This guide helps you identify which customers to focus on and your key objectives in reaching them. It explains what to include in your marketing strategy and how it can be used as the basis for effective action.
One of the key elements of a successful marketing strategy is the acknowledgement that your existing and potential customers will fall into particular groups or segments , characterised by their "needs".
Identifying these groups and their needs through market research, and then addressing them more successfully than your competitors, should be the focus of your strategy. You can then create a marketing strategy that makes the most of your strengths and matches them to the needs of the customers you want to target. For example, if a particular group of customers is looking for quality first and foremost, then any marketing activity aimed at them should draw attention to the high quality service you can provide.
Once this has been completed, decide on the best marketing activity that will ensure your target market know about the products or services you offer, and why they meet their needs.
This could be achieved through various forms of advertising, exhibitions, public relations initiatives, Internet activity and by creating an effective "point of sale" strategy if you rely on others to actually sell your products.
Limit your activities to those methods you think will work best, avoiding spreading your budget too thinly. A key element often overlooked is that of monitoring and evaluating how effective your strategy has been. This control element not only helps you see how the strategy is performing in practice, it can also help inform your future marketing strategy.
A simple device is to ask each new customer how they heard about your business. Once you have decided on your marketing strategy, draw up a marketing plan to set out how you plan to execute and evaluate the success of that strategy. The plan should be constantly reviewed so it can respond quickly to changes in customer needs and attitudes in your industry, and in the broader economic climate. Your strategy must take account of how your business' strengths and weaknesses will affect your marketing.
Begin your marketing strategy document with an honest and rigorous SWOT analysis, looking at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is a good idea to conduct some market research on your existing customers at this point, as it will help you to build a more honest picture of your reputation in the marketplace.
Having done your analysis, you can then measure the potential effects each element may have on your marketing strategy. For example, if new regulations will increase the cost of competing in a market where you're already weak, you might want to look for other opportunities.
On the other hand, if you have a good reputation and your key competitor is struggling, the regulations might present the opportunity to push aggressively for new customers.
With an understanding of your business' internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats, you can develop a strategy that plays to your own strengths and matches them to the emerging opportunities. You can also identify your weaknesses and try to minimise them.
The next step is to draw up a detailed marketing plan that sets out the specific actions to put that strategy into practice. Effective marketing is targeted to a specific, not a general, audience. For example, you might target younger, affluent women, or you might target women with children, depending on your brand's benefits. Your might target the bargain-conscious demographic, or instead go after consumers who are willing to spend more for the best products in each category.
You might target new homeowners with little lawn care experience, or serious DIYers who know how to perform more complicated yardscaping tasks. It can be difficult for small business owners to view their business and their products from the outside in, but that's exactly what they must do if they hope to be successful in their marketing efforts. Marketers need to learn about and consider audience needs and concerns, and identify potential objections that they can work to overcome in their marketing efforts.
If you can do that properly, then you can likely reach a sizable audience for not much money invested when you think about the potential profit it can return. If your sales systems and products are in place, then this makes sense. If you have an offer that's clearly converting, and it's simply about more visibility, then this is likely the right marketing strategy for you right now. Assess the situation and reach out to influencers and gauge their pricing. Do small tests and see what works, then scale.
So much effectiveness in marketing really does boil down to creating a great lead magnet. I've found that the right lead magnet presented to the right audience can have explosive results. The best way to do this is if you can identify the right pain points and present a solution in your lead magnet, then you're well on your way.
What problem are consumers facing in your niche? What made you get into business in the first place? Ask yourself these questions before building out your lead magnet.
The better you identify the problem or pain points at the outset, the better you'll be at actually addressing that with a solution in your lead magnet. What type of lead magnet should you build? That could either be an ebook, a cheat sheet, a checklist, a video and others.
Of course, it's not just about the lead magnet. You have to have a squeeze page with sizzling sales copy to get people to drop into your funnel. But it all starts with a great lead magnet. The better it is, the more effective you'll be at reaching your audience. One of the most powerful methods you can use to market just about anything these days are Facebook ads.
With Facebook, you can reach a very specific audience and you can do it very easily. You can target by interest, age, relationships status, geographic location, and so much much more. But the trick here to getting great results isn't just about click-traffic. You have to focus on conversions and re-targeting through pixels. If you don't know how to install the Facebook Pixel on your site, then you absolutely must learn how to do this right now.
Even if you're not running Facebook ads, you can build your audience with a pixel. Pixels track everyone who comes to your site, and you can build custom audiences around them. For example, if you post content about how to learn to drive a semi-truck, and you track visitors with pixels, you can then market truck driving certification to people who have already shown an interest in that already because they visited that specific page.
And your conversions will skyrocket. Do you have a video on your LinkedIn profile? Did you know that you can easily add one? Why not take the time to introduce yourself and your business. Link that to your profile description. This is an easy way to passively market your business, and when it's done right, it can lead to shocking results.
If you have lots of connections on LinkedIn and you're not really posting on there, start immediately. You can reach a large audience, especially when your posts go viral.
This is a great place to convey the entrepreneurial journey. Talk about your challenges and tell stories. The more effective your stories, the larger your potential reach when you go viral. You can also reach out to other businesses and collaborate with like-minded entrepreneurs on LinkedIn. It's a great go-to resource for all things business and too many people overlook this.
Most people don't understand the power of affiliate marketing. Affiliates can provide massive fuel for growth. But approaching the right partners isn't always that easy. You have to have good conversion if you want the bigger affiliate to take you seriously. I've found that navigating the affiliate minefield can be tricky. It takes persistence and it takes true grit to make it through. Most of us get discouraged after a few setbacks, but you can't allow emotions to get in the way when it comes to affiliate.
For B2C businesses, conversational marketing is especially effective because it scales your customer service and typically cuts the time buyers stay in the sales funnel. It can take a variety of forms — a social media testimonial, word-of-mouth, a television or radio mention, a newspaper article or editorial — but one thing is constant: earned media is unsolicited and can only be gained organically. Brand storytelling uses a familiar communication format to engage consumers at an emotional level.
Rather than just spew facts and figures, storytelling allows you to weave a memorable tale of who your company is, what you do, how you solve problems, what you value, and how you engage and contribute to your community and the public in general. Ready to ramp up your marketing efforts, but unsure of where to begin? Reach out to us or check out our complete guide to building an annual marketing plan for any size of business. Topics: Inbound Marketing. B2B Content Marketing Attract and convert prospects as they search online.
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