Marketing Strategy - January Roundup
Our theme for the month of January at Indispensable Marketing was “Small Business Marketing Strategy.”
Goodness knows there’s a lot of ground to cover when it comes to "what is a good marketing strategy?" or how to create a marketing strategy for a small business. And when you’re a small business owner, your primary marketing role is to create and advance the marketing strategy for your company! That means you need to have a clear understanding of what marketing strategy is based on the fact that a diagnosis must happen before you even think about the prescriptions. It’s a lot to handle, but we’ve got you covered.
These posts aim to help you, your team, and your marketing service providers better understand everything that goes into creating a comprehensive marketing strategy—one that makes your marketing effective.
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Diagnosis Before Prescription Post
Diagnosis Before Prescription — Marketing
One of my core points of view for business owners and CEOs of small businesses is “Diagnosis Before Prescription.” In other words, you must take the time to develop a solid strategy for your marketing before you ever consider the what and how of the tactical side — website, email, events, social media, marketing materials, advertising, etc.
Prescription Without Diagnosis is Malpractice
Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice - it's a phrase I've uttered many times to business owners who want to understand effective marketing.
Marketing Success: Diagnosis Before Prescription
Too many CEOs and owners of small businesses say “I need to be on LinkedIn” or “I should start producing videos” or “I should be creating articles” but they don’t see any results because they haven’t thought about WHY. Why are these prescriptions the ones you must take?
The Mistake I Most Commonly See Small Businesses Make When It Comes to Marketing
Starting with a prescription before a diagnosis. Thinking you just need a website, content creation, Facebook ads, or first page ranking on Google to make your marketing effective. These are elements of marketing but don’t really help you address who to market to, what should you be communicating, and where should you be placing your message — the effective part.
#1 Thing That Needs to Be in Place to Make Marketing Work
Recently I was asked, "what do owners and CEOs of small companies need to have in place in order to make their marketing work?" For some of you, this answer may not be surprising but for others, this will be an indispensable insight. The absolute #1 thing that needs to be in place to make marketing work is "diagnosis before prescription."
Eliminate Competitor Comparisons With Diagnosis Before Prescription
The marketing process we use takes the approach of diagnosis before prescription. What that means for our clients is we help them identify their ideal client within their target market and then create messaging to solve a specific problem in a very specific way.
8 Questions a Diagnosis Before Prescription Must Answer
The most common mistake we see business owners make is they hire a digital agency or marketing firm and then direct them on how to market their business. The business owner starts by saying, "they need a website that does this or a Facebook ad campaign that does that", maybe they do but maybe they don’t.
What Does a Marketing Foundation Based on Diagnosis Before Prescription Look Like?
If you follow me or have worked with the Indispensable Marketing team, we will often talk about having a marketing foundation based on diagnosis before prescription. So the question has come up: how do you map your marketing foundation? What does that look like?
Successfully Buying Marketing Services
I 110% believe that without developing a solid marketing strategy for your business, you can't buy marketing services such as seo, web design, social media, ppc, email marketing, tv advertising, radio advertising, billboards, or sponsorships in the right way.⠀
Marketing Strategy Post
9/10 Times Marketing Strategy Means Narrowing Who You’ve Been Trying to Market and Sell To
If you Google “marketing strategy” you’ll be welcomed by any number of articles that reveal a list of marketing tactics — websites, content, promotions, social media, etc. But that’s not how I see effective marketing developed and installed in the real world of a small business. Diagnosis (strategy) before prescription (tactics) is how you do effective marketing.
Marketing Strategy is The Part You Have to Figure Out First
Marketing strategy is one of my favorite topics, and it’s been something I've heavily focused on over the years because so many CEOs and Business Owners want to talk about tactics, you know -- email, websites, Linkedin, networking events, videos, SEO, and promotions.
4 Tactics You Must Use to Develop Your Marketing Strategy
There are (probably) 27,000 templates for marketing plans. One is sure to be perfect for your small business, and you'll probably find the right one about 6 months past when you needed it. But it's really not a template you need. It's a process approach to understanding where you've been, where you are, where you're going (or should be), and what resources are required to get there. Easy. Really.
Why Thinking Strategy Before Tactics is the Key to Your Marketing
A lot of business owners who think marketing, start with tactics: email campaigns, website design, LinkedIn and promotions. Truth be told, most well-known marketers do the same thing. But today, I want to affirm that marketing doesn’t start with tactics, it begins with strategy.
Strategy is a Small Business Owners Primary Role in Your Marketing
Recently I was speaking with a group of owners and CEOs of small businesses that wanted to know about what their primary role in marketing should be. As an owner or CEO of a small business, your primary marketing role is to create and advance the marketing strategy.
What Does Your Marketing Strategy Say About Your Business?
Is your marketing strategy preventing you from attracting more clients? Learn how to complete your marketing strategy in a way that facilitates sales. You use marketing strategy about your ideal clients so that you can build stronger relationships. In the same way, potential clients engage your marketing strategy to collect information and gauge interactions to see if you qualify as a potential provider.
5 Steps to Get Clear on Marketing Strategy For Small Business
Most small businesses hear marketing strategy and immediately think website, email newsletter, copy, LinkedIn and promotions — you know, tactics. Heck, most well-known marketers do the same thing. Today, I’m here to affirm that none of your tactics matter until you are crystal clear on a marketing strategy development process.
5 Steps to Fix Your Failing Marketing Strategy
Fix The Well, Not The Sink: Most business owners want to fix the tactical issue when it’s a strategy issue that is causing the problems. Please read this article carefully. There’s a lot of change happening in the small business marketing world, and it’s not going to slow down. Ever.
How Marketing Strategy Can Solve Your Sales Challenges
The way small business owners think about marketing strategy is broken. Email marketing, sale presentations, websites, advertising, search engine optimization, social media, you know tactics seem to dominate their marketing strategy thoughts. Truth is, for any set of tactics to work they must appeal to someone, which inevitably comes back to strategy.
10 Questions to Ask Before You Create a Marketing Strategy
So you’re ready to take a more process approach in your marketing efforts, but you’re not sure where to start… You’ve come to the right place. Marketing strategy must come before tactics and these 10 questions will help guide you through the process. From overall characteristics about ideal clients to logistics about measurement and offers, these questions walk you through the steps you should take prior to hitting “go.”
Business Marketing Strategy Examples
Home Service Contractor Example on How to make price a non-sticking point
Kitchen Remodeler Example on figuring out who our ideal customer is
Local Commercial Cleaning Example on understanding what you do that is both wanted and valued
Contact Your Marketing Consultant at Indispensable Marketing
If you’re a small service based business that needs help with developing a clear marketing strategy for your business or your business’s online presence on Google and other search engines, at Indispensable Marketing we can help. We offer marketing strategy consulting, marketing audits, monthly marketing packages, consultations, exploratory calls or monthly local SEO services. Contact us for more information.
Indispensable Marketing takes a process approach to developing and installing your small business marketing.