How to Create a Simple Marketing Strategy
In About an Hour
A marketing strategy doesn’t need to be complicated.
Follow these steps to build a simple plan, with action steps to keep you moving forward.
I LOVE developing strategy for small business! I had the honor of learning so much from a past website client as I wrote the content for his website. John Delany, President of Giraffe Strategy, is a business strategy expert, and has created an exceptional process for developing a simple marketing strategy.
It not only helps you develop a plan, but makes it easy to break down action steps for executing the plan, and creates accountability to moving forward.
He calls it the Giraffe Strategy Tree, and it can be used to create an overall business or marketing strategy that gets results.
Once you define the basics, you can use this system to create an action plan of projects that will move you forward in a more meaningful way! Because it’s simplified, it’s also easy to hang on your wall and reference everyday for better accountability to yourself.
Using his 5 Elements of StrategySM, you can easily put together a simple plan in about an hour. Of course, refining it a few times after that is good too. Put some thought into it, do a bit of research, bounce your ideas off colleagues and make it the best plan it can be! Setting a strategy doesn’t need to be difficult, but it should be well-thought-out.
“The Giraffe Strategy Tree provides a visual blueprint for the future by elegantly intertwining each of The 5 Elements of StrategySM.“
Target Audiences
Define your best types of potential customers so that you can create marketing pieces that speak to them in the right ways.
This helps you to maximize your resources for the people that are the best match for your products or services, and the right types of customers for your business.
Objectives
These are the “big goals” you want to achieve. What do you want to get from your audience? It could be more revenue or decreased costs, better qualified leads or more local exposure, more new customers or better customer loyalty, just to make a few.
Promise
The most important element of strategy, the One Breath Promise, defines who you are, what you do and why you do it better — in one breath. It should be the foundation of your marketing message and your brand.
Projects
Projects are the tactical tasks that deliver your promise, help you achieve your objectives and are most important to your audience. They should be large or medium-size tasks, that have sub-tasks to break them down into achievable steps. Make them manageable and measurable.
Requirements
To make your projects successful, what will you need? Do you need new technology, additional employees or new vendors? Define which resources are needed for each project, and be sure that you have the time and funding necessary to make it all happen by your deadline.
Analyze. Repeat.
This plan should be revisited monthly to keep your projects moving, preferably with a small team to hold each other accountable, and then revisited twice a year to see if anything needs to be added, removed or changed. Keep your plan fresh, and your business moving forward!
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Purple Jen
I’ve worked in marketing, strategy, SEO and paid search for nearly 20 years, and as a freelance website designer for 8 years. My approach to web marketing: strategize. maximize. analyze. repeat. came from learning about my own personal strengths. Not only were they my Strength Finder talents, but together they create a solid, simplified approach to successful marketing. I like to write about that stuff here, and share my knowledge to help fellow small business owners achieve more, and see the world through purple colored glasses. Jen Lorenski
