Create a Marketing Strategy for Businesses
What do you think distinguishes businesses who remain on track to reach $10M in yearly revenue from those who barely make ends meet? They can clearly communicate the value of their product or service to everyone who needs them without over-simplifying, generalizing, or confusing their audience. Any successful business is therefore distinguished by a clear and well-developed strategy. Furthermore, many business owners are so entrenched by “the dumpster fire of the day” or simply running their business, that they simply do not have enough time to work out a marketing strategy at the proper level.
What is the “proper level”? It’s simple: a competent strategy will enhance the results of your marketing initiatives. This is a chain of decisions that will turn your daily tactics into a reliable action formula, aimed at results: the improved brand exposure to the market, new deals, higher conversion rates, user involvement, or the development of your corporate culture.
Today we will lay the foundation, tested by hundreds of small companies that grew, grew stronger, and developed better than their competitors. And they all started with five steps to create an effective marketing strategy:
- Differentiation of the market niche in which they work.
- Creation of a unique trade offer.
- Determination of the main competitors and analysis of their marketing activities.
- Formation of the competitive advantage of the brand.
Who is your target audience?
The first decision is the most important. Who do you work for? In many cases, the answer to this question will mean saying “no” to potentially huge customers -who are not your ideal client. They can appeal to you, you can satisfy their request – but by trying to appeal to everyone your message will become confusing and you’ll miss out on larger growth than those few opportunities represent as a result of being confusing to your niche. This is difficult and causes a lot of inconvenience at the very beginning of your strategic journey. Endure. The narrower the focus, the better the service. And only then, having created a powerful client base, should you think about expanding. A clear differentiation of efforts aimed at specific people is a pledge of effective marketing and business in general. In addition, there are only a few types of business models that really work. And each of them is directly tied to the specifics of the target audience, in particular – the B2B segment.
In what niche do you work?
A niche or category is a short description of your business. Take it as a slogan: Starbucks sells “quality coffee”, Joseph Studios provides “data-driven marketing results”.
It’s amazing how many business owners cannot resist the temptation to tell about everything at once. As a result, an unintelligible definition is obtained, which attracts not the target audience at all and confuses clients. A clear and simple wording will help to set marketing priorities. This is branding. If a person painfully tries to remember what you do, then you have a problem. Formulate the essence of your business with a laser focus.
Who are your competitors?
Each client looks for a solution to their problem and compares the alternatives. Whether it’s search results or social networks, a portfolio on your website or a corporate blog, any of your messages should carry the key idea: what do you offer and why choose your brand. Now I’m talking not so much about the competitive advantage as about clear differentiation from competitors. Nevertheless, many businesses do not pay enough attention to the other players. Segment your competitors, and emphasize the differences found in your messages.
How are you better?
Once you decide on the competitors, pay attention to your competitive advantages. The list can be long – prioritize your advantages and, again, you do not need to talk about everything at once. Select one or two strong arguments to place them on the main page of your site. People want to know what will help them make a decision. Are your services cheaper? Do you work faster? Do you give guarantees? Are you one of a kind?
Recap:
I hope you’ve already answered all five questions. Let’s sum it up using a simple formula:
[Company name] is the leader in [the niche] that provides [a unique service]. Unlike competitors, we do it better [what and how].
This is a reliable formula, and it’s the foundation of your marketing strategy, which is necessary in order to build your entire empire. Once you have this essential component narrowed down and locked in, you’ll be ready to take on the next And only then, when you are able to cope with today’s task, proceed to a pointed study of your strategy:
- create an exceptional marketing plan
- write an optimal SEO strategy
- Understand your blogs and landing pages
- and configure effective contextual advertising
