At Beacon Marketing we talk a lot about strategy. We have blogs on why strategy comes first, developing a social media strategy, what goes into making a good strategy,  and even a blog on developing a plan to implement your marketing strategy. 

The one thing that we have not addressed is how having a marketing strategy will actually save you money. 

Believe it or not, developing a marketing strategy will not only save you money, but it will also help you generate more revenue. 

Let’s take a look at how it does this.

Address Your Goals

A common struggle for many business owners when it comes to marketing is not knowing what needs to be done. When you develop a marketing strategy one of the first things you should ask yourself is “What are we trying to accomplish with our marketing efforts?”.

The answer to this question becomes your marketing goals. For example if you say “We want to increase revenue from female consumers aged 18-35.”, then your marketing goals should detail specific marketing tasks that will allow you to meet those goals. 

By knowing what you are trying to accomplish your actions are more intentional which means you are more likely to achieve your goals. This also eliminates wasted time, energy, and money. 

Speak To Your BEST Customers

When we work with a new client a question I always ask is who is your target audience. More often than not the answer we get is “We can help anyone.”. While that might be true (we’ll never dispute that statement), the fact of the matter is that there is only a small percentage of the population that can be considered your BEST customers. 

These are the people that you should be speaking to with your marketing efforts. These potential customers are the ones who either are ready to buy now or more closely represent your ideal customer. 

Developing a strategy gives you the opportunity to define who your ideal customers are so that you can cater your messaging to them. The end result is more leads, more customers, and more revenue.

Highlight Your Best Offerings

Another common misstep that business owners make is promoting too many of their products and services. It is true that you do not want to pass up the opportunity to make a sale — no matter what it is. However, if you stop to think about the various profit margins on everything that you offer and identify which offerings have the largest margins BEFORE you factor in marketing costs, you will get a better idea of which products and services you should be focusing your marketing efforts on. 

Of course profit margins are not the only consideration. You want to look at the market, your best customers, and how much you personally want to provide a particular product or service. These are all considerations that you will work through when you develop a marketing strategy.

When done, you will understand which of your offerings you should devote your marketing resources to. 

Understand Your Place In The Market 

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”

This applies to marketing because if you are able to evaluate your competitors, both locally and nationally, you can understand your place in the market. 

This understanding will help you understand:

• Your strengths and weaknesses as they relate to your primary competition. This will help you with how you position your business in the market. 
• You will see opportunities that you can exploit; such as an underserved market.
• You will discover threats for which you can plan and prepare against. 

When you develop a strategy you understand your place in the market which will further help you set your business apart and connect with your best customers. 

Work More Efficiently

Marketing takes a combination of time, effort, and money. As a small-business owner, these are three resources that you must find a way to make the most of because they are very limited. Without a plan of action for your marketing, you WILL waste a lot of time, effort, and money. 

For the reasons listed above, a marketing strategy allows you to work more efficiently and make the most of what you invest in promoting yourself and your business. 

In the end, a marketing strategy generates revenue because it allows you to focus on other areas of your business. With a strategy you do not have to worry what you are trying to accomplish, who you should be targeting, or what services/products you should be focusing on. All of these decisions have been made while you develop your marketing strategy. A marketing strategy serves as a roadmap for your daily and weekly marketing