5 Key Elements to A Successful Marketing Strategy

To successfully plan a business’ marketing initiatives, you must have a marketing strategy that determines how you’ll pull clients and customers in. This can be difficult for some trying to push their business-to-business services, if they are lacking a structured strategy to guide their efforts as they work to develop their brand. Let’s review some ways to simplify this process as you generate your strategies.

Identify (and Lean On) a Compelling Value Proposition

The key to any successful effort is the value that is communicated. What makes your offer stand—whether that’s the quality of your services, the specific services you offer, or the benefits your clientele will see from them? By identifying and leaning on these features, you can create a more effective marketing strategy by prioritizing what makes you stand out—or simply, your differentiators. Identifying these differentiators and the value they bring to your clientele is ultimately essential to any plan you devise because, without them, your marketing may miss the mark or target the wrong audience. This becomes even more important in highly competitive markets or industries because your differentiators and the value they present will keep you from getting lost in the crowd. Similarly, a growing company should focus on these messages to establish its place in the market, whether these messages are meant for a general audience or a more specific niche.

Market with Your Target in Mind

Customize your value proposition so it speaks to your specific target audience and their needs. With the message you want to send in mind, ask yourself: What challenges are your prospects facing? What are their goals?
Where are they in their purchasing journey? Are they exploring other options or are they ready to buy?
How will my prospects benefit after purchasing my product and/or services?
What problems are they struggling with that what I offer can alleviate, and how? These insights will make your strategy as effective as possible. Features don’t attract customers; outcomes do. Clearly outlining the specific benefits that your services provide will capture your target audience's interest. Most people you talk to will focus more on what is relevant to them and their situation, tuning out the rest to some degree. Giving what you have to offer the context that demonstrates this relevance will help boost both your brand awareness and conversion rates.

Use Content Marketing to Your Advantage

Content is vital for any marketing strategy. You need to understand that you aren’t just marketing to the people you’re trying to do business with—you’re also trying to impress the search engines that will direct the people you’re trying to do business with to your website. Having the right content can help you accomplish both. Regularly adding fresh content that’s relevant to your industry, your services, and your service area effectively turns your website into a search results farm, so anyone performing a local search would be much more likely to find your content—and statistics have consistently shown that this has benefits across the board. Whether it's brand memorability, user experience, or opportunities to convert, being seen consistently makes your business inherently seem more consistent. It also doesn’t hurt that having this kind of content available on your website allows you to subtly market your services and not-so-subtly market them simultaneously. Sure, that blog describing some recent happenings in your industry might not help you sell a good or service directly. Still, someone who reads it may be more inclined to turn to the business that keeps itself up-to-date when they’re in need of another related good or service. Meanwhile, a call to action at the end of that blog allows you to convert another reader, who might want to hear some more of your insights. You should use as many platforms as possible to make the most of your content. Your website is definitely one to focus on, but your business’ social media should not be neglected. Many people may turn to Facebook or LinkedIn first, so you want any route they take to make a good impression… ideally, getting them back to your website and providing you with their contact information so you can communicate with them directly. Regardless of the platform, your content must be consistent in how often it is shared, the tone it takes, and the message it spreads.

Identify and Track Metrics to Improve Further Efforts

Of course, it would be silly just to let our marketing efforts go once so much time and effort has been invested in them. Therefore, it is critical that you select metrics to track how well your marketing strategy performs long before your targets see any of your efforts reach them. Take these measurements consistently to ensure they paint an accurate picture.

Then—and this is the important part—use these metrics to improve your tactics and execute your strategy again.

This is where your marketing strategy really sees its improvements increase. As tempting as it might be just to let your marketing go and not really revise anything, doing so is to sacrifice a huge portion of the value your marketing gives you.
Review your past efforts, making note of any highs and lows. Were any errors made? Take the time to figure out what caused them, adjust your plans to resolve them, and generally make sure that your strategy fits the market you are operating in. Then run your marketing again, taking these measurements and continuing to improve.

Is it a lot? Yes! However, investing this kind of time and effort into your plans will only pay dividends when it comes to their efficacy.