The new year means making new plans for most people, especially business owners. Whether you’re preparing to launch a new brand or just need a fresh start, making a plan is a proven way to accomplish your goals.
A solid marketing strategy can help you attract new customers, upsell existing ones, and position your business as an authority in your industry.
Here are 5 effective tips on creating a strategic marketing plan for your business that’ll put your brand on the map.
1. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals is an essential part of any marketing planning and strategy. It helps business owners stay on track, take specific steps, and focus on results. Needless to say, smart goals should be:
- Specific enough to be clear for everyone
- Measurable with tools and results
- Attainable in terms of human, financial, and other resources
- Relevant for your business and company
- Time-bound with a deadline
You can set major goals for the entire year, along with smaller weekly, monthly, or quarterly goals. This way, both you and your team will have a clear vision for the workflow and strive for progress, not perfection.
2. Know Your Target Audience
Before you can market your products or services, you need to know who you’re selling to. Even the best sales and marketing plans won’t work unless you know your target audience well.
Most businesses have more than one buyer persona with different specifics and demographics. This means developing different ways of selling and marketing to these buyer personas.
3. Define Steps and Activities
In order to succeed with your strategy, you need to define the marketing plan steps and activities. These include ad campaigns, blog posts, videos, social media posts, billboards, email outreach, and more. You should also put deadlines, assign people, estimate budgets, and define KPIs.
This is also the place to add some new marketing tactics you want to try such as programmatic advertising, growth hacking, or personalization.
4. Pick Your Channels Wisely
As you prepare your marketing campaigns, you’ll be tempted to use all available channels to promote your business. However, not all channels are worth your time and effort, especially if they don’t resonate with your target audience.
Choose a few channels to start with and see how they perform. You can always add new or remove old ones until you find the right fit.
5. Analyze Data and Feedback
Once you launch a campaign, you need to follow and analyze the data you’re getting. This way, you can see how your ads are performing, what your conversion rates are, and if you’re getting enough sales. Also, pay close attention to customer feedback and use it to improve your products and services.
Create an Effective Strategic Marketing Plan With These Tips!
Whether you’re a new business owner or an existing one trying to boost your online presence, marketing your business is key to your growth.
These tips will help you create a strategic marketing plan for your business and build brand awareness with your prospects.
Need more marketing and business tips? Check out some of the other articles on our site where we share the latest industry news and trends.