Developing Your Marketing Strategy For 2017

You Know You Need a Marketing Strategy But What Is it?

Running a business in today’s environment is not for the faint-hearted. Between Websites, SEO, SEM, Email, Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest… The to-do list is huge and is not getting any smaller. To navigate through ALL of this noise and constant distraction, while trying to run your business you need a plan or a Marketing Strategy.

Having a strategy keeps you focused on your end goal. Whether that end goal is more sales, more traffic to your website, better engagement on Social Media… the steps are always the same. Those steps start with planning before you take action, of course, there are those (and I have been guilty of this more than once) that spend so long in planning they never actually get around to taking action.

Having a marketing strategy keeps you focused on your end goal Share on X

Step One: Set Your Marketing Goal

Decide exactly what it is you need of want from your Marketing Goal. For this example let’s say it Lead Generation. You’ve set your Goal for 20 new sales this month with an average purchase of $150, so an extra $3,000 for the month. You know that your conversion rate of clients that actually buy once they have come to your site and opted-in or downloaded your free checklist, template or been in contact is 5%. Divide the number of new customers 20 by the lead-to-customer conversion rate of 5%. This shows us that we need 1,000 leads to create 50 customers. So how many website visitors do you need to have to generate your 1,000 leads?

For arguments sake, let’s say 3% of visitors to your website actually become leads and don’t bounce (disappear after only visiting the one page). Divide the number of new leads 1,000 by the visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 3%. This shows us that we need 33,300 leads to create 1,000 leads. So how are you going to get 33,300 people to visit your website?

Step Two: Develop Your Plan

Planning your Marketing always comes back to seven very simple points that rely on the on the K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Sweetheart) principle:

1. 1. 1. Know Your Target Market
      2. Keep Your Branding Consistent
      3. Create Content Your Audience Will Love
      4. Maximise Your Marketing Reach
      5. Start (& Maintain) A Content Calendar
      6. Analyse What Is Working
      7. Keep Evolving

1. Know Your Target Market

Know where your ideal client / Avatar / Niche Market / Target Market hangs out online. Are they on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram? Do they post in Forums or follow certain Influencers in the Market i.e. Oprah, Richard Branson, Kim Garst? If you are not sure, then check out this blog on each of the Social Media platforms to start. It is important to remember every Social Media platform is different and has a core target market which is ideally suited to different types of businesses.

What are their pain points? How do you solve a particular issue they have? Are you speaking their language and do you empathise with them? Your Target Market needs to feel that you ‘get them’ you truly understand what they are going through, and their lives will not be the same without you or your service in it. In essence, you need to know your Target Market BEFORE you build a relationship with them.

You need to know your Target Market BEFORE you can build a relationship with them Share on X

2. Keep Your Branding Consistent

Your brand is your clients’ sum total of THEIR emotional attachment and experience with YOU and your business. Your message, your core colours and even the fonts you use will create certain feelings with your clients. It is the consistency of your brand and your message that enables you to build trust with your clients. Maintaining that consistency ensures you stand out and stay in your client’s mind.

One of the KINGS of consistency, whether you love or hate them, is Macdonalds. It doesn’t matter where you go in the world, you are guaranteed of the same meal. The decor, branding and symbols are all identical. Developing a consistent brand is essential for your clients to see you as stable and consistent. You become recognisable and after a number of touchpoints, you stick in their mind.

Just as a side note, when I did my Marketing degree there were 7 touchpoints on the path to purchase i.e. people had to see, hear or engage with your brand 7 times before they made a purchase. Today with social media and the digital online space, it is 22 – CONSISTENCY IS CRUCIAL!

Maintaining that consistency ensures you stand out and stay in your client's mind Share on X

3. Create Content Your Audience Will Love

Your target market has the attention span of less than a Goldfish. On top of that, we have become incredibly lazy, we don’t read … we scan blogs or watch a video. We simply do too much and no longer have the time or patience to find exactly what we are looking for. In fact, you have 3 seconds to attract your client’s attention and 7 seconds to hold it, lose them and 60% will not come back.  You are in business because you know your “stuff” give your clients value through the content you offer

So remember, you are in business because you know your “stuff”. Give your clients value through the content you offer them and they will keep coming back for more. Show them you can solve their pain points, speak their ‘language’ and empathise with their issues and you have a market that will keep coming back for more of what you have to offer.

Give your clients value through the content you offer them and they will keep coming back for more Share on X

4. Maximise Your Marketing Reach

We are online seemingly 24/7. There are so many platforms and means of broadcasting your message today, the goal is to select the right ones where your clients spending their time. With the development of Social Media anyone can be a publisher, in fact, Social media, email marketing and content marketing have transformed the way you as a business owner can find and keep customers. Again, like everything you need a plan. It is so easy to lose focus and at the end of the day get nothing done. Take two hours on your quietest day to PLAN, work out what you will post when and where.

Blogger and author, Seth Godin announced a while back, that this is the era of “permission marketing” whereby you can provide good quality content that is useful to your clients and potential clients, bringing them to you. So how do you maximise your marketing reach?

Write an informative blog, take key points & turn them into “Clickable Tweets” (yes the Click to tweets aren’t just there to make my blog look pretty). Share the blog with a catchy introduction on Facebook or Google+ or LinkedIn or all three. Turn the key points into image tiles you can use on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook with links always coming back to your blog and website. At each stage GIVE VALUE that people want to share with their friends and possibly their own clients.

GIVE VALUE that people want to share with their friends and possibly their own clients Share on X

5. Start (& Maintain) A Content Calendar

If you have read any of my blogs, you know I am HUGE on planning – “Fail to plan & Plan to Fail”. Have a Content calendar set up, so you know what you are going to write about each time you sit down to blog. If you don’t have a Content Calendar, click here to download my template.

Within your content calendar, know what keywords and key phrases you are going to focus on. Keep a structure using the best SEO practices as it keeps you on track and saves a LOT of time later.

6. Analyse What Is Working

You can’t improve if you don’t know what is working. With everything you do, it is test and measure. Check your Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn insights and statistics. Track your website visitors with analytics and get to know Search console. Or even better employ a marketer to track this for you and send you a report every week or month. (Seriously, contact me here)

7. Keep Evolving

Our lives and the technology we use is constantly changing and evolving, make sure you stay ahead of the game and your competition by subscribing to those in the know. It will save you endless hours of research and a lot of money in the process.

Still feel as if this is all a bit beyond you? Let’s talk and see how we can create a Marketing Strategy for your Business that will create an integrated marketing experience for your customers and keep them coming back for more.

If you want to learn how to develop a consistent strategy for your business, you can also join me for a 4 hour intensive Masterclass in a Workshop environment. By the end of the Masterclass you will walk away with a clear marketing strategy & plans to implement each week to GROW your business, INCREASE your sales & get your LIFE back! Click below to secure your spot as each workshop is limited to ensure hands on learning.

 

Let’s Talk STRATEGY!