising, public relations, creative development, online (both website and search), event/sports marketing, and so on – are serious commitments whose impact will be felt over the long term. learn more- We can start such relationships off right by leading a process that clearly articulates your needs, work style and the type of agencies that will be a "best fit" for your business.
- We then source and screen candidates, guiding you through a selection process that is fully transparent to make final decisions.
- Depending on your needs we can execute a complete and thorough agency search or an express search. Our thorough search usually takes 50% less time than the industry-average agency search. Our express search process will help you select the right agency in 30 days or less.
