Business growth and marketing success are both created on plans that deliver great value, and for companies that are looking to achieve that success, they have to gain an understanding of the emerging opportunities and risks, the current environment, the available tools, and their own resources.
Although strategic planning is a fundamental skill for marketers, research has shown that although they spend a lot of time planning, not all of that time is actually useful in the end. Marketing plans should be a lot more than a document outlining strategies, tactics, and goals. These plans should be defining the goals that will drive meaningful action from the consumers, and those goals should be directing all of the marketing initiatives and efforts.
To be truly successful, marketers have to master allocating and managing resources and they should also be able to focus on those investments that are going to deliver the best results for the company. Choosing the right strategies and tactics means being able to define their benefits through strong KPIs, and those metrics should be constantly monitored to optimize the yield and drive business growth.
Since the marketing industry is constantly changing and evolving, marketers have had to keep up with the industry and continue to innovate. Through innovation, many marketers have been able to create attention-grabbing brands that drive customer acquisition, retention, and growth, despite the ever-growing number of choices that consumers have these days.
Companies should have an effective brand architecture before marketers can create a brand strategy because, without it, companies won’t have unified positioning and messaging for the customers that are looking to stay loyal to the brand. That’s why marketers should look for ways to align the company’s brand architecture to the customers’ buying behavior.
When a company has created the right processes that will align the company’s values, messaging, and positioning throughout the consumer’s buying journey, they will be able to turn the consumers into returning customers and even brand ambassadors.
Marketing budgets have been declining in recent years, and marketing leaders have to work harder to allocate the right resources to the right tools and strategies to reach the company’s goals. Between investing in marketing technology, innovation, or media, marketing teams are struggling to make the right choice that will lead to positive business outcomes.
Fortunately, this process can become a lot easier when marketers create effective budget benchmarks, with an understanding of how other industry leaders and competitors are planning to allocate their own marketing investments.
As previously mentioned, marketing is an industry that’s constantly shifting and evolving which means marketers have to invest resources and time into keeping up with the newest practices that will be valuable for the business goals and the business itself.
Marketers should work to define the innovations that are truly valuable for the business and its consumers and then invest in them in a way that will lead to business growth.