Marketing without a plan is worse than not marketing at all. Your marketing efforts should be the result of thoughtful strategic planning and execution. Without a clear plan, you will not get the results that you desire.
So why do so many smart people rely on hope for marketing success? It’s true that marketing is not an exact science, but it is also not a method to be haphazardly applied and expect good results.
Marketing is the way that you communicate information to your prospects or target market. It is the vehicle that often begins your relationship with your buyer. While that may sound lofty and complicated it is actually quite simple.
There are two things that you can do to ensure the success of your marketing plan – know thyself and know thy customer.
To know thyself means that you have validated that people want what you have to offer. This goes beyond the initial market testing for new products and services but has value for the established business as well. Find out what your customers are actually buying from you and use those insights to refine your marketing. For example, a web hosting company may discover from their customers that people are not buying hosting but customer service. With this insight, the company can test marketing messages that focus on their response time, availability and other service benefits.
In other words, knowing yourself means that you have a clearly defined unique selling proposition. The unique selling proposition or USP is your competitive advantage; it is the thing that sets you apart from other suppliers, your strength in the market. Every business from real estate to dry cleaning should identify their USP. You should know it and be able to clearly articulate it as it should drive all of your marketing messages.
Know your customers. The first question you must answer is “Who is my customer?” Are you marketing to women, men, baby boomers, depression era seniors? How often does your target customer buy your product or service? What are the key benefits they realize from using it? When you understand the “who” of the customer equation you can then begin to learn how they think and how they move through the buying cycle, and appropriately target your marketing message to reach them.
What is the objective of the marketing message? Are you introducing a new product or service? Are you promoting a retooled website? Are you running a promotion to boost sales? A clear
objective will help you to stay focused when you develop your marketing message. It will also enable you to accurately measure your results. If you need help creating your marketing message, make sure to check out our 7 Tips to Piece Together Effective Advertising.
The time that you invest in planning your marketing strategy is good sense that adds up to dollars and cents!
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