Content Strategy: It’s Not an Option for Your Business

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should come as no surprise that unique and engaging content is the goldmine of today’s business world.  Having a content strategy is critical to a successful digital marketing plan – and overall business plan. Yes, the pandemic changed the way many of us do business, but it was only a matter of time before all of our target audiences became dependent on the internet for….everything!  If you’re not making the most of your business’ online presence, you are paving a clear and clean path for your competitors. 

Having a content strategy means developing a process of creating and managing content that has context or a purpose. Businesses need a content strategy to drive growth and increase revenue while at the same time helping companies to understand their customers better. When developed and executed correctly, a content strategy allows your business to focus its content marketing efforts on the most effective channels with the most effective messaging.

Yes, content is at the forefront of all forms of online marketing efforts, but that content should be unique and speak directly to your target audience. It is important to pay close attention to developing effective strategies for leveraging content to boost brand visibility, save money, time and drive traffic to your product or services. Some key areas that should be considered when developing a content strategy:

1. Identifying and understanding your target audience

One of the first steps in developing a successful content strategy is identifying and understanding your target audience. It involves gaining a deep understanding of who they are, what are their needs and wants. Once you have a firm grasp of your target audience, you can begin developing content specifically tailored to them. Not all content will appeal equally to all audiences, so it is important to segment your content accordingly.

In developing an effective content strategy for your business, it might help to work with a team of experienced marketing professionals who can help you create the most effective and engaging content for your target audience.

2. Creating engaging and compelling content

Another key element of a successful content strategy is creating high-quality, engaging content that truly speaks to your audience. Write with your audience in mind. Know who you are trying to reach with your content and what interests them. Channel your content to answer those questions they are having. Pay attention to your audience’s search intent. With these vital components in mind, it becomes easier to write and tailor your content accordingly using a mix of multimedia content, blogs, infographics, videos and more.

3. Optimizing your content for search engines

Optimizing your content for keyword research on search engines is a crucial part of your content strategy plan.  Achieving this requires identifying the keywords your target audience is looking for and then creating content based on these keywords. Consider using SEO tools such as Google Search Console, SEMrush or other alternatives to help you identify the most relevant keywords and phrases. Another important tip to keep in mind is always to ensure the keyword or phrase are used in your title, headings, and image alt text as these are the elements that search engines look at when determining how well your content will rank.

4. Use the right social media platforms to promote your content

Promoting your content is essential to driving traffic and generating leads. You can reach a wider audience, build relationships with potential customers and drive traffic back to your website or blog by leveraging social media platforms. Before you start promoting your content, it's necessary to take some time to research which social media platforms your target audience is using.

You can optimize your posts with hashtags and other features to engage and encourage interaction with other users.  If you are able to tag another in your post – only if it makes sense – the wider you cast your net.  Social media ads can also be used to promote your content to a broader audience, helping you target specific demographics, interests and even locations.

Social media is a great data gatherer.  You can monitor your activity and results by tracking how many people are clicking on your links and how much traffic you're driving back to your website. This will help fine-tune your content strategy and ensure that you're getting the most out of it.

Conclusion

A successful content strategy will produce results.  But, you have to do the work.  Remember, consumers drive market, so your content needs to speak to your target audience.  Whether you are launching a new product or service or starting a new business, you have to truly understand the wants and needs of your prospective clients.  Building a content strategy around what THEY want and not what you think they want, will give you a giant step toward a successful content marketing plan.

Not sure how to create a content strategy?  Contact the experienced team at SK Consulting today!

Marketing Should Be The Last Thing to Go

When businesses and non-profits feel the stretch of the dollar and their bottom line is negatively impacted, the first instinct is, more often than not, to cut the marketing budget.  Many view marketing as the easiest line item to slash, but it can be the hardest to recoup.  During a recession or a post-pandemic, the worst thing a business can do is go dark.  Saving a penny at that moment could cost you thousands down the road. Cutting your marketing budget can hurt your business long-term, even when it might help it slightly in the immediate future.

Before you decide to reduce or eliminate your marketing budget, consider the following:

1. What if your competitors keep their marketing intact?

You may consider cutting your marketing budget, but if your competitors don’t, where does that leave you? When you reduce your marketing budget, you decrease how and how often your customers see you — allowing your competitor(s) to move in.  Your customers notice if you’re NOT there for them.

2. Your customers can support you if you market your message right

The return on investment for your marketing strategy is still valid during tough economic times. When the economy is booming, your strategy is probably to drive sales and build relationships.  However, when everyone seems to be tightening their belts, you can and should be more focused on the relationship-build side of things – keep your customers invested in your success. They love you as much as you love them, and they don’t want to see your business struggle. Your marketing team can help you show the right amount of vulnerability and transparency, while still sending the message that you are still in business, offering the services they’ve come to expect and admire.

3. Your marketing team protects you

People often think about marketing as advertising, but it is so much more.  Your marketing team helps to tell your brand’s story.  That story should reflect market research on what your customers are searching for and are still willing to pay for.  As with COVID, businesses needed (and still need) to shift their messaging strategies to be reassuring, sensitive and empathetic.  Having a marketing team you trust can help shift and shape your message so that your mission and services are promoted – keeping your brand top of mind.

4. Your customers don’t want to feel abandoned

Your marketing strategy strengthens your relationship with your audience. A reduction in your budget can leave your customers wondering where you went—or worse, if your business has or is in the process of shutting down.

Show them you’re there.  Your messaging may be different.  Your tactics of reaching them may be different.  But your brand should not be different.  Your marketing team and strategies can tell your audience what you’re doing to keep their best interests in mind.  

5. It may be time to launch that new product

What?  Spend time and resources to launch a new product?  Yes!  You have less competition during a recession or tough economy, as other companies are focusing on staying afloat. They aren’t putting their time and effort into launching new products or growing their business. If you are in the position to, and you have ideas ready to launch, work with your marketing team to put your new product out into the world.  You may even be able to better negotiate advertising rates as media outlets are also looking to stay afloat.

6. You will not bounce back as easily

If you reduce your marketing efforts, it leaves you in a difficult position when you and your customers are ready to return to the economic cycle.  You’ve spent a great deal of time and money growing your brand’s reach. Rather than scaling back, discuss a strategy with your marketing team to find ways to keep your reach consistent. Once the economy is on an upswing, you will appreciate not having lost months — or years — of progress.

7. You’ll have a harder time reaching your overall business goals

No matter what the financial landscape, you want to continue moving forward. Your marketing team can help you keep your goals in mind and find new strategies to meet them. Don’t underestimate a marketing team’s versatility and the potential to keep your business growing, even when the economy is less than ideal.

Talk strategy before you make cuts!

Cut the panic, not the budget! Take a look at your budget prior to the pandemic or recession.  Where is there padding?  Where can you streamline operations?  Before you decide to cut anything from your marketing budget, discuss all options with your marketing team.  A versatile, professional and experienced team can and will work with you to achieve your goals – or define new milestones and benchmarks.  The true bottom line is your marketing team is your life line to the ‘outside world’. In reality, if you don’t succeed, they don’t succeed.  Show them that you have faith in their expertise and they’ll show you a positive ROI.

Reassess During the Recession

 

It’s no secret that COVID has caused an economic recession impacting many small businesses and non-profits and their bottom line.  Many have declared that this crisis is worse than the Great Depression and will more than likely have lasting effects on our economy.  But, now is not the time to give up.  Now is the time to reevaluate, reassess and rebuild…stronger.  Below are some ways to achieve success during and after the current state of affairs. 

1. Do Not Immediately Cut the Marketing Budget

The first place many organizations look to cut when purse strings are tight is marketing.  This is the exact reason why NOT to cut the marketing budget…it is not a smart strategy. If all of your competitors are cutting their budgets, and your business is taking the time to fine-tune and continue with marketing efforts, then your business could see an increase in revenue and take over a larger market share.

You want to stay ahead of the fray – stay in the forefront of everyone’s mind.  With more people watching TV, listening to the radio, scrolling through social media feeds, NOW is the time to invest (effectively and efficiently) in digital marketing. When competitors slash their budget, consumers will be less likely to see their marketing efforts and instead will see your company’s presence more frequently. Prospective customers will be able to more easily see the services or products your business offers. Keeping your marketing budget the same, or even slightly increasing the budget, will quiet the buzz of the competition, letting your business shine.

2. Conduct New Market Research

It is common knowledge that having accurate market research is vital for successful marketing campaigns. Market research can give a business a better understanding of its customers and better knowledge about how to approach its target market. Time have changed.  Circumstances have changed.  Shopping patterns have changed.

The way you do business or request donations must change with the trends.  And, you won’t know the current trends if you don’t conduct new market research.  During financial hardships, a person’s available income and discretionary income changes. While it is a convenient idea to cut costs and use historical data from previous recessions, it is not a good idea. By doing expansive market research on your target audience, your business will be able to get insights that can be used as a competitive advantage. A business can align itself with its customers’ needs through market research, which allows for the business to thrive during and after a recession.

3. Focus on Retaining Existing Customers

Customer retention is always an important business strategy, but especially now. Local restaurants and bars that pivoted to curbside or delivery at the onset of the pandemic are faring much better than those who didn’t.  Why?  Because their loyal customers pivoted with them.  They started ordering out, sharing the establishment and their specials on social media, etc.  A majority of a business’s profits come from existing customers, and the costs of retaining customers are much lower than the costs of trying to attract new customers. New customers aren't as likely to give unfamiliar products or services a try during a recession, which is why the primary focus should be on existing customers and keeping them satisfied.

And, shifting the focus to existing customers will cut down on spending without slashing the marketing budget. Keeping customers satisfied will only benefit the business in the long run, because these customers are more likely to leave positive reviews and recommend your business to their friends, which gives your business free word-of-mouth marketing.

4. Analyze Past and Current Performance Metrics

If you are finding you have a little more time on your hands, then this is the time to measure metrics!     Performance metrics can help determine if you’re meeting your goals (which should be re-evaluated) or if you’re on the right track to reach your goals. These metrics can help improve strategy and can be early indicators if things are not going as they should be. During a recession, tracking metrics is even more important as one mistake could lead to the business’s downfall.

What you’ve done in the past may not be right for today. Tracking current performance will allow you to see how your marketing campaigns are doing in this unusual landscape and time. The combination of past and current data will allow businesses to invest their time in areas that have proven to work in the past and see if what was working is still working today.

5. Remain Consistent

Now is not the time to rebrand yourself or your business. Now is the time to revamp your services if needed, but not your brand. Remain consistent in your name, branding, marketing and customer interactions. Your business should not go from sending bi-weekly emails to bi-monthly emails, nor should it go from weekly blog posts to monthly blog posts. These efforts of staying consistent will also keep costs down, which, in a recession, is vital. 

COVID has created quite a stir in all aspects of our lives.  Yes, businesses have taken hits because of the pandemic, but the recession is not forever. The reevaluation of a marketing strategy can help businesses survive this uncertain time.

Listen to your customers.  Listen to your competitors.  Remain flexible.  Remain vigilant.  While it might not seem like it right now, the storm will pass.  The question is, are you ready, willing and able to weather it?

Creating Demand Through Effective Marketing

How do you know what your customers want?  Many times, a business owner and executive team make the mistake of thinking what THEY want is what the consumers want.  But, we’ve all heard the phrase, “consumers drive market”.  So, why do so many ignore that?

Before investing any money in marketing, ask yourself: Do you know what your customers want? Do you think your customers trust your products? Do you have reviews confirming what they think?

The answers are directly related to marketing.  

How you market your business determines if the enterprise will be successful or not. In turn, what people truly think of your product or service determines how you should market. Marketing is a tool used to create and maintain demand, relevance, reputation, competition and more.

1. Marketing Is an Effective Way (if done correctly) of Engaging Customers

It’s important for your business to engage its customers. The right marketing helps to keep the conversation going.

Engaging customers is different from pushing your offers. Engaging involves furnishing your customers with relevant information about your products and your business as well. Tell your customers what they don’t know. Let it be interesting and worth their time.

Social media is one of the best platforms where you can engage your customers. Some organizations use short videos and other humor-laden tricks to engage their customer base. Do NOT use social media to just announce deals, events, new products, etc.  Use it to engage and get a feel for what the audience wants.

Marketing gives your customers a sense of belonging when you engage them.

2. Marketing Helps to Build and Maintain your Company’s Reputation

The growth and life span of your business is positively correlated to your business’s reputation. Your reputation determines your brand equity.

A majority of marketing activities should be geared towards building your brand equity.

A business’ positive reputation is gained when it effectively meets the expectations of its customers. The customers become proud to be associated with your products.  And expert marketers use effective communication, branding, PR and CSR strategies to ensure that a business’s reputation is maintained.

3. Marketing Helps to Build Relationships

Businesses need to build a relationship of trust and understanding with their customers. Marketing research segments should be based on demographics and consumer behavior.

Segmentation helps the business meet or exceed the needs of its customers. This makes the customers brand loyal. Loyal customers will have the confidence to purchase more products and services from you.

4. Marketing Is a Communication Channel Used to Inform Customers

Marketing informs your customers about the products or services you’re offering them. Through marketing, the customers get to know about the value of the products as it pertains to them. It helps create brand awareness and makes the business stand out.

There’s stiff competition in any industry and you need to be a constant voice to convince the customers that you are the one to choose. Through communication, marketing helps your business become a market leader.

5. Marketing Helps to Boosts Sales

Marketing utilizes different ways to promote your products or services and arms the sales team with a consistent, cohesive message and collateral material.

Customer are more apt to become brand ambassadors when they are happy with your sales agents, products and services. They will spread the word and your sales will increase.

Ensure you offer high-quality products and services and a great customer experience to complement your marketing efforts.

6. Marketing Helps Your Business to Maintain Relevance

Every marketer understands the need for disrupting a potential consumer’s opinion about other products. Most businesses assume that they will always remain the client’s favorite brand because they’ve never expressed a complaint. Wrong. You need to find ways to remain at the top of the client’s mind.

Every relationship needs to be maintained. Marketing helps your business to maintain a good relationship with customers by helping you remain relevant.

It’s a lot harder to gain new customers than keeping current ones.  Shift the focus to making current customers happy and they can become your brand ambassadors.

7. Marketing Creates Revenue Options

During the startup phase, your options are sparse since you’re mostly cash-strapped. This means marketers need to be creative and frugal in getting you and keeping you in the forefront of customers’ minds.

As your marketing strategies generate more customers and revenue opportunities, you’ll begin having options.  New options will lead to the ability to penetrate new markets.  What’s more?  You can start weeding out the clients who are too demanding or just ‘don’t get it’.

8. Marketing Helps Management Make Informed Decisions

Every business is confronted with problems such as to what, when, for whom and how much to produce. Businesses should rely on marketing mechanisms to make these decisions.

Why? Because they serve as a reliable link between your business and society. They cultivate people’s mind, educate the public and convince them to buy.

Marketing Can Give You Competitive Advantage

Your competitor is actively marketing their product. So should you. The only way to gain a competitive advantage over your competition is aggressive and strategic marketing.

Don’t be sleazy or negative against your competitor. Simply conduct research on what your target market is expecting, and then find ways to deliver better products, services and customer experience.

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!

Planning for a Prosperous New Year: Create an Effective Marketing Budget

Don’t look now, but you have already started the first quarter of a new year. A new year means new customers, new sales goals, and new opportunities to grow your business. It’s an exciting way to start the year, but it won’t last long if your marketing budget isn’t right from the start.

Many companies plan their marketing budget based on the previous year and how much they’re willing to spend on marketing. This is a great way to hold yourself back from achieving your sales goals, or to spend too much on wasted efforts.

Want the most bang for your buck? Plan and implement a marketing budget that gets results.

1) Start With A Marketing Strategy

Before you calculate your marketing budget, align your marketing goals with your company's strategic goals and vision for growth. If you plan to grow by 20%, but only want to invest enough in marketing to get new business cards for everyone in your company, you're probably going to be disappointed with the results of your investment!

It's important to develop a written marketing strategy that your executive team, sales team, and marketing team are on board with. You need everyone to be driving their activities in the same direction.

2) Set Your Marketing Budget

Once you've aligned your company goals with your marketing goals, you'll need to identify your marketing budget so you can develop a detailed marketing plan that supports your strategy.

Lean: 1 - 2% of your top-line revenue. Basically, you’re committing to engaging and retaining current customers with simple tools and strategies. This is ideal for companies that are looking to maintain their market position and don't have ambitious growth goals.

Target: 3 - 4% of your top-line revenue. The goal is to attract new prospects and retain current customers with advanced tools and strategies. This plan is best for companies that are looking to increase their market share and have moderate growth goals

Stretch: 5% or more of your top-line revenue. Your target is to accelerate your results by applying more resources that are focused on driving leads, conversion, and sales. To do this, you’ll need more complex marketing strategies and cutting-edge tools. Go with this plan if you have ambitious plans to grow and increase your market share.

3) Allocate Your Marketing Budget Dollars

Armed with your goals and a budget, you can now get into the nitty-gritty of developing a tactical plan to transform your marketing dreams into reality! The complexity of your plan will depend on the marketing budget you’ve identified, but you should also consider including tactical plans related to:

•         Web design and maintenance
•         SEO and paid advertising
•          Social media
•         Blogs, newsletters and email marketing
•          Networking and outreach
•         Traditional advertising
•          Misc.

Determine how much of your marketing budget should be allocated to each aspect of your plan.

4) Implement A Marketing Budget Plan

Once you've developed a plan that supports your company's goals, you need to implement it. And to guarantee a successful implementation, you need a team of qualified marketers, designers, and technical experts. You’ve got a few options for creating such a team:

•           Hire an FTE.  A full-time marketing professional who can delegate and outsource.  This will cost a salary, plus benefits and potential contracting fees for services they cannot provide.
•           Contract with a marketing company.  When choosing the marketing contractors, ask questions.  How many clients do they serve at a time, what are their costs, how many people will be devoted to your goals.  The larger the agency, the more clients’ goals they have to focus on.  Ask if they will go on a monthly retainer fee.  This saves you on having to pay benefits
•          Mix it up.  A hybrid team gives you the best of both worlds.  It consists of a small in-house marketing team that's dedicated to one or two key tasks, supplemented by an outside marketing team that can round out your marketing efforts. Be sure that everyone is clear on their roles and responsibilities, agrees on metrics, and is committed to a shared vision for success. This can be a very effective approach to implementing a solid marketing plan!

If you need help developing and implementing a marketing strategy, contact SK Consulting today!  From concept to creation to implementation, we’re there with you every step of the way.

Have a Strategy to Reach Your Goal

“If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail,” is the cheesy catch-phrase of many business coaches, life coaches and inspirational leaders (when addressing us lowly, unorganized individuals).  While it can be infuriating when it is used on you, it is quite relevant and true when it comes to the brutal arena of digital marketing.

A digital marketing strategy is not just something that sounds good to talk about in meetings or something to mumble when your boss asks you what you’re doing on Twitter in the middle of the day. When used properly, a digital marketing strategy can guide you and your business. It can be the Yoda figure that can guide almost every decision you make.

End Goal

This is the whole point of creating a marketing strategy. It’s your strategy’s reason for being. You’d be surprised how many businesses have a marketing strategy ‘because we should have one.’

Thinking about what you want from your strategy is not as simple as it sounds. Like arguing with your partner about who gets the remote control, you’ve got to have a clear idea of what you want and what success at the end of your strategy will look like.

This is no time to be vague. A mission statement of ‘We want to improve sales/make more money’ will absolutely not cut it. You need specifics. Do you want improved sales? How many? From what demographic? By when?

You’re not going to be a billion-dollar business by next Tuesday. Be realistic, focused and perhaps the most important, be honest with yourself.

Everyone on the same page

Your marketing strategy is obviously a secret to your competitors. It’s not, however, a secret from your colleagues. A good marketing strategy that everyone knows and understands can ensure that everyone pulls in the same direction. This can help your branding be consistent and on-message regardless of who is in charge of the Twitter account that day.

Creating a marketing strategy can force you to really analyze your business. What is your personality? How do you want to be viewed? Your brand personality should be genuine and authentic. Otherwise, the public will not want to interact with you. For example, if you’re a small firm of accountants, don’t attempt to be the Ernst & Young of the accountancy world as it won’t appear genuine, nor will it be likely to resonate well with your typical target client. This brings me nicely to my next point.

Do your research

Who are you targeting with your social media strategy? You need to have a clear idea of the demographic to whom you want to market (and a reason why) if you’re going to have a successful strategy. If you’re not entirely sure who this is likely to be, finding out who your customers are is always a useful exercise. There are a number of things you can do to help:

Review your orders: who has been buying from you/using your business?

Assess your followers on social media to determine a ‘typical’ brand advocate.

If it’s a new segment that you’d like to target, do some listening on social media to build up accurate personas of your new targets.

This is important, as your target demographic will dictate which media your strategy should focus on. If you’re going for over 65s, a witty Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram campaign is unlikely to be successful.

Natural Boosts

When you’re creating your strategy, have a look at your calendar. Are there any events that would complement your marketing strategies? A simple example would be a restaurant that wants more couples may naturally gravitate towards Valentine’s Day. Or you could alternatively do an anti-Valentine’s campaign promoting your takeaway services.

The point here is that there are certain events in the calendar that match your marketing strategy. National Beer Day was trending on Twitter on August 4. With some advance planning, a bar could incorporate this into their strategy and offer a promotion based around an online competition.

There is a lot more to a digital marketing strategy than ‘sell more things to more people.’ It takes a bit more thought and strategy, but when you have a solid base, you will find that many of the other elements seem obvious. If you’re still not sure how to build a great strategy, contact SK Consulting. We develop strategies that work for you.  And, just maybe, beer will be involved.  

How’s Your Marketing Working for You?

Do you sometimes feel like your business is missing something?  That your marketing strategy is little strategy and a lot of guessing? Maybe sales leads just aren’t closing, even though you have a great product. Or perhaps your top-of-funnel efforts simply aren’t generating enough leads in the first place.

You aren’t alone. Most businesses — a full 78%  — are dissatisfied with their sales conversion rates.

Regardless of what you’re selling or where your problem lies, there are six key elements of any effective marketing strategy. Marketing strategy doesn’t need to be difficult. Take a look at the following advice on how to make yours effective. 

1. Start with a compelling story. Effective marketing contains all of the elements of an irresistible story. These include characters (target audience); their challenges (pain points) and motivations (desired outcomes); a setting (connecting the dots); obstacles (to the desired outcome); the climax (the value your solution provides); and a conclusion (the delivery of that value).

Once you have these elements in place, you can begin to build the central message that demonstrates how your product or service takes audiences from where they are now to an ideal scenario in which their lives are improved.

Not sure where to begin? Consider tales that captivate you and provide your greater mission in life. Don’t worry if your answer seems silly or overly complex. Get your creative juices flowing, then write.

2. Develop technical expertise. As the number of messaging distribution channels continues to grow, the number of systems required to integrate these channels grows with it. You have to have much more than a passing understanding of the underlying technologies involved in the entire process to successfully establish metrics that enable you to manage a marketing program.

As your marketing efforts mature, be sure to invest in the technology, education, and personnel required to keep them effective over the long term.

3. Coordinate your messaging. All of your marketing efforts should be based on a unified strategy, meaning you should be telling a consistent story across all channels and customer touchpoints.

Disjointed messaging is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving meaningful ROI, but also one of the most common.

People refer to content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization as three different things — as if each is a tactic that can get you there alone.  But, each of these tactics, and any others you use, should be part of a holistic strategy that centers around compelling content.

And speaking of content....

4. Content marketing leads the charge. Content should be the foundation of any modern marketing strategy.  AND your content should be authentic — it should stem from your unique brand story. Unfortunately, many companies still seem to produce content for its own sake, which ultimately gets them nowhere.

Great content is relevant to your customers and your brand, adding value for consumers in a way that aligns with your company’s larger mission.

5. Incorporate employee voices. Authentic content relies on your brand’s unique voice, and your employees are a part of that voice. Empower your employees to become brand advocates.  Have them share their story of why they work for you….and the products or services you offer. Many organizations are reluctant to let go of control in fear of what, or how, the employees will alter the marketing message. Stop it!

Rather than fear what they might say, business leaders and marketers should encourage employees to talk about the services and value their organization provides. If you trust your employees, they’ll typically reward that trust.

6. Focus on branding, not selling. Your marketing messaging should always center on telling your story, not selling your products or services.

Instead of trying to reach everyone, your story will resonate with the customers who share your values and draw them to you.  Have you ever received an advertisement from Apple telling you to BUY their product?  No, because Apple focuses on building relationships.

Apple’s marketing draws potential customers into its brand story, showing them what life is like when they live that story (by using Apple products). The results speak for themselves.

Marketing is both an art and a science, and if you’re struggling to do it right, take your cue from the experts. If you’re not sure where to start or how to implement the above strategies, contact SK Consulting today!  From Concept.  To Creation.  To Implementation.  We’re there with you every step of the way.

Designing a Marketing Strategy: DIY or Hire the Experts?

For many small business owners, developing a well-planned marketing strategy places them firmly ahead of the competition. However, many businesses fail to establish a fully realized strategy, preferring instead to generate a few well-intentioned ideas they hope will magically come together. Unfortunately, hoping to “fake it until you make it” rarely turns out well, especially if your small business has limited marketing resources.

Applying careful consideration and foresight when developing your small business marketing plan can provide a strategic advantage against your less organized competition.  But, even the best initial marketing strategies typically have one thing in common: They’re not very good.

Finishing a first draft never leaves you with a perfected version of what you’re hoping to create. Sherlock Holmes was originally named Sherrinford Hope in the first draft of Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective series, who was then accompanied on his adventures by the good Dr. Ormond Sacker. (Hope and Sacker sounds like a real estate law firm, especially when compared to the iconic Holmes and Watson.)

Point is, the first draft of your marketing strategy will rarely be perfect. Creating a successful strategy requires taking a step back, identifying your most glaring mistakes and patching those areas to create a more comprehensive plan that actually meets your small business marketing needs.

Here’s what to keep in mind.

Work From Facts, Not Assumptions

In most cases, your initial small business marketing plan will be based on assumptions. While some of these assumptions may be based on experience or even some data, the vast majority of them will be based on what you believe correct rather than concrete information on what will actually benefit your business or its target audience. For example, you might think your customers will like a certain type of campaign (witty, educational, informative or downright crazy) because YOU like that type of thing.

Step outside your bubble!  Don’t assume your potential customers will like something just because you do.  If you’re basing the majority of your marketing plan on pure speculation, rather than data or intuition based on years of experience, your foundation for success becomes highly questionable.

Stay Open to Change

Staying too ridged to your initial marketing plan is a major hurdle many small businesses need to overcome when creating a successful strategy. It’s easy to fall into the trap of placing too much faith in the work you’ve already done and not fully consider what alternative strategies might offer a better return on investment.

Successful small business marketing strategies require constant testing, and a willingness to make changes and optimize wherever possible. While there will be times where the first draft of your marketing campaign will prove successful, don’t be complacent. There’s always room for improvement.

Accept Your Limitations

If you have no experience in the creation or implementation of a marketing strategy, you’re going to have little idea of whether your strategy is actually working. If you did, you wouldn’t be working off the first draft of a marketing strategy. You’d have previous experience to draw upon and data to work with. How can you minimize failure? You have two options: Learn by trial and error or hire a team like SK Consulting to handle your marketing strategy. We have the knowledge and know-how needed to help create, plan and execute a marketing strategy that will enable your business to better connect with your target audience and increase sales.

However, if you’re ready for the challenge and the steep learning curve that comes with creating your own small business marketing campaign, we can walk you through the steps.

SK Consulting wants you to have control of your marketing.  We teach our clients how to develop and implement a strategic, effective marketing plan.  If you need help conceptualizing and promoting your brand, contact us today!