Making a systematic and researched marketing strategy is probably the first step you should take while planning to start a business. One of the essential components of a marketing strategy is assigning and distribution of budget. Now that we are talking about the budget, well, most of you would be aware that a major junk of the budget is invested in marketing. And why not it be? The plethora of emerging and changing trends almost makes it mandatory for the businessmen to invest in marketing.
But a smart businessman knows exactly, how to get back, double the amount he has invested. Are you a smart one, or is your marketing strategy only wasting your budget? If you are a savvy marketer, you must have heard the quote of John Wanamaker, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” This may be aptly applicable on quite a few of the business in the market.
Let us unveil a few reasons, which businesses fail to understand while planning their marketing strategy and end up wasting their budget.
Tips to Plan Right Marketing Strategy
- Knowing Your Target– Before investing in marketing, make sure you know who you are targeting. If you do not know about the audience you are targeting, you might only be wasting your money. If you do not whom to target, start by jotting down the information that you know. Next, you need to collect demographics for of your audience and then create a buyer’s persona. This could actually be your secret weapon. Once you know your target you know exactly what they are looking for and invest in the right direction.
- Giving Adequate Information about your Product– The best marketing strategies could fail, of your customers do not know what you are selling. If your marketing does not include adequate details about your product or services that you are offering then you should be prepared to face the failures. You need to clearly communicate exactly what your product offers. If they can purchase a similar good or service elsewhere, you need to communicate what makes yours different and better than your competition.
- Checking Analytics Regularly– Now that Google has really made the task easy and that too available for free, you really do not have any excuse for not keeping an eye on the analytics. Failure to spend the time needed to check the data can mean the failure of your entire marketing strategy. Google Analytics gives you all the necessary data, like which web pages are generating the most clicks, how long visitors are staying on pages, where site visitors are coming from etc. You need to check the data regularly and plan your area of investment accordingly.
- Test Before Investing– Try running an AB test (split test) before you invest in any strategy. This precautious test may turn out to be a valuable strategy. This type of experimenting gives you a lot of insights about what is working and where things are going wrong. So, it is always a good idea to experiment on a smaller scale first, before investing your budget on the larger front.
- Focus On Right Things– You need to understand your area of focus. Being everywhere and targeting everything is not exactly the right idea. If you want to sustain for a longer time and wish to be a profitable business, you need to focus on satisfying your customers, rather than making money. The founder of Marine Chain has rightly quoted “As soon as your company starts focusing on giving value to customers, there is an almost organic growth that occurs that is almost inexplicable.”
To ensure that your money is not wasted and is being invested in the right direction, you need to do all the studying and preparation, well in advance. It really does not matter, whether you are new in the circle or an old player, you must be aware that an investment in the right direction now, will definitely reap you, fruits in the future. Plan your marketing strategy, ensuring that your marketing budget is invested correctly and smartly.
