Everything You Need to Know About Building a Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy lies at the foundation of every successful business. By following the steps below, you’ll be able to build a strong and meaningful foundation for your business’s marketing plan.

When I talk to my clients, they tend to get confused between marketing writing, business strategy, and marketing strategy. Therefore, I would first like to clarify what a marketing strategy is.

A marketing strategy involves translating business values and objectives into the content and materials created by the brand. Its primary aim is to support the brand’s identity and drive increased sales. 

Essentially, it’s about attracting audience interest, cultivating trust, and ultimately converting them into paying customers by showcasing the superiority of our business over competitors.

However, to effectively establish and implement a marketing strategy, it’s imperative to ask: What tactics will we employ to accomplish the goals we’ve set?

If this is your first time planning a content strategy, feel free to follow the steps below and make sure you don’t miss anything along the way:

SWOT Model

Surprisingly, the first time I encountered this model was during my second degree in organizational consulting, and not in my sales management career.

At that moment, I didn’t grasp the significance of this model and how it could revolutionize my approach to developing strategies for both my business and my clients. If you’re unfamiliar with SWOT, brace yourself—it’s about to transform your business.

SWOT, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, aims to provide a comprehensive overview of a business’s internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external threats and opportunities that could impact its growth trajectory.

I highly recommend collaborating with your business or organization to identify its strengths that can propel growth and capitalize on opportunities, while also addressing weaknesses and areas for improvement (we all have them), along with external threats that could hinder progress.

Your Value Proposition, or the rationale for your existence in the market, is a cornerstone of an effective marketing strategy. It hinges on your Unique Value Proposition (UVP), which summarizes the key strengths highlighted in your SWOT analysis. These strengths serve to differentiate you from competitors and resonate with potential customers.

Therefore, our value proposition must not only leverage our strengths but also address the real needs of our target audience. For instance, if my primary strength lies in bridging content creation and business strategy, I’ll align my value proposition (such as courses, mentoring, etc.) with this strength and the needs of my audience in understanding content and marketing.

In my view, this is where you should channel your energy. This stage can make all the difference between sealing a sale and facing a “no” from the customer.

I suggest starting with a simple list outlining the key benefits customers derive from working with you, as well as the value your products/services deliver to them. Consider how they progress from their initial point before utilizing your service to reaching their end goals afterward.

Setting Marketing Strategy Goals

As a sales manager in larger organizations, I find myself naturally drawing upon models and work practices from that realm and applying them to smaller businesses. While adjustments are necessary due to differences in responsibilities, budgets, and time constraints for various strategies, smaller businesses can still define and communicate their goals through objectives.

I advocate for setting measurable goals that enable you to measure the success of your processes.

In other words, instead of simply stating, “I want to increase my exposure,” it’s more effective to establish a measurable goal such as “I aim to reach 1,000 likes on my business page within two months” and then determine the necessary actions to achieve that goal.

Measurable goals provide a means to track the progress and effectiveness of your advertising and marketing efforts. When selecting your primary goals, adhere to the SMART model principles: they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

An important aspect that may not be evident to everyone is that marketing goals are dynamic and adaptable. It’s crucial to revisit them every few months and make adjustments as needed. Remember, they serve as tools to help you gauge your success.

We’re here for our customers

It’s evident that we all desire to conclude the month with a healthy balance in our bank accounts. However, I believe that many of us embarked on the entrepreneurial journey not solely for monetary gain, but also driven by a sense of purpose to enact real change across various domains and, of course, to assist others.

The most valuable contribution you can make to your business and your customers is to comprehend your potential audience and communicate with them clearly and transparently. They need to grasp how your product or service can positively impact their lives.

Let’s start by outlining the persona of our potential audience.

The creation of “buyer personas” entails crafting detailed, hypothetical representations of our ideal customers. These personas serve as guides to address the vulnerabilities, pain points, and immediate needs of our audience.

While the process of crafting personas involves gathering insights from websites, social media, reviews, conversations with potential customers, and proactive outreach to interested parties, I suggest commencing with the customers we cherish the most.

If your business isn’t entirely new, it’s reasonable to assume that you’ve already served customers or sold products to some. Contemplate the customers you hold in high regard and construct your personas around them.

Consider their numbers, geographic locations, economic status, interests, how your service benefited them, the transformations they experienced, and why collaborating with them constitutes a success story. This approach will facilitate attracting customers you genuinely enjoy working with into your business.

Know what’s out there

Your business or organization doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There are similar or less similar products or services out there. But in order to stand out and be perceived differently, you need to do things in a thoughtful way. A smart marketing strategy is a plan that will eventually help you thrive and stand out even in saturated markets.

Go out and research and try to understand what your competitors are offering. What are they excellent at? What are their strengths? On the other hand, what are their challenges? What service or product are they not providing well?

Read customer reviews, follow their ads, subscribe to their newsletters – whatever it may be, try to get a broader picture of the standard in your industry and the solutions offered.

Keeping ears and eyes open to what’s happening in your industry is crucial to identifying market gaps, unmet needs, common frustrations, or innovative trends. And if you can address everything and provide a solution in real time – you will succeed in leading your industry.

Appropriate Marketing Platforms

The most common mistake businesses make is diving into all marketing channels and expending significant energy and time across them. It’s crucial to discern where our audience resides and how they prefer to consume information—whether through text, video, audio, images, or other mediums—and tailor our approach accordingly.

If my product targets women over 50, I’m unlikely to prioritize platforms like TikTok or Instagram; instead, I’ll allocate more resources to Facebook and blogging. Conversely, if my audience comprises teenagers, I’ll concentrate on platforms like Snapchat and TikTok.

Don’t overlook this step; it’s vital to comprehend your product, its target audience, and the platforms essential for your marketing success.

Once you’ve identified your primary marketing channels, delineate the amount of time and budget you’ll allocate to advertising, content marketing, paid promotions, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) including keyword research, community management, events, and so forth, based on your business’s nature and the strategies likely to resonate with your future customers.

While some tasks can be managed independently, others, such as keyword research, are best entrusted to specialists.

To summarize,

In order to build a strategic plan for your business or organization, research, thoughtful consideration, goal setting, and of course, time and resource management are required to make your plan efficient and productive. 

Remember, don’t forget to revisit every few months and see if the goals you’ve set are still relevant.

Good luck! 🙂