5 Pillars to Consider When Improving Your Marketing Plan
Marketing is an ever-changing function in business, and it has seen immense growth in the industry as technology advances with the changing times. The rise of digital solutions paved the way for modern businesses to thrive in this internet-driven marketplace, changing the way things are done in every stage of its growth.
The Role Of Marketing In A Digitally-Oriented Era
Marketing has always been a crucial foundation in building brand awareness, attracting new consumers, increasing your visibility in search results and other areas that generate positive ROI for your bottom line.
While digital marketing today offers colossal opportunities for businesses to scale, the endless options can be confusing and result in weak campaigns. To create an effective plan, there are some fundamental tenets in marketing that you need to consider.
With that in mind, the factors below are some of the timeless pillars behind a strong and successful marketing strategy for your business:
Tip #1: Define Your Pain Points And Common Challenges
When it comes to taking apart your marketing strategy to create better campaigns, the best way to start is to think ahead. Many people see their goals towards the end of the line, but what are the common challenges you’ll run into along the way?
Identifying the problems and opportunities you’ll face as you move forward is crucial as it helps establish more substantial objectives. With a head start on the likely blunders relevant to your brand, then you can see what steps you need to take to avoid these issues and ensure there are little-to-no loopholes in your strategy.
Tip #2: Identify Your Target Audience
You have a clue of what your marketing journey will be like, but do you know who you are tailoring your campaigns for? While marketing strategies should be relevant to your brand, you need to look at your buyer persona’s if you want to tap into the right audience.
Getting to know your consumers will help you outline your goals and create campaigns that interest the targeted demographic in more ways than one.
Tip #3: Set SMART Goals
When thinking about what you want to achieve for your bottom line, the future is often broad. Now that you know the common challenges you’re likely to face, you can use it to paint a clearer picture of your future objectives and set specific goals, one that is relevant to your needs, target audience, and addresses your unique pain points.
With that in mind, the best way to create a plan that drives your business in the right direction is to define your SMART goals:
Specific - All businesses want to improve their marketing plan, but what specific part do you want to enhance? Think about areas that can give your brand a competitive edge - whether it’s to boost your website traffic by X percent, increase your response rate, or increase your brand awareness.
Measurable - It’s good to have goals, but your strategy needs to be grounded if you want to take your marketing to greater heights. With that in mind, your goals need to be quantifiable and trackable, so setting a specific purpose means you can identify your progress from the starting point to the result.
Achievable - If your goals are measurable, then there are higher chances of it being achievable too. So long as you have the right skills, experience, resources, and timeframe to complete it, your objectives will be realistically attainable.
For instance, if you receive 500 visits on your website this month, jumping to 50,000 for your next goal is unreasonable.
Relevant - Driving more traffic to your website sounds like a good goal, but is it appropriate to your current business needs? Unrelated plans will only waste your resources and efforts, so be sure to identify solutions that will benefit your needs now.
Time-Bound - You can’t rush progress, but specific goals still need to have deadlines. Your campaigns will be messy without a finish line since plans that have a 3-month timeframe will significantly differ from goals with a 3-year deadline.
Tip #4: Identify Your Resources
Having a solid marketing plan is only half the battle; the rest of the execution is up to your existing resources. Consider if you have the budget, technology, and people with the right skill sets to set your plan off.
Without the right team, you can fall behind in multiple areas - be it in your web design due to a lack of web designers or coming short with the tools you need due to working within your budget constraints.
Tip #5: Identify The Right Metrics
There are multiple ways to analyze your current marketing’s performance, and while it seems like a good idea to gather more information, collecting fruitless data can be problematic to marketers.
Analyzing your metrics should be in line with your goals, which means you need to choose the key performance indicators (KPIs) that matter to your company and steer clear ones that will confuse you, such as vanity metrics.
The Bottom Line: Creating An Outstanding Marketing Plan That Generates ROI For Your Business
Despite its mass amount of opportunities, the worldwide web seems significantly smaller now, thanks to the power of the internet and interactive media. Businesses are in a head-to-head competition, but with the right marketing plan, it can propel start-ups ahead of the crowd and in line with leading brands in the industry.
The most effective marketing plans should address your biggest pain points and challenges, allowing you to utilize solutions that align with your goals and overall vision.
How Can We Help You?
Drafting a marketing plan can be tricky, so why not simplify the process by doing it all in one marketing platform? We offer a marketing planning software that allows you to outline, execute, project, and optimize your entire strategy under one virtual roof, making it easier to have an overview of your journey from start to finish.
Get in touch with us, and let’s see what we can do to help you create a clear plan of action and enhance your campaigns today!
