One of the things we often find with potential clients is that they are already in the middle of creating new assets like a website when a project stalls because they’ve lost sight of the activity objectives. Investing in research and taking the time to really understand the strategy doesn’t always feel like a good investment when you’re on a tight budget. First instinct is to get straight to creating something and getting it out there. But that initial process of honing who you are targeting, and the messages that articulate your proposition to meet your customer needs can lead to more cost effective and successful marketing in the long run.
Put it another way, you’d be lucky to find a plumber that would take a brief that said “update my bathroom”, without them asking “How do you use it? What’s important? Who else will use it? What’s their view? What kind of shower would you like? Will it run off the boiler or electricity or both? How big will the shower tray be? Can you fit enough storage in? Do you need an electric radiator that can be switched on in summer?” And many more questions before you get to the fun bit of choosing tiles, flooring and paint.
But the answers to all those questions means the plumber knows their ‘audience’, knows exactly what to do and can offer advice if need be. And you’ll hopefully end up with the bathroom of your dreams.
To be honest it’s no different with marketing strategy and planning. Take the time, invest a little in really understanding your audience, what message will resonate with them and understand where they are when you are going to reach them. Then you can start ‘creating’.
We Are Marketing have more than 30 years’ experience in financial services, charity, not for profit and retail sectors.