A marketing strategy is essential to any successful business and can have a huge impact on sales and gaining advantage over competitors. A well-thought out marketing strategy should include various components including your company’s mission statement, market research, analysis and specific strategies to improve your branding, advertising and online presence.
One of the key ways of ensuring your marketing strategy is on the right track is to take a closer look at your customers and who they are and why they buy from you. By knowing your customer or target audience in detail, you are able to visualise who you are trying to market to. This can highly benefit your strategy or at the very least ensure you can improve it; understanding your customer is the secret of successful selling.
Researching existing customers
You can learn a lot from your current customers, even simple facts such as who they are or what they do for a living. From carrying out a survey or questionnaire, or just talking to them, you can find out enough data to find out who your business is attracting in the first place. This can work for either individuals or big companies, depending on who your customer base turns out to be. You can infer shopping habits too if you wish, depending on what questions you are asking. Here you can decide how your existing customers like to spend their money, which can have an effect on the way you market your business.
Create a customer matrix
Once you have figured out who is coming to your business and dealing with you, you can compile the information and create an idea of your average customer who accurately reflects the wider audience of people buying from you.
The more you know about your audience, the more you can distinguish what attracts them to you; something you can choose to build on to increase sales and bring in new customers perhaps. You can also use this to spot opportunities to sell new stuff to your existing customers. By looking at things from the point of view of the end user, you can fix any gaps you may have in your marketing strategy.
Sending out marketing material
By having a clear understanding of your customers, you can tailor your marketing material to ensure it gets noticed. Sending out leaflets or brochures may not be well-suited to a customer that works in a busy environment with lots of paperwork, but they might prefer a stress ball or writing material that are of more use. Branded promotional products sent out in this way not only provide a solution of some kind but also raises brand awareness in the process.
Being associated with sending out relevant, clever promotional materials can only evoke a positive reaction to your business and bring some attention to yourselves. Promotional gifts have gained real momentum over the last few years, with the idea of customisation proving a hit amongst business leaders. Products such as clothing, sweets, and technology-based products are all effective ways of putting your brand in the hands of consumers. In 2014, spending on promotional products reached around £1 billion; it is clear that it has an impact of some kind.
With your customers being the drive of your business in many ways, it is crucial that you listen to them and take note of their habits and interests when it comes to your company and marketing strategy. If you’re looking to build brand awareness and add to your strategy, get in touch with Outstanding Branding.
