Creating a marketing strategy can pose as a challenge. There are many factors that fall into it. But, creating a marketing strategy is vital for any business. From being realistic with your budget to achieving a well-rounded client understanding, here are 11 answers to the question, “What are your best tips for creating a business’s marketing strategy?”
- Set a Realistic Budget
- Focus on Keywords
- Consider Nostalgia Marketing
- Conduct Competitor Research
- Analyze the Market
- Don’t Over-commit to Specific Tactics
- Put Your Business in Front of a Large Audience
- Use Documented Operational Processes
- Remove the Barriers to Success
- Try Out PPC
- Know Your Clients
Set a Realistic Budget
Max Schwartzapfel, a CMO in the industry explains, “nothing slows down your efforts more than missing the mark on your budget. Marketing departments and agencies alike hate coming up with a strategy only to find that the budget they have to work with is far too small to enact their plans. This forces them to re-strategize and scale back likely weeks of work, bringing everything to a crawl.
Your business should have an agreed-upon budget in mind before you work on your marketing strategy. You may consult marketing leaders or outside consultants to get their insights on what sort of expenditure you’ll be looking at to meet your projected goal.
Once you have the knowledge you need, pick a budget that is workable, and don’t force low-budget miracles out of your marketing team. Marketing is a necessary business expense, not an optional one. It should be treated with the same respect that any other facet of your business’s success would receive.”
Focus on Keywords
Karim Hachem, an E-commerce VP, describes the importance of keywords, “focus on keywords that pertain to your industry. Be sure to use these on the company website, blog posts, and social media handles so consumers can easily find your brand. Think about the highlights of your business and what makes you stand out from competitors to increase your website’s domain rating. In doing so, your digital visibility will drastically improve and produce long-term results.”
Consider Nostalgia Marketing
A Founder and Ceo, David Curtis shares some insight, “nostalgia marketing is something that is really popular now and can be implemented by small businesses in order to launch a successful campaign. Nostalgia marketing is all about tapping into positive, familiar memories from the viewer’s past to build trust for new ideas and get them interested in what you’re selling.
This marketing strategy has been around for a long while but has really grown in popularity since Millennials have become the main demographic for many companies. Millennials love getting a flashback from their childhood, and they love to see things come back from their past. Small businesses can leverage nostalgia marketing to reach their specific demographic and be seen as being unique, exciting, and engaging.”
Conduct Competitor Research
Max Ade is a CEO, reveals the significance of competitor research, “find out what’s been working for your competitors. Odds are there will be some useful information that you can use in your own marketing plan. Don’t feel ashamed to copy elements that work and tweak them to your own design. By studying what other companies are doing, you may identify some areas where other businesses could do better in their outreach.
You can position your marketing efforts to fill in the gaps that aren’t being properly exploited and potentially reach customers that others might be missing. Research is key to an excellent marketing strategy. Be sure to collect as much useful information as you can before designing your campaign, even if that means borrowing ideas from competitors.”
Analyze the Market
A Founder, Will Baker explains, “one step that is important to take when creating a marketing strategy is to conduct an industry and market analysis. This will give you a solid understanding of the external environment, for example, who are the key competitors, and what are the current and future industry trends.
Once you have this information, you’ll be well-placed to set your goals and objectives and develop your marketing plan.”
Don’t Over-commit to Specific Tactics
Nick Zviadadze is a Founder, clarifying why over-committing can be negative, “when creating a marketing strategy for your business, you shouldn’t over-commit to a specific channel or tactic before you know it works. SEO might be a great marketing channel for one business, for example, but completely ineffective for another.
Instead of going all in on one channel, run small marketing experiments to see what results you’ll get. Test about five or six different channels or tactics, measure your results, and once you find a tactic that gets you the best results, go all in!”
Put Your Business in Front of a Large Audience
Jeff Pollak is a Partner in the industry, he explains “when you’re first starting out as a business, you need exposure to get your first clients and customers. The best way to get this exposure is by positioning your business in front of a large audience. Leveraging partnerships with influencers is a great way to put yourself in front of the right audience.”
Use Documented Operational Processes
Owner and CEO, Adriana Richardson, analyzes the importance of evaluation, “as an operations manager/technical writer, one step I take when making a marketing strategy is to evaluate the monthly goal.
For example, if we are trying to reach a certain amount in revenue as the goal, we would look at the documented processes we have for that goal. Look at the target market with the service/product that we plan to sell, and figure out which platform would be best to promote it on.”
Remove the Barriers to Success
Jason Ball is a Founder, shares his insight about overcoming barriers to success, “strategy is fundamentally about overcoming barriers to success. If there are no barriers, you don’t need a strategy (or marketing, for that matter).
Start by understanding the overarching objectives of the business (ask the CEO or other senior leaders). Then, explore what’s standing in the way of achieving these objectives. Then—and only then—work out how marketing can help the business overcome these barriers. This will help you focus on what really matters and show your leadership that marketing has a valuable role to play in driving success.”
Try Out PPC
Marketing Manager, Kelly Chan describes pay-per-click marketing, “PPC is an efficient way to reach out to potential customers who are actively looking for the products or services you provide.
This advertising method has the advantage of only charging you when someone clicks on your ad, making it a cost-effective way to reach out to new people. Google Ads are advantageous because they assist businesses in rapidly increasing their earnings through effective marketing by advertising products and services to the right people, and they also assist businesses in reaching a larger number of people worldwide.
It may take 2-4 weeks for your Google Ads campaign to gain traction. If everything is done correctly, you should start seeing results in 2-6 months.”
Know Your Clients
Eduard Klein, International Digital Growth Specialist, defines the significance of understanding your clients, “a key step in creating an effective marketing strategy for your business is to define and understand your target market. Knowing who your ideal customer is, what their needs and priorities are, and what motivates them to buy, will help you create a marketing strategy that resonates with them.
Focus on one or two channels in order to reach your target audience. It’s better to have a well-executed plan on a few channels than a scattered, ineffective one on many. Create a content marketing strategy that will engage your target audience and bring them back to your website or store.
Develop a strategy that is tailored to your target market’s needs and interests and create content that will educate and entertain them. Measure your success and continuously refine your strategy. Track your progress with key performance indicators and adjust your strategy if needed. This will help you get the most out of your marketing efforts and ensure that they remain effective.”
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Special thanks to Featured for their continued help in the creation of this blog post. Click below for more strategies from the Nativa team regarding Online Marketing.
