In the marketing strategy series, we have carefully compiled and combined the latest marketing trends to give you a comprehensive marketing guide tailored to small businesses and start-ups. In Part I we introduced you to the concept of marketing followed by a number of key questions to help you understand your business and your current target. In this post, we will demonstrate some strategic forms of marketing to promote and sell your product or service.
Recap of ‘What is a marketing strategy?’
A marketing strategy is a business’s goal to increase profit through market research and the right product mix to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
Building an effective marketing strategy in your marketing plan involves:
- Understanding Marketing Trends 2016
- A (suitable) marketing budget
- Assessing your current target market
To learn more about marketing strategies check out our ‘Part I: What is a Marketing Strategy’.
1.Location- Marketplace
This is where you define the locations where you distribute your product or service. There are a variety of channels to choose from to distribute your product or service. You can have an online store via Shopify, set up an Ebay store, or make your products available on your own website.
Choosing the correct distribution channel where you will appeal to most of your target market can be a challenging decision. You can try and determine how your competitor’s customers are buying from them by performing some market research.
2. Service Strategy- Customer Service
This is where you need to understand how to provide customer support to your target market. A unique customer service can not only give your customers a unique buying experience, it can also be a huge advantage. If you are trying to create a brand voice or culture that helps your business stand out from your competitors, It can also help you define your customer’s wants and needs.
A more personalised approach to customer service can help you retain loyal customers who are likely to pay a premium for your product or service down the track.
<p style=”font-weight: italic”.An example of an efficient and low-cost method for customer service could involve guaranteeing the delivery of product or service by responding to customer’s emails promptly.
If you are looking at providing a unique customer service experience you should introduce this into your communication strategy, that way all your employees can deliver an efficient and consistent customer experience to your customer or client.
3. Pricing Strategy
This is where you choose the pricing on your product and service by making a comparison with your competitors.It has become common for startups to disrupt various industries with affordable products or service. Choosing the correct price for your product or service can attract more customers to purchase from you and increase your profit. For example, LawPath provides free company registration .
Another great way to look at it while you decide on the pricing is your expectations in ROI from your marketing budget, as discussed in Part I ‘What is a Marketing Strategy’?.
A more personalised approach to customer service can help you retain loyal customers who are likely to pay a premium for your product or service down the track.
An example of an efficient and low-cost method for customer service could involve guaranteeing the delivery of product or service by responding to customer’s emails promptly.
If you are looking at providing a unique customer service experience you should introduce this into your communication strategy, that way all your employees can deliver an efficient and consistent customer experience to your customer or client.
4. Product Strategy
This is where you need to understand your target market and what has been similarly delivered to your competitor’s consumers. It can be a strong selling point if you can show what is unique about your product or service by defining its value, features, functions, and quality.
By defining the product strategy you can give your product or service a brand or an impression on how your customer perceives your product or service.
5. Social Channels – Contests
This is an easy way to keep your current customers engaged and attract new customers to your product or service. The data can be a very valuable source in determining and redefining your target market, your products or services. This is another angle to customer service by empowering and acknowledging your customer with potential rewards.
You can easily set up a contest by getting people to produce UGC (User Generated Content), set a time frame for the competition and do not forget to insert terms and condition,it’s also important to think about what product or service you are trying to get your customers or clients to purchase when writing up the competition.
Honing in on an effective marketing strategy is all about trial and error. An effective approach is to take small risks, seek feedback from your customers and make quick changes. Alternatively, you can test out on a small market before expanding to your target market.
Want to learn more? Read Part III of our series for the legalities you should take into account when deciding on your marketing strategy.