Marketing
Strategy

⁠Guide to Creating a Successful Marketing Strategy

Learn how to create a successful marketing strategy. Read our ultimate guide with real-world tips and marketing tactics to take your business to the next level.

By

Andreea Iorga

September 9, 2024 4:00 PM

5 min read

Picture finding yourself in an unfamiliar place without a GPS. You’d likely wander around, uncertain of how to reach your destination. Similarly, businesses without solid marketing strategies may struggle to reach their target audience. Marketing strategies serve as the roadmap to navigate these challenges, and we’ll help you create a successful marketing strategy in this guide. 

The marketing concept is versatile, even encountering the term every day in the marketing business, the definition needs to be more concrete. Yet, advertising strategies start once with the startup and follow for its entire growth. A marketing strategist aims to deliver brand value through content to attract customers to the company’s products or services. However, the best marketing strategies consist of several individual components, including quality content creation:

1. The 4 Ps of Marketing (Product, Price, Place, Promotion)

Also known as Marketing Mix, is the very first document you’ll create to understand the what, where, and how of your marketing tactics.

The first “P” stands for Product, defining your offering.

The second “P” denotes Price and establishes the budget for the product.

The third “P” signifies Place, empatizing the place from where you’ll sell the product.

Lastly, Promotion, one of the most pivotal “P”, is used to successfully implement advertising strategies. 

2. Marketing Goals

Alongside the four Ps, it’s important to establish your goals before developing any marketing strategies. We recommend making SMART marketing decisions that align with each objective. 

A SMART goal refers to setting targets with significant impact, considering specific aspects. This involves quantifying your progress. 

SMART is another acronym we use, and each letter comes from the following:

Specific

It refers to knowing your marketing business needs by avoiding vague goals such as “I want to increase profit.” Instead, a specific goal could be “I want to increase profit by focusing on our top-selling product line and introducing two new complementary products.” which provides clarity for the following steps.

Measurable

It means that your goal can be translated into numbers and progress can be tracked effectively. It’s much easier to work towards a goal and celebrate milestones when you have a specific target to aim for. Take the vague goal of “I want to increase profit”, for example. It’s not measurable. However, if you rephrase it as “I want to increase my profit by 20% over the next 12 months”, it becomes a measurable goal.

Attainable

It means setting achievable goals. To do this, it’s important to set realistic short-term goals based on your past growth. For example, setting a goal to increase your profit by 2-3% next month is more realistic than aiming for 15%, which may not be achievable.

Relevant

This means that as a marketing strategist, we should focus on goals that are truly relevant to our desired outcomes and are essential for effective productivity. It’s important to ensure that our efforts are directed towards meaningful results, rather than simply keeping us busy.

Time-bound

This is the last letter of our acronym emphasizing the importance of setting a clear timeframe for our goals. This ensures that our objectives align with the company's growth and evolution. The measurable profit example also highlights this principle by specifying a time frame, such as “...over the next 12 months,” thereby making it time-bound.

3. Marketing Budget

It is crucial to allocate a budget for your marketing strategies. For every advertising campaign, you need the right channels for promotion, appropriate software, talented personnel, and high-quality content. Without these components, your marketing strategies will lack impact. To achieve a high return on investment (ROI), you must make the necessary investments. 

ROI is a widely used profitability metric for evaluating the performance of an investment. It is expressed as a percentage and calculated by dividing an investment’s net profit (or loss) by its initial cost outlay.

4. Competition Analysis

Keep your friends close, but your competitors closer. While researching to implement the best marketing strategies, competitors are a great way to learn by the power of example. Additionally, it gives you a better perspective of your business in the market and what you’ll need to attract your customers to the company.

5. Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP)

STP stands for Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning, crucial steps in understanding and reaching your ideal market. The best marketing strategies are audience-focused rather than product-focused. Customizing content to the target audience yields better outcomes by increasing relevance and engagement. 

Targeting your market involves conducting market research to gather detailed customer data which can be obtained through interviews or surveys. It’s recommended to focus on a segment of your audience, as segmentation allows you to provide high-quality data from more qualified buyers, rather than trying to appeal to every potential customer.

Additionally, the positioning of your brand in the market is critical. Your company’s assets should distinguish you clearly from competitors, making a noticeable impact in the competitive marketing landscape.

6. Content Creation

Content is the modern marketing language, therefore your content should verbalize relevant information to your audience. Your brand voice can take many forms, as the content creation process can be multi-channeled. Even more so, for efficient strategic marketing of your blog posts, videos, podcasts, and social media updates, creating engagement is pivotal.

Nike’s Breaking2 campaign, which aimed to break the two-hour marathon barrier, is one of the marketing strategy examples that works. The sportswear giant skillfully adopted diverse content formats, such as live streaming and documentaries, to highlight their brand values and product innovation. 

This approach to content marketing helps build trust and foster long-term relationships with your audience. By creating and sharing valuable content that aligns with your audience’s needs, you demonstrate empathy toward their challenges and offer solutions that resonate with them. 

7. Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

After implementing a marketing strategy, you have to make sure it works. For that, we use KPIs and metrics. KPIs are strategic indicators, while metrics are often operational or tactical. Metrics typically serve as a superficial indicator of a department, whereas KPIs can be tracked across various departments working toward a common goal. 

Metrics provide essential context for your business activities, while KPIs enable strategic decision-making. Tracking both is crucial for monitoring your progress and assessing the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. 

Lastly, carrying out a strategic marketing plan isn’t a fast process. Reaching and gaining the trust of your ideal market takes patience but for even more favorable outcomes, their feedback may keep you on track with your marketing tactics in the foreseeable future. Even more so, maintain a determined attitude and always keep an eye on developing the channels your audience consumes the most. 

Create a Successful Marketing Strategy with Traction Keys

Are you ready to take your business to new heights through ongoing collaboration? Our dream team focuses on building a creating a marketing strategy that take your business to the next level. Whether you’re looking to launch your business or rebrand your existing company, we provide top-class solutions that will set you apart from your competition.

Contact us today to get a personalized quote for your business needs, and let’s start building the path to your next level of success together!

By

Andreea Iorga

September 9, 2024 4:00 PM

5 min read

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