Sir Alan Sugar doesn’t like marketing and describes marketing budget as ‘money he’s p****d up the wall’. He is not alone in thinking this; many business professionals have the same trail of thought.
But what is the cause of this cynicism about marketing – something that has been used for centuries? The answer is simple: many agencies don’t promise to deliver a specific return on marketing spend for their clients. If something is not guaranteed, why should you trust it? Unrealistic goals and expectations are a problem within the industry, and too many fake promises leave clients feeling disappointed and disillusioned when buying marketing services.
The difference with Brandshare is that we guarantee the results you see from our services. After almost 30 years in the business, we’ve acquired a team of professionals who know what they’re doing, and in-depth industry knowledge from running two top-tier magazines. We know when something is realistic or not. Being completely transparent with our clients is something we pride ourselves on. We are confident in what we do, and the results speak for themselves, every single time.
Let’s begin with identifying what a marketing strategy is in its rawest form. Marketing strategy is a collection of techniques and tactics that enable an organisation to increase and improve something. This is most commonly sales, awareness, reach, or advantage over competition. Not only does it generate what your business needs, but once your strategy has launched, you can then use it to set measurable goals to help your company improve. If done correctly, it’s an upward spiral from there!
The first thing you should consider when it comes to marketing strategy is YOU. Your brand is unique to any other, and therefore will require a unique mix of techniques to promote it. In the modern day, most markets suffer from fragmentation, so you cannot progress until you have found your niche in the market. In-depth brand research is crucial at this point: discovering problems gives you an opportunity to fix them.
Identifying your target market is vital. Your brand could be for everybody and anybody, but you probably don’t have the time or money to market to the entire world. This is when your ideal customer needs to be identified. Who does it make sense for you to spend your money targeting? Who will benefit the most from your services and help deliver the results you want? At Brandshare, we investigate demographics, psychographics, geographic and behavioural traits of your audience so we can get a well-rounded insight as to who they are.
Taking a micro and macro look at the market you operate in is vital. In terms of looking through a macro lens, review the international market; what other countries are doing in the same industry could be useful to your business. Limiting your research to your direct competitors is only limiting the possibilities of success. They may have found the solution before you! When looking through a micro lens, look at your direct competitors.
It’s important that you know your competition. What is already out there? This will help you further define your unique selling proposition, and potentially help you grasp a competitive advantage which will benefit you in the marketplace, and put you head and shoulders above the rest. Your brand has to offer a unique advantage if you want it to get chosen over others. Once your unique selling point is discovered, it will act best as the centre of your strategy.
How is anyone meant to engage with your brand if they don’t know it exists? Stats show that a potential customer must be exposed to your brand five to fifteen before they think about your brand when an issue arises. We cannot identify when people may face a problem in their lives, but we can make sure your brand is at the forefront of their brain when they do. This is most effective through the use of a mixture of channels personalised to you, your audience, and the market you’re in.
Lastly, once you’ve implemented a fantastic marketing strategy, make sure you evaluate and measure the results. If you miss this step, you won’t know how successful you’ve been. There is always room for improvement and evaluating helps not only to break down what went well, but more importantly what didn’t work. This gives you scope to change aspects of your strategy next time. Keeping your marketing plan up-to-date will keep your brand current and allows you to develop with your brand as it grows.
If you chose against a great marketing strategy, you are missing out on business growth. Here at Brandshare, we can help you craft a marketing strategy which is best suited to you personally. We guarantee our results, which are proven throughout our own channels, Dogs Monthly magazine, Dogs Today magazine and PurrfectlyYappy.com. Together, we have a 17.8m Facebook reach across our own platforms, a 350,000 reach across Twitter and 652,000 website views. Since last year, we have made over 1.6 billion independently verified impressions on our social channels and driven over 1.4 million link clicks.
Whether it’s a solid marketing strategy to help you achieve similar results or if it’s something else we offer, please contact our team on 01276 858 880, we’re always ready for a chat.
