How would you rank marketing in terms of importance to your business?
If you think it should be in the top 3, you’ve got the right idea. As Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and 2929 Entertainment, with stakes in dozens of small startups puts it, “No sales. No company.”
Of course, the bigger question is, how have your marketing efforts fared so far? If you feel like it’s not doing much for your company, it may be time to analyze and revise yours or higher a franchise marketing agency.
That being said, let’s discuss some tips to help you give your current marketing plan a boost.
1. Review the Elements of an Effective Marketing Strategy Plan
Some organizations don’t do so well with their marketing campaigns because even when they’re familiar with different marketing strategies, there isn’t an overall plan that ties these tactics together.
For example, one company might focus too much on social media marketing strategy. Another one might give content marketing strategy a try without fully understanding that it’s a long game. There might be a newbie marketer who dabbles in everything but isn’t mastering the channels that give the best ROI.
It’s important to remember that a marketing plan isn’t just about strategies. It consists of your business’ goals, key performance indicators (or KPIs) target market, and customer needs. Without these necessary elements, your marketing plan is only a collection of tactics that may or may not work.
2. Familiarize Yourself With Your Target Audience
How well do you know your customers? Even if you already have a customer base, you need to make sure you’re always listening to them, and not pushing them to consider your competitors’ products and services.
Now, if you’re struggling to define your potential customers, you can learn about building user personas. Other methods you can use to get to know your target audience include focus groups and surveys.
3. Study Your Competition
If your competitors are doing much better than you, you have to find out what marketing strategies are working for them. At the same time, you also need to know where they may be lacking.
In your marketing plan, you can evaluate these weak points, and see where there may be opportunities for you to come out on top. Maybe, you’ll realize that their branding needs work, and you might use this chance to improve your company logo and other marketing collateral. Tip: You can use a free online logo maker for this.
4. Make Your Marketing Plan Actionable
When you’re ready to start fleshing out your marketing plan, don’t forget to make your strategies, processes, and timelines actionable.
That means you have to quantify things. Say you’ll increase retention rate by 20% in the 3rd quarter of 2020 instead of just “improve retention rate.” The clearer you are with these actionable items, the easier it is for the powers that be to approve your marketing budget.
5. Track Your Progress and Course-Correct When Necessary
You can’t improve your marketing if you don’t monitor and track your results. Even after making your marketing strategy plan as detailed as possible, you’ll have to re-evaluate it from time to time.
Read also: 8 Tips for Managing AdWords Campaigns Yourself
Remember, marketing is ever-evolving. Be honest and review your marketing plan with a critical eye so you can optimize it if needed.
Want to Know More Marketing Tips and Advice?
Now that you know how to improve your marketing strategy plan, don’t stop here. You have to keep yourself updated on the latest marketing trends and news.
For more marketing tips and advice, don’t hesitate to check out our other articles.
Photos courtesy of gettyimages.com
