Too often, marketers consider only the promotional choices (advertising methods, marketing collateral, etc.) when building a marketing strategy. We all know that you need to nail down a target market, a message, and a way to reach reach them. However, there is a great deal more to a solid marketing plan. Here are five elements of a marketing strategy that you should never leave out.
Element #1: Market Research
Market research is crucial. There is no way to know if your advertising message is on point if you don’t ask your customers. Most business have almost too many messages, all crammed into one marketing piece, none of which are easy to remember.
Consider asking whether customers what is most important to them, and how they feel about your entire offering, including the value for the price. You might receive some feedback that takes your business in a completely unexpected direction — or one you had considered, but had been hesitant to embrace.
Element #2: Pricing Strategy
Some people think that it will work just as well to form their marketing strategy without examining their current pricing. The problem is, pricing is a vital part of your strategy because it often makes the difference as to whether customers will actually buy. Pricing your goods or services too low or too high can drive clients away or simply make your competitors the more attractive option. If anything, pricing is one of the first aspects of your business that you should examine when creating or revising your marketing strategy. Another good reason to do market research, as mentioned in Element 1.
Element #3: Fine-Tuning your Offerings
This is very similar to the thinking on pricing — the assumption that you don’t necessarily need to change or examine your current product offerings (or services) as part of your marketing strategy. Again, this is a mistake. Sometimes, the reason you’re losing you sales is related to the fact that your competitors simply have a better offering. Maybe you offer Service A; but they’re offering Services A, B and C and it’s an offer your clients can’t resist. You need to know the gaps in your service offering, and fix them. No amount of advertising can overcome a weak offering in the long run.
Element #4: Sales Support
Quite simply: your marketing plan absolutely needs to involve your sales team, and consider the selling strategy at every step. The marketing tools should bring leads to the sales force, and the sales efforts (wins/losses) should be considered as part of the marketing research. As you formulate your marketing strategy, stay in communication with your sales team and find out what they need and what will help them to generate leads and close sales – it could be memberships to key industry associations, sales training, or even better database funnel setup. Regardless how well you drive leads in the door, if the sales team cannot track and close the leads, you will not achieve the revenue you need.
Element #5: Creativity
Some businesses, specifically those that are in very technical industries, think that if they use creativity in their marketing they won’t be taken seriously. Creativity is a weapon against boredom, and a bored, disengaged audience is the killer of all marketing. The right visual strategy (and it needs to be ON POINT with what you are saying about your brand) can set a mood and brand tone for a company that is memorable and sets them apart, i.e fuzzy animals make your brand seem friendly…talking robots make a brand look high-tech, you get the idea. No matter the industry you’re in, creativity can take all of the spending you do and make it dramatically more effective.
The point is, marketing strategy is a lot more than spending a budget. If your ultimate goal is to make that top-line revenue roll in the door, and it should be, there are deeper decisions you need to consider. Get it right, and you’ve got a strategy, not just a bunch of random marketing.
If you need a hand with any of these points, we can help. Click here to get in touch.
