Developing a marketing strategy takes time and effort—is it really worth it? The answer is simple: yes.
A marketing strategy is crucial for driving sales, raising brand awareness, and growing a business—among other benefits. However, developing an effective marketing strategy is something that most business owners overlook and neglect.
Don’t worry; we’re not pointing fingers. We get it. As a business owner, you’re doing it all, from operations, to customer service, accounting, and everything in between. As you focus on putting out the day-to-day fires of your business, we understand it’s hard to find the time to think about social media marketing, Google analytics or increasing traffic to your website, and the dozens of other marketing opportunities at your fingertips.
If you want to integrate marketing into your business strategy, but struggle to find the time, we’re here to say it’s time to get started—and we’ll make it easier.
Read on to dive into the critical pieces of a marketing strategy, and why marketing is necessary to the growth and success of your business.
What is a Marketing Strategy?
Your marketing strategy is essentially your outreach gameplan for transforming prospects into loyal customers. It also lays out your plan for achieving your business goals and gaining a long-term advantage over your competition.
Your marketing plan defines what sets you apart, lays out your strategy for communicating why your brand is special, and specifies exactly how you plan to execute your strategy.
Why Does My Business Need a Marketing Strategy?
Failing to plan is planning to fail. And we know you’ve worked too hard to leave your success up to chance. Here are five specific reasons why you need a marketing strategy:
- To capitalize on opportunities. If you don’t have your marketing plan mapped out, chances are you don’t have the full picture when it comes to where you’re devoting resources. Without a strategy, you cannot capitalize on what’s working and pull back on what is not. That means that you won’t know where to pull resources from in your budget if new opportunities come along, leading to missed chances and lost business.
- To present your brand clearly and cohesively. Do you have drastically different colors, fonts, and messaging on different platforms? If this sounds like you, chances are high that you are leaving your consumers confused. A confused customer is hard to convert into a paying customer, which is why a cohesive brand image across all platforms (in both appearance and messaging) is key.
- To stay ahead of the competition. Working on your strategy regularly keeps your business strong, healthy and ahead of the competition. Keeping your finger on the pulse of your industry, and identifying what your competition is doing (or not doing), is key to staying nimble and moving in on opportunities as they present themselves.
- To set measurable metrics for performance improvement. By emphasizing strategy and implementing tangible markers to track your success, your progress becomes quantifiable. Developing measurable marketing metrics will let you clearly see what is working and what is not, so you can adjust where you are placing both your creative and financial resources.
- To thoughtfully develop your team. Unified marketing efforts also help you better communicate the brand’s mission, vision, and values to your internal team. This will not only deepen their connection and understanding of the business, but allow them to show up on behalf of the company more effectively. Having insight into the success of your marketing efforts allows your team members to recognize their role in building the company, and feel good about their contributions.
See the road clearly
Once you understand the need for a marketing strategy, you can take a closer look at your company’s specific needs, goals, and characteristics. By pinpointing the outcomes you want to achieve through your marketing strategy, you can then take sustainable steps to get there.
As a business owner, it’s easy to get caught up in the tactical, day-to-day functioning of your company. Developing a marketing strategy is what will ensure you stay future-focused. Even when you’re juggling it all.
