Every business needs a marketing strategy. But searching online for a generic marketing strategy template or adopting a strategy from a popular business authority can leave your business with a marketing approach that doesn't fit quite right.
Instead, get your business's comprehensive marketing strategy custom-made with the help of Mid-West Family Eau Claire. We will work with you to identify your core business objectives and needs, the target market you can prioritize, and the resources you have or need to pull everything together.
Let us look at what processes go into developing a custom strategy and how to keep refining it over time for years of strong performance:
Define Clear Goals Aligned with Your Business Objectives
A great marketing strategy is an extension of your business plan. It should be a tool through which you zero in on and act on marketing-related business objectives, such as reaching new audiences, increasing sales, or developing a more robust online presence in your local area. Take any business objectives your company has and create narrower and more specific goals that are actionable.
One framework you might use is developing SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time) goals, but any system that results in you having specific, action-oriented goals that must be achieved or progressed within a set time frame can provide the focus for more streamlined campaigns and marketing moves.
Understand the Target Market Through Thorough Research
Before you start launching campaigns or creating material, you need to know exactly who you're speaking to. Who is your target audience?
To answer this question, you need to conduct thorough research. You might parse through past sales and marketing data, hire a research firm, or start collecting data about the people engaging with your brand. This is all in service of understanding who wants your products or services so you can serve their needs better with more targeted and engaging marketing materials. At this stage, try to have a clear understanding of:
- Who your audience(s) is/are
- Their demographic details
- Their preferences and behaviors
- Pain points that your products or services solve for
Conduct a SWOT Analysis
Now that you've analyzed your audience, analyze your business. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis will give you a deeper understanding of your business's current position in the market.
The first two aspects primarily focus on internal factors, while the latter two focus on competition and external considerations.
Develop a Compelling Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
Even if you operate in a competitive niche, your company needs to have a unique value proposition (UVP), or unique way of solving a customer's pain points that your competitors do not.
For example, you may offer more tutorials and support resources than competitors, or you might be the only business in a certain area of town. Identify or develop a UVP that strongly aligns with your audience's pain points.
Establish a Strong Brand Identity and Consistent Messaging
Once you have a UVP, develop that into your brand identity, along with other factors like your business's values.
Your brand identity will incorporate your logo and color scheme, brand voice, and messaging norms. Develop resources like a brand guide so you always stay consistent.
Leverage a Multi-Channel Marketing Approach
Every business can benefit from using both online and offline marketing approaches to both increase brand recognition and to convert prospects to paying customers. Using multiple channels at once increases engagement and minimizes the risk that you are missing part of your audience.
Popular marketing channels that Mid-West Family Eau Claire can help with are:
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Paid advertising and influencers
- Events
- Content marketing through a business blog and YouTube channel
Create Valuable Content and Maintain a Consistent Content Strategy
That last channel approach—content marketing—is particularly valuable for today's businesses. Consistently creating content that entertains or informs your audience increases your exposure and can help develop trust. There are multiple forms of content you can use, such as podcasts, videos, articles, and infographics.
However, consistency is key. Develop a specific content strategy and content calendar to guide your efforts so you post at regular intervals and prioritize high-value topics.
Implement a CRM System to Manage Customer Relationships
A good marketing strategy isn't about campaigns and projects, it's also about the internal tools and resources you should have on hand. A marketing CRM system can help you track the movement of leads, assess the results of different campaigns, and help you improve customer relationships by sharing data across your marketing, sales, and support arms of the revenue team.
Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms are user-friendly databases that your team can automate or manually update with the latest information about customers and communication.
Use Data Analytics to Track and Optimize Marketing Efforts
The data you accumulate in your CRM and your marketing analytics tools are crucial. These systems can track these metrics and more:
- Customer acquisition cost
- Website traffic
- Conversion rates for different web pages or online campaigns
- The ROI (return on investment) of individual campaigns
With this data, you can more confidently refine in-progress campaigns or plan future ones based on past results.
Continuously Refine the Strategy Based on Data and Customer Feedback
Your data analytics and CRM, as well as the goals you set at the beginning of the period, are pivotal in helping you create a stronger marketing strategy every annual period.
You can measure the results of your efforts to determine future priorities, make changes, or increase the budget for successful campaigns. Making data-backed decisions is one of the best ways to consistently grow your business while minimizing risks and guesswork.
Develop Your Comprehensive Marketing Strategy with Mid-West Family Eau Claire
Building, implementing, and refining a comprehensive marketing strategy involves a lot of moving parts.
The marketing experts at Mid-West Family Eau Claire are here to help. Contact us today to learn more about our approach or to get a business evaluation to get started.
