Marketers who document their strategy are 538% more likely to report success than those who don’t. Creating a marketing strategy is one of the best things you can do for your business in terms of both profitability and reputation. But even the most targeted marketing strategy has its share of hurdles.
Here are a few easy mistakes to avoid when creating a marketing strategy of your own.
1. No Clear Goals
Creating a marketing strategy is all about direction. And you can’t define your direction before knowing what you’re aiming at.
All your marketing efforts should have a clear goal. Smaller ones for individual campaigns but also an over-arching goal to drive your overall marketing strategy. Without goals, your marketing efforts will be rudderless and uncertain. And an uncertain marketing strategy is an ineffective one.
Once your goals are set, you can clearly plot how you’re going to achieve them. The act of measuring your success as you go will also become more straightforward.
2. Focusing on Quantity Over Quality
It can be easy to fall down a content marketing rabbit hole where the need to produce the next bit of content is all you’re focused on, but take a breath! Content marketing is as much about quality as it is about quantity.
Quality content is what drives your audience engagement. And an engaged audience is 90% more likely to buy your product or service.
So instead of feeding the content pipeline, focus instead on the quality of the content you’re publishing. Are your content articles relevant to your target audience? Do your Facebook videos answer a question your audience is asking? Do your Instagram posts engage your users?
Quality content is a key rung in your marketing strategy ladder. Don’t neglect it.
3. Not Tracking Results
You’re investing time, effort, and money into your marketing campaigns but the buck doesn’t stop there. To figure out if your marketing strategies are working you have to carefully track and analyze your results.
Tracking the results of your campaigns lets you figure out what you’re doing right and where you can improve. Without analyzing your results, you won’t have the knowledge to be able to course correct if things are sliding. This could mean lost time, lost money, and wasted effort on strategies that aren’t working.
Results tracking also lets you know when a strategy is working well. It can give your marketing added direction and drive you to push for bigger and better goals.
Track your results. Your strategy and your budget will thank you.
4. Not Having a USP
Your unique selling point (USP) is as much a part of your brand as your logo or brand name. It should be at the fore of all your marketing ventures.
At its core, a USP differentiates you from your competition. It’s a clear marker of your business’ objectives, positioning, and what you intend to achieve. Without it, your marketing efforts can become rudderless or scattered.
When creating a marketing strategy, you have to set goals but it’s just as important to set a clear idea of what your brand is. Your USP gives you that, so don’t neglect it.
5. Not Knowing Your Audience
Just as you must know what your brand is, you must also know who your audience is.
Your target audience is the people on the other end of your marketing efforts. You need to know who they are, what problems they face, what questions they need answered, and how they want them answered.
Once you have your audience’s wants and needs locked down you can better target your marketing efforts to meeting those wants and needs. Once you know what your audience is asking you can tailor your content to provide answers.
But knowing is half the battle. Market research and audience profiling are integral to creating a marketing strategy that’s going to go the distance.
6. Only Focusing on New Leads
Loyal customers are worth their weight in gold. Studies show that a 5 percent increase in customer retention can increase a business’ profitability by 75 percent.
Focusing all your efforts on new leads and neglecting your established customers is the height of bad planning. Direct, personalized marketing to your existing customers should be a major focus when you’re creating a marketing strategy.
Collect customer email addresses during conversion and set up specific campaigns tailored to them. Follow up purchases and ensure customer satisfaction. Above all, you want existing customers to associate their dealings with you positively.
Even if you don’t land yourself repeat business you’ll probably earn your business some positive word-of-mouth.
7. Asking Too Much
Good marketing is all about focus. You should know what to target and how. It can be all too easy to fall into a holding pattern of more is more. More calls to action, more promotions, more campaigns, and on and on.
In reality, your audience is perpetually distracted and easily overwhelmed. In today’s digital world you can’t take a step without your phone pinging or print signage vying for our attention. Your marketing strategy must be mindful of that and make it as easy as possible for your audience to engage.
Make sure your campaigns are focused on a single objective and tailor your content to that objective. Instead of 5 different calls to action, funnel your users towards a single action.
Focusing your campaigns like this will stop your customers from becoming overwhelmed and, as a bonus, will make your campaign tracking much cleaner.
Be Smart About Creating a Marketing Strategy
There are millions of marketers that have come before you. By learning from past guru’s mistakes you can ensure your business’ marketing strategy is a cut above the rest. And a solid strategy is the best tool in a marketer’s trade.
Knowing your audience, having clear goals, and tracking your results will ensure your marketing efforts have the most impact.
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If you are looking for a digital marketing strategy for your business or want to learn more about how to market your business online, contact the experts at WSI Proven Results.
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