marketing playbook A GUIDE FOR: APi GROUP LIFE SAFETY COMPANIES WHO NEED SOME (OR A LOT OF) HELP IN THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT
WHY MARKETING
SUCCESS IS NOT BY ACCIDENT
TOP 10 REASONS APi GROUP COMPANIES NEED MARKETING
In football, when you decide to run a certain play, there’s a reason for it. The outcome you plan for when you run a play is ultimately to move the ball forward. You want everyone to know their assignment and to execute it correctly, the receiver to make the catch, and your blockers to do their job. Now imagine running the play without a plan. You don’t tell the team what to do, you don’t practice, and you don’t communicate what the goal is. Instead, you just quickly yell the name of the play, maybe a sentence or two about how it should look, and then hope somehow the players accomplish what you were looking for. Not only that, you did not do any research on the opposing team. It’s likely you will end up with a bunch of players running around looking very confused and wishing they had come up with a plan, communicated that plan, and practiced. Would you really rely on this method to execute a football play? Would you run a play without having explained the concept to the team, communicated the goal, and without practicing it? Would you just wing it when the team and fans are depending on you? Of course, you wouldn’t. So then, why would you run a business this way? Yet, that is exactly what many business leaders do every day. They have a vision for their business: offering the very best service, standing out from the competition, and serving lots of happy, satisfied customers. But instead of mapping out a plan for achieving all of this, they go to work every day, work IN their business, deliver the best they can handle, buy whatever advertising is on sale, attend events because they think they should – all the while hoping to attract the right kind of customers who appreciate their work and are willing to pay a decent price for their service. They have no idea what the competition is offering and if they are successful.
1. To make more sales
2. To increase awareness
3. To understand competition
4. To build trust
5. To build a social asset
6. To learn the marketplace
7. To discover what works
8. To develop a client profile
9. To optimize your efforts
10. To build a powerful brand
Just like in the football scenario, you can’t build a successful business without a plan. You need to outline a strategy. • Who would make the best customers? • Where should you look for those customers? • What will you offer?
• How will you promote it? • How will you deliver it?
Making plays without preparation might get you some results here and there, but are they the results you want? You need to be intentional about planning and executing your marketing strategy to produce results that are consistent, predictable, and quantifiable.
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where to start
EXECUTE THE STRATEGY
OBJECTIVES
When you create a marketing plan for your business, start by defining some objectives. For example, increase the company’s revenue by 20%, or land 50 new leads by a certain date. Defining objectives helps keep projects on track, and gives your team something to refer to when vetting a new marketing opportunity.
The strategies listed below will help generate marketing ideas for your organization. Anything you choose to take on should be in support of one or more of your marketing objectives; trying to tackle these without a plan is sure to result in wasted time and money. Click on the link next to each item to learn more and see examples. • Traditional Advertising - Learn More • Company Literature - Learn More • Tradeshows & Industry Events - Learn More • Social Media - Learn More • Digital Advertising - Learn More • Content Creation Strategy - Learn More • Lead generation & tracking strategy - Learn More • Promotion - Learn More • Associations, Groups, or Certifications - Learn More • Awards - Learn More
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Once you have clearly outlined your objectives, it’s time to work on completing a situation analysis. A situation analysis is the background work that needs to be completed in order to analyze your organization’s capabilities, customers, and internal/external business environment. Having this completed will help determine which marketing strategies will be most successful for your organization. Your organization’s situation analysis may include a number of elements. Our recommendations are: • Analysis of the market in your area • Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis) • Analysis of Competitors
• Create/Define your Value Proposition • Identify your Target Audience/Market
MARKETING PLAN
A marketing plan is a comprehensive document that outlines business marketing efforts for the year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame.
DEFINE THE STRATEGY
• Marketing objectives • Your tagline or mission statement • Brand guidelines • Types of marketing you will use (digital, content,
account-based, etc.) • Budget breakdown
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teamwork
COLLABORATION WITH MARKETING PROFESSIONALS AT API GROUP
COLLABORATION TOOLS
Whether your organization is just getting started with marketing, or you have your own department, it is a great idea to get acquainted with other marketing professionals within the APi Group family. Here are a few tips that can help get you started: • Join the Marketing & Creative Professionals community on SharePoint. This is where APi marketing professionals collaborate by sharing documents and starting discussions. Once you’re in the community, on the right-hand side there is a link that says, “Create Discussion Alert.” Click on the link and set your preferences so that you will receive email notifications whenever there’s a new discussion or someone contributes to a discussion. • Put in a support ticket to be added to the Creative Professionals email group: creatives@apigroupinc.us. If someone in the community has a question or something to share where email is more applicable, this is the group they will use to reach out and collaborate with the marketing community. • Attend the APi Group Marketing Summit. This is held in the Spring every year and is usually hosted by APi Group. The goal of the Marketing Summit is to learn and collaborate with other APi marketing professionals, share ideas and resources, and take some tangible items back to our companies and implement into our marketing plans. Why settle for a field goal when you could get a touchdown? APi National Service Group (APi NSG) offers an integrated marketing communication solution to APi life safety companies to bring your business to the next level. We can help your organization develop all of the elements mentioned on page 3 of this document including strategic objectives, a situation analysis, and strategy definition and execution. Our solution will be customized to fit your organization while strategically aligning with APi Group’s standards. Ready to win in your market? Let’s have a conversation! We are ready to help give your business an edge over your competitors while achieving your sales objectives and building awareness for your brand. Contact the APi NSG marketing team today! Sara Brisky and Taylor Skorik marketing@api-nsg.us 888.274.8595 References: Jerry Allen President/CEO Delta Fire Systems, Inc. jerry.allen@deltafiresystems.us Direct: 801.828.2029 Aaron Dickens Vice President Delta Fire Systems, Inc. aaron.dickens@deltafiresystems.us Direct: 801.828.2071 HIRE API NATIONAL SERVICE GROUP (API NSG) TO TAKE ON YOUR MARKETING
We want you to be successful. That’s why we’ve put together a list of some tools that make marketing much easier. APi NSG uses all of the tools on this list and would be happy to provide an overview and demonstration of the tool, and in some cases, provide login information to your team so you can take advantage of our paid accounts. After all, we are one big family. Click to view: COLLABORATION TOOLS Contact us if you would like more information about any of these tools.
marketing@api-nsg.us
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