Developing a marketing strategy takes time. You need to follow a step-by-step process that identifies your target audience. You need to understand your competitive position, branding, messaging, and mapping out your marketing mix. Before beginning this process, you need to decide if your goals are short-term or long-term.
Short-term goals focus on plans that help boost your exposure within a year or less. But long-term ideas are more of your big-picture goals that explain your overall plan for the next ten years or more. Understanding each type of marketing strategy will help you make the right choice for your next direct mail campaign.
What is Short-Term Marketing?
Short-term marketing is usually a plan for up to a year. This method is typically implemented to encourage promotions, new services, and other events you anticipate within the next month to 12 months. Creating a short-term marketing plan includes developing a strategy, budget, forecast, and recognizing your expected reach. Short-term marketing helps produce a temporary boost to your outreach and traffic.
Most organizations choose short-term marketing when they are offering a price promotion or are offering discounts to certain groups (military, teachers, law enforcement, etc.). Limited-time price reductions will encourage prospective members to act. You likely have individuals within your mail list who intend to enroll in membership but haven’t yet made the connection. Offering special promotions for a limited time may help these individuals sign up when they would have continued waiting and thinking about it before.
Offering group promotions is a great option when your targeted audience is a specific group of people who may be interested or may benefit from your offer. Creating a special offer for these groups may encourage more collective sign-ups, which helps expand your membership among your ideal audience.
Valtim Short-Term Sample Case
In one sample case from 2014, Valtim helped the Army National Guard put together a time-limited marketing campaign. The Army National Guard wanted to run a 60-day recruitment initiative. The organization had less than 3 weeks to assemble a multi-channel marketing campaign. Valtim provided leads to local recruiters. By the end of the campaign, Valtim provided 68,231 telephone conversations, interviewed 25,091 individuals, qualified 12,745 prospects, and introduced 9,559 prospects to a local recruiter. Valtim’s call center also managed over 36,000 phone calls.
What is Long-Term Marketing?
Long-term marketing is a strategy that has more general objectives for the next ten years. Every organization needs to have a long-term marketing plan. Your brand needs to remain fresh and relevant in the eyes of your members. Long-term marketing is beneficial to improve your existing messages, and to figure out what works and what doesn’t work to optimize your leads and conversions.
Long-Term Goal Examples
Creating name recognition is a significant goal for most organizations. Getting your name recognized in your local market is a robust long-term goal. Establishing strong name recognition helps you gain more members and grow your mission. You can get involved in local events and create a buzz about your organization in your community. Other long-term goals ideas include focusing on your reputation and appearing high in search rankings online.
The Difference Between Short and Long-Term Goals
Short-term marketing focuses on the now, whereas long-term marketing looks over your organization’s big-picture plans. After you identify your marketing goals and ideal target audience, you can decide which marketing strategies to choose.
If you are offering membership promotions or deals, you will want to choose a short-term strategy. You can grow your leads with a shorter strategy time frame. But long-term marketing is much better to promote loyalty within your established network. Keep your visions in mind when designating resources to any marketing goals.
You need to find a balance between short-term and long-term goals. Otherwise, your marketing budget will sway in one direction instead of focusing on both angles. Short-term goals will keep your membership levels consistent while long-term ideas maintain member involvement and activity.
Short-Term and Long-Term Marketing with Valtim
Finely tuning your marketing strategy is a balancing act. The key is to build a marketing plan that values and achieves short-term and long-term marketing strategies simultaneously. Establishing a balanced marketing plan ensures your organization is better poised to prosper for years to come.
As mentioned above, Valtim is highly skilled at providing short-term marketing strategies while in a time crunch. No matter what your goal is, Valtim is capable of establishing a focused campaign through direct mail or multi-channel efforts. Valtim can help you determine which strategy will be the most effective while guiding you through the marketing process.
