Usually, a person who needs to create a marketing strategy is limited in terms of time (s)he can spend on the process. The reason is simple, actually. If you are about to develop a marketing strategy, the chances are you have a business idea that needs to be implemented right away. In other words, you have a lot on your plate already. We can totally agree with you that launching a business is an adventure nobody is ever really prepared. So, in this post, we have tried to sum up the best practices that can help you to create a marketing strategy within the shortest terms.

NB: In this post, we differentiate between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan. By a marketing strategy we mean a general vision of your future marketing campaign, whereas a marketing plan is understood as steps for implementing the marketing campaign).

Step 1. Product: Create a Unique Selling Proposition and Product Presentation

The first thing you need to do is to analyze competitors’ potential. Yes, it has a lot to do with a unique selling proposition, actually. (Of course, if you have come up with a revolutionary idea for a certain product, congrats – no competitors whatsoever! You will not have any difficulties with wording your unique selling proposition, will you? But what about us who are less fortunate?) Learning about your competitors is a must if you need to word a unique selling proposition based on one specific benefit that only you can offer. The safest way to find that one specific benefit is to analyze key players that offer alike products.

Once you see a gap in your competitors’ business offer, take advantage of it. Transform it into an appealing sentence. Word your unique selling proposition along with a product presentation with one clear message, i.e. “Why you should choose us?”

The possible options can be:

• a better quality,
• a more reasonable price,
• an advanced customer support (e.g. 24/7 and via different communication channels),
• advanced payment methods,
• anonymity guarantee,
• free delivery etc.

Step 2. Customer: Characterize Your Target Audience

Depending on your products/services, there are three types of target audiences:

• • The first group consists of people as individual customers. The most important demographic factors you need to know about your ideal customer are age, income level, lifestyle, gender, religion, education, and marital status. Of course, the list of the factors depends greatly on the products/services you offer. In other words, you can omit some of the factors mentioned above or add some more to the list. In addition, you should have a clear understanding of typical buying patterns of your ideal customer. Here are the questions you might find helpful in this case: Where does your ideal customer shop? What payment method would (s)he prefer? When and how often does (s)he shop?

• Companies constitute the second group. Try to think of the type of business that would benefit most from your products/offers. How big is this company? Where is it located? How many employees does it have? And finally – who would be in charge of making a final decision about choosing you in their office?
• The third group represents a mix of the previous two types. That is why you have to double your efforts when defining its key features.

Step 3. Marketing Methods: Define the Key Sales Channels

Once you know who your prospective clients are, think of the best way to reach them. There are plenty of marketing methods, each aimed at a specific social group:

• billboards,
• interpersonal sales contact (in person or by phone/email),
• print ads (in national/regional/local newspapers and magazines),
• social media platforms,
• Television,
• word of mouth, just to name a few.

Your task is to make a draft of sales channels that are niche-specific and aimed at your target audience. Once you figure out what marketing methods might work best for your target audience, have a budget developed. It is a common mistake of startuppers to choose the marketing methods they simply cannot afford in the long run. That is why stay realistic and see whether your budget covers the marketing tools you have chosen. If yes, go for it! If no, that is fine too. Revisit your marketing methods over and over again till you strike the balance between the methods and their cost.

Step 4. Self-Assessment.

This is probably the trickiest step of all. To complete it, you may even need to take a step back and wait a day or so after the rest of steps are already figured out. We would call it a self-assessment step.

Reread everything you managed to word in the previous four steps. What you need to do is to critically assess the results of your work. Do the marketing methods you have chosen to implement fit the target group you described? Does the unique selling proposition harmoniously correspond with the description of your products/services? See if you can delete any redundant words/sentences in your draft. One more idea is to read your marketing strategy draft out loud. The rumor has it that it might help you notice some inconsistencies in the ideas. Try to present your marketing strategy to your immediate social circle. You might be surprised to see how your friends and children react to your marketing strategy. Track the responses of your relatives, colleagues, and prospective partners. Do not be afraid to make appropriate adjustments.

Step 5. Design a Marketing Strategy Presentation

When designing a presentation for your marketing strategy, keep in mind that timing and time are very important in marketing. All successful marketing campaigns have been planned thoroughly and professionally. That is why it is advisable to prepare your marketing strategy in the form of a presentation so that you are always ready to impress your prospective investors or partners. The good news is that now you do not need to spend hours on creating such a presentation. Thanks to the pre-populated PowerPoint templates, you can create a stunning pitch deck for your business within an hour or so!

My personal opinion is that the best way to build an attention-grabbing presentation is to use two powerpoint templates. By the best way I mean the quickest way, actually.

One powerpoint template has to be niche-specific, like this Fashion Store PowerPoint Template. The main aim of this template is to make sure that the design of your marketing strategy remains consistent. In addition, when choosing a niche-specific template for presenting your marketing strategy, you know that it will correspond with the latest tendencies in the business.

Another template should be more general, like the 2018 Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template below. This PowerPoint template has all sorts of imagery necessary for any business presentation. As a result, it offers you almost unlimited possibilities in terms of organizing your content.

What makes this template special is the quantity and the quality of the slides it contains. With more than 200 modern and unique slides, 2018 Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template can be labeled the breakthrough in the presentation world. Just see how yourself how elegant and informative its slides look!

So, enjoy combining a niche-specific PowerPoint template with its more general equivalent. Feel free to experiment with the layouts, color palettes, and charts to sparkle the interest in the eyes of your prospective investors and partners! The mix of two professional PowerPoint templates is a guarantee of the success of your marketing strategy design.

And Finally…

Once you are done with all of the five steps mentioned above, there is only one thing I would advise you. Remember that a marketing strategy is a fluent concept. That is why do not forget to revisit your marketing plan every so often. What marketing methods work best so far? Are there any shifts in the customer perceptions of your products/services? Has the demand for your offer increased/decreased within the last six months? Are there any new markets you can target?

My biggest hope is that this post will help you to minimize the time and the efforts spent on figuring out the perfect marketing strategy for your business. Let your business intuition guide you in the turbulent world of marketing!