Five Things to Consider in a Basic Marketing Strategy

Photo by Lukas

If you’re a small retail business in a local community, a media sales rep trying to sell you on why their platform is the best solution to help grow your business and create new customers has most likely visited you. Some media platforms, like a local newspaper, regional radio station or cable group, may offer you a deal for an advertising program that seems affordable, but the question you need to ask yourself is whether it reaches your target customer base, can provide a measurable ROI and is ultimately right for your brand, despite fitting within your marketing budget.

When it comes to media platforms there is no right or wrong answer in regard to which one to invest it. In some cases, each and every platform might make sense for certain businesses looking to reach a wide-ranging and diverse audience. Other businesses who are looking to tap into a niche audience with a limited budget, will have to do some research into what outlet will provide the biggest return. One recommendation to consider when planning a marketing strategy in today’s fragmented digital landscape is to think of your brand as a media brand, no matter what line of business you are in.

Here are a few things to consider in your marketing strategy:

Create quality organic social media content

This is an important and easy way to connect with potential consumers for free. Create a Facebook page and an Instagram account for your storefront or service company with high quality photos of your products or recent projects that you’ve worked on. Share testimonials from happy customers to build a good reputation amongst new prospects who come across your page. You can also create a Twitter handle as well to answer questions from customers and share news about your business. Your social media outlets are a direct line of communication between you and your customers.

Build an email database

Many businesses send out email newsletters on a regular basis to subscribers who have opted in to receive communication and information on their website. This is a critical strategy that acts as both a communication tool to share news and valuable content with warm lead customers and also a customer database that you can use for targeting with paid digital campaigns if you decided to implement them. Through platforms like the Google Display Network, you can remarket your brand’s ads to individuals who have opted in and interacted with your content.

Simplify how customers can contact you

With so many businesses competing for the attention of your customers, consider simplifying how your customers can find you and contact you. Register a URL and social handles that are easy to remember. Make sure your brand’s website is optimized for mobile devices and streamline its layout with a strong value proposition and a clear a call-to-action of what you would like your customer to do next. Remove as many layers as possible that stand between a prospect and a sale. 

Measure where your customers are coming from

With all the tools available in today’s marketing landscape, you have the opportunity to let real data tell you which medium is driving your customers and influencing them to buy your product or service. When planning your marketing strategy, thinking long term is important. If you are not seeing immediate results, do not hit the panic button. Do your research and experiment with different ad copy and offers. Collect and organize all data from your marketing efforts across all platforms into one centralized area, including metrics from ads that you may have purchased from a media outlet. Ask your media sales rep to provide you regular performance metrics!

Brand consistency with a unified message

Being consistent is extremely important when it comes to building a brand and creating brand recognition within the marketplace. Whether you are buying billboards, print ads, television commercials, radio commercials, digital ads or any other form of media, make sure that your brand is using consistent logos, colors, brand voice and a unified message across all platforms.

What do you include in a marketing strategy for your business? What challenges have you faced? We want to hear from you. Share your thoughts on creating an effective marketing strategy with us @MarketWren at #EffectiveMarketingStrategies