FunMarketer Lesson of the Week

Craig, why do I need a marketing checklist?

The FunMarketer answer: If seasoned airline pilots trust the discipline involved in using a checklist before they take off, why not apply the same method to our marketing?

Checklists are easy ways for us to keep from reinventing the marketing wheel every time we start a new ad or launch a new campaign. There are two types of checklists:

#1: The Repeater. This is the checklist(s) we develop for repetitive tasks. Let’s say we are launching a new landing page for an AdWords campaign. Your checklist might include the following:

Did we restate our Brand Message?
Is there an Offer?
Is there a Call to Action?

Seems like a pretty simple list, doesn’t it? But something like 80% of the power in your landing page resides in those simple yet overlooked intangibles like an Offer or a strong Call To Action. Even pros need reminded; that’s why it’s important to make the checklist uniquely your own.

For the Repeater Checklist, make sure it is:

a) Quick – there’s no time to debate
b) Yes or No questions – it’s a checklist, after all.
c) Just 4-6 topics. More than that and break it into smaller lists for specific tasks.
d) Remember – If a checklist is going to get used it must be EASY and FAST.

#2. The New Campaign Checklist. Because we are plowing new ground this checklist will be more involved. You’ll need to arrange your tasks into different groups or categories. Since we are generating ideas and brainstorming, we’ll need to move beyond the simple “yes/no” of the Repeater. Here is the place to ask some very brief questions. On the Marketing Hawks “New Launch” checklist I leave some spaces for me to write in answers, plus I’ve included a couple of “fill-in-the-blank” tables.

The New Campaign Checklist tends to evolve with the marketer. Remember, this is a checklist you are making as an aid to your remembering specific marketing questions you need to answer prior to the campaign. Here you need to use a kind of shorthand to jar your brain into action. For my own checklist, I use four main areas: Use Criteria (from Michael Porter) and then Brand, Package and People.

Under each section I have several pre-printed questions drawn from each of the people above, and space to fill in my thoughts. For example under Brand I have questions relating to Brand Essence (Scott Bedbury) and Story (Laurence Vincent).

Under the Package section I have a simple question: “Can we Thin-Slice It?” For those of you familiar with Malcolm Gladwell, that statement makes 100% sense and is obviously vitally important for marketers. But to people unfamiliar with Gladwell that question leads to deli thoughts. Yet the question occupies a vital place in my New Campaign checklist because I often overlook the importance of the “Blink” look that so much of our marketing receives from our audience..

If you want my New Campaign Checklist, just email me at funmarketer@marketinghawks.com and I’ll be glad to send you a copy. Be warned: you’ll have to build and edit and make it your own, otherwise it might not make much sense.

Sum-Up – Learn from the masters, add your own experience, and then combine both into a marketing checklist to devastate the competition.

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Here’s an image that you can use to show appreciation to customers or employees.

Photo: Istock #6039478

Headline: “Thanks to Everybody that Helped Us Make the Grade”

Alternate Headline: “Just In: Our Customer Report Card”

Got any great ideas of your own? Just reply to the blog with your istock number and your headline and subhead (Clean Only, Please).

Oh, if you do use the campaign, make sure you give credit where due.

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

For those of you marketing anything “green”, check out Abraham Maslow and his famous Hierarchy of Needs. (Yes, it is a part of my New Campaign Checklist). I do think there is an enormous value in building the Esteem Needs into your green marketing. And, while you’re at it, check out what Dale Carnegie talks about in his appealing to the nobler motives. In a nutshell – see if you can influence somebody to act on something green-related because it’s the right thing to do.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Price Hike”. Wow, here’s a phrase that’s being used all the time as inflation comes racing back at all of us. In the USA, one generally hears the verb “hike” standing all by itself and used in reference to football or outdoor walking. The word “hike” as in “to lift up” is rarely used anymore, except in the over-used “price hike”.

Here’s the opportunity for you marketers. How about using the price-hike in some of your ads, such as “We refuse to participate in any price-hikes this week”. Or “Inflation? – We do our hiking outdoors, thank-you very much”.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert