Developing a marketing strategy

August 4, 2016

Sure, you've got a lot of great ideas about how you can communicate to the masses about your brand, products and services, but if you're like me they exist only in your head and are bouncing around in there like a beach ball at a folk rock festival.

This may have worked back when the only content consumers were exposed to was TV, radio, billboards and print, but now with more content than ever passing through more channels than ever reaching consumers has become more complex. Your marketing strategy must follow suit.

So why are you not writing it down? Post-It notes and the napkin at the coffee shop don't count. I'm talking about an organized, well planned documented and measurable marketing plan. Nearly half of marketers say they have a marketing plan, but that it is not documented, according to the Content Marketing Institute. CMI research has found, not surprisingly, that marketers with a documented marketing plan are more successful.

So where do you start? Here are 8 steps to build a content marketing strategy, courtesy www.marketingprofs.com

1. DEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
   No surprise here, but you first need to know who you will be targeting to. You may wish that your target audience was “everybody,” but in reality there is a demographic of people who would more likely be interested in your product or service. Start by asking yourself if you would be better off targeting men or women or maybe both? What age group would be most interested in your product or service? What household income? Do they have children? By asking these questions your target audience will begin to take shape and you'll save time and money by marketing to the right people.

2. RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITORS AND MARKETPLACE
   Do a SWOT analysis. Define your company's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are more internal to your organization while opportunities and threats are external. This analysis will help to find ways to differentiate you from your competitors. Also, do some market research. Has there been a major downturn in the economy that may affect the way consumers spend their dollars? Is there a shortage of your product in another area that you can use to your advantage?
3. TELL YOUR STORY
   By now you should have not only a better idea of who your target audience is, but who you are as a company. Show some personality by telling your story. How and when did your company get started? What is your mission? Don't focus on stats and definitions, humanize your brand. More people can relate to “Our inspiration came to us in a garage in 1992” than “We have sold more that 1,000 products in the last month.”
4. CREATE ART/CREATIVE for your campaign. Pick colors and fonts that match your brand. Think outside of the box, but don't go overboard either! Beware of adding too much wording, but emphasize words like “free” or “new” that will draw people in.
5. PROMOTION
   It's all put together, now get it out there! Think about where your target audience will most likely see your message. Social media? Direct mail? Facebook is a great free resource for promoting your product or service. If you are worried about forgetting to post or if you're just too busy to post every day, use a service like Hootsuite that lets you create and schedule posts in advance. Just write them, schedule them and let it run! Hootsuite allows you to manage two social media streams for free and more if you purchase a membership.
6. MEASURE when possible. It is impossible to know how many direct mail pieces were actually looked at and how many were simply tossed into the trash. Website clicks, ad impressions, Facebook post reach and others can be measured, however. Make sure to note what your web stats, Facebook likes, etc. are before you launch the campaign to see how much it has increased.
   When your campaign wraps up make sure to take time to look back and see what you did well and what you could improve on next time.
   Do you have any marketing strategy tips? Share them with us!
   And visit our blog at www.isjmedia.net for more marketing tips.