What is a marketing strategy?
A marketing strategy is a company’s long -term plan to market its products or services and acquire customers. It includes the company’s value proposition, target group, messaging, positioning and chosen marketing channels.
It differs from a marketing plan that is more focused on the actual tactics used to drive new customers and sales.
Why is an effective marketing strategy important?
Creating an effective marketing strategy is important as it helps you:
- Increase brand awareness: By getting more people to learn about your brand and improve brand -upbage call
- Improve customer acquisition and detention: By making it easier to attract and keep new customers
- Optimize marketing expenses: By letting you assign your marketing budget more effectively to get a better return on your investment
- Run revenue and business growth: By generating more revenue for your business and speeding up growth
To create a marketing strategy
Follow these seven steps to develop a marketing strategy for your business.
1. Set clear targets
Determine what you want to achieve through your marketing efforts.
A good way of thinking about goals is to use the smart frame:
- Specific: Define your goal clearly
- Measurable: Assign one or more measurements to track progress
- Obtainable: Make sure the target is realistic considering current resources and restrictions
- Relevant: Adjust the target with the most important business goals
- Time -tied: Set a deadline for completion
Here is an example of a smart goal:
Increase organic traffic by 15% in the next six months by publishing three search engine optimized pieces of content per week.
2. Examine the market
Market research gives you insight that allows you to make data -driven decisions when you make your marketing strategy.
Without a proper market survey, you would just take assumptions. And this can lead to targeting the wrong audience, using ineffective message and wrongly assigned your resources.
Below are a few things you can do to get a better understanding of your target market. So you can fine -tune your marketing method.
Interview clients
Interview existing or potential customers to learn more about their needs and pain points.
Find out what they like about your product. And what criteria they use when deciding products like yours.
If you do not have customers yet, take an indirect approach to gather these insights by checking relevant forums.
Whatever you sell, there are probably several online communities where people who fit your target audience gather. Try to find relevant subbreddits and forums where potential customers have discussions.
Read the discussions to learn about common pain points and problems.
Join the discussions but refrain from sending promotional content to avoid having your account suspended.
Run a study
A study allows you to gather insights from a large number of people. For example, it can help you get quantitative, statistically relevant data about your target audience’s preferences.
You can create and run a study yourself using tools such as Google Forms or Type Form. Or use platforms like SurveyMonkey or Pollfish, which has a built -in audience.
Analyze your competition
Analysis of your competitors can help you uncover market holes, refine your positioning and improve your message. It also helps you optimize your pricing strategy.
Start by looking at one of your competitors’ websites. Note how they address their audience and how they talk about their product.
Then read reviews to understand what customers say about your rivals. Pay particular attention to what customers Don’t do it As if competing products.
This will help you improve your own product by avoiding making the same mistakes. But it also helps you to customize your messages to meet these pain points.
For example, if many customers point out a problem with the speed of a product, you can draw attention to how quickly your solution is.
Not sure who your most important competitors are?
Use Market Explorer to find them.
Choose ”Find competitors“Loss. Then enter your domain and click”Examine a market. ”
On ”OverviewThe “Table of the” Domain VS Market Dynamics “tab. These are the biggest players in your market.
It, ”Benchmarking“The tab shows how your site compares to competitors. It compares traffic, search volume, acquisition ducts, social media platforms and more.
Use these insights to understand who your top competitors are on each marketing channel.
Use social listening
Social listening involves tracking specific keywords across social media platforms to learn what users say about a topic.
This can help you gain a better understanding of your target market and the overall atmosphere towards existing solutions in the market.
Fire monitoring tracks keywords related to your industry or even competitor brands.
You can even set it to get E -mail warnings when mentioned a specific keyword online. Or when there is a sudden increase in mentions.
Identify search trends
Understanding how your target customers use search engines can help you understand the current industry trends. And it helps you identify the most urgent pain points that your audience is facing.
Semrush’s key word overview tool simplifies this process. Just enter a target key word and it will show a number of useful measurements including:
- Global search volume: How many people all over the world are looking for a particular keyword each month
- Country -specific search volume: The number of searches by the key word performed across specific countries
- Search trend: The popularity of the search expression in the past 12 months
3. Define your positioning
Clarify why customers should choose your product or service rather than competing options.
Answer these questions to define your brand’s positioning:
- Who is your target audience?
- What problem does your product solve?
- How does your product solve the problem better or different from competing products?
- Which category are you competing in?
Then write a positioning declaration – a brief description of your offer and how it earns your target market.
Here’s a formula:
[Product name] Helps [target audience] [the problem your product solves]Then they can [key benefit].
For example:
Semrush helps marketers and businesses improve their online visibility so that they can create more traffic, generate leads and surpass their competition.
4. Craft your messages
Your messaging communicates your positions and value across all channels (site, ads and e -mail). Keep it consistent.
To increase the effectiveness of your message:
Highlight the primary value
Explain why your product matters, not only what it does.
- What: “Our project management software has drag-and-slip functionality.”
- Why: “Finish projects 30% faster with intuitive workflows that adapt to how your team actually works.”
Show the benefits
Make each feature a clear benefit to your customer.
- Function: “Our app includes calendar integration.”
- Advantage: “Never miss another deadline or an important meeting. Your schedule remains synchronized across all devices, giving you back control of your day.”
Highlight differentiation
Explain exactly how your solution is unique. Avoid vague statements such as “Competitive Prices.”
- Unclear: “We offer competitive prices.”
- Clear: “Instead of charging per user allowing our societal plan unlimited team members. This means your collaborative tools can grow with your business.”
5. Choose your marketing channels
Choose the marketing channels that best reach your target audience and be careful in your budget.
Here’s what to consider when deciding which channels to use:
Target group
Identify where your audience spends time online (eg Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok), and how they prefer to consume content (eg text or video).
To find these platforms, open Market Explorer and go to “The audience“Loss. Roll down to the” Social Media “widget to see the platforms your target audience uses most.
Sales cycle length
Paid advertising and direct response channels tend to work well for companies with a shorter sales cycle (eg B2C E trading).
For longer sales cycles (eg B2B SaaS), invest in content marketing and SEO.
Timeframe and budget
Paid search ads often show faster results, but can be expensive. SEO may deliver better returns over time, but takes longer to see results.
Which channels you choose will therefore affect how to distribute your budget across your marketing efforts.
6. Set your budget
A common guideline is to award 5-20% of your company’s income for marketing. The actual amount depends on your industry, growth goals and business phase.
A early stage start -up is likely to have to invest a higher percentage of marketing revenue to see results.
A well -established business with stable organic growth may only need to invest a small fraction of its income in marketing.
Once you have determined your marketing budget, share it across your proved marketing channels.
A small part must go to newer, but proven strategies. While an even smaller (but still significant) part goes towards experimental marketing channels as these have the potential to drive high growth.
7. Start your strategy and monitor progress
When you are ready to start your marketing strategy, measure your progress by tracking the measurements you outlined in the goal.
If your goal is to drive more traffic, monitor visitors Metrics using Google Analytics. And track your keyword rankings with position tracking.
To monitor progress towards revenue targets, trace important measurements such as:
- Total conversions
- Conversion frequency
- Bounce Rate
- Left carriage rate (for E -trading stores)
Remember: Your marketing strategy is not set in stone. Revise it every quarter based on the insight you get.
Make data -driven decisions at all phases to make sure you maximize your budget. Use tools like Semrush’s Market Explorer to streamline your bet.