If this is your first time creating a marketing strategy, it helps to have a well-defined process before diving in. The following steps will help you create a thoroughly researched and impactful marketing strategy.
Marketing Strategy Steps:
- Define your business overall. List your products and services. Pay special attention to those that bring in the most revenue with the least expense. What opportunities exist that your company isn’t capitalizing on yet? What are your company’s strengths? What marketing strategies have worked well in the past that might be worth repeating? What marketing campaigns haven’t performed well?
- Review your competition to identify the threats and weaknesses of your organization.
- Define your overall goals, objectives, and set an initial budget. Begin with the end in mind. For example, do you want to spend $25,000 and increase sales by 20% while maintaining your existing margins over the next quarter? All goals and objectives should be S.M.A.R.T. – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
- Describe your ideal customers and create buyer personas. Personas should include demographic and psychographic details. Consider conducting surveys and focus groups to gather as much information as you can. Talk to your sales team to gain additional insight. Find out how your sales team successfully closes a sale and consider using similar tactics in your marketing materials.
- Decide how to reach your ideal customers. What media do they consume? What day of the month or time of the day are they most likely to respond to your message? Spend time brainstorming, think outside the box, and consider new channels. Are they more likely to respond to a text message than an email from your organization?
- Craft consistent messaging. What messages will resonate with them? What calls to action will work best using different media? Communicate this messaging with other departments. Marketing materials should match sales messaging and materials.
- Identify existing resources, including budget, tools, and media. Media options should include paid media like ads and conferences, a blog, an email newsletter, or any other media you create, and user-generated media. Optimize existing media as necessary to deliver consistent messaging.
- Generate any additional content you need for your strategy and follow branding guidelines for maximum impact.
- Create a schedule for your deliverables and delegate marketing responsibilities.
- Execute the plan.
- Review your performance at least monthly, and revise the budget and plan as needed.
Be as detailed and open as possible while creating, executing, and reviewing your marketing strategy. You may find new information while you go through the process that requires you to go back and revise other steps.
The process is necessary to create a marketing strategy that will bring you the results you desire.
