A marketing strategy can set you up for marketing success. As you are creating your own marketing strategy, consider the following steps to help guide your process.
1. Define your business and marketing goals.
The first step in creating an effective marketing strategy is to clarify what your overall business objectives and marketing goals are. In other words: what is the end outcome you are trying to achieve with your market growth strategy?
The answer to this question will inevitably depend on your particular place in the market and your own comfortability with different risk levels.
Some examples of business and marketing goals include:
Grow customer base
Increase sales
Increase brand awareness
Whatever you ultimately decide are you objectives, though, the purpose is simply to take time out and consider what you want to actually accomplish by expanding your marketing efforts. These overarching goals will guide you as you further develop your marketing strategy.
2. Conduct market research.
Strategic marketing requires a comprehensive understanding of the marketplace, its economic and political context, and your place in it. So, market research is a must.
As you are conducting market research, some of the factors will want to consider include:
Competitors, particularly their value proposition and market share
Market size, including the realistic number of customers that would be interested in your products
Market gaps where you can provide value
Possible economic and political realities that could impact the market in the long-term
As you gain a better understanding of the market, you will also better understand how you fit into it and where you can grow in it.
3. Create a customer profile.
The purpose of every marketing campaign is to connect with a consumer. To help guide the development of a strong marketing plan, then, your marketing strategy needs to include a comprehensive profile of your target audience.
It is helpful to consider your target audience in relation to the four Ps. So, you might ask yourself the following questions:
Based on what you know about the market, who is your target audience? What are their key demographics?
What is your product’s value proposition to your customer? (Product)
How much is your target audience willing to pay for your product or service? (Price)
Where does your target audience shop? (Place)
What marketing tactics are most persuasive to your target audience? (Promotion)
As you research and consider these questions, your customer should come more clearly into view. A comprehensive understanding of you target market will help you create a strategy that has impact with those you are trying to reach.
4. Synthesize and strategize.
Finally, you will take the goals you have outlined, research you have conducted, and profiles you have created to construct a marketing strategy. The critical question you will want to answer is: how will you align with your target market to meet your overall objectives?
Your answer to this question will be your strategy.
Ultimately, your marketing strategy should cover the following:
Business and marketing objectives
Market overview, including key facts and figures
Competitor research
Customer profile
General statement of strategy highlighting the product’s value proposition to customers
While you may have collected much information as you were conducting research, your marketing strategy doesn’t need to be too long. In fact, a strong marketing strategy can be as short as one to two pages. Remember, the marketing strategy is meant to act as long-term guide for directing specific marketing tactics, not an action plan of how a marketing campaign will be done.
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