How to measure business growth
A marketing strategy is a guide to all of a company’s goals when it comes to promoting themselves and their product or service, and how they are going to achieve these goals. This is typically turned into a formal document so that all employees can review it and understand the company’s marketing strategy.
A good marketing strategy involves research into the market being sold in, the company’s competitors, their ideal customers, and various other factors. It should be a long-term strategy but should also be revisited periodically and updated as needed in order to keep improving results.
Why does your business need a marketing strategy?
You might think that creating a marketing strategy isn’t necessary for your business, or at least not yet. You’ll get the basics sorted, and then create a marketing strategy once you have more of a budget and an established client base.
I hate to break it to you, but there is no client base without a marketing strategy.
This is a mistake that lots of new businesses make. But after reading this article, we hope you won’t be one of them. Here are a few reasons why having a marketing strategy from early on is so important:
It’s your marketing roadmap
Going for a drive without knowing your destination or route is pretty inefficient. You’ll waste time and fuel, and could end up getting completely lost. Your marketing strategy is like a roadmap for your business and its marketing efforts. Without one, you’ll waste time and money on things that aren’t right for your business and its goals.
In a marketing strategy, you’ll lay out your goals and how to achieve them. This serves as a guide you and your employees can always refer back to if you feel lost. It ensures everyone in the company is on the same page and knows where they are going.
It focuses your marketing activities
Those new to business and marketing tend to try too much at once. They think they need to be on every social network, running ads on all platforms, and perfecting their emails at the same time.
It is much better to focus on fewer marketing techniques and platforms. Conducting market research and creating your strategy helps you figure out which marketing activities and platforms will be most useful for your brand, so you can invest your time and money into the things that will resonate with your target audience.
Helps you manage your budget
In your marketing strategy, you should outline your marketing budget and which activities you’ll allocate it to. Following this ensures that you don’t end up overspending in one area and being left with nothing left for other aspects of your business. It might be that you don’t have much of a budget for marketing, in which case you can focus on free activities like social media and email marketing. You could set a goal to invest in social media advertising further down the line when you have the budget for it.
If you’re in the process of starting up your business or are still struggling to find or grow your client base, then a marketing strategy is exactly what you need. If you’re ready to get started, then read our blog about how to develop an effective marketing strategy.