The Key to Developing a Successful Marketing Strategy

When you are getting ready to launch your startup, developing a successful marketing strategy is every bit as important as writing your business plan and finding trustworthy accounting solutions. But, what makes a marketing strategy successful? Your audience does! Your audience needs to feel like your business is the ideal solution to their problem. At the core of any successful marketing strategy is knowing your target audience.

One of the first things you must realize is that all people are individuals. No business will ever be “one size fits all.” Every potential client is going to need or want something different. There will be some people who desperately need your product or service, while others have no interest at all. That’s where identifying your target audience comes in!

We’ve learned a lot since the days when businesses just produced and promoted their product or service and hoped for the best. Targeted marketing is much more successful because you develop a marketing strategy that targets the specific needs of a targeted group of people. If you can figure out how to meet the needs or solve a problem for your clients, you will gain their loyalty and trust for years to come.

This guide will help you learn how to understand your target audience and develop a marketing strategy that’s specifically targeted to that audience.

What Makes Your Company Different?

Every company needs to have a customer-oriented purpose. One of the first things you need to do is define your company’s purpose. What makes your company stand out from the crowd? What are the core values of your company? What does your brand stand for? Why does your ideal client need you? You need to define your purpose from your ideal client’s point of view.

Define Your USP’s

Your company’s USP’s (Unique Selling Points) must be customer oriented, as well. Your USP’s should meet your client’s most urgent need or solve a problem. Your company’s USP’s will become the core of your message.

Defining Your Ideal Client and Target Audience

Now, you will need to develop a customer persona that will help you define the needs of your target audience and future clients. Your customer persona will be key in helping you define your company’s purpose and USP’s. What type of person or business will be most likely to purchase your product or service?

Here are some of the key things to consider when developing your customer persona:

• Age
• Gender
• Education Level
• Religion
• Background
• Hobbies
• Marital Status
• Economic Status
• What or Who Influences Their Spending Decisions
• Geographic Location

You will have to put yourself in your client’s shoes to figure these things out. This insight will be key to developing a connection with your target audience, and eventually your clients. It will help you understand how your company can meet their needs.

Get to Know Your Competition

One of the best things you can do is find out what is behind the successes or failures of your competition. This information will help you understand the wants and needs of your ideal client. Evaluate your competition’s marketing and branding strategies. Read their reviews and visit their websites. Look for testimonials from happy clients and check out their social media. The idea here is to learn what works and what doesn’t, but you don’t want to mimic their strategies. You want your company to be unique!

Research Your Audience with a Variety of Sources

Defining your target audience requires doing your research through a variety of different sources. YouTube videos, webinars, and television shows that feature interviews with people who are interested in your niche are a great place to start. Facebook groups and other online forums can be very useful, as well, and they provide a great way to connect with your target audience. They provide opportunities to ask questions and show off your expertise in your specific area.

Keep Track of Your Audience’s Engagement and Past Interactions

As your company grows, you should keep track of your audience’s engagement on your website and social media. Their comments, likes, and shares can provide valuable insight into what your target audience and ideal client needs and wants most. Past interactions, like emails and company reviews, are helpful in this area, too. The most efficient way to identify your source of traffic is through last click attribution that gives you the insight on whether it’s a blog, site, ad, vide, etc. This is the kind of information that can help you understand which of your strategies are working and which ones are not so that you can fine-tune your marketing strategy as your company grows.

Surveys Are Your Friend

The best way to get to know someone is to ask them questions! Consider sending out surveys by mail, to your social media followers, or your email subscribers. You should ask if your company is meeting their needs and what you can do to improve. Ask them what they like about your company, too. You need to know what’s working and what’s not! Be sure to keep your surveys short and to the point to encourage your audience to participate.

How to Use All of This New Information

Now that you have all of this new information about your target audience and ideal client, it’s time to apply it to your marketing strategy. You can, of course, do targeted radio, newspaper or TV ads to get the word out.

If that kind of expense is out of the budget for your startup, there are plenty of other ways to reach your target audience. Start by using Facebook ads. Facebook allows you to really narrow down who sees your ads, based on factors like age, interest, gender, and location. They allow you to zone in on the exact group your business is targeting.

Content marketing is a strategy that every business should use. Utilize a blog on your company website to attract new customers with relative content geared toward your target audience. The content could be blog posts, online courses, podcasts, or even videos. The point is to create content that will draw your target audience, and potential customers, to your company’s website.

Targeted email marketing is another strategy any company can utilize. It’s unlikely that a potential customer will make a purchase the first time they visit your website. It’s crucial to find a way to get them to sign up for your email list so you can stay in touch with them. Your research can help you develop a sales funnel that targets your ideal customer. Offering something of value that helps them solve a problem will encourage them to sign up for your email list. A coupon, eBook, or email course are all good possibilities. Once you’ve got their email address, follow up regularly with targeted content to keep them interested in your company.

In Conclusion

The key to developing a successful marketing strategy revolves around knowing the wants and needs of your target audience. Getting to know your target audience will help you take your company to a whole new level!