A well-defined marketing strategy has dual objectives. The first is to keep your current audience interested and loyal, and the second is to increase your percentage of a subset of that population. Your marketing strategy should detail the steps you and your team will take to accomplish these objectives, including the kinds of outreach you will conduct, the platforms you will use, the resources you will need, and the numbers you can reasonably expect to see. An integrated marketing strategy helps your company stick to its long-term objectives because marketing is data-driven and takes time to perfect.
The four P’s of marketing (product, price, location, and promotion) will always be referenced. The following suggestions are starting principles that will ingrain the habit of constantly returning to these four Ps.
- Create an executive summary.
Marketing efforts should be regarded as something other than individual duties. Marketing a product or service tells potential buyers a tale about the company or product. An executive brief lays out your marketing plans for the next year and provides the glue that will hold everything together.
Your marketing objectives should be SMART, precise, measurable, attainable, pertinent, and timely. These objectives should complement one another to achieve internal and exterior harmony, conveying a consistent and clear narrative to customers while also expanding on itself.
Suppose you want to increase your company’s social media traffic by 15% in 90 days. In that case, you can set a SMART goal to do so and then devise a strategy to do so, such as posting four times per week on each platform with informative content consistent with the brand guidelines established by the company.
- Identify your target market.
Before you create a marketing strategy, you need to discover and comprehend your niche. Ask yourself who the particular demographic is that you’re pursuing. For example, if your company offers 30-minute meals, those who work traditional 9-to-5 employment are likely in your market. Study that set of people to comprehend their struggles and learn how your company can solve the issue.
- Differentiate your company with social marketing.
Inbound marketing is a method of gaining customers by utilizing one’s resources, such as content marketing, social media activity, and search engine optimization (SEO). Content marketing can include informative blog entries, interviews, podcasts with pertinent industry personalities or additional guides on the best use of your product. For example, if you offer cooking materials, consider publishing several fun holiday recipes your products can help prepare.
Each tactic feeds into and strengthens the others to win over more customers. A robust content offering can improve your search engine ranking, attracting more people to your website and social sites. You can then distribute those created content pieces to that broader audience, who will improve your search engine results again. Neither a well-known supporter nor a large-scale advertising campaign is required.
- Find rivals who are after the same clientele as you are.
No matter how original your product or service may be, rivalry always exists for your target customer’s money. Employees at smaller firms are less likely to conduct in-depth analyses of their rivals or to identify firms outside their sector that are just as capable of drawing consumers away. Knowing your rivals, their vital competitive benefits, and their potential reactions to your offerings (such as price cuts or more excellent contact) will help you develop strategies to stem the tide of losses.
By seeking out these rivals, you can create methods to differentiate your company by giving customers what they may lack from your competition. Observe how your competitors function to find ways in which you can stick out and steer your target audience towards your company.
- Explain the value your company brings to its target audience.
Your most significant competitive edge is your brand’s reputation and the values it represents to consumers. To succeed, you need to clearly articulate your plan to provide for your customers’ requirements and outperform the competition in a single, declarative statement. The most effective branding statements highlight the value of addressing a client’s pain.
- Set a price range for the strategy.
Consider your marketing spending plan when putting a strategy into action. Paid advertisements, marketing automation platforms, live marketing events, and third-party service providers require financial resources. Spending money on marketing strategies that will get you where you want to go should be a consideration when drawing up the process.
Please note the anticipated cost, assets, and time needed to accomplish the stated objectives as you write the plan and evaluate your course of action; this will help when it comes time to establish the real computed budget. Your goals should be practical enough to be accomplished within the constraints of your financial plan.