I came across an article written by Stephanie Hobbs on Search Engine Land last week that I thought made some very valuable points.  The article addressed why multi platform advertising was so key in local search.  She touches on the different ways that consumers search for a business across multiple media channels illustrating that there is a perfect solution that fits every advertiser; but through a combination of traditional print, on-line and now increasingly mobile channels a campaign can be designed to fit any advertiser’s needs.

I offer the comparison of a marketing plan to a cake recipe.  The first step is to find a recipe you want to use; usually this will be a recipe that someone else has used.  You then can take that recipe and test and tweak it to suit your specific tastes.  Next you will need to gather your ingredients.  To bake a cake you need sugar, flour, eggs etc.  If one of these ingredients is missing, or the wrong amount, I don’t think anyone is going to want to eat that cake.  A marketing plan is no different.  By combining print, interactive, social and mobile you are creating your own recipe that is specific to that company.

This emphasizes the importance of thinking of a marketing plan holistically.  How can the social aspects help the success of organic listings?  How can mobile search supplement paid search campaigns?  They should not be thought of as separate entities but instead the focus should be how they can work together.

In every step of developing a plan the question should be asked “What is best for the company?”  By keeping this in the forefront of thought throughout the process a “Complete Solution” can be developed.  Then once it has been developed all you have to do is follow your recipe to marketing success.

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Read Stephanie’s article on Search Engine Land