Resources

What is Six Sigma?           

Six Sigma is a disciplined methodology that uses data and statistical analysis to measure and improve a company’s operational performance. It focuses on identifying and eliminating “defects” in business processes and has produced billions in new profitability for a wide variety of industries.

Why should marketing and sales care about Six Sigma?

Six Sigma professionals and Sales and Marketing professionals have similar objectives in mind – finding the path of least resistance and sticking to what works best. The difference is that Sales and Marketing often rely on intuition and judgment, while Six Sigma relies strictly on scientific analysis of data (facts, figures). Although six sigma was primarily devised for manufacturing , its processed can be applied to any industry for business improvement and growth.

The Six Sigma Methodology:

DefineMeasureAnalyseInproveControl

DEFINE = Understanding

In this phase we understand your business, message, competitors, brand objectives – in essence we aim to create a simple statement to define our role in working in partnership with you. We do this by carrying out;

1. General Overview

  • company History
  • Your company business objectives
  • Reasons why your company intends to participate in social media
  • Objectives of the project

 

2. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders

  • primary audiences for the company, i.e. demographics, psychographics, etc
  • List primary information needs of each audience group

 

3. Needs Assessment

  • Social Media Strategy (product, campaign, service, division or holistic, organisation, regional and/or global mix)
  • Reputation Management/Social Media Monitoring
  • Enterprise Services – internal collaboration and organization readiness
  • Social Media Training
  • Social Media Marketing Services (tactical executions)
  • Social PR (tactical executions)

MEASURE

There is no escaping the fact that to be successful in measurement marketing we will need data. Without data, our performance cannot be measured and improvements cannot be quantified. In this phase we will;

  • Create a benchmark of your current social reach, as well as your competitor’s (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Bookmarking, YouTube, Blogging and other tools)
  • Provide a view of your current state, desired future state, industry competition, and competitive landscape
    Collect data on current social and traditional marketing methods pertinent to the problem statement from the DEFINE phase
  • Create a list of software you currently use, as well as the future IT direction for your organization
    Integrating marketing metrics to business outcomes forces marketing to transform from a transactional function to a strategic contributor.

ANALYSE

Simply to MEASURE a performance will not make it improve. Performance improvement results from deriving insight through the analysis of the data. By analysing the data and understanding what it means, marketing can determine the degree of impact it is having on the organization, and redesign processes that will improve performance.

  • Formulate social media software mix
  • Analyse your current data (Google analytics, pay-per-click campaigns, e-mail campaigns…)
  • Discover how your competitors are using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Bookmarking, YouTube, Blogging, and other tools to spread their message.
  • Highlight quick hit improvements for rapid ROI
  • Create final report with implementation plan.

 

  1. Industry analysis
  2. Market analysis
  3. Internal Environmental Analysis
  • Evaluation of the marketing strategies
  • Target market
  • Product strategies
  • Pricing strategies
  • Distribution strategies
  • Promotional strategies

 

4.  Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis

5. Recommendations

  • Social software recommendations (with 200+ choices, this can be a difficult task)
  • Social loyalty programs
  • Social couponing
  • Identify Tribes and migration patterns
  • Lead generation tactics
  • Lead scoring and lead qualification criteria
  • Voice of the Customer (VOC) surveys for current customers
  • Estimated costs
  • Expected results
  • KPIs

 

IMPROVE

The main purpose of applying our Six Sigma approach to social marketing is to determine how to improve and implement the performance and processes we DEFINED, MEASURED & ANALYSED. In this phase we;

  • Translate your current messaging to fit social communications and generate leads
  • Join the conversation of social networks, bloggers, and twitterers.
  • Turbocharge your social presence by joining relevant communities, and engaging in the conversation
  • Content strategies (Create, Optimise, Promote & Distribute)
  • Keyword strategies
  • Social media strategies
  • Social PR strategy
  • Domain name strategies
  • Viral marketing
  • Online reputation management
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Social Media Marketing

CONTROL

  • Monitor the positive and negative comments about your brand (Sentiment).
  • Create a positive buzz about your offerings
  • Create weekly/monthly reports to benchmarked to past performance/objectives/competitors etc