Creating A Results-Driven Marketing Strategy

At Upwell Strategies, we talk a lot about marketing, strategy, and results. In this post, we’re showcasing how to create a results-driven marketing strategy—a combination of a few of our favorite things!

First, let’s break down what this means.

→ A marketing strategy is a plan of action to promote or sell your product or service.

→ Results-driven means focusing on the outcome before considering the input.

So, to create a results-driven marketing strategy, we need first to consider our goals (or ideal outcomes) and then develop a plan of action to help us achieve those goals. In most cases, these results translate into sales and increased profitability for your business.  

Since we’re on the same page now about what a results-driven marketing strategy is, let’s dive into the details.

Setting SMART Goals

To create a results-driven marketing strategy, you have to set SMART goals.

SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Setting goals without considering these five areas could leave you spinning your wheels. And without SMART goals, you’ll never be sure if your marketing investments were successful!

Consider asking yourself the five W questions to create a specific marketing goal (SMART):

1. Who is my target audience?
2. What goal do I want to accomplish?
3. When do I want to achieve this goal?
4. What marketing channels will I use to achieve this goal?
5. Why is this goal important for my business?

When setting SMART goals, it’s also crucial to consider your KPIs (key performance indicators). For instance, in your business, what quantifiable metrics measure performance over time?

If you’re using paid advertising, a KPI could be the cost per lead. If you’re focusing on organic traffic, a KPI could be website traffic generated from social media. But if you’re thinking about your client experience, a KPI could be customer retention or customer lifetime value. Setting and tracking KPIs go hand in hand with measuring your goals (SMART). Goals that aren’t measurable aren’t that useful in a strategy and leave you wondering if you’ve made any progress towards your ideal outcome or not.

Using Market Research in a Results-Driven Marketing Strategy

To create a results-driven marketing strategy, you must understand your ideal customer. We talk about market research a lot at Upwell Strategies, but it’s for a good reason. If you don’t understand your ideal customer, developing a successful marketing strategy will be very challenging.

For example, here are a few questions to consider in market research:

• Where do your customers spend their time?
• What are their challenges or desires?
• How do they need support?
• What are they willing to pay to reach their desired outcome?
• What are their demographics?
• What are their biggest goals or aspirations?
• What do your competitors offer?
• How can you best support them?
• What makes you unique from your competitors (your unique value proposition)?

Market research will provide you with a much better chance at hitting your business goals and successfully executing your marketing strategy.

Choosing Avenues in Your Marketing Strategy

Once you understand where your ideal customer spends their time, you’ll be able to choose where you spend your marketing dollars and efforts. There are many marketing channels to choose from, but to list a few:

• Paid social media ads
• Paid Google ads
• Organic social media posts
• Blogs
• Email marketing
• Print ads
• Text message marketing

The most important question to consider is: where does my ideal client spend their time? It might take some testing before you find the perfect combination of avenues. If you’re wondering if paid ads are right for your business, then check out this post. If you think organic marketing is best for your business, then you can learn more about inbound marketing tactics here.

No business is the same. Don’t be afraid to branch out to a marketing channel your competitors aren’t leveraging, but you know your target audience uses. As long as you use market research to guide your decisions, you will set yourself up for success.

Consider the End Goal, Then Work Backwards

The point of creating a results-driven marketing strategy is to ensure you invest your time and resources wisely. When you decide your end goal first—like higher profits, more free time, client retention—you can then create SMART steps to get you there.

When considering how to achieve your business goals for this year, make sure you’re creating a results-driven marketing strategy to meet them. We have you covered if you find yourself spinning your wheels or unsure how to set SMART goals for your business. Our strategic marketing or consulting services can help you set and reach your goals!