NEW! Get more 5-star reviews with Stargazer® ⭐️
Learn More
A marketing strategy that does not have a planned end is definitely not worth it. You will be constantly changing things up, which will confuse your audience and hurt your business growth.
Changing your brand or what products you are promoting can feel overwhelming if you do not have solid foundations. Having a plan for how long each element of your market campaign should last is important to keep yourself organized.
It also helps to maintain consistency as well, because people will begin to expect to see a certain thing from you.
When they don’t get it, they may stop doing business with you! This could very much cost your company money in the long run.
Length is an ambiguous factor in creating successful strategies. Some experts say that too long is worse than not long enough!
That’s why some people suggest using the “elevator pitch” as your main marketing tool. Your elevator pitch should be a one- to two-minute summary of what your business does, and then you can launch into the longer version.
This way, if someone wants more information they will ask for it, and you can either go back to the initial brief or add onto it depending on their reaction. You also get a chance to showcase your expertise and draw attention towards yourself.
A good strategy will have a definite start and end. You can use these as markers to determine when the campaign is over or if it’s still in its initial stages.
A clear ending for your strategy means there isn’t an infinite amount of time where you are waiting for the next stage to begin. This can be frustrating because you may want to check off one element and then realize that another one needs to happen first!
That’s why having a starting and stopping point makes this easier. Once everything comes together, we can say that the strategy has ended.
Many business owners get so focused on the next big project or the latest trend in marketing that they forget to spend time developing their brand. Or, they start with the hard stuff like creating a website but fail to test its effectiveness by promoting it.
It is important to have short-, mid- and long-term plans for your company, as well as for yourself as an individual. The longer you have them, the more likely you are to put into action what needs to be done!
Short term: This can be one month, six months, or even one year depending on the nature of the projects. A great way to use this period is to do something new related to your field that will help increase exposure and recognition of your services or product.
For example, if you work with graphic design, then starting a tumblr page or designing a logo could win you some followers and eventually clients. If you manage a house, hosting a free webinar about how to organize all of your papers and files can gain you attention and referrals.
If you're self employed, offering your services online through freelancing websites such as Fiverr or Upwork can create a lot of interest and traffic for your profile and offerings.
Mid term: These can be two years, three to five years, or even longer depending on whether or not your business succeeds and grows.
It is important to note that even though a one-page advertisement or flyer may seem like it’s done, you have to keep re-writing and editing it until it's perfect. This includes changing fonts, adding new pictures or illustrations, and altering bullets and point styles.
It can become very tiring in the midst of all this work when you just want to get something printed or posted!
So how long should your marketing strategy be? We suggest writing a second version of your strategy that is one month later. If you were doing a spring cleaning sale, for example, then your extended winter season sale could include these messages:
Winter 2018–2019 Sale
Ending soon! Get best deal of ALL products during our winter sale.
It’s impossible to tell how much influence your marketing strategy will have unless you invest in it for at least six months. This is why most successful brands spend around six months establishing their brand before moving onto more advanced tactics.
By investing this time in your business, you give yourself a chance to see results. You also increase your chances of finding success since you've left no stone unturned.
Most people start working in the marketing field by doing direct sales or advertising, but these aren't very effective ways to grow your business. Direct selling and advertising don’t use up resources (like electricity) so they can be done over and over again without limiting growth.
What about creating an ecommerce store? While this is a good way to get started as a seller, going beyond that initial stage requires more than just having a website.
Sometimes, as marketers we get so focused on what products or services we want to promote that we forget about something more important: how to keep these customers!
As you probably know, keeping your current customers is just as (if not more) important than finding new ones. This can be tricky if your product or service comes with a one year limited warranty, for example.
What do you do if you are out of batteries? You simply buy more batteries, right? It’s hard to imagine things going wrong when using a product for such a short time.
However, as the old saying goes, “A thing will eventually stop working — and breaking down is usually due to failure of some part.”
If there was a way to extend the life of yourproduct, wouldn’t you like to know it? Extending its lifespan could save you money in maintenance costs, and maybe even create a loyal follower who believes in your product enough to spread the word.
This article will talk about ways to increase the lifetime of your product by looking at the sources of waste for each component.
A marketing strategy that has no end is not effective. Your business will spend money to make a plan that it will never implement or test! This can be wasteful if you want your company to stay successful in the long run.
Too often we get distracted by all of the things must-haves for success, such as having a mobile friendly website, posting pictures of yourself daily on social media, etc. - these are great strategies but they need to be paired with something more substantial.
These distractions keep us from investing time and resources into other important areas of the business. This goes beyond just keeping up with trends – it’s about developing and executing an overarching vision and mission for your business.
It’s easy to get distracted at work when there are new projects coming in and people asking questions, so don’t fall into this trap. Make sure everyone knows what part of the overall plan their responsibilities lie within.
Also remember that one good piece of content can boost search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site, so invest in creating them frequently.
Sometimes people get stuck because they include too many things in their marketing strategy. This can look very busy and complicated, which may make it hard to follow along. You will have a harder time sticking to this plan if you have to do some research or work on another project before you can implement these tactics.
Too much detail can backfire though. It might take longer to execute your plans than expected due to all of the steps needed to market your business!
You don’t want to go through all of this effort and potentially spend lots of money only to find out that your competition has been doing similar things for months already. A well-designed short term marketing tactic will bring in new customers while supporting current ones.
