The Dunder Mifflin Paper Company is a fictional regional paper company that's featured in NBC's The Office. On the show, they feature one of their office locations in Scranton, PA. They have HR, customer service, sales, accounting, fulfillment (the warehouse), and management/corporate all represented. But, they never talk about marketing.
So, if Dunder Mifflin hired Violet Clover Consulting to manage their marketing strategy, I'd create something like this.
Dunder Mifflin Marketing Strategy
Objectives
Building brand recognition.
Promote specific products and offers/deals.
Giving the local offices the tools they need to communicate with local customers.
Target audience
Represented with this buyer person (create your own buyer persona with our free template).
Competitors
National retailers (i.e Staples, Amazon, etc.)
Digital alternatives to printed paper (i.e. cloud based documents, Email, etc.)
Marketing tactics
The website will be the "home base" of content. It needs to be easy-to-use, answer common questions, summarize each product, and is optimized for search (SEO). We'd use Google ads to appear in relevant search results and drive new traffic to the website.
We'd work with the team to develop a customer relationship management (CRM) system. This CRM system would house all of the contact information and relationship management notes. It will also trigger key activities (i.e. follow-up calls, etc.) for the local teams to implement. We will also use this CRM system to send regular marketing emails.
Finally, we'll leverage social media to connect with existing customers, promote offers, and expand our reach to a new audience. We'd also train the sales teams on personal branding and how they can use social media networks, like LinkedIn, to prospect for new opportunities.
Implementing the plan
Most businesses will use one or all of the same tactics outlined above, but what will set Dunder Mifflin apart is in how we implement each tactic. We'll have a series of key talking points, but we'll continue to refine and test different ways to present that same information. This will ensure that our messaging continues to be relevant as our audience expands and evolves.
You can start to use this entire, or part of the, plan for your business. None of this is out of the ordinary. But, remember that the variable to success is in how you apply it. You can't set it and forget it. Marketing is an active process.
As a marketing consultant, I can help you build out your infrastructure (i.e. refresh your website, establish your business's social media accounts, build your CRM tool or email list, etc.) and pass it off to you and your team to keep up the creativity. OR, I can help you do both on an ongoing basis.
Either way, it all starts with a conversation. To get started, contact us to schedule an initial meet and greet.
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