Last Updated 11 months by Emily Standley-Allard
The marketing strategies that worked well in the early days of your business may fail to function as you grow and thrive. How long has it been since you paid careful attention to which efforts resulted in a good return on investment (ROI) and which ones should go? It’s easy to get into habits and not want to change anything for fear of rocking the boat. However, you’ll save money and increase your success if you spend a little time revamping your current methods by implementing these 7 marketing strategies.
According to Gartner’s State of Marketing Budgets report for 2021, chief marketing officers report spending much less in 2021 than previous years. The average marketing budget dropped to 6.4% this year, compared to 11% or higher in the previous six years.
There are many reasons for the decrease, including more effective methods of marketing than in the past, meaning companies can spend less but get similar results.
Promotional strategies are and should be fluid. If you haven’t changed what you’re doing in a while, here are some things to look at to ensure you’re getting the most benefit out of your advertising dollars possible.
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1. Analyze Your Results
Are you getting a good ROI on every effort you make? If you aren’t sure, now is the time to put touchpoints in place so you can track how well different methods work. For example, if you advertise on social media, you should have a specific landing page for each ad set.
Sites such as Facebook might share if someone clicked on a link, but you can’t tell whether they converted to a customer or not. Individual landing pages for each campaign help fill that gap and give you access to another level of data to see which efforts work and which need changed.
2. Offer Gift Cards or a Contest
Do you want to reach new customers? Creating a fun contest or selling gift cards to your current clients is one of the best ways to spread news about your company via word-of-mouth. Statistics show 44% of consumers go to a store they wouldn’t have because they have a gift card or participated in a contest.
About 75% of them spend more than the card is worth.
Give perks to your current customers when they buy presents in the form of your gift card. Not only will you reach new people with your efforts, but you’ll gain goodwill among your current customer base.
3. Tweak Your Value Proposition
What benefit do you offer no competitor does? What makes your business unique? Knowing your unique value proposition (UVP) helps shape your marketing campaigns. Spend time analyzing what others in your industry claim to be good at.
Are you as good or better than them in these areas? What is one thing you excel at that no one else does? If you aren’t sure, you may need to develop something to create a strong promotional strategy. Look at the benefit via the eyes of the user.
Why should they care about your UVP?
4. Boost Staff Training
When times are lean, many companies cut their marketing staff first. Unfortunately, this harms your business in the long run. Yes, you can hire contract workers to do some of your campaigns. However, they won’t know your business the way an invested employee might.
The lack of continuity in your campaigns may hurt your overall brand image. Make sure you can afford to keep anyone you hire before taking on staff. Do everything in your power to keep those skilled workers by helping to boost their training. This will create a consistent and positive buzz about your company.
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5. Embrace Mobile
According to Statista, about 55% of all internet traffic is via mobile devices. The majority of people use their smartphones at least some of the time to get online. If your business isn’t mobile responsive, you may be missing as much as half of all the potential traffic to your site.
When uploading images and other content to your website or social media, test it on a smaller screen to see how it looks. For example, that beautiful cover image you used on your Facebook or Instagram page might get cut off on a cell phone screen.
Test thoroughly on multiple devices and tweak as needed.
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6. Focus on Quality
With marketing, you must find a balance between quality and quantity. Customers need to know they will hear from you regularly. Slowing down your campaigns may result in slowing down your business.
However, if you throw things out too fast, without a focus on the quality of your work, you may seem like an amateur. It’s vital you establish yourself as an authority in your field.
From the content you produce to the images shared on social media, everything should have a purpose and a tone that matches your goals for your business image.
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7. Qualify Your Leads
Your sales staff has a limited number of hours to connect with potential customers. Sending them leads that aren’t truly interested in what you sell is a waste of their time and your budget.
Instead, dig into the analytics behind your customer database. How can you better qualify leads coming via your marketing efforts to ensure they are interested in what you offer?
Think about reader magnets your best buyer personas might want. Offer that in exchange for contact information and tweak as needed to narrow your audience.
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Conclusion
Get Feedback on your Marketing Strategies
Once you’ve looked at all aspects of your marketing strategy, pull in others for some feedback on your efforts. Talk to customers about why they decided to do business with you and if you could improve your strategy.
Ask your mentor to look at what you’re doing and offer advice. Brainstorm with your marketing department about what’s working and what isn’t. Look to your analytics for answers and don’t forget to get input from your audience as well!
With a little attention to detail, you can turn any poor marketing strategies into effective ones!
Author Bio
Eleanor is the editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the director at a marketing agency prior to becoming a freelance web designer. Eleanor lives in Philly with her husband and dog, Bear.
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