top of page

BUILDING A MARKETING STRATEGY

Building a marketing plan starts by defining your target customer. Once you have identified who that is, you can then start to build a strategy to reach them. 

​

Every good marketing strategy defines its efforts into different categories. These categories will allow you to track and manage the results of your efforts. Be mindful of setting realistic goals and allocating the right amount of resources to each category. This will prevent overspending and animosity towards one or the other effort if the performance is not as expected at first. 

​

Marketing takes time to provide results and many business owners are not patient enough to let their plan work due to setting unrealistic goals and expectations. Be patient and spend responsibly with both your time and your money.  Rely on the data to help you make smart adjustments along the way as needed. 

AdobeStock_210070659.jpeg

DEFINING YOUR CUSTOMER

Picking a target is the very first step in the process of building a  marketing strategy. 
 

1. Who is your potential customer? Understanding this is crucial before you begin a marketing strategy. You can identify your target client by gathering demographic information in the area. This will help you understand what types of potential customers are available.

​

2. What products should your business offer? This is largely dependent on your target demographic. The process of choosing what products to sell should include factors such as, ease of doing business, price tolerance of the target customer, life expectancy of the product and commission rates.   

​

3. Why did you choose your target customer? Hopefully you chose them based on profitability and longevity. There is no purpose to target low hanging fruit because it doesn't last long and it can cause excess expense to manage or maintain. 

CATEGORIES OF EFFORT

The two different categories of marketing are Aggressive and Passive. It is important to make a decision on how much effort and resources you will be placing or spending in each category.

Note: It is not uncommon for a new business to have more need for aggressive marketing tactics in the beginning stages of capturing clientele.  This is usually due to lack of brand awareness during this stage of the business’ life.  
 

EXAMPLE

25%

PASSIVE

AGGRESSIVE

75%

75%

AGGRESSIVE MARKETING EFFORTS

Aggressive marketing tactics drive activity as a direct result of your immediate efforts rather than waiting and hoping to get a response.
 

  • Cold Calling

    • Internet leads

    • Warm lead transfers

    • Head hunt prospects that you want as clients

      • Visiting Businesses

      • Visiting Referral Partners 

  • Asking for referrals

    • Asking current clients for referrals 

    • Asking friends and family for referrals 

    • Asking acquaintances for referrals 

  • Networking with other business owners

    • Join the chamber of commerce

    • Join a local BNI Group

25%

PASSIVE MARKETING EFFORTS

Passive  marketing tactics drive activity as clients gain interest in messaging. This type of marketing is difficult to predict and can also be difficult to track ROI.

​

  • Digital

    • Social Media

    • Email Campaigns

    • SEO (Search Engine Optimization) 

  • Print

    • Mailers

    • Magazines

    • Flyers

  • Sponsorships

    • Event Signage 

    • Sports teams

  • Television / Radio

    • Commercial Spots 

SETTING GOALS

Setting realistic expectations is very important. It will help you establish measurable goals so your efforts can be adjusted as necessary. Each effort should be tracked by category and by the components of its design. For instance a Passive effort such as a social media campaign would consist of the following design elements that should be tracked.

CATEGORY: PASSIVE

VOLUME
  • Daily
  • Weekly
  • Monthly
CONTENT
  • Message
  • Design
VENUE
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
COST
  • Management
  • Maintenance

Small adjustments to the strategy should be made until the desired result is reached.

SCHEDULING EFFORT

Building a schedule that you can follow without failure is very important.  It serves two major purposes. The first is to keep you organized and the second is to provide measurable results that will give you insight to make adjustments as needed.

EXAMPLE: MONDAY

AGRESSIVE

  • 9am-12pm / Cold Calling

  • 12pm-1pm / Visit Mortgage Brokerages

  • 1pm-3pm / BNI Group Meeting

  • 3pm-5pm / Business Door Knocking Route

PASSIVE

  • Automated Social Media Campaign

  • Automated Email Drip Campaign

  • Automated SMS Campaign

ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES
Adding key people to hold you accountable to your plan helps keep you on track. 

YOU
PARTNERS
FAMILY
FRIENDS
LUCK
5%
10%
10%
30%
50%

Forging the path on your own can be difficult. Make sure not to let yourself slip into bad habits of making excuses not to do the work that needs to be done each day. 

Pacific Crest Services Logo_edited.png
bottom of page