Marketing budgets are increasing year by year. As businesses seek to attract new customers and put their brand on the map, marketing has become increasingly influential. Spending money on campaigns can help companies to hit targets and achieve objectives, but success is never guaranteed. To accomplish goals, you have to have an effective strategy. In this guide, we’ll discuss how to turn good results into great outcomes.
Define your target audience
The first step to take when drawing up any kind of marketing strategy is to define your target audience. Who are you looking to connect with and sell or market to? It’s crucial to tailor every campaign to the relevant buyer or customer. If your campaigns lack focus, or you adopt a scatter-gun approach, you run the risk of missing the mark and failing to reach people who would have a genuine interest in your products or services. Pinpoint a target market and use it as a foundation to start building campaigns, creating content and marketing materials and choosing channels and platforms to promote your brand.
Get to know your customers
Once you have decided who you want to sell products or services to, the next job is to get to know them. Use market research and data analysis to identify consumer trends within key demographics and connect with prospective customers and clients to find out more about them. Use social media polls, virtual interviews and focus groups, surveys and questionnaires to ask questions and collect information. Ask people for feedback on prototypes or demos and trials, new product ideas and existing ranges and services, and use reviews and comments to make improvements. Try to ascertain what your target customer wants and what you can do in the future to gain their loyalty. Use the data you gather from market research to ensure that your marketing strategy is relevant to the audience. Every aspect of branding, marketing and sales should resonate with your ideal customer.
More than 90% of us now read reviews online before we get in touch with a business or buy a product. It’s hugely beneficial for companies to use customer feedback to address issues and build on strengths and to use reviews as part of their marketing campaign. Share posts, videos and stories from customers and add reviews and testimonials to your website, social media profile, brochure and press and TV adverts.
Identify and monitor key competitors
Every business has to compete with rivals. It can be extremely difficult to persuade customers to choose your brand over others, especially in saturated and highly-competitive markets. As well as getting to know your customers, it’s advantageous to identify and monitor competitors. Use market research and analytics to see which businesses and brands are dominant and evaluate their marketing strategies and campaigns. Make use of tools like SEO tools for competitor analysis to see how other companies use digital marketing to achieve goals and highlight effective techniques and campaigns. Learn more about keyword use and content types, and take inspiration from businesses that are gaining traction through techniques you plan to use as part of your new and improved strategy. See how people react to social media posts, paid ads and keyword searches, for example. Keep a close eye on competitors and try to be adaptable and agile so that you can adjust and modify your strategy to stay relevant and make sure your brand continues to be the best option for your target customer.
Analyze campaign data
We have access to more data than ever. Collecting and analyzing data offers incredible benefits for companies and marketing teams looking to boost results. Use analytics to monitor campaigns closely and identify areas for improvement. If you’re trying to convert more leads through SEO, for example, use analytics to track traffic and see where you’re losing customers. If you’re getting a lot of site visits, but people are leaving the website once they hit a landing page or they go through to the payment page, for example, it’s wise to work on your site. Streamline ordering processes, offer incentives to close deals, add calls to action and simplify and speed up payments. Test different options and use feedback from clients to tackle problems. Focus on the positives for your next campaign. Build on areas that are performing well. There is little point in investing time and money into platforms that are not reaching the target customer.
Understand the importance of promoting the brand
It’s easy to think about marketing as a means of pushing sales and encouraging prospective customers and clients to make a purchase or sign up or subscribe. Marketing does play a key role in increasing sales, but promoting products and services is not the only way to achieve this goal. Increasingly, people want to buy from brands that share their values and make a positive difference to local or international communities or projects. Customer service has also become extremely important. Customers want to feel valued and they gravitate towards brands that have a positive image and a strong reputation for customer support. Over 70% of consumers prefer to buy from brands that align with their core values.
When you draw up plans for new marketing campaigns, understand the importance of promoting the brand, as well as the products and services you sell. Let people get to know you and your team. Tell them about your company culture and values. Provide information about initiatives you support or the work you do as part of corporate social responsibility. Take the time to interact and engage with people and build relationships. Social media is a fantastic sales platform, but it’s also a brilliant channel for communicating and engaging with prospective clients and buyers and spreading the word about your brand. You can use social media apps to showcase the human side of the business and establish deeper connections.
Enlist expert help
Many small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups don’t have dedicated marketing teams or employees with expertise in marketing. If you run a company and you are looking to boost sales and raise brand awareness, there are options. If you don’t want to employ staff with marketing experience, consider outsourcing or hiring freelancers. Outsourcing involves working with a third party, for example, a digital marketing agency. In most cases, you will pay a monthly or annual fee in return for marketing services. Outsourcing is beneficial for businesses because it offers access to expertise and skills without adding to the wage bill. You can also free up time for your core team to concentrate on the tasks that underpin the smooth daily running of the business.
Hiring freelancers is another avenue worth exploring. Freelancers can help you with specific projects or campaigns, or offer services on an ongoing or long-term basis. Working with freelancers can often be more cost-effective than hiring new employees.
Before you hire an agency or freelancers to work on your marketing strategy, research companies and get to know individuals. Compare quotes and service packages, make sure you choose reputable businesses with a track record in the relevant industry and view examples of previous work, case studies and results. It’s wise to search for an agency that specializes in your sector.
Keep your marketing strategy moving
One common reason companies struggle to make progress with marketing campaigns is failing to move with the times and adapt. If you’re still using the same techniques and ploys you were using five or ten years ago, you could be missing out on incredible opportunities. Technology is advancing all the time, and consumer trends change and evolve. Keep your strategy moving. Monitor consumer trends and buyer behaviors and ask your customers for ideas and suggestions. If you sell products on your website, find out what they’d like to see in terms of functional improvements, extra features and perks, new pages or sections and content types. You may find that people want more choice when they pay or select a delivery option, they want to be able to personalize products, or they’d like more product photographs or video demonstrations, for example. Respond to new trends and keep watching your competitors.
Tailor promotions
Offering promotions is a fantastic way to draw attention to your brand and encourage prospective buyers to take the next step. Tailor your promotions to the target client to maximize the chances of success. Use market research and analytics to gauge reactions to different offers and incentives. Focus on promotions that work and generate the most interest and sales. There are all kinds of ways to incentivize buying, including offering discount codes and exclusive access to flash sales, giving freebies away with purchases and providing entry into competitions and giveaways.
A great marketing strategy can make all the difference when it comes to attracting customers, keeping hold of clients and making sales. If you’re looking to elevate your campaigns to reach the next level, take these tips on board. Define your target audience and get to know prospective customers. Identify competitors, conduct extensive market research and make use of innovative tools and data analysis. Use feedback and reviews to address issues and make improvements. Tailor every campaign to the ideal customer, keep your strategy moving and enlist expert help if you don’t have a marketing team in-house. Promote your brand and tell people all about your business, as well as the products and services you sell.