Think: 6 Tips for a Killer Marketing Strategy

To achieve incredible success in 2017, you’ll need to plan how to get there. A detailed marketing strategy is one of the best ways to outline your roadmap to growth, and this first blog in our Think, Create, Deliver series addresses the 6 tips you should implement to develop your ‘killer’ marketing strategy.

1. Detail your goals: but be SMART about them

The whole point of a marketing strategy is to ensure you’re taking the necessary steps to achieve your goals… so make sure you know what those goals are! Detail your aims for the next year, and make sure they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) as vague tasks are less likely to be met.

2. Know who you’re talking to

Before you can decide on how you’ll talk to your customers, you’ll need to know who they are. Examine your existing or ideal audience to see how old they are, where they can be found (online and offline), what they like and dislike, what objections they may have to buying, and what their emotional triggers are.

3. Who are you up against?

To understand your position, you need to know your competition. Undertake a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to establish the areas you outperform your competition, and those you must work on. This should also help you to understand your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) which you can use to focus the direction of your marketing.

4. Get your message straight

What are you trying to tell your audience, and convince them to do? You need to understand the intention behind every piece of your marketing – the ‘so what?’. Never send out a message that doesn’t have a thought-out purpose.

5. Know which platforms to use

Now you know your message, what media will you use to distribute it? For some businesses, email or social media marketing may be most effective, whilst for others, direct mail still holds a significant position in the mix. Use the information you’ve gleaned from exploring your target market to know which platform will resonate best. 

6. How will you know you’ve succeeded?

If you don’t carefully monitor your progress, you won’t know whether you’re due to hit your targets or completely off course. Make sure to implement regular reviews, and clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will help you to understand how near you are to your goal. Every piece of marketing should be examined to see how effective it was overall, and preferably split tested against alternate versions of itself to allow you to learn from the process. 

Follow these steps, and your marketing strategy should propel you towards further success in 2017. Our strategic team specialise in developing strategies, including marketing plans and business growth plans, for organisations across a wide variety of industries. 

To get in touch with our strategic team, call 01462 262020 or email [email protected].