One of the most popular questions I am asked by anyone new to me is: “How do I create a marketing strategy I’ll stick to?” Or another variation is: “How do I even begin with marketing?”
I figured it was time I answered the question publicly once and for all!
When I think about marketing strategies and help clients create their unique ones for their business, these the four types of strategies we plan around.
But, not all business owners are even aware there are four DIFFERENT strategies that will help you simplify your marketing.
Last week on the content strategy episode with Erin Olillia, we talked about business owners who think at a macro level, and those that think at a micro level.
This first strategy is a macro level marketing strategy:
1. Create a Big Picture Strategy for Your Business
This means having a vision or direction for your business over a certain extended time frame.
For some businesses, it will be OK to think 6 months ahead. Others will want to think 1-2 years out or even a 5-year plan.
A big picture marketing strategy for your business allows you to know where you’re going and what types of efforts you’ll need to focus on to hit those goals in that timeframe. Without this type of strategy, you’ll be randomly picking new thing after new thing to create, launch or target, without any synchronicity between them. It can leave you feeling unmoored from your business and unsure what growth really looks like.
The most common type of marketing strategy and the one my clients spend the most time working on with me is:
“Start by breaking down your goals into these categories and you’ll see your business skyrocket, not only in productivity but in profit.” – Mallory Schlabach
2. Create a Growth Marketing Strategy for Your Business
How do you determine growth? By numbers.
This marketing strategy is entirely based on what numbers are important to your business and how you’re going to achieve them, thus leading you to your big picture goal. You’ve heard the obscure saying that the proof is in the pudding? I don’t even know what it actually means, but to me, it means the proof is right in front of you. For marketers, it’s in your data.
To get started with a growth marketing strategy, you first need to know what’s your overarching number-based goal?
>> Do you want to grow your list to a certain amount?
>> Do you want to hit a revenue/income goal?
>> Do you want to see your conversion rates changes over the next three months?
Whatever your BIG number goal is, you’ll then need to break it down into manageable goals that actions can be created for.
For example, if you want to bring on 5 new clients per month in the next quarter, you’ll need to know:
- what you’re offering to hit that goal
- how many people you’ll need to offer to get the 5 new clients
- how many people you’ll need to be introduced to so that you can make offers
- how many people you need to be in front of total
Now we’re getting somewhere. With that data alone, you now know exactly how many people to focus on for the entire quarter.
It’s time to turn it into actionable marketing tasks.
Based on our loose example above, if we need to talk to 20 people a month to hit 5 sales versus 100 people a month, won’t that change what actions you take and what offers you put out there?
With 20 people you can almost cherry-pick the ones you want, whereas, with 100 people per month, you’re most definitely going to have to figure out a strong traffic source and/or do a big marketing splash like a challenge, event, series, etc. to attract that number of people to you.
With this growth strategy marketing plan, suddenly it’s very obvious what you need to DO to hit your big number goal and big picture goal. Everything you focus on will be in alignment with what you’re doing to grow your business.
This next marketing strategy is one I want you to use sparingly, although I’m aware that for many of you, this may be your ONLY marketing strategy at this point.
3. Run a Quick Fix Marketing Strategy to bring in immediate cash and/or visibility to your business.
A Quick Fix Marketing Strategy is exactly like it sounds. The entire premise is for you to figure out the fastest way to cash and visibility. The problem with using this type of strategy to run all your marketing off is that it gives you tunnel vision in your business. Instead of focusing on where you’re going, the focus shifts inward to how do I stop the bleeding, get immediate success to see results NOW?
This type of marketing strategy is useful when you want to try out a new idea when you DO need a quick cash infusion or when you want to leverage exposure from someone else’s platform.
The last marketing strategy is one that will help you plan your big growth spurts in your business.
4. Create a Seasonal Launch Schedule
Seasonal launches take place, obviously, when seasons change, but also at the start of new “seasons” for your own business, such as when you launch a new product, service or when you’re transitioning into something new for your biz. These type of marketing campaigns can be mapped out on a calendar so you can visually see when the big moments are in your business. This allows you to avoid the feast or famine cycle and plan your day-to-day tasks around when your big launches or busy times are in your business.
All four of these strategies make up what most marketing professionals will say is a marketing plan — but we’re throwing out the corporate structure that says you need to have a 30-page marketing strategy that ties into your business plan.
No. You. Don’t.
Start by breaking down your goals into these categories and you’ll see your business skyrocket, not only in productivity but in profit.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode #005: The Down & Dirty of Marketing Metrics and How to Print Money for Your Biz
