Like a boat on a long journey, a business that tries to be everything to everyone is going to travel aimlessly. Not only are time and resources poorly used, but customers may want to get off the ship.
Fortunately, marketing strategy is a brilliant tool that’s available to you.
It doesn’t matter if you work alone, employ a small team or run a large organisation, a marketing strategy gives you clarity. It ensures you focus on the right people, know what to say, and how best to reach them. Marketing strategy does need work. But it’s worth it.
You're not alone
Social media makes it very easy to see the tactics other businesses use to reach customers, whether it’s sponsoring events, networking or TikTok videos. So it’s very easy to start panicking and telling yourself YOU need to do that too.
At the same time, many businesses believe that by having a website (tick), being on social media (tick) and optimising their SEO (tick), all their marketing needs are ticked off. If that were true we’d all be millionnaires. The trick to success (if it is that) is to think. Hold yourself back from getting on with solutions, however tempting it is. That fun can come later.
The reason why strategy is important, is it gives you direction. It’s so simple, but when you know where you’re going, all the decisions you make about your marketing are easier as they’re informed, they make sense, they’re actually based on something.
What makes a good marketing strategy?
A good marketing strategy is straightforward and structured, following a simple process. It shows the relationship between the ‘strategy’ (the thinking) and the ‘tactics’ (the doing, things like marketing communications, distribution channels and pricing decisions).
It is based on data and insight, rather than ‘gut instinct’. You are not your customer, so talk to your customers, get data from your systems, spend time evaluating your competitors, how do they compare to you? And feed that insight into your strategy.
Marketing strategy is made up of four areas:
(1) segmentation
(2) targeting
(3) proposition
(4) objectives
Few organisations have a true marketing strategy – so think about how much you’ll stand out, how much your new customers will appreciate what you do, and how your business will benefit financially. You can delve a bit deeper into what is marketing strategy as it’s likely to be useful.
The important first steps
Pulling together insights at the start pays off massively later. Believe me, I’ve done this and you get eureka moments every time.
Start with your customers. And think of it as being a detective – out there looking for those missed nuggets of information. These help you identify and map more target customers. It doesn’t need to be expensive or onerous; some you can do yourself, other information you can glean that’s already done for you – like ONS data on the size of your market. Talking to people in your network, clients and non-clients, is also incredibly important to give soft insight, things that figures just can’t measure.
Use this information to segment or map out your market. You can do this in a grid of important parameter (eg. location, business size), and add data into each segment (average order value, number of prospects, share of market). This gives an academic way to identify the best target segments to go after. The important thing is to focus on just one or two of these segments. Ignore the rest, otherwise you’re not targeting, and that’s what your competitors are doing.
It absolutely feels unnatural, but it’s important to be brave. By focusing on the core few, you develop a strong identity and clear message just for them, and select marketing communications just for them. Your audience see you as most relevant to them, and choose you – as you get them, and you’re not bland like the competition.
Whether you decide to target academic women in their 30s, ethical businesses or pet owners, you’re now targeting based on knowledge and insight. You have direction.
Clarity and direction
A vital part of developing a marketing strategy is the objectives to measure performance. This should be based on all the insight you have gathered and the target audiences you’re prioritising (remember, just one or two!)
They need to be SMART – specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic and timed.
I like the ambitious yet realistic bit. It’s not a contradiction. They’re a little bit scary, they push you and get you out of your comfort zone. You’ve got to do something about them. They’re not an easy ride, but at the same time, they are achievable with lots of plans and hard work.
And get some figures in there – % increases or £ increases, it doesn’t matter. With an end date – depending on what you’re planning, I’d say 18 months as a minimum.
Your marketing objectives give you a clear direction that you can use to make decisions, monitor performance, learn and adjust for next year, and give you something to celebrate when you achieve them!
The big picture
It’s hard to step back in business but when you do it with your marketing strategy, it brings huge benefits.
- A marketing strategy provides immense clarity and gives you and your team a shared vision and purpose.
- It clearly sets out who you are targeting, what you stand for, how you want your potential customers to perceive you, and, finally, what objectives you have set to measure your performance.
- You’ll make better choices about the tactics you use so that you don’t waste precious time and budget.
- You’ll stand out from your competitors – you stand for something, be it simplicity, customer service, experience, honesty or punctuality – not just a whole host of messages that everyone is giving out.
- It gives you the ability to set and measure performance.
- Your customers will believe you’re the most relevant and perfect fit for them, driving new business and improving loyalty.
Once you have strategy, start to make changes and decisions on your tactics and the doing!
