All marketing activity should begin with a clear strategy. Before you put time or budget into any marketing efforts, think about why you’re doing it and what you want to achieve.
There is often a misconception that the more marketing you do, the more traction you will gain. The old scattergun approach; throw everything at the wall, and some of it will stick. Maybe it will, but will it give you lasting results? In my experience, and I have a lot of it, a targeted marketing approach is by far the best way to go, and a better use of your resources.
It is not the volume of marketing, or how much money you plough into it, that gets you results. It is doing the right activity for your business. Which invariably will be different from one organisation to another.
Building and nurturing relationships will get you repeat business, time and again. And if you deliver what your marketing promises that you will, and you have happy customers or clients, you will get referrals. Gold dust.
So how do you get those happy customers in the first place?
The answer is by targeting your specific audience. Simple as that.
Who is my audience?
It might seem basic, but knowing who your audience is, is fundamental. Of all the organisations I have worked with over the last two decades, big and small, it is surprising how many are vague about who their audience actually is.
Once you have figured out who your audience is, you need to think about where they hang out. Also consider, when they are there, what stage they are at in the buying phase (or buying-into journey if yours is an awareness message).
This will determine which marketing channels you need to focus your attention on.
Which marketing channels should I use?
Is your target audience searching for a product or service, and are they doing this on their phone on a browser, or by voice? In this case, search engine optimisation (SEO) will come into play. Getting your website shown when someone is searching, or making sure that your premises comes up on maps, will be crucial.
Or perhaps your audience is watching videos on one of the social platforms or YouTube. Is this the time to grab their attention for your offering? Will they be in the right frame of mind to engage with your marketing campaign at that moment?
For paid ads across different forms of media, you can target by location, time, demographics, in fact there is a whole range of options. If you wanted to be really targeted, you could.
Once you know who your audience is and where they spend their time, you will have a better
idea of which marketing activities are appropriate.
What marketing activity should I do?
Your marketing strategy is now coming together. You have identified your audience and channels, which determines the activity. The next step is to hone your message. What is it that you are telling your audience and what do you want them to do as a result of seeing your message. Really think about your Call to Action (CTA), and track it. This is how you will know how successful your campaign has been.
How do I create a marketing plan?
Now you can create a marketing plan. A great tip is to use a calendar and mark up what activity will be run on which channel and when. When each activity is scheduled to finish, put a reminder on the calendar to monitor results.
Monitoring your campaign results is really important. Then you can see what has worked well and what hasn’t, and apply that intelligence to future campaigns.
Marketing strategies are not fixed. They should evolve based on results. Sometimes it will be trial and error. Not everything works for everyone. If you want to try a marketing campaign and you’re not sure if it will work, that’s fine. Try it on a small scale at first.
It’s worth noting that it is widely accepted that an average of seven touch points is required to generate a viable sales lead. With this in mind, you should plan your marketing activity across a number of channels and campaigns.
How will I know if my marketing strategy is working?
How will you be able to tell if your marketing strategy is working? By setting targets, or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based around what you want to achieve. This could be online sales, phone calls, footfall, or sign ups. Are you achieving those results? If you are, brilliant, keep doing what you’re doing, but never take your eye off the ball. In the realms of digital marketing, search engine and social platform algorithms are constantly changing. What worked last month, might not work this month. Your approach may need tweaking.
If you need assistance setting up a marketing strategy, or if the one you already have is not bringing you results, get in touch to see how we can help.
