All businesses need to develop a good marketing and sales strategy to succeed and grow, even if they never refer to it as such. Every business has its own particular way of getting its message across and making sales, and without such a strategy in place, you lack direction. And – in the absence of direction - you will undoubtedly fall short of the sales goals you have set. According to a recent study, 80% of consumers say that they value their purchasing experience as highly as the services and products they purchase.
To give prospects an improved buyer experience, businesses need to approach marketing and sales in the right way. In the modern world, and especially post-covid, online marketing methods are the key to building brand awareness, securing new customers, and increasing sales revenues.
What Is An Effective Marketing Strategy?
To devise an effective marketing strategy, you need to know precisely who you intend to target. This way, you can produce all the content, ads and messaging to promote your brand with your audience in mind. Over time, as your business acquires more customer data, you will gain a better understanding of who your audience consists of. Therefore, be ready to learn on the job and adapt to change, because you might end up having to target a different demographic to the one you initially tried to reach.
Your Digital Sales Toolkit
Your business will require a website, a social media presence, and a blog where you can publish informative articles about your industry. These are the basic tools for the job. Podcasts, videos, images, presentations and infographics are important too. Audio and visual content makes a lasting impression. You have to educate your audience about the benefits of your products and services. Be prepared to invest lots of effort, time and patience into this objective, and to enlist sufficient in-house or third party resources to help you. Your brand needs to provide a unique benefit to stand out from its competitors. Highlight the main elements that differentiate your service/product from similar offers on the market.
Getting Your Campaign In Order
To ensure the success of your marketing campaign, you’ll need plenty of targeted content and a clear plan of how and when to use it. This can be done yourself, or in conjunction with a marketing agency working on your behalf, but things to think about include;
-A content publishing schedule
-A content creation calendar
-Branding guidelines for your business, including language and tone
- Content subjects or categories
-Keyword research
-Processes for following up leads
The first part of the campaign, or the marketing part if you like, involves lead generation through various channels – social media, email marketing, PPC etc.
But once you attract a reasonable number of subscribers on email and social media, the main job begins. You will have to engage with them successfully in order to convert them from leads to customers, and this is where a marketing strategy proves its worth – by providing a road map by which extra website visitors, clicks, social shares, and customer enquiries translate into more money in your bank account.
Inbound Sales – Get Customers Calling You!
The key to successful conversions is to avoid making a constant sales pitch for your business, and aim to provide content of value instead. This is what distinguishes digital marketing from traditional sales – you provide the right information, at the right time, to encourage your prospects to make all the moves. No cold calling involved!
Of course, you should recommend your services and products as the best option available, and always promote yourself indirectly by providing authoritative content, but you should focus primarily on needs of your audience. Highlight the issues they are facing, and explain how your business provides the ideal solution. A business development partner like JDR can help manage this process for you.
Your Brand – A Multi-Channel Sales Hub
To monitor the revenue generated by your different campaigns, draw up an ecosystem for your brand. Regard your brand as the hub of this ecosystem, with different channels that promote it externally. These might include email, the web, social platforms and mobile, etc.
Any of these channels can affect a customer’s buying decision, and act as gateways to a sale. At JDR, we can gather and evaluate data from these separate touch points to determine the profitability of each campaign, and create a bespoke approach that works for you. Contact us today and let us help you define your marketing strategy and boost your revenues.
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