It matters because you have to have a marketing strategy in place before you do anything. Marketing tactics without strategy is a recipe for a disaster!
You need to be clear of who it is you’re targeting, what the messaging is and how to best market to that audience. You need to have had a look at market research and competitor research – to see where the opportunities are for your business.
Once you have done this you can do a SWOT analysis.
SWOT analysis is a straightforward model that analyzes an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to create the foundation of a marketing strategy. It is important to address the weaknesses and make improvements so that they are no longer weaknesses. It is good to know your strengths as this is where you can stand out from competitors and add value to customers.
It is also important to be aware of the opportunities in the industry/market and threats. This means that you can future proof the business as best you can, in addition, to taking advantage of the opportunities.
Once you have reviewed the SWOT you can work out what are the critical success factors that are really going to help you scale your business.
What are you going to focus on that is going to move the dial and help you make a difference?
- You need to understand how you will find profitable customers, not just any customers.
- You need to be able to differentiate your business or brand from your competitors.
- You need a plan of how to get those customers to know, like and trust you so that they will go from being leads to paying customers or who want to buy your products time and time again.
- You need a plan to deliver the best customer experience to those customers.
- You need to have a clear strategy for maximizing the value of those customers over their lifetime.
- You also need to have a plan for how to get reviews, testimonials, and referrals as social proof are key these days.
When you have reviewed all this and you have a clear idea of what you are going to focus on you can decide what tactics are needed and how to effectively allocate your marketing budget.
If your customers are only on Instagram and Facebook then concentrate your budget there rather than on other channels. If you need to build trust and authority then maybe it’s about collaborating with trusted partners or influencers.
If it’s about improving your customer journey then there is going to be a piece of work to do. Look at how you communicate with your customer at every step of the journey. Speak to them in their language on the channels that they want to be on.
How you can make that customer experience better for them?
