Many businesses use bespoke strategies that are relevant to their industry. It is vital not to copy a marketing strategy of competitors in the same industry. Whilst you can take concepts, a marketing strategy should be unique, show your identity and highlight your position in an industry and how you intend to grow.

But what should you include in a marketing strategy?

A difficult question. There isn’t one answer. Though there are some key elements that you need to add.

Market Research

Before you get to the juicy section of a marketing strategy, you must do your market research. This means organising, collecting and writing down important data about the audience and market who are currently buying the products and services that you will sell. Areas to consider include:

• Customers – demographics, market segment, needs, buying decisions.
• Products/ Services – what’s out now? What is your competition doing?
• Current sales in the industry
• Benchmarks in the industry
• Suppliers – vendors you will need to rely on.

Mission Statement

Your mission statement basically provides your business with an identity. It should be a few sentences that describes who you are, what you do, who you provide to, and why they should choose you.

Moirae Creatives mission statement is this:

“Moirae Creative are an award-winning full-service creative agency offering websites, social media and digital marketing. Our work inspires growth and creates engagement for SME’s in the Yorkshire region.”

4P’s Marketing Mix

It is essential to include the 4P’s of the marketing mix. These are product, place, price, and promotion. The 4P’s help to firmly position your business, services, or products in your industry. The 4P’s can also be used to help you decide how to take your products to market.

When using the 4P’s marketing mix there are a few questions you must answer for your marketing strategy:

Product

• What does the customer want from your product/ service?
• How is it differentiated versus your competitors?
• What issue or problem does it need to solve?

Place

• Where can buyers find your product/ service?
• How can customers get information and access to your products/ service?
• What do your competitors do?

Price

• What is the value of your product or service?
• How will your price compare to competitors?
• Should there be any discounts considered for a type of customer?

Promotion

• How will you get your marketing message across to your target audience?
• How will you reach your audience? E.g. social media, advertising, TV, direct mail?
• When is the best time of year to promote?

Promotion Strategies

Now here is the good stuff! Promotion strategies takes into consideration how you intend to win prospective clients. Many businesses have a different approach to this. Writing for experience, you should look to link as many options as possible, but you must create a workflow on process of winning a new client. Here are a few examples of how to win new clients:

• Networking – check out events in your area
• Direct marketing – ensure it tells a story about your business
• Advertising
• Training programmes and courses
• Write articles and blogs – like this one (I’m waiting for your call!)
• Tradeshows – get out there and meet industry specialists
• Cold-Calling – The big one! Certain to fail without doing this.

Marketing Goals

Before we wrap this up, try to get clear on your goals and where you want to be. Make your goals as realistic as possible. Make them quantifiable, numbers are your friends when it comes to setting goals.

For example, you may want to achieve 10 clients with a spend of £5k+ in a period of 6 months. This is a clear goal. On the back of this you can create an action plan of how you will achieve this. First, figure out the activity required to achieve one client with a spend of £5k+. From this, you will know the level of activity required to achieve your goal.

Summary

There you have it!

Some key points to make sure you include in your 2018 marketing strategy. You must answer all questions and take careful consideration when developing a marketing strategy for your business. Though your strategy needs to be refined twice a year, you need to answer the core questions to give your business resilience.

If you need assistance in your marketing strategy. Find out how we can help.

Hope to hear from you soon.