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Building a marketing strategy for the business
- sherine mos@
- Dec 8, 2022
- 19 min read
Updated: Dec 9, 2022
You may be working as a marketing manager within a commercial organization and trying to understand what the best marketing strategy is. Perhaps you have even established your own business, or you are still in the planning and establishment stages. In any case, my basic assumption about you, because you came to read this article, is that you are asking yourself "How do you build a proper marketing strategy for your business?" In order for you to start seeing desired results such as business growth and of course profits, or in other words:
Table of Contents
Every useful process starts with good, preliminary questions, and the question in the previous sentence is exactly what we will focus on in this article, so it's a good thing you asked!
First of all: as a business owner - you must make sure that your business operates consistently according to the marketing strategy that is best for it!
Second thing: a marketing strategy is not something that should scare you or make you feel dry in your mouth and choke in your throat because in the end, a marketing strategy is designed to increase your business and help you achieve the goals you have set.
Third thing: the marketing strategy should be based on the business strategy and help push forward the goals and objectives defined in it. From the definition of the established business strategy will be derived the methods of marketing, therefore, before building a successful marketing strategy for you, let's dwell for a moment on the definition of the business goals you want to achieve and how to make sure that you will indeed achieve them:
Quantitative objectives:
Quantitative goals are the best way to measure and understand whether we are making progress and to make sure that the business is not moving in place or, mercifully, backwards. Once we know what we want to achieve and where we need to get there, the path will become clear and it will be easier for us to plan and outline the steps that will lead us there. After all, if we don't set a goal, how will we know that the business has progressed in the right direction?
Of course, the quantitative goals we define must be reflected in the desired (and realistic) growth rate of the business. In addition, the quantitative goals we define must be... quantitative. A vague definition will not suffice here, but we will have to make the numbers as precise as possible. Here are a number of factors that we recommend setting as quantitative goals:
Customer costs - the answer to the question "How much does it cost to bring a new customer to the business?"
Conversion rates - after we understand what our desired conversion rate is, we will of course strive to reach it and even improve it, because the more we improve the conversion rate we manage to squeeze, the greater the return on our costs will be!
Sales turnover - what is a sales turnover that will make us satisfied and to which we will strive in order to see healthy growth?
Profitability rate - we will measure the "profit margin" or the "bottom line in the bank". This is actually what we have left in our wallet from the sales after deducting the various costs and expenses. For this, of course, you will need to know your business expenses. As mentioned, the goal here is to quantify these goals as precisely as possible, and to define a schedule as short as possible, but possible, to achieve them.
Branding objectives:
Unlike quantitative goals, branding goals are goals that will not be easy to define precisely, but let's try anyway. It is important to try to formulate branding goals that are as clear as possible (not at the level of the exact number, but still, so that it is clear what is considered a success and the achievement of the goal and what is not), otherwise, it will be really difficult to implement them, and just as importantly, to measure the success:
What do people think about when you talk to them about our business area?
We can decide that we want to see our business recognized as a professional authority in the arena and market where we operate. If we succeed in positioning the business, or the people behind it, as leading professionals in the field - we will significantly increase the chance that we will receive many inquiries from potential and interested customers. On the other hand, being the first name that comes to people's minds when they think of a product or some professional field is quite a challenge that will require a lot of work and investment of resources from you, but it usually pays off satisfactorily in the long run.
How is our business or product positioned in the market?
Are we positioning the business as a unique boutique entity? Expensive but quality? Maybe cheap and mass? Our branding direction needs to be clear to all concerned, because strategic decisions of this type will have a huge impact on the target audience and the customers who end up buying and receiving service from us. Are the users and lovers of our product willing to compromise on quality and service for a discounted price, or are we investing in a smaller amount of people who are willing to pay more money to enjoy a unique and quality product?
From the branding goals we will set before our eyes, we will of course have to derive concrete marketing tasks that will help us move toward achieving the goal. For example, in order to become an authority in our professional arena, we should present professional, up-to-date, and enriching information on the company's website. This way we can capture the attention of people who are looking for information on the subject. In addition, we will have to work hard in front of interested people (potential customers) in the arena of social networks, at events, relevant conferences, and more. All as part of the overall marketing strategy designed to push our business forward and up!
Great, so we have a business strategy with a definition of quantitative and branding goals. Now we can move on to their application and how we intend to get them and nail them to the wall; So let's get back to focusing on the topic for which we gathered:
How do you build a marketing strategy?
In a large part of the basic articles and manuals that deal with marketing strategy, you will find the use of professional terms such as BCG matrix, Porter's five forces, computer models for analyzing trends in the market and society, Blind Spots analysis, SWOT analysis, PEST analysis and many other kinds and types of great and useful strategic models.
To make life simpler for all of us - in this guide I intend to try to simplify the methods that work for us and for our customers, as much as possible, and try to avoid bombarding with terminology and new terms. That way, those who read this article from beginning to end will not feel that they are entering head-on into a thicket of branches that is difficult to navigate and step through. We will walk together, slowly and safely, into the thick of the forest, after making sure we have the appropriate tools and the understanding of how to do it in a way that will help our business grow. Shall we move forward?
When we sit down to build a marketing strategy, whose role is to generate demand for the business's product or service among potential customers, we need to examine the marketing goals we set for ourselves against the existing business data and analyze the following factors:
Clienteles:
An in-depth analysis and understanding of the existing customer audiences, as well as the potential audiences who have not yet bought or used but are defined as a relevant audience who are likely to want to buy from us, is a critical step in developing a marketing strategy on which we will act.
Existing clients
We will perform a precise and systematic segmentation as possible of the business's existing clientele:
It is important to try to understand what the characteristics of those existing customers are: how did they hear about us? What actually made them decide to purchase from us, and maybe even like the product and service and recommend it to others (word of mouth)? If we can understand how our business is positioned in the mind of that audience - that's great!
Potential customers
We will segment and identify potential customers, who are not yet part of the existing customer base, and try to clarify for ourselves what the common characteristics of those people are when it is best to convey the message to them, and what actually interests (or may interest) them. This way we will increase the likelihood of a listening ear and openness on their part to our proposal.
On that occasion, as part of formulating a marketing strategy for the business, we should also think about how to find that target audience and where we are most likely to meet them and deliver our message to them. In this context, most of us are constantly attached to smartphones that are connected to the Internet, which allows us to be targeted in a very wide variety of ways, but let's remember that billboards and guerilla advertising have not yet disappeared from the world!
When you come to ssegmentinga target audience and base it on the analysis for the purpose of building a marketing strategy - it is important to remember that there is a very relevant target audience that an old business may completely miss! That audience doesn't come or buy, so the business owners never become aware of the relevance of that audience segment for the business. Since they are not aware of it, they will also never put out an ad that will specifically target and focus on it. That audience is missed and has no way to get to know the business and buy from it.
It is our duty to make sure that the marketing strategy we define will take into account the customers in the field compared to customers from other fields, and of course also the nature of the customers of our specific business within the field. There are important differences between customers in different fields, and we have to take these differences into account because they are manifested all the time:
Rate of returning customers - customers who have already come and perhaps even purchased from us at least once and after some time came back again. There are areas in which we would not expect to see customers returning to buy so quickly, such as a car sales business or a real estate brokerage, but in the case of a restaurant or a plant nursery, for example, we would definitely like to see customers returning relatively frequently. By the way, beyond the quality of the service and product, The rate of returning customers is also an excellent measure for examining the quality of our marketing content!
Average transaction amount - every business and every product has an average transaction amount that is quite easy to calculate, whether it is a recurring expenditure or a one-time purchase. The average transaction amount will help you understand what is a reasonable cost and investment to pay for a customer in your specific business. Basically and roughly, even if a new customer costs you 1,000 NIS, and in the end closed a deal with you from which you earned 1,001 NIS - you still earned a shekel. If we ignore for a moment additional expenses (beyond the marketing expenses) that every business has in the sales process and remember that the ultimate goal is to achieve profit and growth, then in this case the goal has apparently been achieved. We will clarify that this will probably not be considered an optimal profit and that we would of course prefer to see a larger gap between the cost of acquiring customers and the average transaction amount, especially in light of the fact that not every lead that comes in actually purchases from us and makes us money.
LTV (Lifetime Value) for the customer - or in free translation into Hebrew: the lifetime value of our customer. This is one of the most important figures that any business trying to formulate a marketing strategy that will help it grow should know how to measure. Bottom line, LTV is the total average monetary value of a particular customer throughout his "customer life" (until he stops consuming our product or service). It turns out that as a certain customer continues to purchase from a certain company, his LTV increases. Let's dwell on this figure for a moment, because it is really important. To calculate a customer's LTV you will need to know some data:
Average purchase amount - divide the total profit of the business over a certain period of time (usually calculated by year) by the number of purchases made during that period.
The average frequency of purchases - divide the number of purchases made in the same period of time by the number of unique customers (that is, not counting repeat customers) who purchased during that period.
Customer value - this number is a product of (average purchase amount) by (average frequency of purchases).
Average customer lifetime - this value is an average of the number of years a customer continues to purchase from the business.
Finally, once you have all the data above, you can calculate the LTV as follows:
Customer Value X Customer Lifetime Average
The result you will receive constitutes the amount of profit you can expect to pocket from an average customer throughout the time of his engagement with your business!
The weight and influence of recommending customers in the field - as we have already said, a real estate agent is not expected to have a high rate of repeat customers, but it is important to remember that when he has customers who came to him through the recommendation of friends, they are expected to be significantly better and loyal customers than customers who came through "cold advertising" (Without personal acquaintance or prior personal contact.) By comparison, a restaurant or pub will have to work hard and learn how to maintain a high rate of repeat customers, but it will be relatively easier for them to bring in the "cold customer" the first time.
The successful construction of the value proposition of the business
An essential and important part of building a marketing strategy is the value proposition we offer: what is the value that the company, product, or service claims to provide to the customer? What does the consumer ultimately understand that he is getting in return for the money?
Each product/service is perceived as having a certain value (high or low) for the consumer, and that value may be functional or emotional. For example, many big brands try to give customers a high emotional value by making sure that their marketing messages are aimed at the emotional experience: instead of focusing on how comfortable the shoes are or how fast the bottle is, they tell us a story that conveys the emotion and feeling they want to always be attached to their brand. We will already conclude the matters of convenience and speed ourselves. Beyond that, when we purchase a product that many people feel gives them emotional value - this is also accompanied by a feeling of belonging to a certain group of consumers, which is definitely an added value.
A business that is working on building a marketing strategy must have a deep understanding of the need it is meeting for its potential customers, and carry out a thought process on how it intends to convey this message to the customer himself, and continue to remind him of the need and value in a constant and determined manner.
The sales process and the marketing funnel
Before we talk about the sales process and the marketing funnel that was built, it is important that we align on the following claim:
In the vast majority of cases, the completion of an action such as a purchase or registration online does not happen by accident or by mistake. This happens on purpose and as a direct consequence of some process that the consumer goes through.
If you nodded in agreement when you read the above claim, then you will surely understand why before starting to build a marketing strategy for any business - we should understand what the existing sales process and marketing funnel are. The marketing funnel varies greatly from business to business and has a decisive influence on the nature and language of advertising as well as on the marketing and media channels that will be chosen to present it and reach the target audience.
Choosing the appropriate media and distribution channels has a decisive effect on the success of the company's marketing strategy. We are not exaggerating if we say that companies may rise or fall because of the distribution channels they choose to focus on in their marketing strategy! The reason for this is that it is not enough if we sell a quality product that there is an audience that is interested in it, we must also make sure that the advertising and marketing actually reach their destination and are assimilated by that target audience.
You have to remember that the marketing work and all the strategies we build and plan do not exist in a vacuum. Besides us, there are millions of other businesses trying to sell and market to potential customers (yes, millions... don't forget that today it is easier than ever to order products from anywhere in the world and cheaply, with a few clicks of the mouse!).
As the field of digital marketing develops and progresses and as the consumer becomes more experienced under the influence of the many marketing funnels that try to capture his attention and surround him, the funnels adjust themselves and become more complex and upgraded. It turns out that the more your marketing funnel gives the consumer greater added value, meets them at different points, and slowly builds a system of trust with them, the greater the chance that the target audience will continue to flow down the marketing funnel, and eventually reach the sales conversion stage.
The sales process in the business is the narrow part of the marketing funnel and to ensure better closing rates we will have to perform a thorough examination of the publications in the preliminary stages. These are the steps that actually lead into the sales process even before the direct relationship between the consumer and the business. During the sales process, which may stretch over several hours to several months, our marketing strategy should be designed to accompany the consumer with advertising that will strengthen the brand and help raise sales rates.
Choosing the media for advertising
The advertising spaces we will purchase for the benefit of the various campaigns will also affect the nature of the advertising.
"The medium is the message", therefore, choosing and purchasing media adapted to the business or service we market must be calculated and adapted to our target audiences, and the messages we convey in each of the media we use must be appropriate for the audience and take into account the moment and the state of mind they are in when they meet us. For example, an active search on Google is not similar to a random wander that is not guided by a certain goal in a feed on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
The advertising spaces at the beginning of a marketing funnel will not necessarily be the same as the advertising spaces at the end. Usually at the top of the marketing funnel we will purchase media that builds a need and helps filter the audiences. Sometimes, when it is a completely new product, our marketing strategy should include moves to create demand and need for the product. We will have to succeed, through our marketing efforts, in making the potential consumer want to purchase a product that he may not have even been aware of until the moment he was exposed to it!
An example of one medium that can be very effective in making this happen is native advertising. At Oasis Media we are big fans of this media, especially in content articles, or in brand publications that help build a relatively loyal audience among the people who are exposed to our marketing content. To this end, we can make use of content-based advertising such as Outbrain or Tabula and cast a wide net that will help us capture relevant audiences. After those audiences are exposed to our content, we can reach them again through smart remarketing that will offer them the same service or product that meets the need we have already learned they have. Nice huh? For the purpose of remarketing (or in its Hebrew name: "Shazeru"), we can make use of advertising on Google GDN, Facebook or Instagram, depending on the nature of the audience and the messages we wish to convey. Finally, we will also aim to expose this refined audience to additional ads, even after the purchase, in order to increase the use of the product or service we are marketing and at the same time to enhance the social selling effect (word of mouth).
focus or spread out?
It is well known that it is not wise to put all your eggs in one basket. Why? Because that basket may fall and then all the eggs you have will break and you will be left with nothing. Imagine a scenario where all the marketing and branding of your business is only on your business Facebook account and that tomorrow the Facebook servers crash for a week or the Facebook network just shuts down permanently. what will you do then You will have to build the entire marketing system from scratch and your business will be severely damaged!
On the other hand, if we scatter for no reason and without planning in all the existing distribution channels, it will indeed help us to reduce our dependence on each of them, but the effectiveness of such a move is questionable for the marketing strategy we are building. Whether we want to or not, we have to choose what to focus on, because our budget is limited, in the end. If we do not make these choices according to what emerges from understanding our target audience, there is no doubt that at least part of our money will be thrown away, and that part of our attention will be directed to worthless sources that will give us a low or zero ROI (return on investment) (probably will not help the business to be more profitable).
There are few cases in which the dispersion in many media and advertising without targeting a specific target audience is precisely the strategy aimed at. Think, for example, of companies that wish to be perceived as luxury companies and choose to advertise specifically to the general public, most of whom will not purchase their products at all... This may sound strange and wasteful, but it is a move that results from a marketing strategy designed to generate the prestige associated with the products and allow those companies to ask for higher prices for their products.
The bottom line is that these products will probably have fewer buyers, but the customers who do buy will pay the extra that comes with luxury products. As mentioned, it is not suitable for everyone, but it is good to know the option.
The marketing language of the business
Polished and polished marketing language that suits the nature of the business and its goals is an extremely important layer, which is not recommended to be underestimated, unless you want to pick up a marketing strategy for your business and not understand why "something there is not working...".
Your marketing language includes things like the words you choose to use, the images, the videos, and even the music. Everything should be broadcast on the same station and speak to the same audience consistently.
Who is the audience of the business?
We have already talked about the target audience of the business (see above), but when it comes to deciding on the marketing language, it is very useful to know exactly who we are talking to, in order to make an optimal adjustment of the language. You probably won't choose a low, young and cheeky (combination) style if you happen to be selling theater tickets to a relatively older audience, who come to consume culture in their spare time. However, it is important to consider that this diagnosis will not always be self-evident. For example, if you sell diapers for adults, it is not at all certain that your target audience is the elderly who will end up using the product, just as toys for toddlers are bought by parents, not by two-year-old children.
What does your business symbolize?
To understand what will characterize the marketing language of your business - you should first know what the business symbolizes in the eyes of people, and no less important - what would we like it to symbolize? This should be clear to us and to all employees in the business.
The marketing language is one of the most powerful tools to pump the message we've been trying to get out to potential customers. For example, there is no need to explain and spell out to them that the brand we are building is cheeky and appeals to a young and dynamic audience - it is enough to formulate an adapted marketing language. They will already draw the conclusion on their own.
A nice trick in this context is to try to imagine what the readership would understand and think about the brand if it were only exposed to our marketing texts, without the logo and without knowing the company name:
How would your marketing language be received if the readers do not know that it is your business?
Would they have been able to recognize that it was your business after all, just through the language?
The sales process
As part of the process of building the marketing strategy for our business, we need to make sure that there is harmony between the sales process (in the physical business or online) and the other parts of the marketing strategy, otherwise, we will find that many customers give up in the middle and do not complete the purchase. Choosing a certain marketing strategy generates expectations among the target audience, and if these expectations are not realized thattheience experiences a strange feeling of dissatisfaction or, in some cases, even disappointment.
For example, if we are dealing with the sale of a product that is popularly branded, cheap and accessible, but our sales agent arrives for a cold, official and, tailored sale - customers will feel the incompatibility and this will arouse suspicion and insecurity in them regarding the purchase of your product. On the other hand, there probably aren't many people who would buy an expensive car from an unshaven sales agent, dressed in wrinkled and faded clothes. The contrast between the brand perception that develops among the clientele and the sales process and the salespeople may (easily and sometimes without us noticing) prevent purchases and lead to financial losses.
Is it worth building a marketing strategy with an advertising agency?
The assumption is that a smart and efficient advertising agency has probably already built some marketing strategies for a significant number of clients who have passed under its loyal hands, and therefore, it will have a lot of experience in the craft and the effective steps to carry it out.
It is important to make sure that the advertising office does have experience in building a marketing strategy for businesses, and it is even recommended to request access to a list of clients and the marketing activity done with them. When coordinating expectations and during the construction of the marketing strategy, make sure that there is a complete understanding of the needs and goals of the business, so that the strategy will be built by the advertising office in full cooperation with the marketing manager or the owner of the business, and in accordance with the plan and the business strategy defined therein.
Measurement and adjustments
A critical and important part of implementing a marketing strategy is its constant examination of the dynamic and changing market.
We have already mentioned that quantitative goals are the best way to measure and understand whether we are making progress and to make sure that the business is not moving in place or, mercifully, backward. As soon as we have decided on the strategy and from the moment when the business results and the truth data begin to flow into our measurement system, we must use them and convert the rough estimates and the initial data that we placed when building the marketing strategy.
Replacing the simulated data with real data is important because it will allow us to improve and reach greater accuracy. For example, if we estimated a cost per conversion or sale of 100 NIS but in practice, the cost is 80 NIS, or we thought that leads from Google would close at a rate of 20% and in reality, they close at a rate of 32% - it is recommended to update this in the strategy and make adjustments, because we may be able to allocate Additional sales channels and increase the advertising budget in favor of a larger number of sales each month, or in other words: growth!
Summary
This article is intended to assist you, the business owners, in building a successful marketing strategy for your business. One that will yield desired results, increase sales and promote positive growth. Every business must formulate a marketing strategy for itself in order to be able to justify its existence, because at the end of the day, if the business is not profitable, it probably will not survive financially.
I hope this article succeeded in its goal of breaking down into factors and clarifying for you the theoretical and practical steps for planning and building a marketing strategy for your business. Whether you sell a service or a product, market online or offline, sell through e-commerce or not, know that Oasis Media has gained tremendous experience in building and planning marketing strategies for many companies, and continues to do so successfully on a daily basis. We invite you to check us out by filling out the details in the form or by calling us - we'd love to hear about your business and think together about a marketing strategy that will help you break through.
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