Marketing Strategy

Marketing your business consists of two parts: Identifying your product, market and competition and identifying your strategy to reach that market.The key to finding success with marketing materials is pinpointing your organization's target market and analyzing the marketing efforts of competitors. In doing so, your organization will lay the foundation for an impressive year-round marketing strategy.

Consumer Reality
Before an organization can improve it's marketing strategy, the organization must analyze shifts in consumer reality. A variety of factors affect consumer reality including a downturn economy, a high unemployment rate and new technologies. By analyzing consumer spending trends, an organization can better improve its marketing strategy and prevent a sales slump. Articles from scholarly and trade publications regularly publish consumer behavior reports and market research reports. Find scholarly journals, market research reports and consumer demographics and data tables at your local library.

Core Values
To better appeal to a target audience, prepare a marketing strategy that addresses your organization's core values. For example, if your organization values family over rugged individualism, prepare a marketing campaign that weaves together images of hearth-and-home family scenes. Such imagery promotes a positive emotional response to your brand and your organization's core values.

Marketing Mix
A strong marketing mix is made up of four components, often called the 4 Ps: product, price, promotion, and place of distribution. For the most effective results, incorporate all four components into your organization's marketing strategy. For instance produce goods or services that address the consumer reality. For instance, favor affordability over luxury during a recession. Attract new customers and maintain existing customers with competitive pricing. Advertise your goods or services on a regular basis and maximize distribution processes by embracing e-commerce and the global marketplace. Provide consumers with free or low-cost shipping options, if possible.

Advertising Costs
The key to any successful marketing strategy is driving power. If budgeting restraints prevent your organization from increasing its marketing efforts, switch from 30-second television ads to 15-second television ads or rely on direct marketing. You can create a mailing list or print weekly circulars to attract new customers while reducing marketing costs.

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