DETROIT – Are you mad over marketing? If not, then your company is likely to struggle to capture the customers who are trapped by the circling brand-sharks. To rescue your products from becoming extinct, you must focus on building a marketing strategy.

Here is how you can do that to get those dollars coming in.

1. Marketing goals

The first step that you should take when developing a marketing strategy is to identify goals. These can be both qualitative and quantitative ones. These must be in line with the company’s aims and objectives. Do not state something that your company is not going to deliver. Your marketing goals can be market penetration of development. You can aim for a certain percentage increase in sales that will be a result of the marketing campaign. Market penetration will mean that you will be selling more to the existing market. While on the other hand, in market development you will explore new targets to whom you will then sell your products to. These are measurable goals as you will have results in numbers that you can then use to evaluate whether the marketing goals were correct or not. The qualitative goals will be about increasing the perceived value of the product that you are selling. This will become the preferred choice of all the people that you call your target market. This can be achieved by lowering prices significantly, as compared to the competitors. If you want to explore more of the marketing side, then you should apply for a contractual job to get more insights. Use ResumeThatWorks to make your cv for that position as it is wise to be professional.

2. SWOT analysis

Nobody would have ever told you to perform a SWOT analysis when you would have asked: “how to develop a marketing strategy”. This is the point that most of the companies miss out on and end up with a failed marketing strategy. You must run a SWOT analysis that means that you will be analyzing strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities related to your business. The strengths and weaknesses are the part of internal analysis, while the other two components are related to the external analysis. Do check out the modified version of it which is called “TOWS”. Once you have performed a thorough analysis, you will then be able to form a realistic marketing strategy. It will be something that will reflect the firm’s capabilities. Do not try to aim for something that cannot be achieved due to lack of expertise, leadership, resources, or absence of demand. Try including employees from all the departments to get maximum perspectives, and in this way, you will not assume that a department is up to the challenge. You can also come across opportunities that were masked till now. The chances are that you might drop the thing at hand and grab something more promising for the company’s future.

3.  Value proposition

Always refer to the business model canvas (BMC) when you are given the task of formulating a new marketing strategy. It contains the nine most important building blocks that serve as the foundation of your business. The most important of them all in terms of marketing is the “value proposition”.  This is where the marketing strategy is derived from. If you have not made a BMC yet, then do make one. The value proposition is the main determinant of whether the sale will close or not. You must formulate it by identifying what the customers value the most. This part is also about differentiating your product from that of the customers. So basically, this is where the marketing magic happens.

4. Marketing strategy objectives

Just like marketing goals that can be to gain more followers on social media or to increase traffic on the website, you must determine some objectives too. These, too, can be divided into measurable and qualitative ones. The goals that you determined earlier can be easily communicated through the objectives that you set. This is one of the most crucial steps when it comes to “how to write a marketing strategy”. Make sure that your objectives are “SMART”. This means that they are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Something that falls out of these parameters must not be pursued. Do not set course to achieve a goal that does not match the capabilities of the brand. When you get the results of the marketing campaign, open this part, and compare both of them. This will tell you whether it was a marketing success or not. If you want to know more about SMART objectives, then buy a pre written essay from essaykitchen.net on it.

5. Research your market

Without knowing the market characteristics, you will not be able to formulate a winning strategy. Try to collect as much information as you can find. This will include all the geographic, behavioral, demographic and psychographic information. In this way, your marketing strategy will be tailored to the segment you will be targeting. Keep an eye on the psychographics and behavioral patterns as they tend to change over time. The marketing strategy must never be static, keep it flexible and adapt it to the changes to keep it relevant. Following how effective your marketing strategy is and adapting it when it’s needed, is not as simple as it seems. If you want to get proven results, finding one of the top ppc advertising companies is always a viable solution.

6. Profiling the customers

Sketch out a profile of the target segment by using the information that you found from the research phase. This will help you in building a customer persona. You can then reflect on the buying and decision-making patterns of theirs. Keep checking new trends in the market to keep your marketing message relevant.

7. Develop strategies

Now, let’s move towards developing marketing strategies. Once you have the research and complete profile of your target market, start devising a strategy to retain them. Suppose your goal is to raise awareness about your product among adults between the ages of 20-30. Then, your strategies will involve the use of social media channels. You will be bombarding it with posts related to your brand to increase engagement. All of the promotions, such as discounts and other offers, will be advertised through these channels.

8. Always test first

Beta testing is not to be used by software companies only, and you can use it too. Do not settle on a marketing strategy without testing it first. You can bring your strategy into action by testing it on your staff and a few customers. Try to use sampling methods so that if it is a failed approach so you can modify it without losing money or time.

Conclusion

Now that you are familiar with the marketing strategy steps, go pick up a whiteboard and a marker. Start with the SWOT analysis. Invite all of the colleagues to the meeting room for a cup of tea and for a chat about all of the nine building blocks to formulate a winning strategy.

Author of the article: Allen Cranston is an analyst and resume writer. Allen committed to helping talented professionals show the world what he is truly capable of. Since launching in 2012, Allen has helped over 4,000 job applicants land their dream jobs for resumethatworks.com. He is constantly looking for new ways to help people achieve their career goals.