Did you know there are over 150 types of marketing?
Niches in the marketing field run from ATL or “Above The Line Marketing” to Y or “Youth Marketing.” No matter what type of marketing you choose, however, the basics are the same.
The main purpose of a company’s marketing strategy is to assist the customer in grasping an appreciation for the company’s services and products and how their services and products will address their target audience’s pain-points. To do this, you need to dig around a bit and gain some insights into your audience.
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The Importance of Customer Research
In order for your business to be successful in getting across the value and how your products and services can address your target audience’s pain points, in-depth customer research needs to be a top priority.
Many marketers fail when it comes to going beneath the surface as it pertains to their customers. As you dig in and do research (focus groups, surveys, etc.) to learn more about your target, it’s important that you develop personas to inform your marketing.
Creating Buyer Persona
Details mean everything when it comes to creating effective buyer personas.
Without the proper details of your target audience, you’ll find yourself running in circles. Creating detailed personas to represent your target audience members will really help you craft marketing messages that connect more effectively.
The most effective way to accomplish this is by asking 4 questions.
- What does your regular customer look like?
- Why would they buy from you instead of your competitors?
- What is their buying journey like?
- How can I become their main focus?
The goal of creating Buyer Personas is that you must deliver the most valuable and relevant information to your target audience. You must have clarity on what you’re offering in order to understand who would benefit the most from your products and or services.
You’ll find you actually have multiple personas buying your products, and it’s critical to understand each of them. Psychology experts agree that you should make no less than 3 personas.
Personas should focus on things like the following:
- Position
- Location
- Age
- Education
- Lifestyle
- Pain points
- Buying stage
- Need for your products and services
- Aspirations
The more you incorporate in your buyer personas, the more targeted your messages become. In addition to creating buyer personas, another critical element of successful marketing is setting goals.
Setting goals
A company’s marketing goals provide a clear understanding of what they aim to
accomplish through its marketing campaigns. Clearly defined goals also provide an important focus for the marketing team.
Setting goals are extremely important to marketing successful. It’s like any journey. The journey is great, but if you don’t have an end destination in mind, you’ll just end up driving around aimlessly. Some goals you can set for your marketing could be:
- Increase sales
- Generate increased leads in your pipeline
- Increase brand awareness
- Improve thought leadership
- Build following on social media channels
- Connect with partners and resellers
- Corner a segment of the marketing
- The list goes on!
Your goals will be specific to your organization, so start with the four above and dig deeper to develop specific goals right for you.
You need to justify your objectives and ensure that they’re logical. You must go beyond just listing your goals. After you have documented your marketing goals, you can apply the S.M.A.R.T. strategy.
S= Specific – The goals are logically documented in order for your group to understand the why factor.
M= Measurable – All objectives include milestones and (KPI) that permit you to track your progress.
A= Achievable – Each and every phase of the plan is within your team’s power to accomplish.
R= Relevant – The objectives are highly suitable to your brand’s purpose and the leadership of your company.
T=Time Bound – All objectives must have a deadline.
Now that you’ve got the basic groundwork laid out, take the next step and read through some of these articles on crafting and executive marketing strategies.
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- Marketing 101: Creating Buyer Personas and Setting Goals - April 23, 2020
- 9 Effective Marketing Tactics That Will Boost Your Site Traffic and Leads - February 15, 2020
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