It doesn’t matter if you’re a new or existing business, there are always new ways to grow and improve your marketing strategy.
So, if you’re needing a little inspiration on how to build a successful marketing strategy, here are 5 easy steps that will be beneficial for any business.
1. Understand the need for a new strategy for marketing
Marketers nowadays have to completely rethink their strategies in order to stay competitive. The old way of marketing is not going to work anymore.
The marketing industry is changing. With the advancement of new technologies and the rise in demand for more content, marketing teams are now looking for new ways to be productive. The old strategy of writing one blog post a week or sending one email blast per day no longer cuts it because there is just too much information and customers are expecting more from brands than ever before. Marketers need to adapt and find a new strategy of creating content that resonates with their audience in order to keep up with the growing demands. In the 21st century, marketers need to become storytellers. The products that they promote need to be backed by a great story. And there are many ways for them to do that: using video content or sponsored posts on social media, for instance, will both be able to create a great story and get people talking about it.
What’s more, the best marketers will go beyond just telling their own stories—they’ll find stories from others and use them as well.
2. Identify your target audience before you market
Yearly, millions of marketing dollars are wasted on strategies that don’t work. The reason being is because the marketers are targeting the wrong audience. Once the target audience is identified the immediate next step is to understand their needs. Businesses will find it difficult to succeed online without understanding the needs of their target audience. Generally, you should start by considering the following questions:
Who is your target customer? What are their interests? What are their challenges? How can you serve them better than your competitors? What is your value proposition and how will it make your customers happier than they would be without it? How do you communicate this to them in a way that speaks to them on an emotional level and resonates with their values and needs?
3. Discover ways to connect with your target audience
There are a lot of ways to connect with your target audience. If you want to write something that will reach them and convey what they want to listen to, you should tap into their emotions, build trust, and create a sense of belonging.
A good way to build trust is by being transparent about the process. When people can see how you work, they will feel more connected with you and your company. Explain what your research looked like or walk them through the steps in order to produce content for them.
People are more likely to engage with content that speaks directly to their needs or interests. Showing that you understand not just what they want but how they feel is crucial when it comes to engaging customers and potential leads.
4. Determine the goals of your marketing strategy and who it’s intended to impact
A marketing strategy is a plan that outlines how your company intends to achieve its goals. A marketing strategy and the accompanying tactics it is based on the need to be aligned with the company’s strategic goals. This includes defining what you want to achieve, how you will do it, who you want to target and why they should care.
The concept of marketing has evolved significantly in recent years with new technologies and different ways of reaching customers. The process starts by gaining a better understanding of the customer base, creating an individualized experience for each person and allowing customers to choose their own path through the content they consume.
Since the marketing strategy is designed to generate sales from the customers, it would be logical to include some or all of these goals in your marketing plan.
Marketing strategies are very important for any business and should be considered as a crucial step in planning. But before you can get into the specifics of your marketing strategy, you need to have a clear idea of what you want it to accomplish.
5. Develop your marketing plan and bring it to life
Developing a marketing plan is an important part of the marketing process. It is advisable not to jump into the marketing process until you have your plan laid out.
A marketing plan consists of five main components: Marketing objectives, Marketing strategies, Marketing tactics, implementation and impact measurement.
A marketing plan consists of five main components: Marketing objectives, Marketing strategies, Marketing tactics, implementation and impact measurement. The marketing objectives identify the desired outcome for your business – like increasing customer engagement or attracting new customers. Strategies are the ways that you will achieve your objectives such as through advertising or providing incentives to buyers. Tactics are the methods that you will use in order to execute your strategies such as distributing an email or making a phone call to a potential client.
Researchers at MIT Sloan found that doubling marketing budgets would only provide a 0.4% increase in profits. Marcelo Ballve, the director of the MIT Sloan Center for Marketing Strategy, said “it’s really important to measure the marketing impact and continuously improve.”
The idea of what constitutes success in marketing is undergoing a significant transformation. The old way of measuring success was by looking at how many people engaged with or clicked on your content. Nowadays, you have to look at things like how much time they spent on your content, and whether they shared it with their networks.
