Business & Economy
Why your marketing strategy is the secret to supercharging business growth
May 12, 2023
A powerful marketing strategy will help supercharge your business. Here, using her 20 years’ marketing industry experience, Lisa Eaton provides a guide to upskilling your team and developing a strategy that delivers results and growth.
Why a strategy is fundamental to marketing success
Enterprise businesses in the UK and US spend a staggering £332 billion each year on marketing.
But how much of that is driving real return?
Results from research by Gartner’s ‘The State of Marketing Budget and Strategy’ shows 37 per cent of marketing budget is wasted every year on ineffective marketing efforts.
Getting strategy right isn’t always easy.
With marketing education stuck in the past, marketers are learning to solve yesterday’s problems, rather than being equipped for those of today.
A staggering 61 per cent of chief marketing officers say they fail to deliver their strategy due to lack of in-house strategic talent.
This disconnect between marketing education and real-world application means businesses are suffering – from wasting budget to damaging reputation and causing marketing teams to become dissatisfied – to the point where individuals decide to leave.
As a founder, I understand the increasing pressures businesses are under.
Dividing time and budget across a business is challenging, and marketing is no exception.
That said, if you’re going to invest in marketing, it’s crucial you ensure your team is equipped with the right skills and knowledge to be able to build a strategy and execute it effectively.
The best way to ensure your marketing team and efforts are effective is by giving them the knowledge and time to focus on developing a clear, detailed plan that aligns with your business objectives.
Defining a strategy will allow your team to communicate your proposition in a compelling way and attract and nurture your ideal customers, all while building your visibility and reputation.
Overall, you’ll make better use of your budget and maximise returns on marketing investments.
With the right foundations in place, marketers are able to make a huge impact on a business’ growth ambitions by making informed decisions which focus their efforts in the right places, resulting in a happy and fulfilled team.
Here are some steps you can take to get your strategy in place and ensure your marketing is performing.
How to develop a marketing strategy that works for your business
As a first step, ensure your team has the knowledge, skills and confidence to develop a strategy.
This is a specialist skill and many marketers, even experienced ones, have had no formal training in creating an effective strategy from scratch.
Don’t be afraid to support their development by training them in this area; it will pay huge dividends in the long run.
Then, start by sharing the business’ objectives.
Your business goals should underpin the marketing strategy and be fully understood by the marketing team in order for them to build a strategy that will activate growth and move the dial on these goals.
When developing your marketing strategy, remember collaboration between the senior team and marketing team is key; powerful marketing is aligned with overall business visions, targets and expectations, so make sure this information is accessible to your team.
It is then over to your marketing department to put the strategy in place and begin delivering it.
The three main components of an effective marketing strategy
Data and insight
Every successful strategy starts with data and insight, and is centred around business and marketing objectives.
This allows you to determine your success measures, tactics, resources and budgets required.
As part of the initial work, you’ll need detailed customer personas to define who you’re trying to reach and what makes them tick, along with a clear understanding of the competitive landscape you’re operating in.
Communication and delivery
A value proposition, which communicates your company’s purpose, values and narrative, is the foundation of your communication strategy.
This will lead to a detailed content and channel strategy, so you’re able to communicate to your ideal customers in the right way and at the right time, expanding reach, engaging with them and nurturing them to acquisition.
Delivery and measurement
Finally, you’ll want your marketing team to be able to demonstrate the impact of their efforts.
A measurement framework will allow everyone involved to see exactly what’s working (and what isn’t) in order to ensure your marketing efforts are having the right impact.
You can also help your team craft the perfect reporting structure, so they are able to share this data with you in a way that works.
Empower your team
The most impactful way to enhance your marketing efforts is by empowering your team with the necessary skills and knowledge to build a comprehensive strategy, through professional training programmes and frameworks.
Even with a marketing degree or years of experience, the ability to create and execute a tailor-made, successful marketing strategy needs specialist training.
By investing in your team’s development, you can ensure your marketing strategy is effective, and your team is empowered.
Seeing the benefits
Building a marketing strategy means your budget is spent effectively to supercharge your business; 77 per cent of businesses are more profitable when they can successfully execute new growth strategies, which includes marketing planning.
By advocating industry applicable training that enables your marketers to build and implement a strategy, you will both upskill your team and scale your business.
To drive positive change in marketing education, I founded Fabric Academy.
Fabric is the world’s first dedicated CPD accredited B2B learning platform for marketers of all levels.
Our hands-on, practical training is more relevant for marketers working in today’s ever-changing and challenging environment, to deliver positive change into businesses.
We empower marketers by teaching skills they can apply time and time again, while also building a live, fit for purpose marketing strategy as they learn – something tangible they can implement directly into your organisation.