Yep, your marketing strategy will probably fail. If you aren’t experiencing:

• Continual sales growth
• Increased audience engagement
• Hours of free-time for non-marketing things like being with your family
• or nearly 100% confidence in your marketing planning…

 

Your marketing strategy is failing you. Because hey, you chose this entrepreneurial journey so you could live out your passion and have the work-life balance dreams are made of, right?

Well don’t worry, I whole-heartedly believe those are business non-negotiables and you deserve those exact things. So today we’re going to make sure you get the ONE skill set you need to make sure your marketing strategy doesn’t fail you… strategic planning (and how to be “strategic”).

 

Today, I’ll make sure you get:

• The low-down on why you must be strategic if you want a sustainable marketing strategy
• How to be strategic: the art part and the science part
• The 411 on all the benefits of being strategic
• And swipe-able marketing strategies… boom you’re a pro.

How to be strategic: the low-down on the how & the why

Think of it like this: strategy is the WHAT and strategic is the HOW.

• Strategy is the noun: a plan to get you to your end goal.
• Strategic is the adjective: the act of carrying out your strategy

To be strategic you need to be part artist and part scientist. You can be wildly creative in your marketing visuals and promotional ideas to get you some serious engagement but without the “science part” you won’t drive conversions or a profitable ROI…

… and likewise you can understand all the “science” business data and whip up a ROI forecast in a hot second and not get the slightest amount of engagement on your page with weak creative skills.

Lucky for you, I nerd out on both of these subjects and I’m super passionate about sharing all I know!

#1: USE DATA (ie: The ‘science part’)

That’s fancy talk for ‘use your business numbers’.

And don’t fret, it’s not as scary as it sounds. I keep everything in #realtalk format so you don’t get overwhelmed by all the marketing jargon.

You can use your business numbers/data analytics in all areas of your marketing plan including:

• Goal setting
• Progress tracking
• Forecasting
• Attribution (nerd word for things like  “How much is an email address worth?”)
• Social Media posts
• Content marketing
• Newsletters
• Advertising
• Sales Funnels
• Email marketing
• Opt-ins

…basically everything.

Using your own business data allows you to answer “why” you’re doing what you’re doing. It allows you to visually map out how each task you take on contributes to your bottom line (or not). It saves you time and money- both of which we could all use a little more of, Amen??

Being “strategic” and using your business numbers to back up your decisions allows you to answer questions like:

1. What kind of opt-in should I make?
2. How do I make more money from my email list?
3. What on Earth should I blog about next?
4. Should I do this marketing task this month?
5. Do I *need* to sign up for that webinar that’s expiring in 2 hours?

Let’s get you control of your marketing tasks so you can create a marketing plan that actually works, ok?

Always, always, ALWAYS include data analytics as part of your marketing strategy.

#2: BE CREATIVE (ie: The ‘art part’)

The art part of being strategic is:

• How you engage your audience
• How you promote your product or services
• Your visual communications (blog images, social media images, ads, sales campaigns, etc)
• Out-of-the box creative thinking
• What you send to your email list
• What you write about
• Your branding and more…

The art part is what inspires your readers and what you create to inspire them to take an action. The science part is the measurable part- the data part that allows you to drive your day-to-day decisions, work with purpose, and plan for the future. Cha-ching.

So to recap:

Strategy is the WHAT (your plan, blueprint, roadmap, etc) and strategic is the HOW (the art and science of how you come up with what your strategy is)

Being strategic allows you to:

• Wake up every day and know exactly what marketing things to work on (or your team to work on) that will get you to your goal.
• Forecast how that next big idea of yours contributes to your bottom line (or not)
• Track progress and make sure your business is making decisions proactively not reactively. So when IG changes up that algorithm, you already have a plan b..and maybe even c ready to go.
• Know which tasks to backlog and which to scratch all together.

 

And to make sure you don’t waste another second or dollar on your marketing tasks, I’m dropping a direct link to get a free 30 minute strategy call with me so you can pick my brain on all the “strategic” things…whether you just want to know where or how to start or if you’re up for hopping straight into your Google analytics– screen-sharing and all…I want to make sure you only work on what matters most to you and you get a leg up on that competition!

I hope you found this post helpful! Tell me, what do you struggle with most in your marketing strategy? The art part or the science part? Drop your feedback in the comments below so I can help you out!