.... if you are not willing to play the long game!
Have you published one blog and are now wondering why the phone isn't ringing off the hook?
Been to three networking events this month but still no new leads?
Posted slick social media posts but still no one is banging on your digital door?
A strong and effective marketing strategy is one that has short term, medium term, and long terms goals, and is driven by either an individual or a team that understands how one flows into another.
Marketing strategy development
A good marketing strategy helps you define your vision, mission and business goals, and outlines the steps you need to take to achieve these goals.
Key areas to asses and define are:
What problem does your product or service solve for the client?
Where is your brand sitting in the market place?
What characteristics does your client have? How can you reach them?
Which marketing strategies are you already using? Which tactics will bring the best results? How are you going to measure the effectiveness of your marketing plan?
You will be far more likely to reach your objectives when they are well defined, thoroughly researched - and then set into a clear list of measurable marketing objectives.
Top 10 strategy ideas
These ideas are proven to be effective for business growth:
Content marketing - blogs, web pages, webinars, ebooks, podcasts can increase your visibility and position yourself as an expert or market leader
Social media marketing - share valuable content across your social networks to also increase your visibility and build trust in your brand
Guest speaking gigs - find podcasts or industry event and ask to be a guest speaker (also look for industry trade shows)
SEO - optimise your website to enjoy organic (unpaid) traffic from search engine results
Email marketing - nurture a list of contacts and send tailored, valuable content
Referral programs - this includes affiliate/referral/partner agreements
Offer a lead magnet - either free or paid
Create a loyalty or referral program - reward your customers and generate positive word of mouth
Partner with a larger brand and look for cross-selling opportunities
Paid marketing such as advertising, sponsorships, or paid social media posts
Can you think of any others that have worked for you?
Getting impatient for results?
That's completely normal and not necessarily a bad thing. You can focus on the short term strategies first, get the ball rolling and learn as you go. Over time, you can then develop the longer term strategies.
While marketing strategies often need adjusting over time, you can often build momentum when you set up multiple marketing activities. Like a ball gaining momentum as it rolls down a hill or one of those silly desk accessories from the 80's!
It is this momentum that helps build your brand awareness and promote you as a trusted expert or supplier. We all know that people need to see a brand or name several times over to instils the 'know/like/trust' factor that is so crucial.
Marketing success looks like this
Success comes when you achieve some or all of your objectives. Because we should always be looking to measure our marketing strategy for effectiveness, you will hopefully start to see some of these success markers:
Sales growth
Increased profit
Increased market share
Loyal customer base (repeat customers and/or referrals)
Having multiple marketing strategies running at the same time increases the chance of success.
So commit to playing the long game. Try to do a few small things now, then build on the larger blocks of your strategy over time.
If results are slow, that's okay, as long as you are seeing some changes for the better.
This time next year, you will wish you had started today!
Message me to find out how I can help you with your content rachel@sbcreations.com.au