This is step four in a six-step series on how to build your brand strategy. To learn more about this series, visit our introductory blog post here, and stay tuned for more freebies like these as we unravel your branding power strategy in the months to come!
Now that you’ve learned how to identify your target audience, craft your brand message and build your brand identity, you are ready to market your brand to the world. For start-ups, this may be your “proof of concept” test where you are finally ready to showcase the fruits of your labor and see how the market responds to your product or service. During this phase, it is important to gather and listen to initial feedback, isolate any problems that come up, and identify any barriers to entry so your business can move forward and grow.
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu
Without a clear strategy, a business will go through a lengthy process of trial and error and risk inconsistencies, wasted time and resources, and ultimately failure. A marketing strategy is a list of clearly-defined goals and an action plan to reach those goals. Your marketing plan should be progressive, quantifiable, and responsive to the demands of your customers and the market.
The good news is that if you followed steps 1-3 of this branding power guide, you already have some fundamental pieces in place to begin developing your marketing strategy. Here are just a few of the key elements that should be written into your marketing strategy:
- Business objectives
- Target market
- Brand messaging
- Budget
- Marketing tools
- Key performance indicators
A strong marketing strategy is crucial to a company’s success. Without a measurable marketing strategy in place, your attempts to gain traction in your industry may be haphazard and inefficient. To get you started, we’ve included a free, downloadable marketing plan template courtesy of yours truly.
Next up, we’ll outline a few free and low-cost marketing tools to begin implementing and measuring your marketing strategy. Stay tuned!
