Marketing Strategy; Not Everyone, Just More
An effective marketing strategy is designed to be a sustainable, forward-thinking foundation to all future marketing initiatives, promotions, and events, that embodies the brand image you have built for your business, and can support the evolving growth of your business. A marketing strategy is not simply about what type of viral content to post and where. Your marketing strategy should be the conduit between the need you are filling - your core purpose - and the people that have the need - your target market. Upon initiating your business, you likely created a baseline marketing strategy as part of your core business. As your business experiences new stages of growth, the whole of the business must grow and adapt; this includes your marketing strategy.
The goal when creating a marketing strategy is not to attract everyone, just more; more people to interact with your brand, more consumers, more advocates, more markets, more demographics, etc. This is an important piece to highlight, as your strategy can easily do more harm than good when you try to focus on too much at once. Additionally, trying to convert an untapped market that doesn’t match with your brand and/or services/products, is simply a waste of time and resources. A successful marketing strategy is a focused strategy.
While the strategy of a business just starting up may look much different than that of a business coming into its tenth year, the fundamentals that go into building a successful marketing strategy are constant. These fundamentals not only provide a concise direction for your marketing initiatives, but also keep you from falling prey to the temptation of casting too wide of a net with your marketing efforts.
The fundamentals of any successful marketing strategy include:
Unicorn Factor
Accessibility
Frequency
Business Lifecycle Process
As mentioned earlier, the strategy of a startup will likely differ dramatically from that of a tenured business. Businesses just starting out must depend on the successful conversions from their marketing campaigns to introduce themselves and their products/services to their market(s). In these initial stages of marketing, the primary goals will be to create brand recognition and content engagement, which is a critical stage for any new business. By creating brand recognition, businesses are creating a connection with their end users, thereby leading to recognition and recall; the more familiar an audience becomes with a brand, the more likely they are to recognize the need in their own lives, and recall the brand as a potential solution. Getting audiences to engage with your content, only further solidifies that connection by sharing your brand story with like-minded audiences; creating connections with your end users through commonalities such as shared causes, humanitarian initiatives, community enrichment, and so on.
Conversely, a tenured business will have already established themselves and their brand to their market(s), and have solidified themselves in their industry amongst their competitors. At this level of marketing, the focus often shifts to expanding their brand story to a global connection, broadening their audience through new offerings or engagements, and continuing to grow successful conversions. A tenured business will likely already have a national presence in their market(s), so the next logical evolution would be to expand that presence globally by providing additional accessibility. Even at this magnitude, it is important to remember that global presence does not mean every person on earth. It simply refers to accessibility at a global scale. For a tenured business to broaden their accessibility to new audiences, there are a couple options: create a new product/service that targets a demographic not currently represented within the business, or offer targeted content to attract under-represented demographics within the business. It is important to note that these efforts should all be targeted, meaning they should be purposeful in attracting a specific new market segment that will convert to brand engagement and product/service sales. By focusing on accessibility and continuous quality of service/product, tenured businesses will be set up with the tools to continue to grow successful conversions and secure new audiences.
Now that we have reviewed a few key differences between marketing strategies for startups vs. tenured businesses, let’s dive into those fundamental constants that make up a successful marketing strategy. No two strategies will (or should) be the same. Your current strategy may include more or less than this, and that’s just fine. This is just meant to provide you with a general baseline. Just as with every other piece of your business foundation, your marketing strategy should be able to answer the “big 5”; who, what, where, when, and how.
The first two fundamental constants will address the “who”; brand imaging, and target market. A brand image, as defined in What is a Brand Image Part 1, is the way people - clients, customers, employees, press, investors, ambassadors - view your business. Simply put, your brand image is telling your audience who you are. A target market, on the other hand, identifies who you best serve. In other words, your target market should be the audience you’re trying to reach that best aligns with your brand, and has the need your business aims to fill. Remember to note the target; you aren't trying to reach everyone, you are trying to reach a more diverse market. And, more importantly, a market that will engage with and nurture your brand.
The next constant addresses the “what”; the unicorn factor. The unicorn factor encompasses your business niche, uniques and guarantees; usually comprising your SWOT analysis results. If your business happens to be in an industry with zero competition, then your product/service itself is your unicorn factor. Even in that instance, however, operating without competition won’t last for long in today’s business world. Therefore, while it may seem like a logical choice to answer the “what” with what you are selling, that will not be enough to distinguish you from the herd. It is imperative to focus on what you have to offer your audience that others do not, will not, and cannot. Establish your business as a unicorn by highlighting your brand as an expert within your niche, promoting that which makes your brand unique, and boasting your service/product and quality guarantees.
The next constant details the “where”; accessibility. In today’s world, accessibility must be considered in both the physical and digital realms. In both spaces, accessibility refers to the ease of access to your brand for current and potential members of your brand’s audience. Advertisement, engagement, and interaction can all happen both physically and digitally. These are important details to consider when building your strategy and are not always contingent on one another. For instance, if you have a brick and mortar establishment, you will likely have strategies for both physical and digital marketing, but you will probably favor more physical marketing; location-based ads, banners, mailers, billboards, etc. However, if you have an online only model, you will likely only use physical marketing for targeted events or launches, and will probably favor more digital marketing; affiliate marketing, newsletters, digital mailers, social media ads, etc. There is one additional factor to consider when addressing the “where” of marketing: location. For physical marketing, you want to consider the most effective location for each campaign. This should be applied throughout the entire development process; from what region the ad would be most successful in, all the way to determining the highest traffic area to place the ad. For digital marketing, you’ll want the same considerations, with a different application; from what regional market, to specific demographic, to which platform(s) to run the ad on. Consider how your audience engages with your brand and products/services throughout your marketing strategy, and continued efforts, to ensure you are providing adequate accessibility to your current and potential future audiences.
The next constant explores the “when”; frequency. It can be all too easy to fall into one of the extremes of campaign frequency; way too little, or way too much. Determining how often your audience wants to interact with your brand through any given accessibility point will depend on a myriad of variables: the quality of your content, the quality of your product/service, the user interaction data of each accessibility point, the level of visibility of your brand, and so on. Even with all of these variables, there are some generalities that can be applied across the board. For instance, if you own a chain of interstate gas stations, and are considering a billboard campaign, the most effective time for someone to see your ad would be when they are about 1 mile away from the exit that will lead them to your location. Alternatively, if you are a major online distributor, and want to run an ad to convert sales from your competitors, the most effective time for someone to see your ad would be on your competitor’s product listing; usually displayed as, “you might also like”, or, “similar items to consider”. Once you can determine the best time for your audience to engage with your brand, determining the frequency will come with time and performance analytics.
The final constant addresses the “how”; business lifecycle process, otherwise known as your proven process. A lifecycle process should not be confused with an operational process. A lifecycle process illustrates the flow of business from start to finish; from the creation of your product(s)/service(s), to the successful receipt to your end user. It is meant to share with your audience what they can expect to experience when interacting with your brand, while an operational process is meant to serve as an internal roadmap providing step by step instructions on how to consistently execute a certain aspect of the business. How businesses operate these days can often be more impactful than the product/service they offer. Consumers oftentimes will research how a company treats their employees by reading employer reviews. Prior to purchasing your product/service, consumers will likely read your reviews/testimonials to determine what people have experienced with the process of interacting with your business. It only takes one negative review to affect the way your audience views your brand. Setting clear, positive expectations for your audience builds trust between them and your brand, and helps to alleviate potential deterrent concerns they may have.
Armed with these six fundamentals of building an effective marketing strategy, you now have the capability to apply them, regardless of what stage of business you are in currently or in the future. Whether you are just starting out, experiencing a growth stage, looking to scale, or in a recovery stage, use these fundamentals as a baseline to further your development efficiently and effectively.
When you’re ready to take the next step, we’re here for you.
