Big Picture Internet Marketing Advice for Your Business
What Marketing Strategy Is Best for Your Business?
We frequently get questions from business owners regarding how to spend their marketing dollars most effectively. The truth is, the answer is different for every business, and our team at Go West Marketing excels at tailoring a strategy to meet your goals. However, today we’re going to give out a few tried-and-true tips and tricks that our experience has taught us.
Asking “How should I be marketing?” is the starting point for every business. If you are failing to communicate with the right people in the right way, then you’re effectively not communicating at all. Think of it like this: Having a great product/service without effective marketing is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you’re doing, but no one else does. The same could be true for your business’ marketing. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you!
Know Your Product/Service
The starting point in marketing your product/service is to clearly understand the value proposition you offer consumers. While this may seem obvious, it’s a step that is often overlooked by business owners in the initial rush to start selling. Clearly understanding the market you’re entering and what you’re offering will give you both a competitive advantage and clarity on your marketing strategy.
Here are some questions to get you started:
What value do you offer that your competitors don’t?
What strategy are you using to sell your product/service? (i.e. product differentiation, cost leadership, etc.)
What process does your target audience use to purchase your good or service? (i.e. online searches, word of mouth, print advertising, etc.)
Know Your Audience
It pays to do some market research to study your target audience’s demographic, geographic, and purchasing patterns. You don’t need a sophisticated analyst to tackle this issue. Just start by asking yourself a few questions, such as:
Demographic: Who is your target market? Create a customer profile that includes information ranging from age to gender to socioeconomic status. Be as detailed as possible in gathering applicable information.
Technographic: How tech savvy is your audience? Gather information on the technical attributes of your customers. What devices, social media platforms, and new sources are they active on? This information will be essential in gearing your marketing activities later. (Read our article on which social media platforms are popular with different generations to get a jumpstart on this!)
Geographic: Where is your target audience located? This question relates closely to how you sell your product/service. Do you have a store, a website or both? For example, an online-only business may have a younger target audience than a business with physical locations. A brick-and-mortar business may narrow your target market to people in the neighborhood—unless you are willing to ship your products, which would allow you to expand your online presence.
Know Where To Find Your Target Audience
Now that you know who your target audience is, it’s time to determine where you’ll reach them effectively. You can start by:
Checking out what your competitors are doing. Who are they networking with? What groups do they belong to? What keywords are they using on their online profiles to help customers find them? What forms of advertising are they using?
Ask customers you do business with where they interact online. Ask them how they found your business and what forms of advertising are most effective in reaching them.
Search for the company Facebook pages of businesses you work with. Create a page for your company and track those who follow and interact with your page.
Look for groups related to your industry. Try and join these groups and participate in the conversation.
Once you’ve completed your analysis of your target audience, it’s time to nail down your marketing strategy. With so many platforms available for communication it can be overwhelming. For additional help, check Go West’s previous blog posts for information on: how to determine what social media platforms would be most effective to reach your target audience, how to get Yelp reviews, how to make a website your best employee, leading in organic search results, and blogging can benefit your business, and more.
Our team at Go West can do the work for you and help you formulate an ideal marketing plan for your business. Schedule a call to start with a free consultation!
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