More than a Plan. You Need a Marketing STRATEGY!

No matter what kind of organization you own or work for, developing a marketing strategy affects every aspect of your business. A successful strategy is well thought out and presents measurable goals. The end result of your marketing strategy should be something that improves sales for your business.

Designing a marketing strategy can be daunting. Especially, if you are not a marketing guru. At SK Consulting, we help walk you through the process of developing an effective marketing strategy without getting overwhelmed. Having a functioning and fluid marketing strategy will set you apart from your competition and set you up for success.

Researching and understanding your market is a big part of the process. This is not a process where you want to skip to the end. That will not guarantee you the best results.

What are the key parts of developing your marketing strategy? The first is to clarify your business goals.

Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Your Business

The best way to set your business goals is by using the acronym S.M.A.R.T. Smart goals are identified as specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-sensitive goals. Don’t be vague. Instead of making your goal, “get more customers.” A more effective goal would be, “reach x customers by y date.”

This goal clearly states a tangible achievement in a certain period of time. S.M.A.R.T. goals allow you to track your progress and celebrate small wins or re-evaluate your marketing strategy down the road.

Identify Your Marketing Goals Based on Your Business Goals
Next, you should identify your marketing goals. Your marketing goals should also be S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Your marketing goals function as an action item for your overall business goals. Whatever goal you set for your marketing strategy, it should lead to the outcome that you want for your business (i.e. reach x customer segment by y date).

Your marketing goals should not change constantly. They should be a steady goal that can be increased or revised once your previous goal is achieved.

Learn Your Market
It’s hard to surpass your competition if you don’t know what they or your potential customers are doing. Getting to know your market is key for you to develop your marketing strategy. Know and understand demographics, size, social trends and growth so that you can create a strategy that is relevant.

Continuous research will allow you to tweak your marketing strategy over time to keep it targeted and applicable to your market.

Create Potential Customer Profiles
After you’ve researched your market, it’s time to dig deeper.

You will want to create profiles of your potential customers so that you understand who you are trying reach. Your marketing plan should be highlighting your potential customers’ needs and providing a solution.

For this, you will have to understand the needs of your potential customers and their buying trends.

Understanding your potential customer will allow you to develop a marketing strategy that specifically targets them.  Remember, just because you like something doesn’t mean consumers will.  People want to feel like you understand what they want and that you are providing them a much-needed product or service.

Potential customer profiles can help you maintain a long-lasting relationship with your customer base. After all, the best kind of customer is a returning customer!

Get to Know the Competition

In order to develop a marketing strategy that yields results, identifying and understanding your competition is crucial. You cannot stay ahead of the competition if you do not know what they are doing.

You will want to identify your competitors’ products, supply chain, prices and marketing tactics.  What are they successful at?  What can you do better?  What opportunities are they missing? Learn what your competitors’ weaknesses are, and humbly acknowledge their strengths.

While scrutinizing your competition, it’s important to take a good, hard look at your own practices.  Analyzing your internal strengths and weaknesses will help you create and maintain your competitive edge. Where is your business falling short? How can you do it better?

Learn as much as you can about your competitors and stay in the know of any new developments in your industry.

Developing a Supporting Marketing Strategy Plan
Once you have completed all of the previous steps, you’ll have all the information you need to develop a marketing strategy!

If one of your goals is to reach a younger market segment, your strategy could be to increase your social media presence and offer discounts specifically for students or certain schools.

While you develop your marketing strategy, be sure to consider the 7 P’s of marketing: product, price, promotion, people, place, process and physical evidence.

SUMMARY

Once you develop a marketing strategy, give it a test run. Researching and testing your ideas will allow you to maintain a marketing strategy that is effective and successful.

Measure your results.  Establish your benchmarks.  Set a schedule to re-evaluate your results.

If you are overwhelmed with the thought of developing a marketing strategy, contact the experts at SK Consulting.  From Concept to Creation to Implementation – we’re there for you every step of the way!