Five things you need to know about writing your first marketing strategy
If you’re putting your first marketing strategy together, first off, congratulations. There’s nothing like getting clear on your big business goals and planning how you’ll achieve them.
I know how daunting it feels, staring at a blank page and not knowing where to begin which is why I’ve put together my five top tips to help you get started. There’s also a ready-to-use free download to guide you through the process, step by step, so you can put what you’ve learnt into action.
Before we get to that, here’s why you definitely need to create a marketing strategy.
Why you need a marketing strategy
Every business needs a defined marketing strategy. As women, we can find it hard to shout about ourselves and that’s a problem when it comes to marketing your business.
Your strategy document will shine a light on your strengths, your power, and your purpose (yes, you have all of those things in abundance). This clarity will trickle down into all your marketing, helping you to get comfortable selling and attracting your ideal client – so keep it close by.
Without a dedicated strategy, you could be wasting your precious time and energy chasing the wrong things and missing out on the results you want.
And women are out there, waiting for you to help them reach their big money goals. Let's do everything we can to make it as easy as possible for them to find you.
Taking the ‘wtf’ out of marketing strategy
Creating a marketing strategy doesn’t have to be a time-consuming, tick-box exercise. It doesn’t need to be an all-singing, all-dancing PowerPoint – unless you want to dedicate that amount of time and effort to it.
It can be a quick process where you collate your thoughts into one document. It can be as simple as notes on paper. There is power in writing your ideas down and committing to your future vision.
Here’s a peak at what I usually include in my strategies:
who you are
a SWOT analysis
what activity you plan to undertake
your target markets
your ideal customer
your competitors
What’s the difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan?
Your marketing strategy is different to a marketing plan. The plan is the nitty-gritty of what tactics to deploy, and when, to achieve your goals. Your strategy will outline those goals.
Here are five things you need to know to nail your first marketing strategy
Get clear on your mission
Get clear on what your mission is and how your marketing is going to help you achieve it. Chances are, if you’re running your own business, you’re passionate and committed to what you do so feel into that and dig deep for your 'why'.
I promise, (and I’ve been there myself) once you get clear on this, everything else will flow from it with ease.
What does that look like?
If your big mission is to help as many people as possible to gain financial independence, then your marketing might do this through educating your audience. When they need support with big money life events, you'll be top of mind.
2. Get niche
You don’t need to reach everyone on this mission and your marketing doesn’t either. Think about who your ideal customer is.
Are they a man, woman, married, single, have children, child-free, just starting out in their career or nearing retirement? Now you know who they are, you know what problems they’re facing, what their aspirations are and how you can help them reach their dreams.
Now focus your marketing on that, from your brochure and website to your social media and onboarding pack.
3. Take the long-term view
Your strategy is the long-term view of where your business is heading over the next year or so. Your marketing plan will break that down into bitesize actionable pieces. I suggest planning in blocks of three months otherwise things change too much, and it can be a wasted effort.
4. Be realistic about your resource
As a female founder, you’re busy doing all the things. Marketing is just one of the many hats you wear.
The key to marketing is consistency, so your strategy needs to be aligned with your current resource and budget. I truly believe what is sustainable will lead to success so set yourself up to win by being realistic about what you can achieve.
5. Create what you love, and you’ll love to create
Your strategy will outline what activity you’ll carry out to achieve your goals, like creating a blog to educate people and drive traffic to your website.
Marketing your business doesn’t have to be a chore and it gets to be fun. Make sure your activities are matched to what you enjoy doing for the best results.
If you’re great at presenting, focus on creating video content or events. If you have an eye for design, focus on visual platforms like Instagram.
The more you enjoy the process of creating content, the more likely you are to want to come back and create more.
Download the marketing strategy made easy template
To help you put these tips into practice, you can download my free marketing strategy template. Or, if you want me to do your marketing strategy for you, find out how we can work together.
