Hey, know what sounds like great fun on this Monday morning?
How about writing a marketing strategy?
If this scenario strikes fear or panic in you, or causes you to bury your face in the candy bowl as a primitive form of escape, SJC Marketing is here to help in this Monday Morning Coffee. The concept of strategy can seem a little overwhelming. You may be wondering things like:
- What goes into a marketing strategy?
- Who in my company should write it?
- How do I stick to it?
- Why do I need a strategy, anyway?
- Where are all the Reese’s peanut butter cups?
Since it’s Halloween week, let’s sink our teeth into these questions, together.
- What goes into a marketing strategy? Your marketing strategy hammers out the pathway to getting customers, and then of course, more revenue. Include information about your businesses’ unique place and foothold in your industry. Use information from a market analysis for this, and focus on how you’ll locate and gain new customers, what price point you’ll offer them and how you’ll keep promoting what’s great about your product or service to keep boosting your sales volume.
- Who in my company should write the marketing strategy? Get a group together to brainstorm across different aspects of it. Think of it just like that huge Halloween candy bowl mix … everyone brings something unique to the table. Focus your brainstorming on a few key areas, such as: what you do or provide that makes you different (and better) than everyone else in your industry; the ways your customers have found you in the past; and the types of messages they’ve responded to most often. When the discussion includes voices from several aspects of your company, you have a strong chance of using and sticking to the strategy.
- Which brings us to the next point – How do I stick to the strategy? You are more likely to do things that are tied to visual reminders, so put the strategy copies in every employee area. Use it for new hires. Use it as material for every team meeting, and make sure a digital copy is readily available for your team devices. Stick to it by tying your marketing plan and sales goals directly to the strategy. (Note: Your marketing strategy can include a section that is your marketing plan, but this is a friendly reminder that a marketing strategy and a marketing plan are actually two different things working together. Like one of those weird two-person costumes). Consider a strategy committee or team whose purpose is to make sure company tasks and projects are in alignment, and to help report on how the outcomes match up with the strategy.
- Why do you need a strategy, anyway? Since it’s fall, think of this like football. Would the players assemble on the field without a game plan? Without knowing what their competitions strong suits (and weaknesses) are? Or knowing their own unique strengths and how to best access them? They wouldn’t. Neither should your business show up in the marketplace without your own strategy.
- Where did all the Reese’s go? This is actually a tough question. We can’t answer for sure, but we can suggest hiding a few in your top desk drawer.
This week, reach out to SJC Marketing to talk strategy and how it can be crafted specifically for your success. (We offer all treats, no tricks. We also offer no Reese’s. Those go pretty fast!)