Blog: 5 Key Things to Consider when Developing a Marketing Strategy

In this blog Soni Zaman from Digital Cheshire explains five important areas businesses must consider when creating a marketing strategy. 

The benefits of a digital marketing strategy to a business are huge. A commanding online presence and effective use of online platforms can propel any business and help you stand out from the crowd. Being in such a position requires a solid understanding of the digital marketing tools available to your business, coupled with a strategy that meets your goals and capabilities. A working knowledge of the most advantageous tools, and an implementation of the right techniques, can take your reach global - attracting customers and generating leads in way that is targeted, measurable and scalable.

Below we will outline and discuss five things to consider when creating an effective digital marketing strategy – helping you understand how to develop a strategy that serves a purpose and maximises the benefits for you and your business.

BUSINESS CRITICAL DATA

How many enquiries do you get per month? (Ask your team to record this asap if you don’t already). How many sales do you do per month? What’s the average value? How many sales will you need to break even? What can you handle per month?

These are only a few of the questions you need to be asking yourself, as the answers will provide the data to work out lots of critical business metrics.

The key thing is you have data to work from. You can still gather data as a start-up or a fledgling business by doing market research and forecasting with your accountant. This will help you understand items such as your net profit.

Before you undertake any marketing, not just paid, you need to determine what that activity is going to do for you. It might be that you need to do some brand awareness to support your sales team or it might be that you need to drive traffic to your website to convert it into sales leads.

BRAND IDENTITY

In an increasingly competitive market, it’s more important than ever to make sure your brand is clear and engaging.

It’s easy to become bogged down in the detail of your business and start to do everything from the perspective of what you want. This takes over your marketing as you talk more about the details of your delivery and how you approach your work and less on the aspects that really matter – what people get.

The best way to approach your brand is to think of it from your target audience’s perspective and make sure this is embedded in everything you do.

You’ve got to think about how you stand out from your competitors, both direct (the companies offering the same as you) and the indirect (the alternative options).

If everyone is saying the same thing, there’s no unique selling point.

POSITIONING

A brand positioning statement is a description of your target market that also includes a holistic picture of how you’d like your brand to be perceived by customers.

Market differentiation: Showing the uniqueness of your product in any industry creates a major advantage. When you use your brand positioning to celebrate how your product solves a particular problem or need differently than your competitors, customers will take notice.

Easy purchase decisions: By clearly defining your product and how it can benefit your customer, you take the guesswork out of the purchase process.

Value confirmation: A strong brand doesn’t have to rely on pricing wars with competitors. Instead, great brand positions establish the high value of their product, making customers want to buy it no matter what.

Magnified messaging: A clear brand positioning statement gives you a springboard for compelling creative storytelling.

MISSION AND VISION

A Mission statement is important for an organization because it defines the business, products or services, and customers, thereby defining the primary objective. It provides detailed information about what the organization does, how it does, and who it does it for.

What is a Vision Statement?

The Vision statement focuses on its goals and aspirations, which describes how the future will look if the organization achieves its mission. They are also timeless, even if the business changes its strategy, the vision will often stay the same. A realistic, credible, and attractive vision statement attracts commitment and energizes its people.

VALUES

Why are values important for a business?

You have values yourself – principles that define “right” and “wrong” behaviours.
It might be in your work ethic, how you treat people, what you prioritize and times when you’re surprisingly casual.

An organisation's values lay the foundation for what the company cares about most. It provides a common purpose that all employees should understand, work towards and live by.

If you are an SME business in the Cheshire and Warrington area, contact Digital Cheshire for fully funded business support, including specialist guidance and advice on creating an effective digital marketing strategy. Digital Cheshire provide fully funded masterclasses led by industry experts, designed to give you the most up to date and effective knowledge that you can apply to your business, helping you accelerate growth by adapting to an ever-changing digital world and bringing your business into the digital age.