Think You Don’t Need a Marketing Strategy? Think Again.
Everyone has something they don’t want to do. For many business owners, figuring out how, where, and when to market their products and services is that something. Procrastination takes over and before too long, their business has stagnated. So, what is the go-to counterbalance to procrastination? Does the saying “Just Do It!” come to mind?
Since the late 1980s, this famous Nike slogan has been incorporated, parodied, and co-opted a million different times in a million different ways. And while some may find the recently revealed origin of the phrase vaguely disturbing, its influence on modern culture is undeniable. For decades, you’ve been encouraged to shake off your stalling, stick with a difficult commitment, or motivate yourself to a win by just doing it.
Unfortunately, marketing your business is one of those situations where “Just Do It” simply won’t work.
Why “Just Do It” isn’t enough in marketing
Whether “Just Do It” is even valuable or effective as an approach to behavior change is debatable. As with almost everything in life, there are pros and cons to taking action based solely on willpower. Obviously, “Just Do It” is a very basic motivator that can help you push past excuses and overlook obstacles, which can certainly support change in some people. But this philosophy doesn’t take into account nuance or circumstance, and marketing is all about nuance and circumstance!
Unlike starting a new exercise routine or writing a lengthy article, just jumping in for the first workout or typing out the first sentence, isn’t the right first step for an advertising campaign of any kind. Marketing requires thoughtfulness and preparation. It’s not the type of process where you can accomplish your objective based on a pithy phrase. You have to be able to answer the questions of what, how, when, and why for your business before you can generate new sales and improve profits.
Before you dive in, you need a strategy.
What is a marketing strategy?
If you’ve been avoiding taking the first step toward a marketing strategy for your business because you think a coordinated approach is reserved for Fortune 500 companies with full-time marketing teams and expansive budgets, we have some exciting news for you. Regardless of the size of your business, number of employees, or your budget, a clear, focused marketing strategy is one of the most important steps you need to take to grow your customer base, increase your sales, and improve your profitability.
A marketing strategy is your plan for reaching your target audience, catching their attention, and translating their attention into increased sales and profits. A strategy provides the direction and purpose to your marketing, making sure that your advertising and outreach efforts are always connected to a business goal. Whether you’re looking to re-engage old clients, generate new leads, or expand your product line, a plan for how to go about it has to be your first step.
Think about it this way: If your business is a cell phone, your marketing strategy is the map app. You open it up when you know where you want to go, but you need to know the best way to get there. You can certainly set off on your journey without its guidance, but you won’t know how to reach your destination without wasting time and resources along the way.
To clarify, your strategy is the long-term plan that connects your marketing to your business goals. Within your strategy are individual activities like email campaigns, pay-per-click ads (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), and social media posting that contribute to the plan.
How do you know you need a strategy for marketing?
If you’re still subscribing to the “just do it” approach, you might believe marketing for the sake of marketing is working for you. You have a to-do list and ticking off items feels like you’re accomplishing something. And that’s good enough, right? Wrong!
You can be certain you’re not on the path to marketing success if any of these statements apply to your recent marketing efforts:
- I ran a Google Ad campaign, and we only got a few clicks.
- I put a lot of money into refreshing the website but haven’t seen any new leads yet.
- I posted on social media for a month but no one engaged.
Working through these tasks may feel satisfying, but at this point, your only achievement is completing that to-do list. You can give yourself a pat on the back and say you put the time, effort, and money into marketing, but nothing came of it. But the problem isn’t the lack of effort. It’s the lack of direction behind the effort. Without a map, your marketing campaigns will be random and disconnected, leading to a wasted budget, inconsistent messaging. Even if your plan does generate a few leads, they most likely won’t be high quality.
The marketing strategy is what connects your campaigns, website, and social media with your business goals. No more guesswork! You have a plan of attack in place and a method for measuring results. This is how you go from “just doing marketing” to actually driving business growth.
What is in a marketing strategy?
The marketing strategy informing your day-to-day decision making doesn’t have to be complicated. As long as your plan includes the right components, it will be effective regardless of length or complexity. And, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. More than likely, you’ll benefit more from a straightforward, one-page plan that is clear and simple than a detailed 30-page presentation.
Of course, a more detailed version, prepared by a qualified marketing company, may be necessary to get you started. But, in the end, your action steps should be summarized to a one-page, easy-to-use document that will guide you and your team in decision making.
Every good marketing strategy does have a few standard components:
- Established goals and achievable KPIs
- You need to know both what you’re trying to achieve and what achieving that looks like. Goals set the direction and KPIs set the destination. You also need to decide what app or software you’ll use to track your data and measure your progress.
- A well-defined target audience
- Who are you trying to reach? What are their demographics and pain points? Where do they typically search for solutions? What kind of marketing do they respond to best? Each of these characteristics should inform your advertising campaigns.
- Clear branding and messaging
- If you don’t have a good understanding of your company values and your brand personality, potential customers won’t either. The messaging in your advertising has to reflect the voice, tone, and style of the business so customers can connect with you.
- Understanding your competition
- You know who your competitors are. But you may not know why a customer chooses them over you or vice versa. Knowing how you differentiate from your competitors will tell you what to emphasize and where you may have opportunities.
- The right marketing channels
- Even the most amazing advertising in the world won’t be successful if it’s not on the right platform. Whether your audience responds best to email campaigns, trade show presentations, mailed brochures, pay-per-click ads, or witty social media posts, you need to know.
- A set, but flexible, budget
- No one likes wasting money, especially when it can be avoided with knowledge and planning. Your budget should be reasonable for achieving your objectives, flexible enough to pivot when necessary, and structured to prevent overruns.
A clear but simple strategy with these components is the tool you need to bring focus and structure to your marketing. The result will be consistent messaging, coherent presentation, more (and higher-quality!) leads, greater impact of your advertising dollars, and a more efficient use of your time.
Now, “Just Do It!”
Seems contradictory, right? While we have come full circle, we’re actually not contradicting the initial point of this article. Jumping into marketing without a strategy will get you nowhere, but you may need inspiration to take the first step toward creating a strategy. If that’s the case for you, we say, “Just Do It!”
Keep in mind that you don’t have to decide on each component of a full strategy in one day. As long as you have a plan to keep moving forward, you can start small and build to a comprehensive plan. Choose one goal for your business and focus on how you’ll accomplish it. Define your audience and determine which tactics make the most sense. Set a few simple metrics to track and lay out a plan for reviewing the progress.
One of the best ways to get started is to find a marketing company with the experience and knowledge to help you work through the key components.
Marketing doesn’t have to be complicated, but the way you approach it should be rooted in experience and expertise. Your clients expect that from your product, and you should expect it in your marketing. You’ll save time and money while growing your business. Talk with one of our marketing experts today!
