A Marketing strategy is a must for any business. It will hold the details of how you expect to promote your business, nurture customers and reach the right audience. However, a marketing strategy can seem daunting because it’s such a crucial part of your business and it can seem like a lot when looking at […]
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A Marketing strategy is a must for any business. It will hold the details of how you expect to promote your business, nurture customers and reach the right audience.
However, a marketing strategy can seem daunting because it’s such a crucial part of your business and it can seem like a lot when looking at it from a distance.
This blog will show you the fundamentals and by the end, you’ll have put together a comprehensive marketing strategy.
A marketing strategy is a plan that outlines how a business will achieve its marketing goals using online channels and tactics. It involves using digital platforms such as social media, email, and paid advertising to reach and engage a target audience, drive traffic, and convert visitors into customers.
These are the components that go into building a full marketing strategy. Each section has its benefits, and they all work together to ensure the best possible outcomes for your marketing initiatives.
The marketing mix is a foundational model that refers to the set of actions a company uses to promote its brand, products or service. The traditional marketing mix is made of 4 elements, known as the 4 Ps:
Your goals will be defined by what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts. Whether it’s to increase brand awareness, generate leads, increase website traffic or any other objective. You’ll want to have your goals set before you put the strategy together as they will inform how the rest of the strategy is made.
Goals should be specific. You can achieve this by working with SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) to help keep it clear.
These aren’t set in stone. Goals are made to be flexible, and you can always change whatever you need.
A target audience is a specific group of people who are most likely to be interested in and benefit from your product or service.
Audience segmentation is the process of dividing a broad target audience into smaller, more specific groups based on shared characteristics like demographics, psychographics geographics, firmographics and behaviours.
Buyer Personas represent your ideal customers in those segments. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional character based on real data that includes age, gender, income, location, hobbies, values, interests and even behavioural traits.
This allows businesses to create personalised marketing strategies that cater to the unique needs, preferences, and behaviours of each segment. By delivering the right messages to the right segments, businesses can increase engagement, improve customer experiences and drive better results.
A marketing budget is a financial plan that outlines the amount of money a business allocates to its marketing efforts over a specific period, usually monthly, quarterly, or annually. It covers all expenses related to:
The goal of a marketing budget is to ensure that resources are effectively allocated to achieve the company’s marketing objectives, such as increasing brand awareness, driving sales, and engaging customers.
Market Research is the process of gathering and analysing information about a market, including insights into customer needs, behaviours and preferences.
Competitive analysis is a type of market research where you review your competitors’ marketing presence and what their customers are saying to determine their strengths, weaknesses, strategies and market position.
Completing a comprehensive SWOT analysis can help identify opportunities and threats in the market, enabling you oversight to refine your own strategies and stay competitive. By studying competitors, you can gain insights into what works and what doesn’t in their industry, helping make more informed decisions.
This is the part of your strategy where you’ll create the content your audience is looking for. Your content should be valuable, relevant and consistent with your brand. You’ll develop brand messaging to keep consistency across all marketing channels.
Content includes blogging, videos, social media updates, infographics, podcasts and more. Creating content is a key component of your strategy, as it helps your business engage with its audience, build brand awareness and drive conversions.
Setting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will allow you to measure the effectiveness of your strategy. KPIs aren’t static and need to be regularly reviewed and adjusted based on performance and changes in your business goals.
Now that you’ve defined all the parts of a marketing strategy, you’ll need to implement them. Here’s an overview of how you can take action step by step.
First things first you’ll need to have a good idea of what the market looks like in your industry. Through market research, you’ll identify opportunities and reduce risks when launching new products or entering new markets.
The process typically starts by defining specific research objectives, such as understanding customer preferences, analysing competitors, or exploring potential demand for a new product. Once the goals are clear, businesses have 2 options:
Market research ensures that your strategy Is based on solid market data rather than assumptions.
With market research, you’ll be able to identify pain points or basically what your audience needs and how you’re going to solve it for them
Once you’ve completed your market research you’ll start to set some goals. These goals are what your marketing efforts are going to achieve.
To start setting goals ask yourself:
When finding your target audience, you’ll need to consider the product or services you’re offering.
For example, CH4B gives business owners back time and reduces overwhelm using vetted expert partners, learning resources and business support and coaching. It can be used by any business but SMEs are the target audience because they’re most likely to need the services we offer.
Having already done competitor research you can start to imagine what kind of people would be interested in a business like yours.
Once you know who you’re targeting, segment the audience into smaller groups based on shared characteristics like demographics, behaviour, or interests.
Next, develop buyer personas—semi-fictional profiles representing each segment—detailing their specific needs, preferences, and pain points to tailor your messaging and approach accordingly.
Once you know all you can about who you’re talking to and their needs it’s time to present your USP and how your product or service is everything they’re looking for.
Here are some key considerations when developing your messaging:
It may be necessary to adapt your messaging for different channels but ensure that all your messaging keeps consistency.
There are many marketing channels to choose from, each with unique strengths and characteristics. Choosing the right ones depends on your target audience, marketing goals and resources.
Here are a few examples:
Magazine Advertising
Radio and TV Marketing:
Tip: Before investing in paid ads, ensure that your conversion process is smooth and efficient. A consistent and optimised conversion rate means that visitors are successfully moving from initial interest to completed actions (such as a purchase or sign-up) without unnecessary friction.
If you’re paying for top-of-the-funnel leads but they drop out halfway through due to complications like a confusing checkout process, unclear calls to action or your sales team is struggling to close sales, you’ll lose potential customers and diminish your return on investment (ROI).
Data is one of the most important parts of marketing because it tells you if and how well your efforts are working and if you’re on target to reach your KPIs.
Utilise tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and CRM systems to gather and monitor data.
Focus on specific metrics for each marketing channel—like click-through rates for email campaigns or engagement metrics for social media—to determine which strategies are delivering the best results.
In business unexpected changes may strike. This is why it’s important to keep reviewing your marketing and data to be best prepared for minor mishaps or even a bigger crisis.
Also don’t forget about major holidays and certain events like Christmas and Black Friday/Cyber Monday. These events can bring great opportunities for your marketing efforts and spending extra time preparing for them early is worth it.
Whether you’re offering discounts or special offers, people are looking to spend money during this period, so it pays to be ready and get your business front of mind.
After building your marketing strategy the next step will be to start rolling out the strategy across your chosen channels, such as social media, email marketing, paid ads, or content marketing.
Launching a marketing strategy also needs to be supported by a strong sales process. CH4B and our Experts can support to ensure the marketing strategy blends with the overall business strategy
CH4B have helped businesses develop the perfect marketing strategy for them and we can do the same for you too.
No more overwhelming marketing jargon and complicated steps. With guidance from one of our strategic business advisors, you’ll always have someone to help with questions and keep you accountable.
Book a call today to see how we can help and don’t miss our upcoming Expert Insights webinar, “Developing a Sales-Generating Marketing Strategy for Your Business” with Paul Rees Associates to gain expert insights on building a strategy that works! Register Now.
