Five Tips for a Successful Marketing Strategy
What is Marketing Strategy?
Plans are nothing without planning, amirite? That expression is critical in the marketing world. You need a plan to conquer all of your goals, so a marketing strategy should be an essential part of your business. A marketing strategy is an overall game plan for reaching new clients and potentially turning them into your customers. Think of all your business goals - your goals and marketing strategy should go hand in hand.
Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans
Your strategy always comes before your plan. Although the lines can be a little blurry, there is a difference!
Your marketing plan is your ‘how’ to your marketing strategies ‘why’.
To put it in a metaphor, How can a car move without direction (a strategy) or a motor (a plan)? OK, you get the point now!
Ideally, a marketing plan should be the action you take to execute your marketing strategy successfully. The process of creating a marketing plan is all about expressing the real-life steps you will take to help your business flourish! Because who doesn’t want that?
1. Create a SWOT analysis.
SWOT is a way to define your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats - SWOT.
A SWOT analysis can be used in a small project or an overall business strategy.
This is an effective way to see what your business is good at (Strength), what your business could improve on (Weakness), how your business can improve (Opportunities), and who is in competition with your business (Threats). Conducting a SWOT isn’t hard. It can be pretty fun and straightforward to do.
Think of it like this: strengths and weaknesses are internal to your business - things you have control over and can change if needed. While Opportunities and Threats are things going on outside of your business that you can’t change. This will help you look at your business from a different perspective and figure out what needs to be done to amp up your business!
2. Choose your platforms wisely.
When figuring out what platforms to use, choose wisely. Let me just say, marketing has never been an easy task even with the internet. First of all, avoid any type of service that seems too good to be true, because it most likely is. Second, know what you can fit into your budget. Lastly, get a game plan and stick with it!
I think anyone in the marketing biz could agree that there are a few things that we would prioritize when it comes to what platforms we should take on. Social media, SEO, and a website is an excellent place to start. Who are you targeting? What platforms are they on? What marketing medium is the best investment for your business? These are just a few questions to ask when choosing those platforms WISELY!
3. Know your client or customer.
So what is a buyer persona, you might ask? A buyer persona is a description of someone who represents your ideal customer. You will need to figure out exactly who that person is from their interests, daily activities, challenges, and even buying trends is essential. You know what your business has to offer better than anyone - but do you know your dream customer?
Creating a buyer persona isn’t just about making that person generate leads! More specifically, having that perfect buyer persona is essential for creating content (check out our latest blog, ‘five ideas for content creation’), which will attract valuable traffic who will turn into leads, and then BAM! You have a real-life customer.
4. Identify your target market.
Ever heard the saying, “If you build it, they will come”? This saying has become a motto we think all marketers should think about to encourage finding that target audience. By ‘building’ your target audience - identifying your customer demographics and figuring out what you can use to get your name out there - ‘they” will come.
What would be the use in targeting and ad to every person on Instagram when the product you are trying to get across is only for men 65 +? It doesn’t make much sense, right?
You have to know the market you are trying to reach, which means determining demographics, psychographics, checking out your competitors, etc. The only way to tailor your marketing pitch is to know exactly who you’re targeting.
If you have questions about identifying your target market, check out our blog, Defining Your Audience.
5. Set your plan into action.
Now it’s time to get excited! Do you think you’re ready? We think you are too! Once you have created a clear marketing plan, it’s time to turn those plans into actions. Remember, planning is the most important part but make sure it’s not procrastinating. Think of fun little things you can do to get your team excited - host an engaging meeting to start the week off, get a cocktail with your team, talk about your visions for the future, etc. Be sure to watch your progress as weeks go on to make sure everything lines right up with your marketing plan. It is an exciting time when you finally get to go from planning to doing and seeing the difference it makes in helping your business succeed!
Let the fun begin!
Now let’s make some music for your business’s ears, harmonizing that marketing strategy and plan together. After all, creating a marketing strategy can be super fun and a perfect way to dig deep into your business’s core to work out all of those kinks. Now that you have a few tips on creating a successful marketing strategy, it’s time to GET TO WORK!