It happens regularly, usually, in January, April and September – these are the key points of the year when business owners are looking to improve performance. They’re setting goals to build on what they’ve achieved previously and identify their marketing strategy as an essential tool in realising those goals. And so they’re reaching out on social media, calling, emailing and filling in forms on the website asking the question “How can I improve my marketing strategy?”

I had planned to write an article specifically answering the question however, every angle I can think of is giving me that feeling of Deja Vu! So I checked and kept checking. Do you know there are currently over 200 articles on this blog alone on the topic of marketing strategy! It’s scary to think that’s how much information we’ve released on the topic! So rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought why not compile the key points into this one article.

Spoiler – There’s no a straight answer to this marketing question

How cool would it be if there was one answer that worked for everyone – do this one thing and your marketing strategy will be 100% improved irrespective of how established your business is, what industry you’re in, how long you’ve been running or how many employees/branches you have!

I wish!

Instead, there are a series of steps to work through to understand where the gaps are. That way you can figure out where to focus your efforts, and where not to in some cases!

Review what you’ve already been doing!

I dare you to go and look at your marketing activity through the eyes of a prospect! How else would you know if the online presence of your business was right or not!

That means understanding why your content succeeds or fails, and identifying if your content is delivering as it should be! I don’t need to feed you with stats to explain that a marketing strategy that is based on pure sales is likely to struggle. If you want success, you have to ensure you have been delivering content marketing that leads with value.

And of course, measuring success – you need to review that! I’m not going to get into the details here but take a look at this if you want to understand more in terms of what you should be measuring and the ROI of social media marketing. If after doing so, you’re struggling to see the return, then there is a whole host of reasons why you’re struggling to find success – read on for some of those reasons…

Stop Planning To Fail When It Comes To Your Marketing Strategy

When you create your marketing strategy – the starting point includes the basics. Mission statements, SWOTS, goals, objectives… a whole list of things. Focusing on specific marketing goals and objectives is vital for success. The more specific you can be the better! Everything you create should answer those goals and objectives, if they don’t you need to go back to your plan and get back on track!

Stay on target – Marketing is about getting the right people to see the right message at the right time – so when they need you they think of you! How are you going to achieve that unless you’ve been through an exercise that allows you to clearly define your ideal client? What if you have more than one ideal client and you’re not sure if you’re talking to the right people on social media or not? You need to gain clarity on this ASAP!

Once you’ve got that sorted, though – remember they’re human and that old two ears, one mouth analogy. You need to listen! If you don’t have an active listening strategy in place – this could be a game-changer for your brand! It might be this delivers some fantastic ideas for high-converting content as well as prospecting opportunities.

When you know who you’re targeting and figure out the pain points you need to dig deeper and start to create some campaign plans – aka a marketing plan within a marketing plan! I can not tell you how many failed product launches I’ve seen due to the lack of a marketing campaign plan!

Make sure your marketing is in the hands of a marketer!

Us marketers are a particular kind of crazy – the best kind in my opinion! The truth is, you might not be the best person to be implementing your marketing strategy. So you have some choices, option one is to get out of your own way (ugh… I really don’t like that phrase!) and embrace the attributes needed to succeed on social media and in marketing in general. If this is, for now, your only option then there are a few things you can do to help you not become overwhelmed by social media including getting some moral support via our marketing coaching club.

How Can I Improve My Marketing Strategy…alternatively, you can outsource! I could stick a big pitch in here but instead, let me direct you here so we can discuss how to choose a social media agency. If after you’ve read that, if you feel we’re the right agency for you, just drop us an email or jump on live chat.

How can I improve my marketing strategy? – Where do you want to start?!?

There are a ton of links in here, aren’t there – and that’s before we get specific! I could create a similar article specific to LinkedIn, Facebook Ads, email marketing. I could drill down with a bunch of stuff for recruitment agencies and other sectors too! Consider this your starting point. To get more specific about your business it might just be worth investing in a strategy session with us or going through the process of a digital health check. Or just keep consuming more of our free stuff!

If, for now, all you can do is the latter I have a request. Connect with me on LinkedIn and drop me a message from time to time of what you need to know so I can keep producing articles like this that help you get to a point where you’re able to properly invest in your marketing strategy.