Business Strategy 101: Marketing

A company without marketing is like a village without signposts; not many people know that it exists! You can have the best product or service for miles around, but if you don't communicate your offerings to your target market, then you might as well just give up now. Amplifying your brand and letting the world know about your products and services is an essential function for any business, so you need to have a robust marketing strategy in place to create awareness and boost your bottom line.  Here’re some practical tips on how to get started with your own marketing strategy. 

Create a plan

Any marketing activities need to start with a comprehensive marketing plan, as anything you do needs to work in synergy with other areas of your business. This avoids a fragmented and disjointed approach to promoting your organisation. 

If you don’t have anyone in-house with marketing knowledge and experience, then it can be difficult to know where to start with a marketing plan. However, the Hi-Thrive team is able to offer you expert advice on your marketing plan and give you the tools and guidelines you need to begin to create a plan that perfectly fits your business offering. We can also help you pinpoint the tools and tactics you need to get started.

Know your market 

Before you spend time and resources on marketing, it's essential that you know as much as possible about your target market. Who are they? What inspires them to buy? What online and offline channels would be most effective in reaching them?

Map out your ideal customer (or customers) and give as much detail as you can about them. This is called a buyer persona and will provide you with some excellent insight as to which marketing tools and tactics would be most effective. 

Do your research 

A great way of deciding which marketing activities would give you the best return on investment for your business is to take a good look at what your competitors are doing. They've already got their marketing strategy in place, and if your products and services are similar to theirs, take a look at what they are doing. 

Do you see their ads popping up online for example? Do they have a newsletter you can subscribe to? Are they blogging regularly or investing a lot of time in updating their social media? Do you see them advertising in industry magazines or on billboards? Researching competitor marketing activity serves as a great source of intelligence for your own offerings. 

Next Steps

If you need help getting started with a marketing strategy of your own, our team has a wealth of experience in providing practical processes and expert advice on how to amplify your brand and reach your customers. Get in touch with the HiThrive team today to find out more.