Which one and when? Prioritizing your marketing communications options

It’s like being a kid in a candy store these days, especially online. There are just so many tools, techniques, means, methods, gadgets, and gizmos – all designed to reach your customer, communicate your message, and deliver results.

As you sift through the books, Web sites, blogs, industry examples, and proposals, how do you choose the marketing communications vehicle that will meet your needs?

Here are five key sets of questions that will help you prioritize your marketing communications options:

1.    What are your communication goals? Who are you trying to reach and what actions do you want them to take?
2.    What is your budget? How much is there to spend overall, and what proportion of that do you want to allot to each initiative?
3.    What are the broader missions, mandates, or strategies that you have to adhere to? How well does this proposed solution fit?
4.    What are your available resources, including people, systems, and vendors? Will you have what you need to roll out this particular strategy?
5.    What are the time lines involved and how will this initiative fit into them? Is there a specific launch date or a scheduled event? Does your client have a preset deadline?

Selecting the appropriate communications media then comes down to deciding which ones will help you reach your goals, given your available budget, mandate, resources, and time.

So relax! You don’t need to know about, understand, or try every marketing communication tool that’s around. Avoid overwhelm by setting clear priorities, and make a deliberate choice.