Effective Marketing: What Should It Look Like?
As digital innovators, JAC often consults on marketing projects. In this article, we share a framework we use when working within a marketing team. This end-to-end framework helps us ensure that the appropriate foundational work has taken place so that software development and campaign efforts can shine.
In the ever-evolving digital landscape, mastering digital marketing management is crucial for any business aiming to thrive. This guide will walk you through what setting a robust marketing strategy and executing it effectively should look like, with a few quick illustrative examples. From identifying customer types to measuring success and intervening when necessary, each step is critical for achieving your marketing objectives.
Step 1: Identifying Customer Types
Understand the diversity of your audience. Ask yourself “what types of customers do I tend to have?”. Use data analytics to segment your customers based on demographics, behaviours, and preferences. Construct customer personas to better understand each customer type. Example: An online retailer may categorise customers as bargain hunters, brand loyalists, or impulse buyers, based on their behaviours.
Step 2: Valuing Customers with a Scoring Matrix
Develop a scoring system based on factors like purchase frequency, average order value, and customer lifetime value, and score your various customer types to determine which type is the most valuable, and which type you want more of. Example: Assign higher scores to customer types who make frequent, high-value purchases.
Step 3: Defining USPs, Key Messages, and Brand Voice
Your Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) are what make you special. Your key messages are the information a customer needs to understand to be comfortable, confident and excited about purchasing your products or services. Your brand voice should resonate with your target audience and be an ideal way to convey your key messages. A good way to identify your brand voice can be “If my brand was a celebrity who would it be?”. Example: A tech company might focus on “innovation” and “user-friendliness” as its USPs, it might need a potential customer to understand “we value quality” and “we provide a free upfront requirements gathering consult” as key messages to feel comfortable enquiring, and it might adopt the brand voice of “Richard Feynman“ (factual, intelligent and down-to-earth) to be well understood by its target audience.
Step 4: Identifying Channels
Evaluate all channels you're currently using – social media, email, SEO, PPC, etc. Create a list of these channels, as well as the channels you could be using. Example: A B2B service provider might find LinkedIn and industry blogs more effective than Instagram.
Step 5: Refining Choices to Reach Customers
Understand where your customers are most active and what type of content they engage with, and use this to select the channels most important to your brand. Decide which channels to use by scoring on: cost, reach, impact, and specificity of audience available through that channel. Example: If your target audience is young adults, platforms like TikTok and Instagram might be more effective. TikTok has a high cost (video production), high reach (general public), medium impact (video content is highly engaging but the user is very casual) and low specificity of audience (your videos are viewed by lots of different people and it’s hard to target by interest group).
Step 6: Messaging for Each Funnel Stage
List out all of your key messages (the information your customer needs to know to feel comfortable and motivated in buying your product or service). Group these messages into the various funnel stages: awareness (top of funnel), consideration (middle of funnel), decision (bottom of funnel), and loyalty (reactivation and retention) stages. Fill any gaps, as you need to ensure your customer receives messages supporting each stage of their funnel journey to maximise your conversion. Example: Exciting attention-grabbing claims might belong in the awareness stage, educational content may belong in the consideration stage, and pricing, testimonials or discount offers in the decision stage. If you have low conversion, you might need more messaging oriented towards a specific funnel stage.
Step 7: Mapping the Customer Journey
Map out the current customer journey and identify touchpoints and engagement opportunities. Consider customer sentiment and emotions at each stage of the journey. The goal is to maximise customer satisfaction at each stage. Every customer journey has friction points (eg. when buying a car, the “sticker shock” of the price is always a tricky moment), ensuring every stage of the journey maximises satisfaction reduces the impact of natural friction points. Example: Recognise that a customer might first interact with your brand via a blog post, then a newsletter, followed by a product demo, that these interactions tend to sit within a certain funnel stage, and that each touchpoint is an opportunity to provide insight, value and joy to your customer.
Step 8: Brainstorming Initiatives
Involve various team members for diverse ideas to uplift their experience when going through the funnel, and to enrich each funnel stage with more opportunities for contact. Consider new technologies, trends, and customer feedback. Example: Explore AR experiences for online shopping.
Step 9: Scoring Initiatives
Score each initiative based on potential impact, cost, and alignment with goals. Example: Assign higher scores to cost-effective initiatives with a broad reach.
Step 10: Assembling an Enhanced Funnel Strategy
Select the best initiatives from the brainstorming session to fill gaps in your current strategy. Example: If you lack in the decision stage, consider implementing more aggressive retargeting campaigns.
Step 11: Drawing an Implementation Roadmap
Set clear timelines, assign responsibilities, and define milestones. Balance the workload and extent of each activity to your team capacity and budget. Select specialist suppliers if required (eg. Google Ads). Example: Plan to roll out a new social media campaign in Q1, with weekly performance reviews.
Step 12: Monitoring Performance
Regularly check key performance indicators (KPIs) and note the dates of key initiatives for correlation. Example: Observe any changes in web traffic or conversion rates post a major campaign launch.
Step 13: Measuring Funnel Stages
Quantify the number of prospects at each funnel stage and compare with your goals. Example: Track how many leads move from the consideration to decision stage monthly.
Step 14: Enacting Interventions
Be prepared to adjust strategies if certain stages in the funnel are underperforming. Example: If the decision stage is lagging, consider offering limited-time discounts or bundles.
Conclusion
Marketing management is an iterative process requiring constant refinement and adaptation. By following this guide, you can create a robust strategy that evolves with your customer's needs and the digital landscape. Remember, the key to success lies in understanding your audience and being agile in your approach.
Our principal consultant Zachary Bailey teaches a marketing course at Eastwood Community Centre, and can provide marketing training for any sized team. Enquire today if you’d like to know more!
