How To Develop A Marketing Strategy

For businesses both big and small, marketing is a key component to success. But for small businesses and startups, it is even more important since they may not have as much of a budget to work with, or not have much of a customer base to start with, or be established enough for there to already be some brand recognition. Without proper marketing, it will be very hard to get the much-need patronage of customers and make sales. So for businesses to effectively market their brand to consumers, they need to develop a successful marketing strategy that is multi-faceted, realistic and consistently implemented over time.  These few tips will help get a marketing strategy started.

1. Positioning

The first step is to figure out where your company stands in the market. You need to know what products and services you can offer to your customers, and who you differ from your competition and what makes your products better. Know your strengths and weaknesses, your opportunities and threats.  Detail any specific activities you will undertake

2. Target Audience

Who are you targeting your marketing towards? Who are your prospective buyers? What are their characteristics? This can be in terms of demographics – age, sex, family situation, geographic location, income – or in terms of their lifestyle and personality. What are their needs? Whoever your target audience may be, make sure to narrowly define them in this section, as it will act as your guide for when you plan your media and public relations campaigns.

3. Goals

Be clear about what your ultimate goals are. What is the end result you are after? Increase brand awareness? Increase product sales? When do you want to achieve your goals? First think long-term, then figure out your immediate objectives. Once you have your goals in mind, you can start to develop your marketing tactics. Make sure your goals are measurable so you can see if you achieve them.

4. Strategies and Tactics

This is the main part of your marketing plan. Include tactics to reach prospects in different areas of your sales cycle: cold (new prospects), warm (those previously exposed to your marketing), hot (those previously exposed and close to a sale). Try to choose activities that suit your business as well as your customers. Don’t advertise in the newspaper if your target audience isn’t inclined to read the paper. If they’re likely to be active on social media, use it. If they’re likely to listen to the radio, advertise there. Just about everyone uses e-mail, so use it to market your brand. Consider offering a low-cost pricing strategy (offer a coupon or something) to first-time buyers.

5. Budget

Marketing isn’t free. Whatever tactics you decide to use, realize you’ll have to set aside a percentage of your gross sales towards a marketing budget. Figure out how much you want to use for marketing and how much your tactics will cost. If the latter exceeds your budget, go back and modify adjust plan until it fits. There are so many different kinds of tactics available, there’s a mix that can fit just about every budget.

Along with these tips, be sure to revisit your strategy at least once every quarter to make sure you’re on target and see if anything needs to be revised.