When it comes to developing an effective marketing strategy, our three-tiered approach will put your business on the right track.
We all know how important it is to create a detailed business plan, yet many of us adopt a basic marketing strategy and expect top results.
Marketing activities are like most things in life though — you only get out what you put in.
With this in mind, marketers and business owners should divide an effective strategy into three tiers or stages: Foundation, Fundamentals and Forefront.
The three Fs span the life of a marketing strategy and start with establishing the basics, then delivering a consistent message through regular activity, and moving on to create tailored campaigns to grow your business.
Here is a guide to crafting a successful strategy by adopting our three Fs of marketing:
Foundation
The Foundation stage is all about setting up a strong base to launch your marketing activities from.
At the very start, you should determine where your business fits in the market and the unique proposition of your product or service offering. At Assemblo, we do this by running an in-depth marketing workshop.
These workshops can help you establish business objectives, and allow you to develop company values, guiding principles and your brand story. From here, you can identify a suitable marketing budget, which will dictate the size and scale of your strategy.
With a clear understanding of your business objectives and messaging, you can develop or refine your branding and supporting collateral, build an effective website and develop an annual marketing calendar that leverages seasonal promotions, tradeshows, events and advertising.
This also involves setting up accounts like social media and email marketing, integration with your CRM, as well as configuring tracking tools such as Google Tag Manger and advertising accounts.
It’s vital to establish targets to track the performance and return on investment (ROI) from your various marketing activities. These don’t need to be perfect, but they will provide you with something to measure against as you refine your activity.
Fundamentals
With the foundations laid, you can shift your focus to the Fundamentals such as campaigns and regular marketing activities that help you build a rapport with your audience.
Your plan should include a consistent base of low-cost, high-leverage brand marketing, such as content creation and advertising to stay front of mind and support other marketing and sales activities.
Content creation includes articles, social media, podcasts, email newsletters and more. This content should be housed on your website, but then amplified on social media and in email newsletters to reach your existing audience.
When planning a content schedule, you should consider search engine optimisation (SEO) practices and try to write the kinds of pieces that answer common questions asked by your target market. This activity should then be further amplified through mediums like social media advertising and traffic exchange networks to reach new people.
While this activity raises general awareness of your brand and builds organic search traffic, you also need to look at generating more direct marketing activity to convert this primed audience into customers.
Consistent advertising ranges from traditional avenues, like print and direct mail, to digital options such as display ads and Google AdWords paired with targeted landing pages that incorporate key messages and offers. These are highly effective sales tools that can provide you with a wealth of information about your consumer’s buying habits.
Customer service is also critical to your business and brand, so consider online chat options for customers looking on your website and make sure you have the expertise to respond to feedback on social media platforms.
Forefront
The Forefront stage is the part of your strategy that grows your business, whether it’s through tailored messages, new campaigns or customised activities.
More advanced activities range from CRM-driven marketing automation, automated email marketing, niche publications, developing product-specific microsites and outreach programs like partnerships — all of which take time and expert skills to deliver effectively.
Using data analytics, you can discover insights from your existing marketing activities and refine how you approach consumers, as well as trialling fresh concepts to reach new customers. You may even discover new markets or develop new products or services.
The combination of Fundamental activities, such as publishing regular social media posts and digital advertising, and the Forefront’s fresh and complex disciplines will strengthen your position in the market.
Get started
Marketing strategies are critical to understanding and reaching your customers, but they take time and patience.
Assemblo can guide you through the Foundation, Fundamentals and Forefront stages and oversee your marketing activities so that you can focus on your business.
Assemblo is a full-service marketing agency based in Melbourne, and can get you started with foundation activities through to taking on your entire marketing strategy.
To find out how we can help your business grow, give us a call on (03) 9079 2555 or drop us a note via our contact form below.