Have you heard about the Swiss Cheese model of pandemic defense? This model basically says that no one method of preventing the spread of Covid-19 is 100 percent effective. However, if you layer surgical mask and cloth mask and six feet of distance and good ventilation, you can get to 99.9 percent effectiveness.
Now, what does this have to do with marketing???? Stick with me and I’ll explain!
Swiss Cheese Model of Marketing
Each slice of Swiss cheese in my metaphor is reaching a group of potential customers. The whole in each slice represents the group of potential customers that is missed by that marketing effort. For example, if you just advertise on network television, you are missing cord cutters that only watch TV via streaming services like Netflix.
To maximize the number of potential customers that hear your service’s or product’s pitch you’re going to want to maximize the layers of Swiss cheese. That means piling network TV ads on top of radio on top of social media on top of signage on your building. The more layers of Swiss cheese you have, the smaller and smaller the holes get, meaning you are reaching as many of your potential customers as possible. Instead of blocking the novel coronavirus in this metaphor, we are maximizing marketing reach.
Not every business is going to require all the possible layers of Swiss cheese. Some will require much more variety than others. B2B Swiss cheese will look very different than consumer Swiss cheese.
Here’s a graphic to help you visualize what I’m talking about:
If you want help selecting what layers of Swiss cheese are right for your business, Hall Davis Marketing Strategies can help! Contact us today.