A website isn’t just some boring online placeholder, it’s like your own super cool sidekick that helps you reel in those website visitors and make them fall in love with your brand. This is where Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) comes into play. CRO focuses on increasing the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your site, like making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or requesting more information.
From a leadership perspective, CRO maximizes the outcomes from your existing website traffic: enhances revenue, and provides deeper insights into customer behavior, all without increasing spending on new traffic acquisition.
This guide will explain the essentials of CRO, its significance in your digital marketing strategy, and its role in driving sustainable business growth.
This is not a how to guide with CRO, or in depth. I aim to give those within an organization a better understanding in simple terms and in ways that are easily digestible.
Why CRO Matters to Leadership
Impact on Revenue
Conversion Rate Optimization is not just about tweaking a website; it’s about directly boosting your bottom line. By refining the user journey on your site, CRO strategies enhance the likelihood of visitors completing a purchase, signing up for a service, or making a purchase, thereby increasing your overall revenue. Effective CRO leads to better utilization of existing traffic, meaning more sales without the proportional cost of acquiring new customers.
Cost Efficiency
Investing in CRO can be far more cost-effective than many traditional methods of increasing traffic, like paid advertising or PPC. By optimizing your current assets and capabilities, CRO allows you to leverage what you already have rather than spending more to attract new visitors. This approach not only saves money but also enhances the efficiency of your existing marketing efforts, providing a better return on investment.
Insights into Customer Behavior
CRO goes deep into the analytics of how users interact with your site, offering invaluable insights into customer behavior and preferences. This data-driven approach allows leadership to make informed decisions based on actual user responses rather than assumptions. Understanding what drives conversions and what doesn’t can help refine marketing strategies, product offerings, and overall business strategies, aligning them more closely with customer needs and market demands.
By focusing on these aspects, CRO becomes a key element of strategic decision-making in any organization, aligning marketing efforts with business objectives and driving sustainable growth.
Understanding Conversion Rate Optimization
Definition of CRO
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), is a structured strategy that will help you increase the number of visitors turning into paying customers. By analyzing user behavior on your site, you identify areas for improvement and obstacles preventing users from completing desired actions.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) hinges on improving the performance of websites or landing pages with the goal of increasing the percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter.
Key Components of CRO
To successfully drive CRO, channel team efforts into a some areas CRO. Each area assists the other and work together to improve the effectiveness of your website and business goals.
The success of CRO efforts revolves around these components:
Website Design: The layout and aesthetic of your site play an important role in how users interact with your content. A well-designed website not only looks professional but also makes it easier for users to navigate and find what they need quickly.
User Experience (UX): This involves optimizing the overall experience users have on your site. Website speed, site navigation and Call to Action (CTS) buttons and other aspects of your site should aim to provide a seamless and enjoyable experience for all that visit your site.
Analytics: Data is at the core of CRO. Using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, you can track where your visitors come from, what they do on your site, and where you lose them. This information is crucial for identifying opportunities for improvement.
Customer Feedback: Direct input from users can provide invaluable insights into what works and what doesn’t on your website. Tools for gathering feedback include surveys, user testing, and feedback buttons. This qualitative data complements the quantitative data from analytics. Segmentation and Personalization: Not all visitors are the same. Identifying different segments of your audience allows for more targeted messaging and personalization, which can significantly boost conversion rates. This involves tailoring content, offers, and experiences to match the specific needs and behaviors of different user groups, thereby optimizing the conversion goal for each segment. Copywriting and Content: The quality of your website’s copy and content can profoundly impact conversions. Clear, compelling, and benefits-focused copy that speaks directly to the visitor’s needs and pain points can effectively guide them towards conversion. Visual content, including images and videos, should be high-quality and relevant to support the conversion goal. Landing Page Optimization: Specific pages designed for converting visitors should be optimized for clarity, simplicity, and focus. This means having a clear value proposition, reducing distractions, and including a compelling call-to-action are best practices in conversion funnel optimization. Psychological Triggers: Utilizing principles from psychology, such as the principle of scarcity (limited time/availability), social proof (testimonials/reviews), and reciprocity (offering something valuable for free), can enhance the effectiveness of CRO strategies.
Each of these elements plays a crucial role in the broader strategy of improving website conversion rates. Success in CRO requires a comprehensive approach, involving the optimization of technical aspects, content, user experience, and the strategic use of psychological insights to influence user behavior positively. Continuous testing, learning, and iterating are the keystones of effective CRO efforts.
By focusing on these components, you can create a more effective website that not only attracts visitors but also converts them into active customers or subscribers. The next sections will explore specific strategies and tools that can help you achieve these improvements.
Fundamental CRO Strategies
A/B Testing
One of the cornerstone techniques of CRO is A/B testing—comparing two versions of a web page to see which one performs better in terms of converting visitors. Each version is shown to a similar audience at the same time, and the version that results in a higher conversion rate is typically adopted. This method provides a clear, data-backed understanding of what changes positively impact user behavior, making it an essential tool for incremental improvements.
Continuous testing and optimization based on data are fundamental to the iterative process of improving conversion rates.
Note: When you test, you test between 1 change and not multiple, otherwise the data gets lost in the mix.
User Experience (UX) Optimization
At the heart of CRO is user experience. An optimized UX ensures that visitors find your website not only visually appealing but also easy to navigate. Elements such as the speed of the site, logical organization of content, and engaging, high-quality material all contribute to a positive user experience. Improved UX leads to longer site visits and more interactions, which are critical steps towards increasing conversions, and enhancing the conversion funnel.
Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
A clear and compelling call-to-action is crucial for guiding users towards completing a desired task, such as purchasing a product or signing up for a newsletter. CTAs should be visually distinct and strategically placed to catch the eye of the user, with messaging that creates a sense of urgency or benefit. Ensuring that each CTA is direct and unambiguous can significantly enhance the likelihood of a visitor taking the desired action.
Advanced Techniques in CRO
Personalization
Personalization is about tailoring the website experience to individual users to foster a deeper connection and encourage conversions. By using data such as previous interactions, purchase history, and browsing behavior, you can customize content, recommendations, and offers to meet the unique needs and interests of each visitor. This targeted approach not only improves user engagement but also increases the likelihood of conversions by making the experience more relevant and appealing to each user.
Segmentation
Segmentation involves dividing your audience into groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, behavior, or purchase history, and targeting these segments with customized messages and offers. This allows for more effective communication as the content is highly relevant to each group, enhancing the user’s experience and increasing the chances of conversion.
For leaders, understanding and implementing segmentation can lead to more efficient marketing strategies and higher returns on investment.
Technology Tools
A variety of technology tools are available to aid CRO efforts, each designed to provide insights into how users interact with your site and identify areas for improvement. Tools like heatmaps show where users are clicking and how far they scroll, helping identify popular areas and potential points of friction. Behavior analytics tools go a step further, tracking user paths and interactions to pinpoint exactly where users are dropping off or converting. These tools are invaluable for continuously refining and optimizing the user experience.
Hiring a CRO Expert For Your Team
What to Look for in a CRO Expert: Key Skills and Knowledge Areas
When considering hiring a CRO expert, it’s crucial to identify candidates with a comprehensive skill set that spans technical knowledge, analytical prowess, and creative thinking. Here are key areas to focus on:
Analytical Skills: A proficient CRO expert should be data-driven, with a strong ability to analyze and derive meaningful insights from vast amounts of data. Familiarity with analytics tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and others is essential.
Technical Expertise: Understanding the technical aspects of website development and maintenance, including knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and responsive design principles, is important for implementing effective CRO strategies.
User Experience Design: Since CRO heavily relies on optimizing user experience, a good CRO expert should have a solid understanding of UX principles and best practices. This includes creating intuitive navigation and ensuring the website is accessible to all users.
Testing and Experimentation: Experience in designing and conducting A/B tests, multivariate tests, and other experiments is critical to validate hypotheses and choose the best strategies for conversion optimization.
Communication Skills: Effective communication is essential for a CRO expert, as they need to explain complex concepts in a way that stakeholders can understand and buy into. They also need to collaborate closely with other teams, such as marketing, design, and IT.
Problem-Solving Abilities: Look for a candidate who demonstrates creativity and persistence in problem-solving. CRO involves tackling diverse challenges, and a proactive approach to finding solutions is indispensable.
Hiring a CRO expert with these skills and knowledge will enable your organization to more effectively optimize your digital assets, align marketing efforts with business objectives, and drive significant growth in conversion rates.
Developing a marketing plan is essential for meeting business goals. A marketing plan will help you to identify your target market, set goals and objectives, and develop a strategy to reach your target market. Without a marketing plan, it can be difficult to know what steps to take to grow your business.
As a business owner, you know that one of the most important things you can do to grow your company is develop a marketing plan. However, not all business owners are familiar with the process of developing a marketing plan. In this article, we will explore what a marketing plan is and how to create one for your business. We will also provide tips for creating a successful marketing plan.
Creating a marketing plan can be daunting, but it’s important to have one if you want your business to succeed. A well-crafted plan will help you identify your target market, develop and execute marketing campaigns, track results, and make adjustments as needed.
There are a few key steps to creating a successful marketing plan: research your market, develop an effective strategy, create targeted content, and measure results.
What is a marketing strategy?
A marketing strategy is the most important part of a plan. It outlines the steps you will take to build your business.
Without a clear strategy, your efforts may be wasted or you may not get the results that you want.
A marketing plan is a document that outlines a company’s advertising and marketing goals for the upcoming year. It also includes a budget and a timeline for achieving these goals.
A good marketing plan should be tailored to the specific needs of the company, and it should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure that it remains relevant.
Why Your Business Needs a Marketing Plan
A marketing plan can help your business in many ways.
First, a detailed plan helps you keep track of the tasks you need to complete and the goals that you want to achieve. When you have a marketing plan, you can easily see where the company stands and what needs to be done to move forward. You will know exactly what your company is spending its money on, and you can make sure that it is being spent in the most effective way possible.
Second, a marketing plan helps you stay focused and on track. When you have a marketing plan that lists the tasks to be completed and the goals to be achieved, it will help you stay on task. Â If you know what needs to be done, you will not waste valuable time trying to figure out what should be done.
Third, a marketing plan helps your company get ahead of the competition. When you know what needs to be done and how you will accomplish it, you can begin planning your marketing strategy. You can then move ahead of the competition by planning a more effective campaign.
Finally, a marketing plan helps an organization stay on track after the initial effort is complete. There is no reason to continue spending money on a marketing strategy if the plan has already been completed. If there is no effective follow-up plan, you will not receive the results that were expected of your campaign.
What Is a Top-Down Marketing Strategy?
A top-down marketing strategy is one that involves a company’s leadership and management team in the planning and implementation of all marketing efforts.
What Is a Bottom-Up Marketing Strategy?
A bottom-up marketing strategy is one in which the company’s marketing team plans and implements individual campaigns without a lot of input from the rest of its management.
In fact, the best marketing efforts often originate in the sales force or inside the company’s service area.
What Is an Integrated Marketing Strategy?
An integrated marketing strategy combines many different types of products or services into one cohesive campaign. One popular example of an integrated marketing strategy is buying a new computer and getting software and accessories bundled with it.
Create a Winning Marketing Plan for Your Business
Creating a marketing plan can help businesses identify the target market, develop and implement effective marketing strategies, and track results. A well-crafted plan can also help you allocate resources effectively and measure progress.
One common mistake businesses make is trying to be all things to all people. Instead, focus on identifying and targeting your specific niche market.
In order to develop a marketing plan, you will need to gather information about your target market, your competition, and your product or service. Once you have this information, you can begin to create a strategy for reaching your target audience. A well-crafted marketing plan can help you reach your goals and increase sales.
There are a number of tools and resources available to help you develop a plan, such as online planning software or market research services. You should also consider developing a marketing strategy roadmap, which outlines specific steps your business will take to reach its marketing goals.
Once you have completed your planning process, be sure to track results regularly and make modifications as needed.
Marketing Plan Outline
The marketing plan outline provides a framework for you to organize your thoughts and ideas about how to reach your target market.
Executive Summary
In marketing plans, the executive summary is the very first section that you will see. The executive summary of your marketing plan gives an overview of all the details provided in the rest of your plan.
A marketing executive summary includes
a description of the company,
its products or services,
its target market,
how it plans to reach that market.
Mission statement
It also includes a brief overview of the competition and how the company plans to differentiate its products or services from those of its competitors.
Situation Analysis: What is your company’s current situation?
In order to create an effective marketing plan, it is important to perform a situation analysis. This includes studying the company’s internal and external environment, as well as its competitors. By assessing the company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats in its environment, it is possible to develop targeted marketing goals and objectives.
Once you have a good understanding of your business and customers, you can start developing marketing strategies that will reach them.
What is your company’s target market?
What are the major competitors in your market?
How does your company plan to reach its target market?
What is your marketing philosophy?
What is your company’s position on price competition?
Compare your company to others with a SWOT analysis
Create a buyer persona
Goals and Objectives: What do you want to achieve with your marketing plan?
When creating a marketing plan, it is important to set both short-term and long-term goals and objectives. A short-term goal might be to increase web traffic by 20% in the next three months, while a long-term goal might be to increase market share by 5% in the next five years. Objectives are specific steps that need to be taken in order to achieve a goal. For example, increasing web traffic might require creating more engaging content or increasing online advertising spending.
While setting goals and objectives is important, it is also important to keep them realistic. It’s no use setting a goal to grow sales by 50% if the company’s current market share is only 1%. Likewise, it’s unrealistic to expect that all objectives can be achieved within a short time frame.
What specific marketing activities would you like to accomplish?
What are the major results of your marketing plan?
What measures will you use to evaluate its success?
Strategies and Tactics: How will you achieve your goals and objectives?
Developing strategies and tactics can be a daunting task. There are many factors to consider that it’s easy to become overwhelmed. But with a little bit of planning and some creative thinking, you can come up with a marketing strategy that will help your small business succeed.
Here’s a general list of ways to market:
Social media marketing Plan
Digital Marketing plan
Email Marketing plan
Search Engine Marketing
Content Marketing Plan
Advertising and Promotion Calendars
Paid Marketing
Referral and Loyalty Programs
Product Launches
Paid social media
Printed marketing material
Budget: How much money will you need to implement your marketing plan?
In order to create a successful marketing plan, you need to be aware of your budget and how much money you can realistically spend on marketing. This means that you’ll need to set priorities and make choices about what’s most important to you and your business.
It’s also important to factor in potential unforeseen expenses, such as hiring freelancers for a project or launching a new advertising campaign that came up abruptly but with good reason. By planning ahead and being mindful of your budget, you can develop a marketing strategy that will help your business grow.
Think about these questions.
Budget for each marketing channel?
What is the approximate cost of a direct mail campaign vs a digital marketing campaign?
How much will it cost to place an ad in one publication?
What are you willing to spend on advertising your product or service?
What are you willing to spend on research and development?
Marketing Plan Timeline
A timeline is an important part of any marketing plan. It helps you to track your progress, keep on schedule, and ensure that all the tasks in your plan are completed on time. A good timeline should be detailed and specific, outlining when each task will be completed and who is responsible for it.
Some things to answer as you’re thinking about the timeline:
Who will be in charge of each step?
When does the campaign begin and end?
What are the next steps involved in implementing your plan?
How long will each step take?
When should you expect results?
Consider an editorial calendar
Review, Test, and Optimize
Many business owners create a marketing plan, but never take the time to review, test, and optimize it. Without this step, you may not be reaching your target market or getting the most out of your marketing dollars. A marketing plan should be used as a guide and not a set of rules. Make changes as necessary based on your results.
Your plan should not just be an “idea” anymore. IF the goals were not met, then figure out why. What can be done to improve on the tactics that were used. Once this has been figured out, make the changes then review at a later time.
Conclusion
Developing a marketing plan is essential for any business. The process of creating a plan can help business owners focus on their goals and what they need to do to reach them. A well-executed marketing plan can result in business growth, increased profits, and brand awareness.
Once you have a marketing plan in place, you’ll use it to build goals for the next year. This year’s marketing plan will act as a marketing plan template for the next
Cathy Gray
Cathy Gray is a natural adventurer in her personal and professional life. She adapts to overcome while maintaining an infectious laugh that will make you smile.
Professionally, Cathy currently works for an industrial hose and hydraulics company. While she was a green-horn in the hose business, she spearheaded the company’s eCommerce site from the ground up from a blank canvas to live and selling within 6 months. She continues to grow the company’s online and digital presence while increasing sales year over year.
It’s important to create a successful marketing strategy for your business, big or small. While there are many different strategies that a business can use, none are going to be the same. Marketing strategy is a long-term approach, yet flexible to change as marketing and sales data changes.
With different strategies available, for best practices, choose the right ones for your company. They should be tailored to fit your company, target audience, brand, and products to generate revenue and leads.
What Is a Marketing Strategy?
A marketing strategy is big picture that leads to a well thought plan. It takes into account the company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as its opportunities and threats in the marketplace.
The main components are market segmentation, target markets, positioning, and the marketing mix.
Market Segmentation
Segmentation is the process of dividing a market into different groups of buyers who might require different products or marketing approaches. A company can divide its market in many ways, including by:
demographics (age, gender, income, education)
psychographics (lifestyle, values)
behavior (purchasing habits, usage rates)
business types (b2b or b2c)
Segmentation allows companies to identify and target specific groups of customers who are most likely to buy their products. It also helps them tailor their marketing messages and strategies to better match the needs and desires of these groups. By segmenting their markets, companies can improve their chances of achieving success in the marketplace.
Target Markets
Marketing is all about understanding your customer and delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. It’s important to know your target market so that you can focus your efforts on the people who are most likely to buy your product or service.
There are many different ways to segment and target markets, and the approach you take will depend on your product or service and your overall marketing strategy. Some common ways to target markets include:
Location: You can target customers based on their location, such as by country, region, or city.
Demographics: You can target customers based on their age, gender, income level, education level, etc.
Lifestyle: You can target customers based on their lifestyle interests or values.
Behavior: You can target customers based on their past buying behavior or current needs.
positioning in marketing
Positioning is how you present your product to consumers and how you differentiate it from the competition. It’s used to create a unique selling proposition for your products or services.
Positioning can be done in a number of ways, but the most important thing is that it’s strategic and consistent. You need to stay focused on your target market and what they want or need.
Keep in mind that positioning can change over time, so you need to be flexible and adaptable.
Marketing Mix
In order to create a successful marketing campaign, a business must carefully consider its marketing mix – the combination of product, price, place and promotion. The right mix can attract new customers and keep current ones loyal.
Product is the first element of the mix and refers to the good or service that a company offers. Select a product that meets customer needs and is differentiated from competitors’ products.
Price is another important factor, as it affects how much consumers are willing to pay for a product. A business must find the right balance between setting prices too high or too low.
Place, or distribution, determines how products reach consumers. A business must choose the correct channels for getting its products in front of potential buyers.
Promotion encompasses all activities, from advertising and public relations to direct marketing and social media outreach.
What is the importance of marketing strategy?
It is important to understand your target market. There are many strategies that work to reach your target audience and make them aware of your business.
Marketing strategy is important because it allows a marketing managers to focus on key areas that will have the most impact on its success. A well-developed marketing strategy can help a business to identify and capitalize on new opportunities, while also mitigating potential risks. Additionally, having a clear marketing strategy can help to ensure that all marketing efforts are aligned and working towards the same goal.
It is important for businesses to have a marketing strategy in order to create a plan of action for how they plan for reaching out potential customers. A marketing program businesses allocate their resources more effectively, measure the results of their efforts, and make necessary adjustments along the way.
Without a marketing strategy, businesses may be wasting time and money on ineffective tactics or targeting the wrong consumers.
By taking the time to develop a thoughtful marketing strategy, businesses can set themselves up for success.
What Are Some Marketing Strategy Examples?
One popular marketing method is known as guerrilla marketing. This approach uses unconventional methods to generate awareness for a product or service. Some common tactics include street stunts, flash mobs, and social media campaigns.
Another strategy is called tiered pricing. This tactic involves offering products or services at different price points in order to appeal to a wider range of consumers. For example, a company might offer a lower-priced option for budget-minded shoppers and a more expensive version for those who are willing to pay more.
A third strategy is target marketing. This approach focuses on identifying specific groups of consumers and tailoring messages to appeal to their needs and interests. For instance, a business might target young adults who are just starting out in their careers or retirees who have more free time and are looking for new hobbies.
Is a marketing strategy the same as a marketing plan?
A marketing strategy and marketing plan are not the same, but they go hand in hand. One cannot be compete without the other.
A marketing strategy is a business’s general scheme for developing a customer base for the products or services the business provides. It is a plan of action that outlines how a company will achieve its marketing goals.
A marketing plan supports the marketing strategy by describing how marketers will execute specific marketing activities to reach target customers. It is a more detailed document that lays out specific steps that will be taken to achieve those goals.
A good marketing strategy takes into account the company’s overall goals and objectives, as well as its target market and the competition. It should also include an outline of the tactics that will be used to reach consumers, such as advertising, public relations, and direct marketing.
While a marketing strategy is important for all businesses, it is especially critical for small businesses who may not have the resources to compete with larger companies. A well-crafted marketing strategy can help these businesses level the playing field and even give them an advantage over their larger competitors.
Types of Marketing Strategies
There are so many different types of strategies, like content marketing, digital marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing, but to keep things simple, we are only concentrating on 4 main ones for now.
Market Penetration Strategies
Product Development Strategies
Market Development Strategies
Diversification Strategies
Market Penetration Strategy
The market penetration strategy is a business growth strategy in which a company seeks to increase its sales of existing products or services to new markets. This strategy may be used to enter new geographic markets, new customer segments, or new distribution channels. The goal of market penetration is to achieve a high market share for the company’s products or services.
There are several ways to execute a market penetration strategy. A company can offer discounts or promotions on its products or services to attract new customers. It can also invest in marketing and advertising campaigns to raise awareness of its brand and products. Additionally, a company can expand its sales and distribution network to reach more potential customers.
A market penetration strategy can be an effective way for a company to grow its business. However, it is important to carefully consider the potential risks and rewards before implementing this strategy.
Product Development Strategy
Product development strategy is a plan or approach that a company takes to develop new products. This could involve market research, product concept testing, prototyping, and other activities to determine the viability of a new product.
Through proper research and analysis, new products are brought to the marketplace will need to be successful and generate revenue for the company.
Market Development Strategy
In order to expand its business, a company has decided to develop a market development strategy. The main objectives of this strategy are to identify new markets for the company’s products and services, and to develop plans and programs to enter these markets.
To achieve these objectives, the company will first conduct market research to identify potential new markets. Once potential markets have been identified, the company will develop plans and programs to enter these markets. These plans and programs will include activities such as creating marketing materials, developing marketing campaigns, and training sales staff.
The success of the market development strategy will be measured by the company’s ability to enter new markets and achieve growth in sales in those markets.
Diversification Strategy
Diversification is an effective strategy that businesses use to enter new markets or product categories. The goal of diversification is to reduce risk by spreading out the company’s bets across different areas.
When done correctly, diversification can lead to growth and increased profitability.
However, diversifying into too many areas can lead to confusion and a loss of focus. Therefore, it is important for businesses to carefully consider which markets or products to target before embarking on a diversification strategy.
Traditional Media: TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines
People have been consuming traditional media for decades. TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines are all examples of traditional media. Each of these forms of media has its own unique benefits and drawbacks. TV is great for watching news, sports, and other live events. Radio is great for listening to the latest music and interviewing celebrities. Newspapers are great for getting the latest news quickly. And magazines are great for reading in-depth stories about a variety of topics.
Other traditional marketing examples are:
Brochures
Line Cards
Advertisements in physical form
Digital Marketing Strategies Media: Websites, Blogs, Social Media
There is no single marketing strategy that will work for every business. Instead, businesses must tailor their strategies to fit their specific needs and goals. Digital marketing is a way of getting your message out to the public through various forms of digital media.
Digital marketing campaigns includes:
social media
search engine optimization
email marketing
online advertising.
Digital marketing can be very effective in reaching your target market and building brand loyalty. It can be highly effective especially with marketing automation.
Guerilla Marketing: Creative tactics to stand out
Guerrilla marketing is a creative and inexpensive way to promote your business. It involves using unconventional methods to get your message out there. And it can be a great way to stand out from the competition and attract attention to your business.
Some of the most popular guerrilla marketing tactics include:
street art,
flash mobs, and
viral videos
influencer marketing
Use this should be used with caution as it can backfire. You should only use guerrilla marketing if you are confident in your product or service and know what is going to work best for you.
What is included in a marketing strategy?
A marketing strategy is a plan that helps a company achieve its marketing goals. The strategy includes the company’s overall marketing goals, as well as specific tactics for achieving them.
It can also include an analysis of the company’s current situation, its target market, and its competitors
Simple Marketing Strategy
As your building and defining your marketing, stick to one strategy that is going to be the most effective marketing channel.
1. Define your target market.
A target market is a group of individuals or organizations that share common characteristics and to whom a company aims its products or services. A business’s target market is the specific group of consumers most likely to buy its products or services. A company should tailor its marketing mix to attract these consumers and convert them into customers.
What are your customers’ needs and wants? What makes you different from your competitors?
Once you know these things, you can start developing marketing messages that specifically appeal to them. Identify your target market so that you can create a message specifically designed to appeal to them.
2. Research your competition.
It’s important to know who your competition is. This way, you can learn from their successes and failures, and develop strategies to make your business more successful.
Learn as much as you can about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.
To research your competition, start by identifying your industry and then searching for companies that offer similar products or services. Once you’ve found a few companies, visit their websites and social media pages to learn more about them. You can also search for news articles and blog posts about the companies to get an idea of their reputation. Finally, try to talk to some customers of the companies to get first-hand feedback.
3. Determine the best way to deliver your message, such as email, social media or print advertising, and how often you should send it.
Write a compelling message that specifically appeals to them. This is the hardest part of any marketing campaign, and it’s what separates those campaigns that succeed from those that fail.
The best way to determine how to deliver your message is to consider your audience and what platform they are most likely to be using.
If your audience is composed of working professionals, email or print advertising may be the best option. You may want to send your message less often so they are not annoyed with too many emails and/or ads.
If your audience is composed of millennials, social media may be the best option. The frequency of your messages will also depend on your audience.
If you are targeting millennials, you will want to send your message more often so that they see it in their social media feeds.
4. Promote your message to your target market.
You can promote your message to your target market by using various marketing channels.
For example, you can use online advertising, direct mail, or even face-to-face marketing. It is important to select the right mix of marketing channels that will reach your target market most effectively.
5. Test it and Monitor the results of your marketing campaign, and adjust it if necessary.
After launching your marketing campaign, it’s important to test it and monitor the results. This will help you determine whether or not your campaign is successful and if adjustments need to be made.
To do this, you can track things like website traffic, social media engagement, and sales numbers. If you see that your campaign isn’t performing as well as you’d hoped, make changes accordingly.
Specific Marketing Strategies
Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing
In the business world, there are two main types of marketing: outbound and inbound. Outbound marketing is the process of reaching out to potential customers through various channels, such as TV ads, radio spots, or print ads. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, relies on attracting customers through content that is published online.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on drawing customers in through interesting and valuable content instead of traditional advertising methods like commercials and spam. It attracts customers by providing quality content that is relevant to their interests. This can be done through blog posts, social media, email newsletters, and other forms of online content. When done correctly, inbound marketing can create a strong connection with potential customers and convert them into loyal followers.
What is Outbound Marketing
Outbound marketing is a type of marketing that involves the proactive pursuit of potential customers, rather than waiting for them to come to you.
This can involve things like:
advertising, cold-calling, email marketing, and other forms of outreach.
The goal of outbound marketing is to generate leads and drive sales.
Inbound Marketing VS Outbound Marketing
There are pros and cons to each.
Outbound marketing can be expensive and often requires a lot of lead time to produce results. However, it can be very effective at reaching a large number of people quickly. Harder to track
Inbound marketing is less expensive and can be more targeted than outbound marketing, but it takes longer to produce results. Easier to track.
Email Marketing for your business
Email Marketing is especially effective to reach customers and promote your business. It can be used to cultivate relationships with current and potential customers, and keep them updated on your latest products, services, or promotions.
There are a number of ways to use email marketing to benefit your business. You can create an email newsletter and send it out regularly, or send individual emails as needed. You can also create targeted email campaigns based on customer demographics or past behavior.
When creating your email marketing strategy, be sure to consider what you want to achieve. Do you want to increase sales, encourage brand loyalty, or simply keep customers informed? Once you know what you want to achieve, you can create content that will help you reach your goals.
To grow your email list, create a plan for reaching prospective consumers and get them to sign up.
SEO Marketing
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a marketing strategy that can be used to improve site visibility and organic search results. While SEO can be a complex process, this strategy requires keywords and data for to grow your business and is essential for any online marketing strategy.
Of course it’s important to get your website to the top of the SERPs. The closer a page is to the top, the more likely the page with get click and a visit to the website.
There are many techniques or tactics that can be used as part of an SEO campaign, such as:
Optimizing titles, metatags, and anchor text,
Creating quality content
Building links for authority.
With a successful SEO Marketing Campaign, your potential customers find your business easily when they search.
Content Marketing
Use content marketing strategy to create and distribute valuable, high-quality information that helps your target audience solve problems or get answers.
This can include things like creating an FAQ page on your website or creating a blog where you answer common questions about the business.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing has become an essential tool for many businesses. Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer unique opportunities to connect with customers and promote your products or services.
But social media can be a lot more than just a marketing channel. It can also be a great way to learn about your customers, their needs and preferences, and how they interact with your brand.
There are many social media platforms to choose from and range in popularity and usage.
The goal of a social media campaign is to increase brand awareness and develop loyalty through word-of-mouth marketing.
Cathy Gray
Cathy Gray is a natural adventurer in her personal and professional life. She adapts to overcome while maintaining an infectious laugh that will make you smile.
Professionally, Cathy currently works for an industrial hose and hydraulics company. While she was a green-horn in the hose business, she spearheaded the company’s eCommerce site from the ground up from a blank canvas to live and selling within 6 months. She continues to grow the company’s online and digital presence while increasing sales year over year.
I use Canva for personal and professional use, mostly for simple things like brainstorming designs, social media posts, and simple videos like the one below. I also use Canva for website photos or blending different images and downloads.
Canva is easy to use and I love the fact that I can use it on my phone and/or on the computer. It syncs so easily between the two.
Cathy Gray is a natural adventurer in her personal and professional life. She adapts to overcome while maintaining an infectious laugh that will make you smile.
Professionally, Cathy currently works for an industrial hose and hydraulics company. While she was a green-horn in the hose business, she spearheaded the company’s eCommerce site from the ground up from a blank canvas to live and selling within 6 months. She continues to grow the company’s online and digital presence while increasing sales year over year.
Marketing Basics Price Product Promotion And Place
4 P’s of Marketing
On a simple level basic marketing revolves around four elements: product, price, promotion, and place.
Now marketing tactics and channels may and will change, but they are the concepts everything else revolves around. Product, price, promotion, and price are principles that will not change.
Some models expand the 4 basic principles as 7 P’s or another variations. For simplicity, we’ll just refer to these four as it’s plenty to understand how marketing works.
As the example throughout the rest of the article, a kayak manufacturer will be used.
Product
This is what a business sells, either a physical item, a service, or both. From a marketing perspective, the following will need to be determined:
How many different product variations or product lines should be sold?
Our kayak manufacturer may have determined what kayak options they would bring to the market. Some variations may include: single or tandem (for two people), sit in or sit on, use of the kayak like fishing, rapids, seafaring. Colors, lengths and accessories can also fit into this category.
How should the product or service be packaged or presented?
Perhaps the manufacturer wants to market their kayaks for everyday families. So they make their marketing material relevant to families. While kayaks are generally long, they may have a specialty line for inflatable kayaks.
As a service, they may also offer credits for their customers if they want to upgrade their kayak and offer the returned kayaks as a demo for a more affordable price.
How will it be serviced?
The kayak manufacturer may have a warranty or satisfaction policy. They may also have an extensive website with detailed information on their kayaks and other products to allow their customers to understand every aspect of their kayak or accessories.
Sometimes marketers might have involvement in products are design and which features are included based on their market research.
Price
A product’s or service’s price isn’t just “how much stuff costs”. There is more to think about than that.
If marketing is all about driving profitable action, then prices need to be set at a level the market will support.
Here are some marketing considerations with prices that the kayak company will need to consider:
What is the market rate per unit of a product?
Pricing policies requires market analysis and competitive research to determine what is a fair price for a product while considering production costs and what consumers are willing to pay. If the kayak is sold at high prices, does it match with its perceived value
How should discounts be applied and timed?
The kayak manufacturer may have promotional activities and/or promotional pricing for its partnered retailers. Should the product be put on sale at certain times of year?
Does it make sense to give customers options for payments?
A retailer for the kayak may offer financing options through their website with the help of 3rd party payment processors or other payment plans.
However the kayaks and accessories are priced, as long as they are at the right price for the customer needs, they will be purchased.
Promotion
If a product is launched but no one sees it, does it exist? Technically it does, but only taking up space.
If there is a new kayak design or accessory, it needs to be marketed so customers know it exists.
Which channels will be used to promote the product?
A marketing channel the way the product or service is being marketed from the start at the company to end at the intended consumer.
This includes online and offline channels.
Some examples of traditional marketing include: print, television, and radio. For our kayak company, television or radio may not be optimal, but printed brochures or promotional displays at outdoor fitters may work instead.
Where will it be promoted?
Online promotions include social media and Google Ads for example, but are not limited to these. Offline promotions include the traditional marketing tactics that were previously discussed. It also includes in stores promoting and at relevant events.
What message needs to be communicated?
The text, images, and imagery that is used will to tell the audience what the product is all about, and encourage them to buy it.
Some examples of the promotion strategies may include, email marketing, content marketing, or advertising with local groups that have active families.
Place
The right product needs to be in the right place for customers to find it and purchase it.
Where is the product distributed?
Online then shipped or sold in retail locations.
As far as retail locations, will it be big box, like Cabela’s or Academy Sports.
Will specific locations get the product?
For example, the kayaks wouldn’t be sold in areas that are typically frozen year round. That wouldn’t make sense at all and would be a complete waste of time, money, and resources.
CONCLUSION
The marketing mix and the 4 P’s of marketing has been around since the 1950’s and has been updated and modified.
At it’s basic form, product, price, promotion and place will get any marketing strategy started and running smoothly.
