Marketing is one of the cornerstones of every successful small business. Investing in your website, social media and local advertising will connect you to new customers and become a vital driver of business growth.
However, if you want your marketing efforts to be rewarded, you need a marketing strategy. This is a crucial plan that will guide how and where you choose to advertise; it will detail which channels you’re going to prioritise and the specifics of the audience you’re marketing to.
As with any detailed strategy document, getting started can be confusing, especially if you’re in the early stages of leading your small business. This article will guide you through everything that needs to be in your marketing strategy document so you can focus on selling.
What is a Marketing Strategy?
Your marketing strategy is a long-term plan focusing on how you will use marketing channels to reach customers. It should be tailored to your business goals, products and audience and adapt to accommodate changes in your wider business strategy.
It’s not to be confused with a marketing plan, which is more specific than a marketing strategy. Your marketing plan will focus on specific actions for each channel and include details of your budget for each campaign and the exact types of content you want to create.
Steps to Creating Your Marketing Strategy
1.Set your goals
A marketing strategy must be tailored towards your business goals. These goals may be related to the central message of your brand or be measurable goals like earning a specific amount of revenue within the next two years. These goals will help you stay on-brand with your marketing messaging and guide your efforts.
2. Conduct marketing analysis
Your strategy will include details of the industry you’re operating in as well as the marketing strategies of your competitors. You can use this information to look for popular trends that will guide your marketing campaigns and explore how you can stand out from other similar products and services.
3.Establish the four Ps
This is a popular marketing technique to clarify your product offering and how you will find an audience. The four Ps are:
- Price
- Product
- Place
- Promotion
By filling in the details of each category, you can refine your marketing strategy by thinking about where your product stands alongside your competitors and exactly how you will sell it. Your answers will inform which channels you prioritise and how you create targeted campaigns.
Our Advice
Your small business must have a marketing strategy. This document will guide your efforts and ensure you focus on the right channels depending on your product and audience.
Once you’ve created an initial strategy, it’s crucial that you continually review and revise your plan as your business grows. With this in mind, you should conduct marketing strategy reviews at least once a year to ensure that you’re still on the right track and that your goals haven’t changed.
