Create a Colorful Marketing Plan:

Mix & Match Marketing Part 2

Yesterday I started a new blog post series on mix and match marketing plans for creative entrepreneurs based on creating a color wheel version of your marketing plan. I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge and creating series like this one keeps me motivated and organized in my blogging. Plus, I have been dreaming about this concept of “color wheel marketing” for a while now.

I am a visual learner myself and in my 15 years as an entrepreneur I have learned a lot about marketing. I owned a publishing company for 11 years. I sold advertising and hosted big expos that were always profitable. What I discovered is that marketing is about testing, trying something new and more testing to find the perfect mix of “colors” or tactics, to promote and grow your business.

It’s kind of like hanging out at Home Depot in the paint aisle trying to pick a shade of green, all of those choices can be completely overwhelming, plus, when you get them home and put them on the wall – they change! Try, test, try!

There is no mythical perfect marketing mix for any business. I have discovered that everything works a little bit and over the next few posts I will be sharing some of my favorite tactics, what I will call the tertiary colors of mix and match marketing.

Yesterday I shared what the primary colors of a solid marketing plan are: yellow (you), red (your ideal client) and blue is the intersection between you and your clients. Make sure to get all the juicy details about creating your primary colors here.

Secondary colors of your marketing plan

Today I want to talk about the secondary colors. Secondary colors are created when you combine the primary colors. Do you remember the formulas from grade school?

Red + Yellow = Orange

Yellow + Blue = Green

Red + Blue = Purple

 What do secondary colors have to do with our marketing plan?

Secondary colors represent our first interactions with our ideal clients, so they have to be a combination of our primary touchpoints as discussed yesterday:

• What is your unique genius?
• Who is your ideal client?
• What problems do you solve for that client?

 

Our first interactions with prospects or potential clients can happen in one of the three following ways:

1. Someone gives you a referral – I call this one orange, because orange is a warm color. Referrals rock! They are a direct connection between you and the prospect (remember red/you + yellow/your ideal client.) Getting more referrals should be an active part of your marketing plan. If it’s not, start asking your current clients for referrals now!

2. Someone finds you online (your website, social media, guest blog post, podcast, interview, etc.) I call this one green. Green is all about growth, there are many shades of green appearing in nature plus green is also the color of money, at least in the United States.

Online tactics represent a combination of yellow/your unique genius + blue/the problems you solve for them. Your online strategy should be about showing what problems you solve for people and the results you get. Online marketing strategies are about creating content that makes you attractive and calls to your clients – just like colors in nature serve as calling cards.

Take a look at your online presence – what does it say about you? Does it scream, “Me, me, me?” or does it say, “I am here to help!” When thinking about online marketing, remember to think green.

3. You meet someone in person (networking, speaking, at the coffee shop, etc.) Let’s talk about the color purple. I love this description from Bourn Creative: “Purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red. The color purple is often associated with royalty, nobility, luxury, power, and ambition. Purple also represents meanings of wealth, extravagance, creativity, wisdom, dignity, grandeur, devotion, peace, pride, mystery, independence, and magic.”

Red represents your client, you want to meet them when they are on fire: ready, willing and committed to invest in whatever you are offering. Blue is the problems you solve – blue invokes calmness, peace, solutions, ahhhh. Together these become the inspiration for your purple strategies – getting out and connecting with people!

Your in-person connections also need to focus on how you can help people, not on what you do but how do you serve!

Start creating your marketing color wheel now.

Remember that marketing is about picking a few strategies at a time to try and not feeling overwhelmed by the many choices mentioned above.

Define for yourself: what is your strategy for orange?

Ask yourself: what green/online strategies are the most valuable to me or the most fun for me. For example, you must have a great website but add one more social media strategy to the mix – blogging? Facebook? Pinterest? Also remember to consider where you ideal clients are spending time online!

Finally, think like royalty! Where can you show up in person as the leader and expert in front of your perfect prospect?

Below is a sample color wheel of the primary and secondary colors, print it out and start journaling some notes on it, or better yet create your own! Make your marketing plan visual and enticing!

We will continue to add to our plan with the tertiary colors tomorrow and I will show you how to take the colors and ideas on your wheel and turn them into a powerful action list for growing your business.

Are you having fun yet? I hope this takes away some of the fear of marketing. And whether you consider yourself a linear person or a visual person, thinking of your marketing in this way allows you to see how marketing truly is about combining elements and colors.

© 2014 Dr. Minette Riordan. All rights reserved.