The Pros And Cons Of A Marketing Strategy
There are many pros and cons of a marketing strategy. We often know what works for us, but sometimes we need a little help seeing the big picture. Sometimes things become so ingrained in our routine that it's hard to see the wood for the trees. That's where your marketing strategy comes to the rescue.
Often as a small business owner we feel this is something we don't need, bigger than us and a little overwhelmed and put it off but the reason the big businesses work and grow is because of this overwhelming word of strategy. Throughout this blog we are going to break down what it actually is, how it could benefit your business along with also the pros and cons of a marketing strategy, so grab a cuppa (or whatever you fancy) and keep reading.
What is A Marketing Strategy
In the simplest way a marketing strategy is a plan. It's the thing that's going to get you from A to B. It's going to help you achieve the goals you want and 9 times out of 10 you are probably doing it without knowing.
I like to break down a strategy into three key areas:
Goal
First up you want to think about your goal. The why on getting out of bed each morning.
Strategy
This is where your strategy comes in. It's the ideas and plan that's going to then help you reach the goal.
Action
So you know your goal and the plan that's going to help you achieve that, so now you need the actions and these are your tactics, like posting on instagram for example.
So like I say you are probably doing all the above. You have a goal in mind, you know you need to do marketing and take actions like post on Instagram but you are most probably doing this in a short term plan. A marketing strategy is a long term plan. It's not about doing a workshop one month and nothing the next, it's about putting a long term plan in place that's going to help you get the big picture, the why of starting your business.
Now let's move onto more of the pros and cons of a marketing strategy.
Advantages Of A Marketing Strategy
There are many advantages to a marketing strategy and a few of them are really allowing you to learn and understand your business better.
Customers
You can’t sell your products or services if you don't actually know who you are selling to. So this is where first you need to get clear on your audience. You want to understand your audience from knowing their habits, behaviors, wants, and needs, and you also know where they like to hang out on social media. This information shapes the methods you will use to promote your business. For example, if you don't have a shop and sell a service (like me), online marketing can be more beneficial than traditional advertising to help you reach your audience on social media platforms and more.
Competition
When creating a product or service there may be others out there so by creating a plan and looking into your competitors, will allow you to have a competitive edge and promote your business. It will help you to understand why yours is different as well as why your customer should decide to buy from you instead of another.
Your Business
A marketing plan really helps you to think about all the little things of your business and understand more on the values you can bring to your customers. It allows you to really know who you are, what you do and why you do it.
Other advantages to a marketing strategy are that it really is going to tell you what you need to do and when in order to meet your goal. By understanding the above three key points it can guide you further on what possible marketing tools and tactics are going to be of use to help you reach your audience, stand out from the crowd and grow your business.
Disadvantages Of A Marketing Strategy
Personally I don't think there are many disadvantages to a strategy apart from ourselves not putting in the time or work. Often what I see is someone making a plan but then never actually look at the plan and check in.
I also often find when people build a strategy they feel there is no movement or room for change but this is not the case. A plan is a guide. It doesn't mean you can’t change it. Things change, goals change and so that doesnt mean if the plan you first created goes wrong you can't adapt and tweak it to become right.
How Do You Plan A Marketing Strategy?
So you've got through the pros and cons of a marketing strategy and now looking to crack on and make one. Here are my five top tips on how to plan your very own marketing strategy.
Set your overall goals for a period of time. For example the whole year or sometimes planning for the quarter is easier to stay accountable.
Review your current strategy - what is working that you could continue to do and what isn't working that you could possibly look to stop or find a solution for.
Consider the platforms you need to use, what you want to use and the skills you have to use them. Are there any you can get support on, do you need to use all platforms.
Be realistic with our time. The more pressure we put on ourselves when we are creating a plan the less likely we are to stick to it. Remember this is just a plan and not a contract so if things need to shift and change they can.
The top key to a strategy is knowing if it is actually working. Make sure you plan how you are going to measure your success. This can be check ins throughout the plan and where you then may need to regroup and adapt things if they aren’t working.
Pro Tip: Why do we always focus on the new?
Often in our marketing strategies we tend to always focus on getting new customers, and not nurturing our current customers.
But did you know..
It costs 25x times more to get a new customer
Previous customers are more likely to convert quicker
They are also likely to spend more too
So let’s add a strategy to our marketing that focuses on returning customers. How can we do this?
First thing you need to do is check in with your statistics. Find out different information on customers.
Who spends the most? They need to be rewarded!
Who hasn’t been back for a while? Give them an incentive to come back
What do you usually buy or book for? If you have availability for this service or product then let them know, if they’ve purchased before then they are more likely to buy again.
Now, I’m not going to lie. Email marketing is key. It is pretty much impossible to have this information and be able to communicate with these customers via Instagram and this is just one of the instances of how personal you can get with email marketing is just one of reasons it should be an important part of your marketing strategy.
As you plan for the last couple of months in the year, save this post to refer back to and give retargeting your old customers a go!
Start Today
There is nothing more insightful than getting an outsider perspective on your business.
We work on our businesses everyday, which can sometimes mean we are focusing on our short term goals (getting through the day) but forget about the long-term goals for our business (where you want your business to be in 6-months time.)
I've been there myself and I understand how difficult it can be to break out of auto-pilot mode in day to day life and start to take small yet strategic steps that will benefit your business' longevity.
This is completely different for every single business owner and that's why a 1:1 session with me is perfect to get the ball rolling again.
This is a popular service amongst my clients in the run up to Christmas in order to get the most out of their festive marketing and to discuss the New Year approaching!
Maybe you have some marketing issues that need expert advice or a fresh pair of eyes to bounce ideas off of? This is where I can help.
The Strategy Session allows you to have a 90 minute 1:1 call with a marketing expert to help you make sure your marketing is working effectively to serve you.
You do not need to be a client of mine to use this service, all business owners are welcome and you can find more information here on my one to one marketing strategy sessions.
