The Ultimate Guide to building a marketing strategy and plan for your business
A business without marketing is like a bike without a wheel – you’ve still got a bike but you’re not going anywhere! A marketing strategy is essential for your business to be found and to grow, but how do you know your valuable dollars are going to be well spent?
In this guide I break down the key components involved in building an effective marketing strategy and plan for your business to attract new customers, some common marketing tactics used, and how to measure your results.
Table of Contents
What is a marketing strategy and why does it matter to small business?
“A marketing strategy is all of a company’s marketing goals and objectives combined into a single comprehensive plan. Business executives draw a successful marketing strategy from market research. Put simply; a marketing strategy is a strategy designed to promote a good or service and make a profit.” Market Business News.
You may have already tried marketing your business, and been confused by all the options available to you. And with the world of digital marketing constantly changing, it’s more important than ever to have a professional marketing consultant or marketing coach for your small business as part of your team, so that you aren’t wasting time and money on tactics that don’t deliver a return on investment.
A marketing strategy will help you to get really clear on what you want to achieve, what types of clients you want to work with/sell to, what goals you want to reach and a plan of how you are going to get there.
What is a marketing tactic?
“Marketing tactics are a series or set of strategic methods or actions aimed at promoting a business’ goods or services. The aim is to maximize sales and maintain a competitive good or service.” Market Business News.
What I find is that people tend to get confused between a marketing tactic and a marketing strategy. Even Google gets confused, because if you type in marketing strategy into Google, many of the search results are actually marketing tactics not marketing strategies.
Your marketing tactics are the combinations of marketing channels that you use to execute your marketing strategy, reach your ideal client, and achieve your goals.
Want to learn how to market your small business in just 8 weeks? Check out Marketing School here.
How to build your marketing strategy
To be successful in business you need to lay the foundations for your business by building a marketing strategy. And you need to be crystal clear on why someone should buy from you rather than a competitor.
You and discover the answers to these questions by doing market research and then building your marketing strategy based on your findings.
How to build your marketing plan
There are numerous marketing channels/tactics that you can use to reach your ideal client. But after performing your market research and competitor research you should be able to plan your marketing tactics based on your research findings. Your marketing plan is all the touch points on a buyers journey, across the three stages of the decision making process: awareness, consideration and decision.
Using a CRM in your small business is also really important to stay on top of your potential clients and leads that you are generating through the activities in your marketing plan.
Some common marketing tactics to include in your plan
There are sixteen marketing channels in total that you could use to plan your marketing Flywheel. However there are some popular channels that can help you gain more customers on a regular basis when implemented consistently. And it’s important to remember that you need to allocate a monthly marketing budget to allow you to activate your marketing plan.
- SEO – Why you need ongoing SEO.
- Local SEO – How to attract new local customers via Google My Business.
- Content Marketing – How to approach content marketing for your business.
- Video Marketing – Getting started with video marketing.
- Blogging – 6 Tips to help you write a blog.
- Social Media Marketing – How to convert browsers to buyers in 4 steps.
- Email Marketing – How to successfully use email marketing in your business.
- Website – How to build your email opt in list from your website.
- Customer Experience – Delight your customers with an amazing customer experience.
- Paid Ads & Business Networking – 3 tips to help your marketing shine.
- Public Relations – How small business owners can use PR to drive sales.
Measuring your success
The final step is to measure how successful your marketing strategy and plan actually is. You can do this by using tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to see what’s working and what’s not. A marketing strategy and plan needs to be fluid, so it will change and evolve as will the marketing tactics that you use.
Figure out what works for you, and do more of that. And invest more marketing spend as your business and customer base grows.
Boutique Digital Marketing Agency & Marketing Strategy
Outsourcing your marketing to a big digital agency can be expensive, especially if you are a small to medium sized business. Yet digital marketing is a brilliant way to attract new customers to your business, and generate more revenue and profit.
Our mission at Vivacity Marketing, is to help small to medium size businesses like you, effectively market your business, without an exorbitant price tag. We want to help you build your dream business, and we do this using our proven marketing system.
We are partners with a global wholesale digital marketing agency called Hubdo, which means that we can pass on these cost savings to our client, and digital marketing then becomes more affordable and accessible.
But before you jump into marketing tactics via a digital marketing plan, we need to develop your marketing strategy first, here’s why…
FREE
Marketing Strategy & Planning Template
Not sure how to create your marketing plan? Download our easy to use free Marketing Strategy & Planning template as a starting point. This will help you to lay the foundations for your business, and create a business that will grow into the vibrant business it deserves be!
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