In my experience, business owners seem to build marketing up to be a big, horrible and complex thing to tackle. It constantly comes up as one of the main stressors for my clients. I am here to steer you away from the mindset that marketing is a minefield. It’s my job to teach you how to manage it properly, giving you the opportunity to elevate your business.
From an outside perspective, it might seem as though I find marketing “easy”, which I promise you isn’t the case. However the key difference is, I find marketing more digestible because I have immersed myself within this world for many years. Marketing is not something you can just learn inside out, overnight. It’s a skill that we have to develop as entrepreneurs and like any skill, you don’t just simply acquire this without research and practice.
On top of trying to grasp the fundamentals of marketing, you are also trying to be the best business owner, whilst juggling copious amounts of work, and wearing several hats at once. Becoming an expert marketer is simply not feasible with the time restraints you have, hence the stress it seems to cause.
We want to help make your marketing more manageable by demystifying some of the marketing mix and with that in mind, let’s take a moment to talk strategy.
A marketing strategy is fundamental in pushing your business forward.
So, what does that actually mean? Well, anyone can start marketing their brand today. You can throw some budget at some ads right now. You could stick a post out on social media. And hey, you’ve done some marketing. But that isn’t a strategy. That’s a series of disconnected activities, with a possible vague aim or purpose.
A strategy goes much deeper than that. It’s something that should be highly-considered and well-thought-out. When executed correctly, a marketing strategy should generate new eyes on your brand consistently. To do this, you need to create purposeful content and messaging, across a series of chosen marketing channels. You also need goals, metrics and ways to measure what’s working and what’s not. All of this should result in more revenue, a reduction in stress and time-saving as you say goodbye to panic posting.
Now I’ve hopefully opened your eyes to the importance of this, let’s break down the core components of what we consider to be a well-rounded marketing strategy, with the right foundations.
Brand and Business Foundations
Ensuring you have a beautiful brand identity, including solid foundational elements is crucial to being able to execute a successful marketing strategy. When our branding is disjointed or unprofessional, it does nothing but create a scattered and disconnected experience. Therefore, it instils uncertainty for your potential customers or clients. Without that know, like and trust factor, it’s very difficult to successfully convert sales.
Now, if branding is as equally as baffling as marketing for you, please don’t panic. We have a blog that can help you to at least get started, ensuring you have the right foundations before throwing yourself into marketing. And if you’re ready to dig a little further, you might want to pick up our Power of Branding Ebook.
Equally, competitor and market research are vital and will help you to understand where you need to position your business. Without this, you’re essentially going into the market blind and hoping for the best. You need to respond to consumer demand, and have a real understanding of what your customers or clients need. It’s one of the most common reasons that a business will fail – they simply aren’t offering the right product or service, at the right price, and at the right time.
On that subject, you also need to fully understand your ideal client. Think demographics, psychographics, and the buyer’s cycle. There is a lot to consider when thinking about buyer personas; take a look at this helpful feature which focuses on what they are and how to use them in your business.
Goal Setting
A huge part of the marketing mix is understanding your business priorities. Without this, your marketing is just a case of throwing things against the wall and hoping something sticks. There’s nothing to measure against, making future decision-making extremely risky.
To make this digestible for you, it is best to split your priorities out into strategic and commercial goals. Strategic goals are things like product launches, big projects (like a new website launching) and other non-monetary goals/metrics. Commercial goals directly link to revenue. They include things like client intake numbers and product sales.
If you make a list of goals and you’re sitting there thinking – how am I going to manage all of this? I personally recommend working in 12-week sprints, which allows you to take your big chunky goals and break them down into manageable chunks.
Marketing Channels and Comms Strategy
Once you know what you are selling, who you are selling it to and when, you can start forming your marketing strategy.
Picking out the key channels that you will be working with is the first step here but remember to take into consideration your strengths as an entrepreneur as you do this. For example, there is little point in selecting YouTube if you can’t stand the creation of video and you don’t have the right equipment available.
You also need to ensure you fully understand your ideal client pain points and define your core brand content pillars before you start writing content. I highly recommend batching content wherever possible – it’s much less stressful.
Measuring Success and Celebrating Wins
As I’ve already mentioned, metrics matter.
Without milestones or benchmarks to aim for, it is very easy to end up floundering without direction and focus. Additionally, let’s not forget to celebrate the wins! By setting key metrics up front, you can celebrate success in your business. It’s particularly important to mark the occasion of a business breakthrough. Above all, it keeps you motivated and leaves you feeling proud – and so you should!
Hopefully, you have read these points and are feeling a little more reassured and motivated to try and master your marketing strategy.
I know this is a huge topic. Are you thinking…
- What are my next steps?
- Can I really tackle the marketing world myself?
- How do I really outline my ideal client?
- What metrics should I be measuring
Fear not. I’ll never leave you hanging! I can help you to dig deeper into your business and crack the backbone of marketing. Our Marketing Starter Kit Course is an invaluable tool.
The course is self-guided and self-paced. The course is delivered with several options to consume the content (audio, video and text) and there are five extensive modules to dig into. If you’re just getting started with your business or marketing strategy, it’s the perfect place to begin.
Want to know more?
Begin your marketing strategy course today!
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