Does your marketing strategy allow you to know your customer?

1. How to lay the foundations for Inbound Marketing

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If there is a common and determining factor among small businesses, it is the lack of resources. As a result, on many occasions, most of their efforts tend to be devoted to the management, development and commercial side of the business and little or nothing to marketing. Many entrepreneurs or small business professionals think that marketing is for big business and that they can survive, be sustainable and even competitive with a website and the occasional action on social networks.

The idea is that if the business is based on a good idea and there is a market to develop its activity, the company could become productive. But the current reality is different:

1. On the one hand, SMEs tend to think that marketing means allocating a significant part of their budget to maintaining online strategies, when the truth is that it is not advertising, so with a solid methodology it is possible to achieve a higher return on investment.
2. In addition, today, marketing is a very important part of a company’s budget.
3. Also, today’s marketplace is saturated, especially online, where consumers can reach suppliers all over the world. So you are not only competing for positioning at a local level but, in many cases, also at a national or global level.
4. And let’s not forget to count on a local market.
5. And let’s not forget that consumers are becoming more and more demanding. And we are not only talking about the demand for a quality product or service. Today’s consumers have tools that allow them to evaluate different offers and demand valuable information before making a purchase decision. This is why it is essential to gain their trust and for this a strategy is needed.

However, statistics tell us that 77% of SMEs do not have a defined marketing strategy or plan. In other words, they do not have a medium/long-term growth plan. This growth is as important as the immediate future of the company. It is impossible to be competitive when a plan of action and promotion has not been determined.

It is impossible to be competitive when a plan of action and promotion has not been determined.

If your market is solely online, you will find it difficult to work in a highly competitive environment. If you think your market is offline, the reality is that you may be missing out on more than half of your sales opportunities in the digital environment.
What are you waiting for to put your marketing plan into action?

2. Why is it essential to have a proper marketing strategy?

The success of a small business is not just a matter of time, it is also a matter of time.

The success of a small business depends on the owner’s ability to market their products or services effectively. Without a methodology, without a working strategy this marketing is impossible. Moreover, taking into account the consumption preferences of today’s users, we can affirm that a content-based strategy is essential to generate this income of customers.

According to NeilPatel, content marketing (we could also consider Inbound Marketing in this bag) costs 62% less than traditional marketing, but generates 3 times more leads. In fact, the same study the company claims that for 72% of marketers, content creation is their most effective SEO tactic.

But to generate the right content at the right time, especially for a small business, the strategy needs to be based on three pillars

1. The Website or main channel, which is what allows your company to be top-of-mind. The truth is that your company does not need to have the volume or infrastructure of a multinational to have prestige or recognition among its niche market. The different communication channels (especially the website and the blog) well worked within a marketing strategy can help you to distribute your content, communicate the right message of your brand, build trust among your community and be remembered as a reference and supplier.
2. Lead Generation or Conversion is the path that helps your business to have a constant flow of sales opportunities. The right marketing strategy is based on content that empowers the consumer with the right information that allows them to make a decision, and your business to improve and shorten that buying cycle. In this continuous flow of lead generation, you can get to know your customer better to better market your products or services. in this way, your brand finds the stability it needs to be truly competitive.
3. Marketing Automation or Marketing Automation assists you to leverage resources and time and optimise content effectively. It is true that there must be some investment in technology tools, but when these are focused on automating marketing (and sales) tasks they can help your business not only manage your content and communications and know your customer, but also improve the return on the investment you have made.

3. What are the benefits to your business of getting more customer information?

A constant in the right content strategy is empowering your business to know your customer better. The information about your contacts allows you to improve the conversion of these in their different stages of purchase, but there are many other advantages that can benefit your business:

Improved customer satisfaction. Knowing your customer in depth allows you to highlight trends and preferences that allow you to improve your products or services, generating more engagement and sales. When a business’s offering is tailored to the needs of consumers, they see the effort made by the brand to adapt to meet their needs, which not only improves positive recommendations of the products or services, but also customer loyalty.

Improve your growth opportunities. By identifying these consumer trends and preferences, you not only have the opportunity to optimise your content to boost conversions, but you can also adapt your products or services, as well as create other lines of business that allow you to be more competitive.

Improve your understanding of the buying cycle. If there is one way to improve your marketing strategy and ROI, it is by examining the buying cycle of your customers: What pages do they visit before making a purchase? What actions do they take? What emails do they open? What content do they consume? Analysing the performance of your marketing pieces and answering these questions will allow you to understand the buying cycle of your consumers (buyer’s journey) in order to optimise your strategy.

4. What can your strategy include to get to know your potential customer better?

The digital footprint of your customer?

Your customer’s digital footprint is the key to your company’s success. Knowing what information they have searched for, what pages they have consumed and what products or services best meet their needs is essential for your business. But what can you do to get to know your ideal customers better?

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2. Establish conversion paths that not only help you with lead generation, but also allow you to optimise the most effective content and refine your customers’ sales cycles. With current data about your customers and prospects, you can determine the basis of their buying cycle. This will help you create targeted content campaigns to determine customer profiles and establish better direct communications.
3. Include a CRM. It doesn’t matter on what scale you include CRM software, but what is important is to invest in one that allows you to have a minimum of tracking. Nowadays, many companies still use Excel, but when it comes down to it, it is almost impossible to make tasks more profitable and improve ROI with this practice. Yes, marketing requires a change of mindset, especially in the digital age. But it is a change with measurable results that allows you to correct your strategy in time and get to know your consumer.
4. Train your sales team. Sales has also been affected by changes in consumer behaviour in this ever-changing digital age. For this reason, we can say that not only (online) marketing but also sales have evolved. Traditional sales techniques are becoming more and more intrusive and cause rejection among users. So why not adapt to new techniques and work hand in hand with marketing? Teams made up of sales and marketing representatives who speak the same language are more likely to succeed.