Strategic Marketing: Build a Lasting Foundation

Renovating your home can be one of the most exhilarating and equally challenging tasks to take on. Few things equate to the excitement of designing a space made exactly how you envision, from picking the flooring to designing the kitchen to selecting the perfect paint colour. Not to mention the satisfaction you receive once it’s done knowing that you’ve created something that inherently reflects you. However, what if you did everything right, but didn’t notice a glaring crack in the foundation? Everything that you were building would suddenly become at risk. And why? Because you overlooked the most critical part, the foundation.

The foundation of anything, whether it’s a house or company, is vital to building long term success. In business, you can have a great product or service, but what good is it if you are unable to communicate that to your target market? This is where building a concrete marketing blueprint that clearly outlines your objectives and breaks down your plan of attack is of paramount importance. So how do you build an effective plan? It’s quite simply, really. Just follow the steps below! Already been in business for a few years? Fret not, these tips can still be applied to an existing brand looking to re-establish themselves in the market or expand their reach. Let’s dive in shall we?

Find Your Niche

If you’re like 99.99% of the businesses out there, you probably started out by building your company around a product or service. This then led to your company being introduced to an industry i.e. construction, floral services, etc. That’s all well and good, but a lot of companies make the mistake of stopping there. The key to maximizing your growth is to find your niche within a market. This niche could be a number of factors such as your competitive price, superior customer service, quality product or various value adding benefits that increase customer satisfaction. Ultimately the key is to push the benefits of your niche as the defining factor when consumers make their purchase decision.

Position Your Brand

After your niche has been established, the next step is to tie in your brand positioning. This is where you compare your brand to others within the market to determine where you stand. You can do this by using two comparison factors to see where your brand sits relative to the competition. For example, say you wanted to compare price versus value added benefits across an industry. You would compare yourself to others to see where you fit along the scale. This helps when it comes to your content marketing so that you know what to say to your potential consumers. This leads us to our final step, building an experience.

Finish the Job

The final step is developing and extending your brand across your marketing channels. This stage is where everything ties in together and where your plan faces it’s most crucial junction as it’s up to you to communicate the value of your niche to your target market. Remember that the goal should be to effectively communicate in a way that connects with your future consumers. If you do that then your product’s benefits will sell itself. Just voice your strongest benefits well, say them often and the customers will do their part.

Building and managing a business is one of the most difficult and yet satisfying journeys one can take. Just remember that the key to long-term success is building a rock solid foundation that everything else rests on. Keep these three simple steps in mind and you’ll be off to the races!