So you have a business but aren’t sure as to how to go about successfully employing an overall marketing strategy. Don’t fret! The basics of any good marketing campaign are akin to preparing your holiday bird. Find out more below!

1. Market Research: Your Turkey Investigation
No Thanksgiving meal is complete without the much—anticipated turkey. In like fashion, a marketing campaign is without its very essence when devoid of market research. Collecting and organizing data is a crucial first step. You wouldn’t start shopping without first having brainstormed if a traditional turkey is this year’s route or perhaps a turducken is the trendy way to go in 2014. Similarly, any good strategy calls for prior research before making a fowl purchase.

2. Target Market is Your Family’s Tastes
You wouldn’t prepare your turkey with breadcrumbs if there are some severe gluten allergies amongst your Thanksgiving clan. Nor should you try and market to an audience that is not at all interested in your product or service. Consider your potential customers as your family: they’ll have no reservations about telling you that your meal was terrible. With this in mind, target their tastes!

3. Your Turkey is Your Product—Sell It!
If you’ve been tasked with preparing this year’s bird, you had better make sure that you get onboard with making it a hit. Perhaps last year you were demoted to canned yams, so now is the time to really shine and show your mother-in-law that you’ve got the talk of the dining table. In the same way, your company’s product is the lifeblood of its campaign. If you are not convinced that your prepared poultry is the greatest thing since sliced bread, your family won’t be convinced either.

4. Consider the Kitchen’s Competition
If Aunt Ruth’s brown sugar glazed ham is on the menu this year and always is a best-seller, take that into consideration when preparing your own sensational piece. Do you need to ensure that the presentation is nothing short of exquisite? Should the turkey’s entrance be accompanied by epic background music? Whatever you decide, be sure that your marketing campaign, like your turkey, develops unique selling points that set it apart from the competition.

5. Define Your Meal’s Mission Statement
Consider your ultimate goal: is it to feed the masses, outshine your sister-in-law, or wow the crowd? Likewise you need to be clear to your clients—and potential clients—about what your company’s mission statement is and how ultimately your product or service will be a contribution to the “meal.”

6. Monitor the Mmmms!
Pay attention to the amount of smiling faces versus those of disappointment. Use these “reviews” to help better identify areas of future improvement for your turkey preparation as well as identifying what went right. In the same way, analyze the results of your marketing campaign. Survey your customers, track sales, and evaluate your campaign’s results to help better redefine future objectives. In this way, your marketing campaign, and your Thanksgiving feast, will be nothing short of fabulous!