Crafting the Perfect Marketing Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide
Marketing plan is a crucial aspect of any business, as it helps to promote products or services and attract new customers. However, creating a successful marketing plan can be a daunting task for many business owners. In this guide, we will provide a step-by-step process for crafting the perfect marketing plan.Read more
6Ps of B2B Marketing
What is Marketing Mix, and how is it different for B2B?
The four Ps of marketing makes up what is known as the marketing mix. Many people need to realize that the 4Ps are more often linked with business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing than business-to-business (B2B) marketing. There are two more “Ps” that must be taken into account when marketing to other businesses. There are two essential components: people and process.
Six Ps of B2B Marketing:
1. Product:
Your organization must think about two primary elements while developing and advertising a product or service that customers would find helpful:
The product’s appearance is crucial as it gives a sense of superiority. However, not only the product’s appearance but also its packaging must be taken care of.
Your product must be able to fulfill all the needs of your client. It should be the most helpful product in the market compared to its competitors.
2. Price:
The price and value are far more critical to business purchasers than to regular consumers because of the impact on their bottom line. When making business purchases, “trends” and “style” don’t mean nearly as much.
Marketers must have a simple, straightforward price strategy to express and grasp when selling to businesses so that corporate decision-makers can readily relay the information.
3. Promotion:
Promotion refers to the method of communicating your product to your customers. Consider following communication channels when advertising your product in the market.
In addition to providing a real, tangible thing for prospects to take away with your contact information, these materials may store many specific details and are strategically put in areas where your prospects can access them.
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Email:
B2B marketers rely heavily on email marketing. If executed properly, this may be a low-cost and straightforward approach to get your message through to customers and leads in a manner that can be tracked for its impact on conversion rates and return on investment.
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Trade Shows:
Trade shows provide a platform for all your potential and existing clients to see your demonstration of products and services.
4. Place:
No matter what kind of customers you serve, you must always provide them with what they need when they need it. It’s a waste of resources to advertise your goods in a place where your target audience isn’t located. It is essential to time your marketing efforts to reach your customers when they are in the mood to make a purchase.
However, a place may refer to more than simply a physical area. The sector you operate in may define your “position.” For example, for a pharmaceutical firm that targets hospitals for direct sales, the market for healthcare technology and services is the non-physical place where they need to establish a foothold.
5. People:
Usually, marketers don’t have to worry about salespeople when it comes to moving mass-market products. A salesperson isn’t necessary when selling a commodity like a can of Coca-Cola since there is no differentiation between brands. There’s no use in hiring a sophisticated salesperson to convince consumers that their brand of Coca-Cola is superior to the others since they’re all the same.
However, B2B marketers need to show why their product is the best option for their target audience. Salespeople are crucial because they cannot provide a one-size-fits-all product, so they must work hard to earn their customers’ confidence and motivate them to purchase.
6. Process:
Because there is now a “people” component in the B2B marketing mix, the purchasing procedure can become one of your business’s most crucial selling points. As a result, your process has the potential to be a fundamental component of the value proposition while also serving as a demonstration of your expertise.
Because B2B marketers often provide non-standardized solutions to their customers, providing these solutions has become crucially significant. This is because it separates you from your competitors and helps you earn their business.
What is the key takeaway from this?
Since more people are involved and more steps in the buying process, B2B sales communications need to be more precise and succinct than B2C ones. In recent years, as inbound marketing has grown in popularity, the customer has become the dominant entity.
These days, consumers may force companies to change their product line-ups by voting with their wallets. Marketers need to put themselves in the client’s shoes and provide the “perfect-fit” solution for the B2B marketing mix to be successful. If you want the most outstanding results from your B2B marketing, it’s essential that you customize each of the core components to your specific audience.
Why does your business need a marketing strategy?
Every day more and more people are starting to realize the importance of marketing in the growth of their business, and we couldn’t be happier about it. But this has still left some businesses implementing different tactics, across different channels and targeting different audiences, which means that they are not getting the best possible results in order to grow their business due to inconsistency. This is where a good marketing strategy comes in.Read more
Is a Marketing Strategy Just a To Do List?
Despite following strictly every step of the plan, your company is still viable of being on the wrong track and falling off from your goals. Why? Because a marketing strategy does not equate to a series of tasks. Read more
5 Inexpensive Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses
Small businesses can build effective marketing strategies with inexpensive marketing ideas and tactics that build brand awareness and achieve marketing objectives. Marketing is possible on a small budget or, in fact, no budget as you can adopt marketing strategies and ideas that will reach and engage your target audience.
Marketing is a great way to improve your bottom line, increase sales, and introduce new customers to your business. Every small business can implement marketing, and with the right strategies and marketing plan, your business can expose its brand identity and build stable relationships. Ensure you are following the proper steps to jump-start your marketing and exceed your expectations by commencing some of the following inexpensive marketing ideas for your small business.
1. Social Media Video Content
As we live in a highly digital-savvy world, all businesses should have active social media accounts. Social media has the power to develop meaningful relationships and attract new customers with engaging regular content, and best of all, it’s free. Social media, in particular, video content, is an inexpensive marketing idea to connect and reach a vast majority of users quickly.
By using video content, your small business can catch the attention of your target audience with creative and exciting topics that can be informative. Your business can use gifs or short ‘how to’ and demonstration videos to educate the audience as to why they should purchase your product/service.
2. Hashtag & Tag On Social Media
Another marketing idea that embraces the digital age and is completely free is to optimize your social media posts and content with hashtags and tags. Your small business can tag particular followers, companies, partners, and even employees on social media to immediately increase the post reach and attract attention. By tagging other companies and influencers affiliated with your brand, you can enhance brand awareness and reach a larger audience.
Additionally, you can incorporate hashtags in your captions to reach accounts that follow a specific hashtag. Ensure that you use relevant hashtags to your business and products/services to target your desired audience and reach stakeholders interested in your industry.
3. Build LinkedIn Connections
Although LinkedIn may be less exciting than platforms such as Instagram or TikTok, it is an essential tool to use in your marketing strategy and to reach your business objectives. LinkedIn allows you to form strong connections with potential customers and network within your industry.
LinkedIn ensures your brand can be recognized by other professionals in your field and boost sales through connections and positive word of mouth. LinkedIn additionally provides you with the ability to form an alliance with other professionals and help your small business build creditability. It’s imperative to interact with professionals in your industry and, importantly your customers on LinkedIn. You can do this by posting regularly or through direct messages about your workplace, services/products, company news, and updates.
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great inexpensive idea that markets directly to existing customers and can improve your bottom line. Your customers are aware of your brand, have purchased your products/services, and therefore you have the opportunity to turn them into repeat customers. Email marketing is used to send a direct message to customers and is one of the most reliable ways to achieve a strong return on your marketing investment.
Reaching out to existing clients can streamline sales while creating a strong brand connection with customers. They can keep up to date on company news, gain access to exclusive deals, and view your business benefits. Each email marketing campaign allows your small business to maintain a strong relationship and communication with customers while enhancing website trafic. Often customers enjoy maintaining a strong brand connection, and effective email marketing can help you achieve this.
5. Create Blog Content to Boost SEO
It’s vital that you promote your small business in a way that drives traffic to your website and generates leads. This can be done through blog posts on your website and SEO. Your small business should create a blog page on your website if you already have one or update your existing one with regular blog posts each week. Blogs posts are the ultimate marketing tactic that enables your business to write about your product/service insights and benefits, industry news, company updates, client case studies and your workplace. It’s critical to remember that blog content should be engaging, creative, and diverse with specific hyperlinks and subheadings to hook the readers and effectively reach your desired audienc.
These five inexpensive marketing strategies when performed consistently will help your small business boost sales, increase brand awareness and achieve marketing and business objectives. You can immediately develop a strong brand identity by utilizing social media and the other marketing ideas listed above while connecting with customers and encouraging two-way communication.
If your small business requires a comprehensive marketing strategy that includes more inexpensive marketing ideas and an in-depth analysis of your brand and competitors, contact the team at Robotic Marketer today to learn more.
Image: Shutterstock 1157182405
Unchartered marketing territory: How curious are you to be the first player?
Four years ago, I decided to do something that no-one has ever done before. I didn’t think too much about it and was ridiculously busy at work at that time, but the desire to be an inventor of the future of marketing, just had too much pull.
Experimenting in unchartered marketing territory is something that all marketers should do, but few feel free enough to try. Being curious enough about marketing and its potential, and unafraid to be the first player in the market, takes guts.
I’m no Einstein – that’s for sure. In fact, most of the time I don’t feel that smart at all especially when I’m juggling many things, all at the same time, and nothing seems to work.
But choosing a career like marketing allows for that. It is one of the few industries that really lets you experiment in some shape or form every single day.
There are failures, for sure. I’ve had more than my fair share, I won’t lie. But there are also successes and with both failure and success, you find out what really works for the clients you work on.
Being the founder of Robotic Marketer is an incredible life achievement. Not only do I work with the smartest brains in technology, I am also an active member of the team, driving forward the future of marketing.
What we are doing to marketing strategy, automating every single area of the process, and deep diving into data in a way that no-one has done before, is exhilarating. To think that data driven marketing strategies are the future, rather than rely on marketing professionals gut instinct and a few technology applications will change the game.
As we close the door on 2021, most small businesses will change the way they develop strategy. In part, because the pandemic dictates it, but also because there is an inherent need to be smarter, faster and use failures and successes to define better paths forward.
While we head out on unchartered waters, we know that there are millions of small businesses that will be thankful to have the same opportunities are their larger counterparts. Not only do they have the ability to have a powerful strategy in place, their flexibility to be more creative, will see smaller businesses take greater market share.
5 Marketing Strategies for Technology Companies
More than anyone, technology companies are faced with the challenge of increasing online competition. Not only are the number of competitors growing, but the innovations and technologies they possess have the ability to challenge even key players in the market. Here, we have suggested 5 marketing strategies that technology companies should consider for their upcoming marketing plan. Before you make any marketing decisions, it is vital to consider the position you are in.
How To Challenge Your Marketing Strategy To Get Better Results
Source: Marketing Eye Australia
The marketing strategy that worked well in 2018/2019, may not be the best course of action in 2021. For a start, the world has changed, buyer habits have become more savvy and the economy has a major influence. As a marketing professional, it is more important than ever to better read the market and all of its dynamics to ensure that previous marketing strategies are challenged and B2B businesses build-out marketing strategies that are going to better connect them with their target audience.
For a start, the marketing department is not what it use to be. Recently we did a job posting for a graphic designer. In previous years, we would have hundreds of applications. This year, the applications were light on and the main reason for that is that freelance work is at its height, paying better than in-house and giving graphic designers better work, life balance. Also, companies are choosing to hire full-time graphic designers in abundance because with all good content, there needs to be visuals that entice the customers to read more, engage more and remember why they should choose your brand over another.
No marketer has all the answers and in truth, B2B marketers use data and insights to develop marketing strategies, but they don’t have the time to ‘gather all information’ needed to develop the best possible marketing strategy.
The 80/20 rule applies more so than ever, but even then, few marketers are even scraping the surface.
There are a number of areas that your marketing strategy needs to address:
Does it incorporate new marketing platforms such as Clubhouse and Twitter Space?
Is your target audience the same as what it was in 2019?
What are you really selling and does it resonate with your designated target audience?
Who are your competitors today?
What are the best ways in which your company can attract new customers?
What marketing resources and budget do you have in place?
How well is your website working? Is it bringing in leads?
By challenging your marketing strategy and debating why it may not work, you are in fact creating a better strategy moving forward. Even if it doesn’t change because the marketing strategy is what it should be, it makes your position so much more powerful moving forward.
Never be afraid to challenge your marketing strategy to end up with something even better.
We use Robotic Marketer technology to develop our marketing strategy, but even then, we challenge our key messages over and over again to ensure that we have the right messages moving forward.
Source: Marketing Eye Australia
Components of a Good Marketing Strategy
A good marketing strategy consists of a comprehensive collection of marketing techniques that enables a business to direct its resources towards the best opportunities in terms of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable advantage over the competition.
A marketing strategy consists of short term and long term activities that contribute towards achieving business objectives.
Remember developing a marketing plan for your business shouldn’t be complicated.
To help you generate an effective marketing strategy, here are eight basic components of any marketing strategy.
1. Market Research
An integral component of any good market strategy is market research. To lay the foundation for your strategy you must collect, organize and write down data about the market that is currently buying the products or services you intend to sell.
You should consider looking at marketing dynamics, customer demographics, market segments, target markets, needs and buying decisions.
In terms of products and services, you need to analyze the market to gauge what’s out there now and what the competition is currently offering. Identifying current sales and benchmarks in the industry in addition to suppliers that you will need to rely on will help you build a more substantial base in which you can effectively build a good marketing strategy.
2. Target and Positioning
Any good marketing strategy begins with the identification of a target audience. This is the most important component. There is no point in wasting your time and resources trying to market your products and services to an audience that isn’t interested in what you’re selling.
You should aim to sell to the market segments that will be most profitable for your business. Direct your marketing efforts towards people that are genuinely interested in your products or services. By narrowing your marketing efforts towards your ideal target audience you will greater optimize your time and resources.
Furthermore, defining your ideal target customer will allow you to adjust the overall style of your marketing strategy in a way that suits your target audience. Your content will be more targeted, using language that connects with your customers on a more personal level.
3. Awareness
The ultimate business goal should be to gain the trust of your clients and create brand awareness among your target audience. A combination of traditional techniques like magazines, TV and word of mouth should be paired with online techniques to boost the awareness of your brand.
In today’s digital environment it’s imperative strategies prioritize online marketing. A business must have a website and a blog where you post high-quality content that connects with your audience and generates traffic. Additional visual and audio content like videos, podcasts, and infographics work to further generate brand awareness and leave a lasting impression in your target audience’s mind.
4. Unique Advantages
To win over your competitors you need to offer your target audience a set of unique advantages that your competitors aren’t offering. You need to distinguish your brand by offering your target audience valuable content that they can’t find elsewhere. Creating unique brand offerings will help distinguish your business from your competition.
Aim to identify one or two things that make your product or service different and promote them as much as possible. In doing so you can create more effective marketing strategies that greater reach your target audience.
5. Communicate With Your Clients
It’s imperative to know how and when to communicate with your target audience. You need to strategize the types of content you are making and how you are sharing them. Think about where your target audience hangs out most and utilize the platforms that will best reach them.
The connection you develop with your customers is a key aspect for the success of your marketing strategy. It’s important to promote your products and services as the best choice on the market, but it’s even more important to focus your attention on the needs and wants of your followers. Identify the problems they have and show them how your business offers the best solution to satisfy their needs.
6. Promotional Tactics
Once you have created your marketing strategy, you must decide which marketing activities will ensure your target audience knows about the products or services you offer, and why they meet their needs.
Aim to execute a combination of tactics such as various forms of advertising, public relations, maintaining an online presence, promotions and an effective point of sale strategy. Remember every action you take must align with your marketing strategy in order to be effective and convert customers. Aim to limit your activities to those methods you think will work best with your target market.
7. Monitoring and Evaluation
This is a key component of any type of strategy and something a lot of businesses overlook. Take the time to analyze how your strategy is performing in practice. Surveying customers, tracking sales, leads, visitors to your website and percentage of sale to impressions are all worthwhile tactics to consider.
Any successful marketer will continually review the status of their marketing strategies against their set objectives. Doing so will ensure ongoing improvements to marketing initiatives and benefit future market planning.
8. Marketing Plan
Once you have finalized your marketing strategy, draw up a marketing plan that outlines how you intend to execute the strategy and evaluate its success. Your marketing plan should be excessively reviewed and if necessary updated to respond to changes in customers’ attitudes and broader economic forces.
Fundamentally, all good things take time and a successful marketing strategy takes not only time but commitment as well. When developing your marketing strategy you must be ready to invest in order to reach your business goals. Focusing on the finer details of a good marketing strategy will allow you to develop a logical, effective plan that will lead your business to success.
5 Reasons You Need A New Digital Marketing Strategy
Source: Marketing Eye Australia>Marketing Eye Australia
Whether you are a start-up that didn’t get off the ground due to COVID, a small business, or a large corporation, you are faced with uncertain times and a very volatile marketplace which means that your online performance and in particular your digital marketing strategy may not be working quite as effectively as it should.
When I look at the market today, I see change. With this in mind, it makes sense that businesses look in-ward to look outward and make the necessary changes to any type of marketing strategy that is in play.
So many businesses are rethinking their business plan, how they go to market, who their target audience is, and what their value proposition entails – all with good reason.
How that affects a digital marketing strategy is easy to see as the changing mindset of buyers and their current circumstances in comparison to what they may have been a year ago are relevant.
Here are 5 relevant reasons why you need to rethink, re-engineer, and re-purpose your digital marketing strategy:
Business Goals are no longer aligned to marketing goals
With the changes in the current business environment, many businesses have changed their goals. Their sales forecasts may be lower than previously anticipated, their expansion plans put on hold and their target audience may be different. If your business goals are not aligned to your marketing goals it is impossible to reach them. Adapting, changing, and testing new waters is often the only way to create business goals that have any type of substance in today’s marketplace.
Adwords campaign is no longer effective
When companies are no longer getting sales the way they once were, they often put a knee-jerk action in place. What many companies have done is put the budget into Adwords as part of what they consider a quick fix, only to find out that it isn’t working. There are many reasons why an Adwords campaign may not be working but one of the first factors to consider is that competitors are turning to Adwords using the same keywords as you. This means that you are all paying more for impressions and campaigns become less effective. Ascertaining whether or not you should put ALL of your budgets into Adwords is critical to lead generation campaign success. Using platforms that help you spend your marketing budget in the right places can help reduce wastage and do more targeted campaigns. We use Robotic Marketer as our tool as it is AI-powered and more likely to give us a good cross-section of marketing and communications platforms to diversify our marketing spend.
Engagement on social media was strong but is no longer the case
At the start of the pandemic, many people were online and therefore actively using social media platforms. Small businesses were able to capitalise on this and do marketing campaigns with reasonable effectiveness. Then that wore off. I kid you not! The market changed and consumer behaviour rectified itself steering away from overconsumption of social media. What that means for brands is that we are forced to rethink the way we connect with the same audience and how we disseminate information.
Website traffic has dropped
This is a huge issue that companies are facing today and one that can be fixed. It’s just knowing how to do so. Doing a audit of your website is necessary and using technologies like SEMRush and Alexa to better understand traffic alongside Google Analytics.
Many companies set up SEO then forget about it. Worse still they may employ third-parties to do their SEO and not monitor the results. Ensuring that your website has the right traffic and enough of it is critical to lead generation.
Leads have stopped coming
When prospects no longer contact your firm, you are forced to focus heavily on outbound marketing technologies as a quick fix. This is a costly exercise and takes time. When leads stop coming into your company, it doesn’t take long to realize that your business is no longer viable. This is when cuts occur across the entire business. When the market changes, you should always change with it running a nimble organisation that has the ability to be flexible when need be. Using a platform that allows for flexibility can mean the difference of your business shutting your doors or staying open. Once again, we use Robotic Marketer which has a multi-user, multi-strategy platform (newly released) allowing companies to re-process their marketing strategies according to new business goals. It’s best to know what to do and when to do it, with the right messages and marketing campaigns.
Technogies we recommend: SEMRush, Google Analytics, Robotic Marketer and Alexa.
Source: Marketing Eye Australia