A good marketing strategy is key to the success of your company’s marketing efforts – from the messaging on your website to your the posts you write in social media. Unfortunately, many businesses approach marketing projects from a tactical standpoint, taking a reactive approach rather than a proactive one, and only tackling challenges when they arise.  For example, 'sales are low this month, let's do a facebook campaign!'. 'There is an expo coming up, let's get a stand!.'

In 2020 and 2021, I want to urge all of you to take steps towards a crisis-proof strategy that is aligned with your goals, not putting out last-minute fires. Obviously Covid-19 has been a MASSIVE fire to put out but rather than burying your head in the sand, it's actually the perfect time for services businesses to focus on what you're trying to accomplish, who you're trying to reach, when best to reach your audience and how you will achieve the desired results.

Follow these five tips to help ensure your small business is set up for success across all of your marketing efforts in 2021:

Tip 1: Identify your ideal audience

Your business most likely exists because there was a gap in needs that wasn’t being met by other services or solutions in the market. You know your service better than anyone – but do you know your ideal customer better than anyone? Taking time to evaluate who is actually buying your service, who is most successful in using it, and what their overall profile looks like – their age, job title, business size, and so on – can help you further understand where to look for new customers.

Tip 2: Set SMART goals so you know where you want to go

We have so many marketing options available to us now – social media, email campaigns, online ads, webinars, events – but do you have the ability, and resources to execute on these options? If you ensure your marketing goals are SMART goals – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely, then you will have a better chance of getting ROI.  For example let's say we decide to set up your business on Facebook but you don't post anything, you may lose credibility. It may be better in that instance to use your time and resources in other ways, or outsource.

Tip 3: Avoid 'hope' marketing and develop a marketing strategy to achieve your goals

I talk about this alot. Would you climb Everest without a plan? Can you become an Olympian without a plan?   Would you build a house with a plan?  So why would you expect to succeed in business without a plan.  It may sound obvious to some, but having a clear marketing timeline with key milestones, deadlines and associated tasks is the foundation of your marketing strategy. If you only focus on the “fires to put out” you won’t achieve much and you'll feel like you are winging it.

Let's get that started with a marketing strategy kickoff session.

Tip 4: Set your plan into action

Once you’ve created a marketing plan with clear dates and milestones, it’s time to get started on actioning the plan. I know this can seem overwhelming especially if you are a solopreneur so here are a few tips to staying on top of your plan: 

1. Start the week with a plan. Every day should have a gameplan with realistic, achievable goals.
2. Automate to save time. You can't be everywhere at once and there are many tools now that can help with basic time consuming tasks.
3. Get connected through a network like BNI which can help you grow your business.
4. Get a marketing coach to keep you accountable.

Tip 5: Monitor your marketing results

Are you sending emails, posting on socials, or advertising on google but not monitoring the results?  What if your messaging isn't quite right or you are attracting the wrong audiences. Without proper analysis of your results, you could be leaving money on the table doing the wrong things.  Conversely, perhaps you have attracted more leads than you can manage.  It's quite possible then that you need to outsource some basic tasks. My best advice is to get an audit done of your marketing to date by an online marketing specialist and ensure you have the appropriate systems in place to track and monitor the results of your various marketing campaigns and use the data you collect to make data-driven recommendations and improvements for your campaigns. Continuing to use marketing channels that aren’t working for you is a waste of time and resources, and can sometimes also damage your brand.

My final thought is, imagine how doing these things could actually be fun and inspiring instead of a headache. By following these five tips, you can ensure marketing success for your business while maximising your efforts and achieving the highest ROI.

Book a free 30 minute consult and let's get started.

Have a great day!