Creating a Strategy To Market Your Business and Your Brand
An effective marketing strategy identifies and targets your customers and prospects with the appropriate materials to communicate your company’s “value added” proposition. A strategy that, when it is well articulated and clearly charted, ensures that all your marketing and promotional materials are on target to your audience. It is important to have a consistent look and feel appropriate to your brand, and have the correct tone and tenor to communicate your unique selling proposition. If these elements are in place then all the oars of your marketing boat will be in concert, pulling your marketing efforts in the right direction.
The first step in developing a comprehensive marketing communications plan is to write out and clearly articulate what products and/or services your company is selling, to whom, why, and what differentiates you from your competition. This can be a very time consuming proposition. If done correctly, this exercise requires a great deal of thought and research.
Having a firm grasp on these concepts is a requirement to creating a strategy that will elevate your marketing effort to the next level. Capitalizing on this strategy is what successful marketing is all about.
With so much competition and an uncertain economy, raising the visibility of your brand above the clutter is key to growing your business. In a constantly changing business environment, measuring results and charting successes and failures of your marketing efforts will show you how to adjust and react to this changing environment. Being armed with measured results and being flexible, you can reinforce the winning efforts and rethink or abandon ineffective and under performing ones. Go with the winners!
Periodic reevaluation of your entire marketing effort will enable you to stay on top of the changing business environment with an active rather than reactive approach. It is far better to be setting the pace rather than chasing your competition. By constantly monitoring and assessing the results of your program and then making adjustments as appropriate with updated and fresh ideas and images, programs and initiatives, you can make sure your company puts its best foot forward with customers and prospects.
Often overlooked and just as important as your customers and prospects, your staff and employees must understand your brand, internalize and deliver on your unique selling proposition. Without buy-in from your staff, you will not have a level of delivery on your value added proposition to keep true to your brand and keep you competitive in the market place.
How much should you be spending towards your marketing efforts? You should consider committing 2%-7% of your gross sales towards your marketing budget. If this seems like a lot of money, remember, this is an investment that will keep the orders and sales coming and keep you profitable.
Finally, get some professional help.
Professionally prepared ad copy, an excellent website, or a great brochure all require the expertise of professionals. While you or your staff may be able to create some of these materials, truly professional marketing can make all the difference in how your customers and potential customers view your company.