When you’re running a business, your main goal is to be profitable. One of the ways this happens is getting customers to purchase your products or services and constantly comp your sales projections. But how do you get these customers to purchase your products or services from your business? Marketing.

            Marketing is promoting your products or services, usually through methods of advertisements. It’s an important thing to use, especially if you want to introduce a new product, gain traffic on your company website, and increase sales. In order to market your company and products well, you need something called, a marketing strategy.

Defining A Marketing Strategy

            A marketing strategy is essentially a company’s game plan when it comes to converting potential customers into actual customers. There’s a lot that goes into a marketing strategy, and this can include things like data on a company’s competition, target demographics, brand messaging, etc. They involve information on the product, price, promotion, and place, amongst other things.  

Is it different than a marketing plan?

Yes. The best way to know the difference between the two is that a marketing strategy is long term marketing whereas a marketing plan is short-term marketing for a specific campaign. For example, a marketing strategy is there to market your company overall. If you decide to have a specific sale on your products, a marketing plan can be used to do so. For ideas on marketing, click here.

Your business will benefit from a Marketing Strategy

            You’ll be able to keep a competitive advantage over your competitors with a marketing strategy. You’ll be able to understand your potential customers better and answer their wants and needs using ads and social media campaigns.

            You’ll be able to create goals for your company and figure out how to apply marketing to reach these goals. For example, if your goal is to increase your brand awareness, you can implement a marketing strategy that advertises your company more often or in different ways. You can do commercials, online ads, and social media posts to increase your brand’s awareness. Your goals will mold your marketing strategy.

How do I make one?

            Easy. Do your research. You can never have too much information. Once you’ve compiled as much information as you can find, you can start making pricing decisions and make campaigns for your products. Until then, you need to know a few things first.

            You need to know who your customer is. What do they want? What do they need? Who are they as people? This will help you cater to their needs. For example, if your target audience is young people in their twenties, then social media campaigns can help you gain customers. If, however, your target demographic is people in their sixties, television or print ads might be a better marketing option.

            Here are ten ways to get to know your customer better: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10330-connect-with-customers.html

            You’ll also need to know your competitor. Who are they? What makes their product different than yours? What do they sell their similar products for? This can help you change the way you market your products and how you price them out. You can stay competitive by lower prices to make your products more enticing. You can advertise special features to your product that makes you stand out from your competitors. This will give you the competitive edge you need to be successful.

            You also want to know what your goals are. Is it to increase sales or brand awareness, or is it to get an extra 300 people enrolled in your company’s loyalty program by the end of the year? Regardless of what it is, goals can help you formulate your marketing strategy.

            Once you have all your information together, you can build a marketing strategy that reflects these goals. You can create promotions, advertisements, and social media campaigns that will help increase your business and improve your sales based on these goals. Write everything down or put it all into a program so you can keep track of your ideas.

Implementing your marketing strategy

            Now that you have your research and a plan in place to accommodate your research, it’s time to implement your marketing strategy. You can make a document that is good for twelve months. This should be a structured timeline for all your marketing efforts and events. You can include your short-term marketing plans in this document.

Let’s say you’re launching a new product and it’ll be ready in March. In your timeline, you should incorporate the launch date so you can plan your advertisements and marketing plans early. That way you’ll be able to really make sure that you’ve given your marketing ideas enough time and energy before launch.

Your marketing strategy should be tailored to your business. It should be something that is totally unique from any other marketing strategy you’ve created or been a part of. Remember, what worked in one business does not guarantee it will work for you.