WHAT’S A MARKETING SWAT TEAM?
Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise practices, and Six Sigma defect elimination are established hallmarks of well run companies. Often, the desire to improve efficiencies can also result in the desire to define a new kind of relationship with a firm’s chosen marketing partner. Timmons&Company has been at the forefront of this highly flexible and cost-effective method of achieving marketing goals.
While we do have a number of relationships where we are designated as an “agency of record” and strategic partner, our more frequent operating method is often more circumscribed, responsive, and agile, and typically based on completing individual projects – anything from a rebranding initiative, to a website design and launch, to a direct mail or advertising campaign. We are marketing experts, highly trained and experienced specialists who are well-equipped to take on your most challenging marketing problems. As a marketing SWAT team, Timmons&Company comes up to speed quickly, develops smart strategies, and executes those plans with tactical precision in order to deliver measurable results in our clients’ markets.
THE SWAT TEAM PROTOCOL
Mission Definition
Every job we perform begins with an understanding of the mission, its goals, the budgetary parameters, and how it integrates with a client’s larger branding imperatives.
We memorialize the mission and commit to the deliverable(s) in a precisely written proposal prior to moving forward with client approval. From high level Brandstorming exercises that create a unique IsoBrand to highly specialized tactics like trade show messaging and graphics, we articulate the mission precisely in order to ensure that defined success metrics are achieved.
Reconnaissance
Understanding is integral to mission success. We begin each initiative by interviewing designated stakeholders in order to accomplish two essential objectives – uncovering strengths/vulnerabilities and clarifying context. Only when these elements are clearly understood can tactical vehicles be developed to accomplish the mission.
TARGET IDENTIFICATION
Every tactic or strategy has behavior modification as its objective. As marketers we influence buying decisions through the application of creativity. The success of each effort is integrally related to the specificity with which we can identify our targets. When we understand what our targets want and need, we can effectively craft marketing communication vehicles that capture their imagination and their attention.
TERRAIN MAPPING
Understanding the field of battle is critical to operational success. We need to know who we are up against, what their strengths are, how our client’s compare to them, and why buying decisions get made. Our process includes gathering business intelligence from numerous sources to confirm or challenge the perceptions and data elicited from our clients. Contextual accuracy improves planning and execution.
TACTICAL EXECUTION
There is never a single answer to any marketing challenge. Our creative solutions process is built on the idea of options. Every project results in the creation of a range of responsive concepts that are born from facts uncovered by our research as well as an understanding of the available technologies and marketing tools available in today’s integrated world of communications. Clients receive a presentation of tactical options and make the ultimate go decision in every case.
Once tactics are finalized to our clients’ satisfaction we execute the mission. In some cases this involves our complete control of the dissemination process (website build, launch, and host; direct mail fulfillment; email blast campaign scheduling; etc.) or it may simply require us to turn over completed files to designated internal personnel.
DEBRIEF
After the mission launches, we measure the result and refine the tactic and strategy to improve effectiveness going forward. Every action creates reaction and no mission remains static. Competition responds, products evolve, requirements change, and marketing tactics and strategies need to remain fluid, adaptable, and informed by the facts on the ground.
