A marketing strategy will include an overview of your business’s marketing and advertising goals for your business and a strategy to reach them within a period of time. In most cases your business plan will include your marketing strategy, a bit of market research, and a summary of the message you want to deliver to your potential customers. A plan will detail how to reach those goals. Your plan can be extremely basic, incorporating just a few of the following elements, or go into great detail about each one.

The elements of a marketing plan include:

>Information about your business, product, or service. This can include your business’s unique selling position (USP)

>Research about your target market

>Your competitive advantage and research on your competition

>Marketing & Sales goals

>How you will track the costs and effectiveness of your marketing plan

>Your business operations. This includes your website, employees uniforms, product packaging, client policy, and other aspects of your business to give customers the full brand experience.

Marketing brings awareness to the products or services your business offers by highlighting the value and sharing your voice with the right audience. This can be done effectively by connecting with your audience through the channels they normally use. Social media marketing, or content marketing, is a low cost effective way to connect with your audience.

Content marketing can direct more traffic to your website than traditional advertising, even more than social media “pay per click” advertising. Use your content to build brand awareness, convert followers into email marketing, and encourage reshares to enhance visibility. Find your brand’s voice and keep your efforts centralized towards it. Your followers can be your brand ambassadors. Reshare photos they have posted including your goods or services. If you are a jewelry maker, painter, or chef encourage your clients to tag you in their photos when they are wearing, displaying, or enjoying your creations. Reshare those photos. Engage your brand with your audience. Use keywords and hashtags to increase your visitibly in searches. Establish a regular posting schedule, a quick Google search will reveal the best times to publish on your chosen platform. Not all platforms are created equally. Choose the right channel/channels for your brand and your customers.

Thank you for following along with The Big Bad Business Guide. CLICK HERE to sign up for The Big Bad Business Newsletter with more indepth information and content created just for subscribers!