6 Questions Your Marketing Strategy Needs to Answer
So, you’re designing a marketing strategy. That’s a bold move, long overdue, and sure to prompt plenty of blunt questions.
To start with: Do you have any idea what you’re doing?
Don’t feel bad if you don’t. All marketers start somewhere. In any case, it’s often true that the ideal components of an effective marketing strategy are best expressed as blunt questions.
Like these six. How many can you answer today?
To Whom Am I Marketing and Why?
Who are your customers?
You know who they are in the abstract. Maybe you’ve met a few. But that’s not enough to help you create marketing content that’s actually relevant to their needs, desires, and identities.
Use actionable marketing and sales data to create accurate, granular customer personas — then we’ll talk.
Am I Using LinkedIn to Its Full Potential?
LinkedIn is your secret marketing weapon. And it’s highly likely you’re not using it to its full potential. Follow the lead of companies like Freeway Insurance who have created a well-designed LinkedIn profile, then look to LinkedIn competitors for content inspiration. Nothing is stopping your LinkedIn profile from being every bit as engaging as your Facebook or Instagram handle.
Am I Educating and Informing Early-Stage Prospects?
Your early-stage prospects are the grist for your sales mill. Without them, you’re looking at a lean harvest. Whatever else you do in your marketing travels, make sure any content designed for early-stage prospects achieves its purpose: informing Awareness-stage customers.
Am I Shepherding Middle-Stage Prospects Toward a Decision?
After the Awareness-stage customers come Consideration-stage prospects. Nothing is more important to these prospects than the Nudge: the little push they need to move from waffling to commitment. Content directed as these would-be buyers must always center that imperative.
Am I Closing Enough Deals Enough of the Time?
You’ll never achieve a perfect sales rate, no matter how hard you try. Some prospects just aren’t willing to close the deal. What you can do is remain forever unsatisfied by your current close rate. Something can always be done to improve your sales efficiency. Your job is to interpret the data at your disposal to figure out what that is.
Am I Set Up to Measure My Marketing Efforts?
If you have a quick answer for question number five, you can probably answer this one to satisfaction as well. Marketing is a data-driven science, and the numbers don’t lie — so, if you don’t have a good answer for this question, it’s time to hire someone who can help you get there. Before your competitors do.
More Questions Than Answers
Marketing novices tend to walk away from these sorts of overviews with more questions than answers. One of which probably goes something like, “What the heck did I just read?”
Perhaps you find yourself in that boat today. If so, you’re not alone, nor are you lost for hope. An effective marketing strategy doesn’t arise out of thin air overnight. Put one foot in front of the other as you work to answer these six questions and you’ll find yourself on the path to marketing success.
Whatever you do, don’t give up the fight. Too much is riding on a favorable outcome.
