By CAROLYN JEFFREY*
So you’ve decided you need a marketing strategy, now it’s time to consider the driving elements behind your strategy. Here we go through the considerations.
What do you want to achieve from your strategy? Clearly you will want to either build, consolidate or re-establish customers and/or grow dollars for your business. Your marketing goals will largely depend upon what goals and strategies you have listed in your business plan. Remember too that marketing can be about achieving goals in the short term as well as the long term.
What’s your monetary budget for your marketing? If you don’t have money in your budget for marketing then you might as well close your doors now, because that’s where you will be headed. Even busy businesses need to have some form of marketing to help keep their existing customers at the very least and to ensure their business is in front of potential customers now or for the longer term future. Your budget will depend on the return you receive for your products, the size of your brand/business, the size of your market and what you want to achieve. Where you need to invest your marketing energy will be a deciding factor too. It may seem obvious but a small business such as a corner store/deli in a country town should not be budgeting tens of thousands of dollars on marketing because (a) the return wouldn’t be there and (b) it is unnecessary to target the limited customer base, however, they should still be spending some time, money and energy to market the business.
How much time do you have to drive the marketing campaign? There is little point in spending money on marketing or planning if you haven’t got the time or discipline to drive it. You need to be able to mark out regular time commitments in your diary if you’re going to drive it yourself. If you haven’t got this time available you will need to either delegate to staff, if you have them, or engage a professional to do it for you. Marketing takes time for scheduling, idea generation, production of marketing items, if required, and also measuring the results.
Do you have the personality to make the marketing strategy work? As with the time factor, if you don’t have the personality to drive the marketing of your business then you should engage a professional or utilise suitable staff in your organisation, if you have them. Some of the traits required for successful marketing include passion for the product/service, creativity, time management, a friendly and outgoing demeanour and a positive outlook. If you don’t realistically possess these traits give the task to someone else to let you concentrate on the other aspects of your business to which your skills and personality are best suited.
Who are the customers you are targeting? Think carefully about the customers you want to target; remember, they could be different customers for different aspects of your business. For example, if your customers are business, don’t waste too much money and time on marketing initiatives that target householders, although consider that business owners and managers are also householders in your local community. Look instead at opportunities to ensure your message is getting directly to the business owners. If your customers are youth then social media and online marketing would be obvious considerations over a print newspaper campaign, for example. Think about the complete demographic of your customers – age, sex, interests etc – and put yourself in their shoes to choose the best marketing options to target them.
Which customers give you the greatest return for your investment? It makes perfect business sense to put the most marketing dollars into goods or customers that give you the greatest return, although don’t forget the bread and butter customers too. As with the above, carefully consider the demographics of your most lucrative customers and target appropriately.
What parts of your business are working well and which ones would you like to build upon? The answer to this question would usually be easily found in your business plan and is in the “must know” category for any successful business owner. Although not advocating that you stop marketing some aspects of your business that are working well, you might want to focus more closely on the areas you would like to build upon. These could include new products, services or areas of coverage or existing aspects of your business that have dwindled.
What marketing options are available to you? The answer to this question will depend on where your business is located, your budget, your customer base and the type of goods and services you offer. The options are generally limitless but could include social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+ to name just three), the internet through websites (yours and other people’s), print media, radio, TV, signage, direct marketing (brochures, mailouts, business cards), telemarketing and more.
The plan: If you have worked your way through the above questions you should be in a much better position to now write your marketing plan; you can even use the questions as headings for your plan.
In our following blogs we will look at tips on just some of the marketing options available to you, particularly if you are a small business operating on a tight marketing budget.
*Carolyn Jeffrey is the principal of CJ’s Business Solutions. For more details visit www.cjsbusinesssolutions.com.au.