Defining a marketing strategy can feel daunting, but taking a step-by-step approach can make the process less overwhelming.

1. Establish your online presence

Create a marketing strategy after you've built a website and set up your social media channels. Your brand and business are built on this foundation. From an analytics perspective, websites and social media channels can also inform your marketing research.

2. Put together an elevator pitch for your business

Before marketing your business to other people, make sure you can describe it yourself.

Consider writing one-sentence, two-sentence, and paragraph-long descriptions of your business. Outline what you do, what services you provide, and your unique value proposition. Having these top of mind can help direct your research and focus your goal-setting.

3. Research what your competitors are doing

An effective marketing strategy is informed by research, particularly into the marketing activities of competitors.

Conducting research into other businesses within your niche provides insights into things you're doing right and areas where you can improve.

Some questions you might ask include:

• What marketing channels are they using?

• How often are they posting on social media?

• Are they prioritizing photos, video, or written content?

• What are competitors not doing that you could adopt?

• What promotional activities do you find most appealing?

• Where do our marketing approaches overlap?

4. Analyze your own channels

Your own social media channels and website are invaluable sources for your marketing strategy. These clues can steer your business and strategic decisions.

Use your website and social media analytics to gather information about your existing customer demographics, how people are finding your business, social media engagement, and popular posts or web pages.

You can also look for patterns in your own promotional activities. Perhaps you've noticed that the people who comment on your social media posts are gravitating toward a specific piece of writing or product.

5. Identify your target audience or ideal customers

Market research helps you identify your existing audience and define potential customers. That research can help you figure out what makes you stand out. Your business might be providing a service that's unique in your area or offer more competitive pricing.

You can also tailor your marketing strategy toward your likely customers. If your audience is younger, they might prefer one social media channel over another or relate better to video marketing. Someone who has a wedding photography business will want to target newly engaged couples.

6. Define specific, realistic goals

Success looks different for every business. But a marketing strategy is built around well-defined goals that spell out what you're looking to accomplish.

Some possible outcomes might be:

• Raising awareness of your business

• Generating more sales and revenue

• Gaining customers

• Increasing your social media following

• Growing newsletter subscribers

The S.M.A.R.T. acronym can be helpful for goal-setting. This stands for:

• Specific: Your goal should be straightforward and well-defined.

• Measurable: This is a goal that's quantifiable, where success is concrete.

• Achievable: Make sure your goal is realistic and not too ambitious for your business growth.

• Relevant: Make sure your goal aligns with your mission, values, and focus.

• Time-bound: Propose a finite time frame to reach a certain goal.

For example, you might set a goal to increase your newsletter subscriber count by 30 people within the next six months.

Within a marketing strategy, consider defining short- and long-term goals. Having milestones to reach along the way can keep you motivated and allow room for changes when applicable.

It's also important to be realistic about what you have the capacity to achieve. Don't try to take on too much at once. Consider starting out with one or two big goals and then adding more as your strategy progresses.

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