Marketing trends are changing rapidly. It was only in the first quarter of 2022 that we saw the rise of short videos, the successes (and failures) of new platforms, and of course the all-encompassing impact of the pandemic. All of this means that the marketing strategies put together a few years ago no longer necessarily work as they did today.
To keep your marketing successful – and keep it relevant to your audience – you need to keep up with these trends. The guide below will help you with this – we’ll show you how to put together a successful marketing strategy for 2022 that covers all the key areas.
Let’s get started!
WHY DO YOU NEED A MARKETING STRATEGY?
A solid marketing strategy will help you reach your ideal customers, including those who have bought from you before and those who have never heard of your brand.
Without a good strategy, you would just be wandering aimlessly in a dark room that would cost you a lot of money and time. Conversely, if you have a strategy, it will help to:
• align all teams in the company based on your main goals;
• tailor your activities to your goals;
• Find out what is positive about your target audience.
STEPS TO PUT TOGETHER A SUCCESSFUL MARKETING STRATEGY
1. CREATE A MARKETING PLAN
At first it sounds strange that a marketing strategy will require a plan, but these two concepts do not mean the same thing.
Your marketing strategy will provide a comprehensive picture of why your marketing team needs certain resources, why you need to perform certain tasks, and will set goals for you as part of the strategy.
The plan sets out the concrete steps you will take to implement this strategy and achieve your goals.
For this, a good template can help you set your annual budget, list the tasks you need to do, and the marketing channels you will use to accomplish those tasks.
2. CREATE YOUR BUYER PERSONALITIES
A buyer persona is essentially a fictional person who has all the relevant qualities of your ideal customers.
For example, if you sell products made for babies, your ideal customer could be a young urban mom who often browses Facebook and Instagram, or can afford to shop in the price range you represent.
Based on this, you can create a fictitious person who will determine what marketing messages you compose, what channels you will distribute these messages to, what types of ads you will use, and so on.
So it’s important to know your target audience right at the beginning of the strategy so you know who your marketing messages are to.
3. SET YOUR MARKETING GOALS
Your marketing goals will be dictated primarily by your business goals.
For example, if you want to reach 500 people for your conference in half a year, your marketing goal could be to increase the number of registrations by 10% by the end of the month compared to the previous month.
Another example is that you want to attract more leads, which will require stronger brand awareness.
So now you also need to set the goals you want to achieve with your strategy, because in the future you will have to make all your decisions based on these goals and your buyer personalities.
4. SELECT THE APPROPRIATE DEVICES
Once you have goals and buyer personalities in front of you, you will also need the right tools for successful marketing.
You can choose from a number of free and paid tools to help you with different areas of online marketing. There are analytical tools, social media management tools, site analytics and more.
5. EXAMINE YOUR EXISTING MEDIA CONTENT
See what content you currently have that can help you develop your strategy. You can make this step easier by categorizing these content into three major categories:
• Paid Media: This includes any media on which you also spend money to gain new customers for your business. Think of TV commercials, newspaper and internet ads, social media ads, and more.
• Own Media: Content that your company produces: images, videos, infographics, e-books, and more.
• Earned Media: Whenever a customer, user, or publication mentions your brand on social media, a blog, or takes a picture of your brand, they are all considered “earned” or “achieved” media. This includes, but is not limited to, user content.
Gather quite a few examples of these materials in one place so you know what’s available to you and how you can integrate this content into your built strategy.
For example, let’s say you have a blog where you share some interesting professional article every week (your own media). You can also promote this blog with social media ads (paid media) to reach as many users as possible who will share this content with their friends (well-deserved media).
If you have content that doesn’t serve your purpose, don’t deal with it very much as part of your strategy. If, on the other hand, you have gaps, you can also identify them in this step so you know what you still need to make up for.
6. AUDIT AND PLAN YOUR MEDIA CAMPAIGNS
The previous step leads you through here perfectly. It’s time to decide which content will be useful to you.
First, focus on your own media and marketing goals. Would you help get more participants to your conference by modifying the call at the end of your blog posts?
After that, buyer personalities can come. Let’s say you’re selling lesser-known sports equipment, and one of your buyer personalities is designed to figure out how you can strengthen your abdominal muscles. You could make a text article or even a video tutorial on how to use that sport.
Finally, create a content plan. This plan includes what topic groups the content belongs to, what their goals are, what format it will be produced in, and through which channels you will publish it. Don’t forget to indicate which problems your content buyer personalities offer.
7. ARM YOUR PLAN
By now, market research and the plans so far give you a good idea of how and by what means you should implement your strategy.
The last task is to assign specific activities to this plan.
Make a document outlining the steps you need to take to complete your campaign. In other words, define your campaign.
This document should be prepared for the long term. It is customary to plan an overall strategy 12 months in advance. This will be the main document that will provide the basis for your marketing efforts.
Keep in mind that because your company is unique, your online strategy and the document outlining it must be done individually. Just make sure you include the tasks listed in the previous points!
