Is your small business generating content and marketing ideas based on the latest Instagram or Tik Tok trends? Do you find yourself constantly mimicking the competition? Do you create all types of social media content but lack an understanding of how it really impacts your business bottom line? If this is you then keep reading to learn 10 steps to plan a long-term marketing roadmap that can help your business grow, retain and attract new customers.
In the good old days, creating marketing campaigns seemed to be something magical and purely an innate talent. Marketers would get a once-in-a-lifetime idea, they would pitch it, operationalize it and boom massive success was achieved and the new product overnight became the latest staple household product. Must be nice, huh? The truth is, the modern digital marketing world has completely shifted the playing field. Now the name of the game is “data”.
The biggest misconception of digital marketing is that the tactics used are essentially there to force people to purchase unnecessary products but this is further from the truth. The purpose of digital marketing is to attract the right customers, build loyalty, learn about the needs of the customer and then solve those challenges via your products and services.
Why a Long-Term Markering Plan Matters
The adoption of the internet and e-commerce has exponentially broadened the options customers now have at their disposal. This connection of global markets, however, has also increased competition across all industries. Your business used to only worry about the local mom and pop business across the street but now on top of that, you have to worry about competition across borderlines. This is why it is essential for small businesses to have a clear understanding of their business and proactively plan marketing goals to achieve those goals via digital marketing.
By relying on digital tools and strategies, businesses can benefit from insightful data points that are gathered in various ways as customers and prospects engage with your brand. Data is king and your small business needs to understand how to gather it and use it to its advantage to create remarkable experiences for all customers.
Creating a long-term roadmap for your organization should not be an afterthought. By doing so, you’ll be able to identify where your business excels where you might need to improve, and maybe discover valuable opportunities in the process.
Enough waiting, let get to creating a long-term marketing roadmap.
1. Understand The Current State of Your Small Business
The very first step in creating a long-term marketing roadmap is to clearly understand the current standing of your business. Before you invest in tools and strategies to drive marketing campaigns you must understand what you business does well, where it need some help, and any major threats your business could face.
dedicating time to generating new ideas for marketing initiatives, it is helpful to conduct an assessment of the current state of your small business. A SWOT analysis will help you clearly outline the positioning of your business in the four following areas:
Strengths
This is something your business does like no other. It can be having a big follower base on social, an attractive and convenient location, or high customer retention or event affordable pricing. The key here is to understand where your business outshines the competition.
For Example: High-quality products, a strong sales network, brand recognition, large social media audience, loyal customers, high converting website, engaging social content, etc.
Weaknesses
These are areas in which your small business really struggles. While it might be difficult or hard to admit, you must be honest when creating a list of your business’s weaknesses. It can help to ask friends, family, or frequent customers if you deemed it necessary. Most importantly, the idea is to identify those areas where the business must improve by doing so you will have a better understanding of where you can devote your time when developing marketing campaigns. Ideally, brainstorm ways in which through
For Example: Long waits to order, quality issues, a hard-to-find location, inconsistent service/ experience, unreliable service, poor customer service, high employee turnover, etc.
Opportunities
For Example:
Threats
For Example:
2. Have Clear Business Goals
Now that you have a clearer under
3. Define Target Audience
4. Write SMART Goals
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely
SMART Goal Examples:
5. Set Budget
6. Prioritize Initiatives
7. Analyze Performance & Reporting
Web Analytics
Social Media Analytics
