A thoughtfully designed marketing strategy can shape brand image, build brand equity, and boost profit. This article will explore the fundamentals of a strategic marketing approach to improve outcomes.
For many, marketing strategy can seem overwhelming and confusing. Especially since every business and industry will require different approaches. According to Hubspot, only 61% of marketers believe their marketing strategy is effective. Additionally, Forrester reports that 58% of marketers are challenged with targeting or segmenting their audience. Marketing strategies don’t need to be challenging. In this article, we will share the basics of forming an effective marketing strategy.
Who Is Your Consumer?
First, a business needs to understand who their consumer is, what the perception of the brand is, and where the consumer is coming from. This is where market research comes in. If you haven’t been conducting research within your organization, or have never done a market research study, don’t skip this step. It’s crucial to get acquainted with your current consumers, identify how they perceive your brand, and identify potentially untapped market segments.
Segment Your Consumers
Conduct research with the intent of segmenting your consumers. By dividing your customer base into groups of individuals who share similar characteristics or traits, you can tailor your marketing strategy to better meet the needs and preferences of each segment. According to Hanover Research, companies that cater messages and products to customer segments earn 15% more profit than those that don’t.
Customer segments can be grouped based on demographics, product preference or usage, and other behaviors. Customer segmentation research can help define your segments.
Customize Your Value Proposition
It’s time to be strategic about the company’s value proposition. The consumer value proposition answers: what value do you provide for your customers, and which one of your customers’ problems are you helping solve? Your value proposition will vary across customer segments based on their unique needs.
For example, for a family, a new SUV could mean more space to travel comfortably and safely, with peace of mind. For another segment, such as an outdoor enthusiast, an SUV could mean more space to pack in gear, more adventure, and living the life they’ve always dreamed of.
Recreational Family
Outdoor Enthusiasts
To create custom value propositions, ground yourself in your segments, ideally through personas, and get to the core emotional value of your product. Once you have finalized your positioning statements, it’s time to deliver your message to your consumers.
Message Your Value Proposition to Your Customer Segments
Tailoring your messaging is a crucial strategy for targeting your consumers effectively and developing content and messages that resonate. According to a survey by Infosys, 86% of consumers say that personalization has some impact on what they purchase; and one quarter admit personalization ‘significantly influences’ their buying decisions.
The graphic below shows an example of potential marketing assets and messaging for different customer segments of an outdoor resort and spa. When creating new ad campaigns, segment the marketing message and assets for each demographic based on core emotional drivers.
Deliver the Message At The Right Time, In The Right Place
Sending the right message, on the right channel, at the right time is crucial to spending your marketing budget wisely. Taking insights from the research and using demographic profiles, determine the appropriate channel selection to most effectively reach your consumers. According to a Statista survey, “Facebook is generally the most popular social network for digital shoppers in the United States. Nevertheless, examining age-related preferences revealed that young adults aged 18 to 34 in the U.S. showed a stronger inclination toward Instagram.” This is a great example of researching platforms to guarantee that the right consumers are targeted on the right channels.
Ensuring that you select appropriate channels to reach your targeted audience will decrease the risk of spending advertising dollars on consumers who are not interested in your product.
Track Your Performance
Organizations often ask, how is my marketing investment performing? Or they wonder if their campaigns are working. Measuring your campaign and targeted marketing initiatives using relevant KPI’s and analytics tools will bring clarity to your campaigns. For digital marketing, tracking tools such as Google Analytics 4 and social media insights can track campaign metrics in real time. Looking at revenue and comparing your campaign to a similar campaign or a similar time-period is another strategy to use. For brand campaigns, conducting a brand lift study is a cost-effective way to gauge how marketing efforts impact brand awareness and health. By tracking campaign performance, you can make data-informed decisions and continuously adapt strategies to meet your goals.
Following these strategies will help you effectively target consumers, increase engagement, drive conversions, and create brand awareness, ultimately achieving your business goals and increasing your bottom line.
About Integrated Insight
Integrated Insight is an analytics consulting firm formed in 2009 by a team of past Walt Disney Parks & Resorts executives. With decades of experience at Disney in research, data analytics, pricing, revenue management, labor management, and operational efficiency, Integrated Insight helps for-profit businesses and not-for-profit agencies reach their full potential. We marry our real-world experience with robust analysis of your business to find viable solutions to complex situations, and identify untapped opportunities for topline and bottom-line growth.
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