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5 Fundamentals of Marketing

How to Use a Website Design Checklist to Stay on Budget

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Create an impactful website that resonates with your audience and promotes sales, while keeping well within a comfortable budget by using this website design checklist!

You want a stellar website with a functional, beautiful design. But getting from concept to finished product is a process that can easily devour time and resources, and runs the risk of going over budget. Keeping your overall vision in sight and having flexible ways to achieve goals can help you avoid common budgeting issues. In this article, we’ll talk about how to use an outcome-focused checklist to keep your web design plans on track.

Whether you are overwhelmed with how to start designing your website or how to market your business in general, the Her Brand & Co. membership is here for you! We have tons of resources and masterclasses available from trusted industry professionals that can help guide you in your marketing journey. 

Solid Outcomes, Flexible Scope

If you’re familiar with writing code or have experience with website design platforms, you have a head start on understanding the possibilities and limitations of site-building. Just about anything can be done, but the level of work and maintenance required to make sites function varies drastically depending on what’s desired. 

Having inflexible expectations for your website’s flow or appearance can cause issues building the rest of your site, and can exhaust the budget too quickly. 

Whether you outsource your site-building or handle it yourself, a great solution to this potential pitfall is to keep your budget stable while allowing the scope of your website to be adaptable. 

This means you’re certain about the outcomes you expect for your site but are willing to let go of certain features you may have wanted originally in order to reach those outcomes and to stay on budget.

How to craft for outcomes

Outcomes are the results of what happens when certain features come together on your site to solve a problem or create an experience. This can be difficult to control since outcomes are more abstract and features are more tangible. But the reality is that your features may get your clients nowhere if they’re not aligned with the outcomes you want. 

Work backward from your vision and goals to discover your desired outcomes. Ask yourself what problems you’re trying to solve for your customers, and what kind of experience you want them to have when interfacing with your site. 

Craft your features and design to bring users into this experience. Implement user testing and adjust your design and content towards what resonates. This brings users’ motivations and pain points to the surface, so they can discover how your products will benefit them. And this ultimately helps them make a decision to buy.

List your outcomes that are non-negotiable. These should be focused on the user’s needs and cultivated towards what will resonate with your audience and promote seamless UX/UI.

Pay a designer, or do it yourself

There are really only two options when it comes to designing your site: Hiring a designer, or building it yourself. 

This decision will depend on your comfort level with tech, and how elaborate you want your site to be.

There are so many user-friendly web-building platforms out there now, and many allow you to drag and drop images and content right onto a template. This can make things easy, affordable, and functional.

But the more user-friendly and simple a do-it-yourself web builder is, the more limited things become in terms of features and creativity. Creating code yourself or hiring a designer can give you much more freedom around a website’s functionality and appearance, but it can also be more time consuming and expensive. 

If you decide to outsource the design, gather a few bids first. Make sure you have clear outcomes and budgetary guidelines, then present your needs to a design company or freelancer.

Another very important consideration is website maintenance and updates. The more complicated your site, the more maintenance is required, which can also affect your budget.

Necessary Nuts and Bolts Checklist

To stay on budget, your full website design checklist will be unique to you and your company’s goals. But even when you have a flexible checklist focused on outcomes, there are some definite tasks that will need to be done for a functional, successful website. 

Some or all of this can be outsourced, but when designing on your own, you’ll need to plan and budget for each of these elements:

  • Compile artwork
  • Design and digitize logo
  • Research color scheme 
  • Research layout design
  • Choose color scheme
  • Choose layout design and/or template
  • If applicable, design (or outsource) HTML and CSS Coding
  • Add content
  • Ensure accessibility
  • Check website for compatibility with different browsers
  • Check website for compatibility with different computers
  • Check website with different screen resolutions
  • Review and edit website presentation
  • Test website over 2-4 weeks
  • Test links to and from website

Wrapping it Up

Ok, deep breath — you can do this! Website design can be complicated, but there are tools and strategies available to stay on budget and keep things as painless as possible. With clear outcomes in place, you can even get creative and have some fun! 

To sum things up:

  • Make your checklist flexible by focusing on outcomes instead of features and rigid tasks. This allows for wiggle room and adaptation as you go through the design process. 
  • Decide whether to hire help or do it yourself. Quality website design and maintenance is pricey, but may be worth it depending on your goals and finances. Make sure you have clear outcomes and a definite budget before presenting your project.
  • Execute essential elements for building your site according to the practical tasks listed above.

Check out our membership to access Masterclass replays related to all things marketing and branding from trusted industry professionals. We can’t wait to support you in your marketing journey!

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5 Tips for Customer Outreach on Social Media

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Quality content in the right spaces will give you the influence you’re looking for.

Social media engagement is crucial to your brand. But with so many factors to consider, it can be a challenge to know what to focus on and how to begin.

Choosing platforms, cultivating a profile, and connecting with customers are good places to start.  In this blog, we’re going to show you how to craft your customer outreach to optimize opportunities and enhance your online presence.

Customer outreach on social media can be a daunting task. Which tools and platforms should you use? How do you engage the influencers in your space? What does a smart strategy involve? In this article, we will expand the thoughts that we started in our previous article “Importance of Social Media for Female Entrepreneurs” and explore 5 tips for connecting with customers on social media.

1. Find your audience  

To engage with your customers, you first need to know where they are. A well-crafted campaign does little good if no one can see it. Do your clients and customers frequent Facebook or Twitter more often? Have you connected with your demographic on Instagram? What about SnapChat? 

The number of platforms continues to grow, but thankfully, you don’t need to be active on all of them. Choosing a strategic few is your best bet for maximum connection.

If you’re not sure where to begin, there are a few major players to consider. Take a look at these platforms and see if they’re a good fit for your industry and brand:

  • Facebook – Mostly used by gen X and older millennials, one of the oldest and largest communities.
  • Twitter – Also huge, with a focus on current events, business, and global issues. Audience tends to be more highly educated and over 25.
  • Instagram – Photo and video sharing platform popular with millennials. Owned by Facebook, but caters to a slightly younger, hipster crowd.
  • Snapchat and TikTok – Used mainly by gen Z and alpha generations (the youngest of users).
  • YouTube – This video platform is technically not a social media community, but is worth mentioning as it’s the world’s second-largest search engine after Google.
  • Pinterest – Used mostly by women of all ages. Not necessarily a social platform, but it can be a good avenue to finding or creating an audience.  Read more about developing a Pinterest Strategy.

There are loads more options, but this list encompasses the biggest population of users relevant to customer outreach.

2. Create stellar profiles

Once you’ve found your audience, you need to create a presence they want to identify with. Each platform has different ways to showcase your brand’s offerings and personality. 

Make sure you have a clear bio with links back to your website.  Use images that fit the platform you are posting to. There are different resolutions and size constraints for each platform.  Getting images right can be a make or break on many social platforms. Social media is highly relational in nature, so including quality headshots in profile pictures or posts may be a great option. 

3. Cultivate connections

Encouraging buy-in from quality customers is a slow and steady process. This is so important to remember! Selling on social takes time – you don’t want to drop a sale into someone’s DM whom you’ve never met, you have to create relationships first. And while you won’t get thousands of followers overnight, there are some ways you can grow your engagement and build your community.

Beyond your initial networks of friends and business contacts, it can be hard to find connections on your own. This is when utilizing the influencers in your space can be helpful. Starting with friends and family can help the social platforms to recognize your account and see that different types of users are interested.

Influencers in your industry act as salespeople and intermediaries for customer outreach. They have their own crowd of interested followers who trust their opinions. They can be found by using search functions within the platform, or by using software like BuzzSumo. 

Approaching influencers requires some level of trust and mutuality before asking for any favors or business partnerships. Cultivate a real relationship by liking, sharing, and commenting on their content. Give them a legitimate reason for collaborating with you by establishing credibility first.

4. Smart social strategy

Be intentional in your outreach strategy. This will vary by platform to some extent, and should include these elements:

  • Only post quality content targeted at your audience (always quality over quantity!)
  • Schedule posts for optimal times of day.
  • Determine the frequency of postings.
  • Tailor your content to match the voice of the platform.
  • Be consistent! Engage regularly and respond quickly.

A quick response is one of the best ways to build relationships and trust with a customer. This involves handling issues, but also includes positive interactions like thanking them for a positive comment or retweeting their review. 

In any public arena relating to your business, the importance of quality content coupled with regular engagement cannot be overstated. Great content is essential for authentic engagement with customers, and sets you up for good public relations on social media.

5. Breathe

The explosion of social media and its impact on business can be overwhelming. It’s impossible to keep up with all the platforms, trends, and strategies. When cultivating your presence, it’s ok to start and stay small. Remember to relax, and only focus on the spaces and audiences that really matter. 

Customer outreach takes consistency and patience. One step at a time, in the right direction, will get you established effectively in the places you belong.

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Importance of Social Media for Female Entrepreneurs

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All hail leveraging the power of personal connection!

Understanding the importance of social media is crucial in today’s small business environment. These platforms have become essential tools for any digital marketing plan. 

A savvy social media strategy for small businesses can help you increase brand awareness, boost inbound traffic, and improve SEO. Staying active and responsive increases brand loyalty and builds trust, enabling your business to become relational and connected to its audience. 

Why Small Businesses Need Social Media

Having an active presence on relevant platforms has become a non-negotiable for most small businesses today. 

The reasons for this are many and continue to increase as its marketing tools develop. Here are some of the benefits:

  • Raises brand awareness
  • Boosts inbound traffic
  • Enhances SEO
  • Increases brand loyalty
  • Facilitates connection with your audience
  • Create leads
  • Allow customers to easily find and contact you

The Proof is in the Percentages

Recent statistics reveal even more reasons to make this a marketing focus:

  • 55% of consumers first hear about a brand through social media, including 78% of Gen Z and 61% of Millenials
  • 68% of consumers say these platforms enable them to interact with a business
  • A whopping 78% of customers are willing to buy from a company after engaging with them in this way
  • 80% of executives agree it’s essential to business, which means your competition is likely leveraging these platforms already

Create an effective strategy

With some initial planning, you’ll get the exposure you need to make your audience aware of your brand and launch a crucial component of your marketing plan! 

Read more about creating a plan in our guide on incorporating Pinterest into your marketing strategies.

Pick the right platforms

Social media accounts for your business provide a great doorway to your website by embedding links into your posts and profiles, many times seamlessly through the platform itself. This can happen on almost any platform, but focusing your efforts in the right place is important. 

First, do some research and find out where your target demographic is spending their time, whether it’s on LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, or another social space. You don’t need to be active on every platform out there, just the ones that matter most to your customer base.

If your clientele isn’t on Twitter…Ignore it! If they never use Linked-in, then there is no reason for you to be super active there either. The key is, identify your target market, find where they spend their time, and focus efforts there.

Be intentional with your engagement

Remaining active and responding quickly to comments and customer inquiries is just as important as posting new content regularly. Having clear calls to action and stellar content in a post invites potential customers to explore further and purchase your product.

Be diligent with your strategy

Take advantage of the demographic and data tools inherent to Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., and monitor new developments closely. Evaluate and re-evaluate your strategy’s effectiveness on a regular basis.

Understand the latest updates and trends on your chosen platforms. Things change rapidly in the digital arena, and what works one month may need to be adjusted the next. Keep your fingers on the pulse of your platform and your audience!

Gaining paid followers

Exposure can happen organically through consistency and informed strategy, but you can speed things up with paid advertising on many platforms as well. Consider allocating a bit of your marketing budget to gain additional exposure that organic activity simply can’t get you today.  The response and data you get from your efforts is also really valuable to your marketing plan.

Social Proof

These platforms are ideal for creating user-generated content as social proof for your brand. Customers may comment or share their opinions without your direct involvement, but you can also solicit reviews in a post or story and use their feedback in more deliberate marketing campaigns.

To encourage users to be engaged, consider these kinds of concepts:

  • Ensure your social profiles are easy to find…business cards, websites, cross-social media links, mailers, pamphlets, invoices, etc.
  • Offer a reward if a client subscribes, likes, follows, or posts to your accounts
  • Run contests or promotions that are strictly done over social platforms

Utilizing these kinds of ideas can help gain additional engagement and when done correctly, will yield the social proof consumers are looking for when making buying decisions.

The Power of Personality

One of the most powerful aspects of social media is the potential for relatability and the personal loyalty your customers can develop for your brand. 

These spaces began as ways to connect with friends and coworkers, and while they still do this, businesses, products, and services are now woven into fabric of social media connection that feels more personal. 

There’s a sense that whatever lands in front of your audience’s eyes, it was invited and welcome. So if your company is friended or followed, it becomes a personal connection they can rely on, and not just a provider of products and services.

This makes it easier to create trust and brand loyalty than through other forms of marketing. Social media can create a unique psychological connection with a worldwide reach.

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Strategic Marketing – What it Is and How it Works

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A strategic marketing plan is key to the success of any business.

What is strategic marketing? Broadly speaking, strategic marketing involves using informed strategies to enhance your marketing plan. Employing an effective strategy requires shrewd decision-making based on crucial components of your business. This is revealed in a SWOT analysis and key target demographic information. It takes into account a company’s vision and mission, and aids marketing efforts to reach these goals.

Strategic marketing is an important piece of business planning, but it is only one piece. A strategy without a vision is aimless. Action without strategy is wasted. Taking action is essential, or nothing happens. With the right tools and priorities, you can pull together vision, strategy, and action to give your company the forward movement it needs. 

Using SWOT for Strategic Planning

One useful tool for creating any great business strategy is the classic SWOT analysis.

If you haven’t completed one before, take the time now to evaluate (or re-evaluate) these four important factors in your organization:

  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Opportunities
  • Threats

A typical SWOT analysis is basically a simple grid of four squares, where each is titled with one of the categories above. The squares are filled in by you and your team, giving you an overall assessment of how your business is currently operating and sets you up to prioritize your list of items to accomplish.

Start with Your Vision in Mind

Before you start a SWOT, you should have a broad vision and goals established for your business. This way, as you determine your company’s strengths, you can list them in light of what will aid you in reaching your vision. 

Once this is established, your SWOT analysis can help you develop a high-level strategy to reach your marketing goals. It identifies the tools you have and environmental factors at play, so your plan will make sense.

Comprehensive SWOT Analysis 

Clarifying this information on paper will give you the insight you need to develop strategies in each area of your business, and it will certainly inform your strategic plan. 

This helps you create your strategy in several ways. For example, including aspects of your business’s strengths in advertising efforts, such as super-fast shipping, can help promote growth in a desired department or product line. 

Considering certain weaknesses can also affect the plan. If you have trouble responding to social media inquiries, for instance, this should be addressed before integrating Facebook ad campaigns.

Threats and opportunities have more to do with environmental factors, like market behaviors and competition. You could use seasonal opportunities to help determine when to ramp up your efforts, and mitigate threats like over-saturation with differentiation in brand presentation, or by targeting a new demographic.

Marketing Plan SWOT

The SWOT is normally completed in regards to the business as a whole and is very useful for determining strategy. But it can also be applied to the marketing plan itself. 

When utilizing a SWOT for this purpose, ask yourself these questions:

  • What are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the current plan, in light of your goals?
  • What are some potential market Opportunities? 
  • What might Threaten this plan?

It’s best to complete a SWOT analysis for both your marketing plan and your business as a whole, as each can provide different insights to help build your strategy.

Get Feedback Through Market Research

A commonly overlooked aspect of any strategy is actually asking your customers what they want. Too often, business owners believe they know everything the client needs. Putting those blinders on is dangerous and can lead to sterile thinking that is unimaginative and never results in real growth.  

Simple ideas to gain market insights include:

  • Sending out a questionnaire
  • Offering a giveaway when a survey is completed
  • Making a few calls or sending a few emails to clients you trust
  • Talking with other business owners or people familiar with your market

None of these cost a lot or take a lot of time, but performing these tasks as part of your strategic marketing development may yield really great results. Uncovering ideas and turning on light bulbs is the goal with any great market research project. Once you have the data, use it in your strategic plan.

Implementing the Plan

Once you have a well-documented plan in place, it’s important to gain buy-in from others within your organization. Get the people in your business involved that will carry out the tasks and make sure everyone is on the same page with what you are going to do and why. 

Each piece of this larger plan can be broken into smaller parts, and eventually into specific tactics to carry it out. Make specific assignments and ensure you have measurable outcomes defined.  See our in-depth article on Tactical Marketing for more details on how to execute a great strategic marketing plan.

Summing it up

Developing a strong strategic plan is vitally important to the success of any marketing endeavor. Utilizing tools such as SWOT analysis, demographic information, market research, and overarching business goals will ensure you have a broad enough lens to capture the most valuable things to work towards. When you develop a solid strategy with smart tactics in line with your business goals, your marketing will be unstoppable!

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Is Tactical Marketing Right for Your Business?

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When it comes to marketing, careful planning makes the difference between success or failure.

Tactical marketing is determining the detailed activities that will fulfill your marketing plan, like choosing ad channels, writing email copy, creating timelines, and setting a budget. These marketing tactics are tailored to help your business reach its strategic goals. After you have a solid strategy in place, you can use tactics to apply specific actions to successfully carry out your plan.

You may have wondered what this approach could do for your business. What exactly does it mean? Is it the same as strategic marketing? How do you integrate marketing tactics into your business goals? 

Tactical marketing is an important piece of a larger plan, and can be highly effective when coupled with a strong strategy. Most businesses today are already using various tactics to market themselves. But using these tools well is more than just applying typical methods. Done correctly, this type of detailed marketing can yield amazing results and turn your strategy into success.

How are strategic and tactical marketing different?

While both concepts are in the same wheelhouse, there are key differences between strategic and tactical marketing. 

Strategic Marketing Principles

Strategic marketing provides a broad vision based on the current picture of where your company is, and where you want it to go. A great strategy will consider a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats by taking its SWOT analysis into account. It uses business goals and data to decide how to market to potential and current customers. This provides a roadmap based on a company’s vision, but it doesn’t spell out the actual tasks needed to fulfill the overarching plan. 

Tactical Marketing Principles

Marketing tactics are the detailed actions that fulfill the strategy.  Details contained in a tactical plan can include things like:

  • Specific ad campaign design and messaging
  • Budget and ROI projections
  • Target market and consumers
  • Routes to market
  • Desired outcomes
  • Metrics to determine success

Tactical marketing is the intentional planning and execution of specific tasks to carry out the overarching vision. 

When are you ready to start tactical objectives?

Having a solid strategy is the first step. Strategy must come first, just as a vision must be in place before a mission can be carried out. This will point your efforts in the right direction. Employing tactics without a strategic framework is like throwing punches in the dark — something might land, but your chances are far less. 

You also need to make sure your products and services can fulfill the strategic promise. Can you truly deliver what you’re selling? Is the vision you have on paper consistent with the integrity of your offerings right now? Or do you need to work on developing your products and services to fit the vision? If you’re able to perform what you’re promising in a well-developed strategy, you’re ready to begin.

Creating the tactical plan

A great plan will have objectives that will ultimately fulfill the vision for growth and service in your business. This gets into the nitty-gritty of specific actions, so make sure your plan is detailed and crystal clear for everyone on the team. 

  • Define measurable outcomes with key metrics to measure success
  • Make specific and detailed assignments to task owners with delivery dates
  • Detail the markets you are targeting and associated messaging
  • Build and track specific budget including expense and return on investment

Measure and adjust

Define measurable outcomes for your objectives, so you’ll be able to quickly identify what’s working and what’s not, and adjust tactics if your desired outcomes aren’t being realized. 

Knowing your strategy is key; refer back to it as you determine your plan, its objectives, and make tweaks throughout the process. Conduct A/B testing to determine what is working and then do more of that! Clear direction backed with key metrics will also give you the ability to be flexible and open to innovation, without becoming confused and distracted.

To use tactics effectively, you also really need to know your customer well. This is where data collection and deep dives into demographic analysis can be very useful. Some valuable data can be found by using:

  • Surveys
  • Customer reviews
  • Comments on social media
  • Google Analytics
  • Customer interaction with ad campaigns

Tactical marketing is a great idea for any business with defined business goals, and a developed strategy as a broad roadmap of how to reach them. Smart tactics are the right tools used at the best time to move the needle forward. When supported by strategy and vision, your efforts will no longer be guesses and hopes, but tactics that help fulfill a larger plan for your company’s success.

To learn more about marketing strategies and tactics, check out our marketing mastermind to learn even more specific directions on how to move the needle in your business.

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How to Create a Marketing Budget for Your Small Business

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Marketing is more than a buzzword, it’s the lifeline to a successful business.

You’ve got a great business idea. You’re ready to launch. But wait. Have you developed a plan on how much money to spend on marketing your business? A hard truth to know is that without marketing, your customers can’t find you. It’s time to focus on your marketing budget for your small business. Here are three things to consider with how to create a marketing budget. 

How much to spend on marketing?

The first consideration in creating a marketing budget for your small business is the total amount to spend. In general, businesses will typically spend 7-8% (some go up to a maximum of 10%) of their gross revenue to reinvest in their marketing budget. When first building a brand, however, businesses can frequently spend up to 20% on marketing because they need to make themselves visible in a crowded marketplace, there’s a lot of trial and error to find what works, and in general – a lot of opportunity and startup cost associated with building the product/service and marketing to those first initial customers. 

Fun fact: Your first customers are the hardest to get, the usually the most expensive to acquire. 

The key is knowing the financial health of your business and consistently allocating marketing dollars to attract new revenue. Marketing done right will guide new customers to you, result in increased sales, and gives opportunities to build relationships with your target audience. Acquiring new customers is almost always more expensive than keeping repeat customers. So consider your specific message, target audience, and associated costs when developing your budgets. 

Check out the 5 Fundamental of Marketing for Female Owned Small Businesses to learn more about developing a marketing plan to attract the right types of customers.

Effective marketing

After you have determined how much you have to spend on marketing (7-8% of revenue), it’s time to think about how to be most effective with those dollars. Important tips on how to receive a high return on investment in marketing include:

  • Market research is the first step. Your market research will tell you where your prospective customers shop and how to reach them. Without this information, you’re firing off marketing campaigns and hope something will stick. Find the right target audience and platform to reach them as a foundation of where to spend your money. Go where they are already looking for solutions and spending time online. Go to THEM.
  • Consistency is your best marketing secret. When you know where to market and how to market to your audience – the key is repetition. Potential customers have to hear about your business frequently so they can purchase when they’re ready. To learn more, check out Using Frequency Marketing to Gain Happy Customers.
  • Tracking sales compared to money spent. You can’t manage what you don’t measure is a time-trusted adage that rings true with marketing as well.  Tracking key metrics is vital to your success.  Analyze your month, quarter, and year to have a better picture of the impact your campaigns are having. Try ‘A and B’ testing and track the results of different types of efforts.  Do more of what is working and don’t be afraid to pull the plug on what isn’t hitting the mark.  Your marketing dollars are too important to use them on low payoff items.  
  • Select the right tools.  Successful marketing strategies use the right tools to execute on the details. While some requirements may need tools that have associated costs, many will find that utilizing free tools like Google docs and Wave accounting will be great for planning and tracking progress. Other tools like Monday.com, Sharp Spring, and Improvado have either no or low monthly fees and are worth checking out to help you deliver on the strategy. In the end, the tools you select can be a make or break part of your strategy. Depending on your needs, budgeting for those tools is a key to success.
  • Outsource to save time and money. New business owners have to wear multiple hats, but at some point, you must figure out how to get more bang for your buck as the leader of your small business. Outsourcing is a great option to give you more time, a new perspective, and how to ultimately reach your market. Here’s 5 Reasons for Outsourcing Marketing Activities vs In-House Hiring.

What should be included in your marketing budget for your small business?

There is no doubt that having marketing is essential for success. To stick to your budget, whether it’s 7% or 10% of gross revenues, it’s critical to know what should be included. To learn more, check out 3 Key Elements in Every Successful Marketing Plan.

Here are some common things and ideas for you to consider when planning your marketing budget:

  • Website design (usually a 1-time, up front cost)
  • Website management (ongoing cost)
  • Branding (packaging, inventory, etc… if applicable) (usually an upfront cost)
  • SEO (search engine optimization, ongoing cost)
  • Content (email marketing, podcast production, webinars, etc – typically an ongoing cost)
  • Advertising (ongoing cost)
  • Social media (ongoing cost)
  • Public relations (ongoing cost)
  • Events (ongoing cost)
  • Tracking tools (ongoing cost)
  • Marketing automation (ongoing cost)
  • Outsourcing (ongoing cost)

 

Important Key Takeaway

The key here is to select the activities that will yield the highest results as soon as possible. A lot of small businesses make the mistake of burning their cashflow too fast, and too soon, and before you know it – they’re out of money and options. It’s much better to pick less items to include iny our marketing budget, but make those items count as much as possible. 

Now, with your new plan on how to create a marketing budget, you’re ready to dive in and give your customers what they want. Building a successful woman owned business has multiple layers. At Sohuis, we’re ready to be your secret weapon to learn the ropes on building a business. Come check out our member fireside chats and masterclasses from exclusive marketing consultants to how to do PR on a budget. Come check us out and see how we can be your best resource!

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3 Key Elements in Every Successful Marketing Plan

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You know the old saying, “Success isn’t owned. It’s leased and rent is due every day.” What’s more is that success is planned for from the beginning!

In breaking down the elements of a successful business plan, your marketing plan is a huge piece of the puzzle. Your marketing plan must focus first on your target audience (customers) with crystal clear ideas on how you’re going to reach them. Not sure where to get started with your marketing plan? Here are 3 key elements that you usually see in every successful business plan. 

(Really) know your target audience

You cannot create an effective marketing plan without knowing your audience. It’s no longer good enough to understand basic, high-level information about your customers. The best marketers deeply understand their customers’ pain points, what they struggle with, what their goals are, and how they can uniquely help them. In all honesty – you could have the best marketer on the planet working for you, and if you don’t deeply understand your customer, the strategy will fail.

To help you get started, we created an awesome Marketing Guide that shows you exactly how to dial into your target audience in 30-minutes or less. It also includes a free customer persona building template, get your free download here.

Market Research

Market research is an age-old research tool to help you identify your consumer’s and habits, behaviors, psychographics, and more. Research is the first of several elements of a marketing plan because without it, you are throwing the proverbial spaghetti against the wall, trying to get something to stick. What’s great about market research is that it doesn’t just have to be information you pull off of the internet, either. Surveying former customers, customer discovery interviews, A/B tests, customer feedback – all of these initiatives are a form of research. Don’t know certain information about your customers? Ask them! 

Primary research comes directly from a potential consumer. This information is invaluable. Negative and constructive feedback is oftentimes more valuable than positive feedback because it shows you what’s working for you customers, and what isn’t. From there, you can pivot and modify your strategy accordingly.

Secondary research relies on statistics, studies, and other gathered data to build the elements of a marketing plan. This is the big picture. How much does your target audience spend on your type of product or service? Are there new trends? Where do your customers shop? Secondary research helps you know where to hone in for effective marketing.

Know Your Competition

Check out the competition. If your competitors are succeeding, they’ve likely already done market research and have figured a few things out along the way. By researching the competition, you’re giving yourself a leg up on who is interested in what you have to offer. If they’re doing well, you can bet there is room for your woman-owned business to also flourish. 

If you’re already in business, and if you’re reworking or starting market research, begin with your current customers. The goal is to broaden your audience with people who are similar to your existing customers. This information details a proven track record for your success. To win in marketing, repeat, repeat, repeat everything that’s working. Check out Using Frequency Marketing to Gain Happy Customers.

Where do you market? Build a strategy!

Your business is in the market to fill a niche or solve a problem, but you must reach your audience with the right message in the right place for an effective marketing plan to work.

Where do your customers go for information?

Building a customer acquisition strategy is one of the key elements of a marketing plan. This strategy helps you figure out exactly how to acquire customers and at what frequency. A quick place to start is to research how your target segment shops for your type of product or service. Different social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok each reach a different demographic. Here’s how to learn more about  How to Use Pinterest in Your Marketing Strategy.

Be Consistent

Once you’ve found your customer, the worse thing you can do is disappear. Your customers want a mutually beneficial relationship. Give them what they want, and keep showing up for them consistently so that when they’re ready to buy, you’ve created trust and you’ll be top of mind. Effective marketing includes your staying consistent with your outreach, your messaging, and your strategy. Consistent touch with clients might include things like:

  • Email blasts
  • Loyalty programs
  • Social media updates
  • Product promotions
  • Coupon codes
  • Mailers
  • Advertising

How do you spend your marketing dollars?

Your budget is going to change as your business grows. Businesses often fail because they didn’t plan to spend enough on marketing from the start. Here’s where to get started:

Start with the Essentials

Marketing essentials including a website, branding, social media, and advertising. Make it easy for them to find you and your message. Get out there and do it!

For effective marketing you must use a two-prong approach.

Focus on what is already proven and working. If email blasts give you the best ROI (return on investment), then keep doing it. But if you’re brand new in the market, you’re guessing what will work in the early stages (and that’s totally OKAY). Trial and error is really important at the beginning to figure out which marketing mix and channels are going to work best for you. 

Allocate part of your budget to experiment. Popular belief would make you think that there’s a one-size fits all approach to marketing – and that is simply not true. If there’s a new social media platform, or you just have a great new and daring idea, budget to be able to give it a try…then measure your results. If it works, great! If it was a flop, then you move on to the next idea. Without experimenting, you might miss finding your best marketing platform.

Come visit us at Sohuis to team up with women business owners like you, learning elements of a marketing plan or more of the latest tips and keys to lead to success. When you have Sohuis on your team, you can keep up to date with the latest masterclasses and fireside chats, learning tricks like being newsworthy to help your marketing plan, how to stand out in a sea of sameness, and even how to build an online empire. We’re excited to share everything we know so we can cheer with you as you succeed.

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Sohuis Launches NEW Marketing Mastermind!

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It’s been a minute since we’ve been able to give you an update on everything we’ve got going on here at Sohuis – and shoo – have we been busy! We blinked and it’s almost August, what a year this has been.

As a first major update, we wanted to share with you some highlights from our recently launched Marketing Mastermind! 

As we continue to grow and expand in our mission to support female entrepreneurs through their branding and marketing strategies, we were receiving a lot of requests from graduates of our Lucy Lab Marketing Accelerator Program for ongoing education and support after they completed the program. We saw a huge need to continue their education and be a resource for them as they embarked on putting in to practice everything they learned in the program. 

So as a result, at the beginning of June, we launched our very first Marketing Mastermind!

Our mastermind is a six month group coaching program for founders seeking accountability and dedicated group coaching. It is an application-based mastermind for womenpreneurs who have the marketing fundamentals down and are ready to level-up, scale, and catapult growth.

Why is this important: The hard truth is that nobody cares how many Instagram followers you have if that isn’t a needle mover for your business. In this program, we focus entirely on what moves the needle for your business.

Marketing is oftentimes an overwhelming experience for small businesses because it’s hard to figure out what to focus on when everyone is telling you the only way to be successful is by posting every day on ALL the platforms. 

We’re not about that. Our educational philosophies are rooted in finding sustainable and (dare we say) enjoyable ways to engage in marketing your business. Marketing isn’t something you just do once, and because of that, it’s ever evolving and requires critical, foundational skills that you can transfer and lean in to as you grow. 

The overarching theme of our Marketing Mastermind: Create a business that serves your life’s purpose and vision. Create a business that brings you joy, freedom, and all the things in between.

So this is what we’ve based our Mastermind on and what we’ve been working with our founders on over the past few months. 

It has been amazing to see these badass women bring their all to each session and learn so much about what they want and *how* to get there. 

Marketing Mastermind Highlights

So first, we looked at vision – the founders were asked to create a vision board that they could continually refer back to so to ensure they were building businesses that supported their ultimate goals. We felt this was imperative because most small business owners easily get caught up in the nitty-gritty of running their company that they forget what their vision is (it happens to the best of us!)

You wake up one day feeling exhausted with animosity towards your business because you forgot what your business stood for and why you started in the first place. 

So to get our founders in a good place, Jess (Sohuis co-founder and CEO) created her very own vision board, check hers out below. 

Create yours on canva.com for free 🙂

The vision board served as their north star as they came up with their big audacious goals and then broke these down into three main buckets to focus on over the next 9-12 months.

It’s been proven that most small businesses cannot effectively achieve more than three big, bold goals at once. This doesn’t mean tasks – but bold initiatives. So we helped our founders prioritize their 3 buckets based on their ultimate visions.

For Sohuis, our buckets are: brand awareness, customer acquisition and member retention. So before we create, launch, or move forward with anything in the business, we make sure it hits one or more of these three buckets. 

If in the event the initiative does not support one or more of our buckets, we put it in the “parking lot,” an area we use to re-consider our strategies when we revise our buckets once a year. 

After our founders defined their buckets, we then showed them how to  further break down those buckets into strategic initiatives to focus per quarter for the next 12 months – working in 90 day sprints. By doing this, we’re taking an insurmountable goal and breaking it down to things we can understand, and most importantly, do. 

Next, the founders will work on creating SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound) action items to target each strategy that they identified for the 4th quarter of 2021.

Ya’ll… this is so powerful. We are SO excited to guide, support, and hold these founders accountable in the next four months! Magic is happening and we are thrilled to be a part of it!

Be sure to stay tuned what what we’ve got coming up for the Marketing Mastermind over the next few months. And if you’re interested in learning more about future cohorts, get on our waiting list here.

In the meantime, feel free to check out our upcoming Marketing Masterclasses, Workshops and Fireside Chats! 

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Using Frequency Marketing to Gain Happy Customers

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If there’s one tried and true sales and marketing strategy that we know works every time – it’s that regular contact with your customers and leads helps keep them coming back!

Your woman-owned business depends on successful marketing, and this encourages happy customers come back to buy more. ‘Frequency Marketing,’ a term you might not be familiar with, is the key to reach those customers. Every dollar spent in advertising must yield results, and here are the secrets to tap into frequency marketing to help you grow your business. 

Reach vs. frequency marketing

Your advertising reach is quite simply how many people receive your marketing message.  Advertising frequency is how often your market hears your message. 

Here’s the secret of reach vs frequency marketing: if you have a broad reach and don’t use frequency marketing, you’re wasting your money. Frequency is the smart way to build a customer base.

Why is frequency marketing important?

​​At the end of the day, people buy from familiar brands. Old-school marketing wisdom suggests consumers don’t buy anything until they’ve seen a marketing message an average of seven times. Sticking to the Fundamentals of Marketing and relaying that message continually will help build the brand recognition you are looking for. 

Is the marketing rule of seven true today? Using the same sales pitch seven times is NOT enough! You need to be engaging with your customers with a variety of messages to continue to build familiarity and trust; and of course, social media is a gold mine to utilize in your frequency marketing campaigns because there is so much opportunity to interact with your customers daily. 

If you’re on a tight budget, consistency is more important than reach. What if you had a handful of seeds and threw them up in the air? Even if some are carried away by the wind to distant sales grounds, they’re not going to grow without water. Consistent marketing is like providing water to grow those seeds of interest in your clients. Focusing on frequency, prepares seeds to grow into sales.

How do you plan your advertising frequency?

Knowing you need to reach your audience seven or more times for effective frequency marketing is a great start. 

Avoid a spammy sales pitch and instead share meaningful content that benefits your customers. 

Here are 6 tips for meaningful and useful content 

  • Ask yourself this question: what is unique about you and your company?

Is there an advantage to using your product or service? How will your company benefit your customers’ lives? Potential customers want to know the inside story about you and why you do what you do. 

  • Why do people go to the internet? To be entertained!

If you can post amusing content, you’ve already got engaging and useful content. 

  • Emotion is a driving factor in most purchasing decisions.

Do you have an interesting story to tell? Stories draw in customers with emotion. And also this avoids serving up spam.

  • Interact with your customers. 

Some of your best members on your frequency marketing team are your existing customers. Their stories draw in business between testimonials, videos of them using your products, interviews of them showcasing how your solution helped them. The opportunities to use your current customers as your sales force are endless!   

Here’s another key: potential customers are far more likely to buy from you if they’ve been referred or experience 3rd party validation rather than you trying to convince them of your value.

And what about your employees? Are they part of your customer base? Here’s another opportunity to focus on their stories to help you sell.

  • Target ads to your specific demographic with frequency marketing. 

Focus your time and money on your greatest potential market.  

Now that you’re consistently showing your customers why they want to do business with you and how they would benefit, they feel confident you’re offering valuable content, and they know you have their best interests at heart, they’re more likely to make a purchase. 

Without regular touch, customers forget about how awesome your products and services are and how they’ll benefit their lives. By being consistent, you’re giving your customers the opportunity to make purchases when they’re ready.

  •  Is there a cost-effective way to implement frequency marketing? 

Social media and email marketing are your answers to finding great cost-efficient ways to reach your market. 

We are big fans of email marketing automation tools like Flodesk,  Mailchimp, and ConvertKit that collect leads and manage other contacts like mailing lists and newsletters.

Fun fact: Email marketing has the highest ROI than all other social channels combined. It is a must for small businesses. Grab our free training on Email Marketing 101 right here.

Social media automation tools like Planoly, Tailwind and Hootsuite offer platforms to help you create content and schedule posts. These services also track your ROI and manage your team. Here’s more information about Hiring the Right Small Business Management Services. 

What are the pros of implementing a frequency marketing strategy? 

  • Consistent messaging creates trust, awareness, and keeps your brand top of mind when your customers are ready to buy (the rule of 7)
  • Automation tools make it easy and cost-effective to create consistent value through your content delivery
  • Helps you bring previous customers back for more with promotions and consistent touch (increasing that customer lifetime value)

What are the cons of implementing a frequency marketing strategy? 

  • Repetitive communications can get marked as spam
  • Obvious tag of automation tool on platforms like Facebook and Twitter
  • Less creative than a personalized option
  • Frequent communications can mean additional effort to come up with fresh content continually 

If you loved this blog, check out everything else we’ve got going on from masterclasses and fireside chats, to our marketing mastermind, to our formal marketing accelerator for women owned businesses. Now that you’ve learned some of the secrets of frequency marketing, come check us out and see how we can help you improve your business!

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5 Reasons for Outsourcing Marketing Activities vs In-House Hiring

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Should you hire marketing resources in-house or should you look to outsource that capacity?

An outsourcing strategy brings new people to the table to give you a fresh perspective on your business, growth potential, and how to reach your market effectively. There are plenty of reasons for outsourcing, but the most important are time and money.

What does outsourced marketing offer?

As you build and grow your woman-owned business, you need experts in your corner. When outsourcing marketing tasks, you’re hiring laser-focused team members who concentrate on driving new business, increase brand awareness, and ultimately, produce revenue. Having an external contractor gives you a fresh perspective, additional expertise, and frees your time.

5 Reasons for Outsourcing Marketing vs Having it In-House

  1. Get a Competitive Boost

One of the reasons to outsource marketing is to rely on experts. Marketing companies know current trends, how to reach your target audience, and leverage your marketing dollar for the largest impact. They must stay on the leading edge and give your small business a competitive boost in the marketplace.

For an in-house team to be competitive, it can be expensive to acquire the same knowledge, talents, experience, and capacity. Many times large companies hire an in-house team for convenience, not because it’s the best option.  For the small business, getting that quick competitive boost at an affordable cost may mean looking at service providers to help.

2. Return on Investment (ROI)

Hiring the right company saves you money. As a small business, every dollar counts and money spent on marketing specifically must bring a healthy ROI. Having cutting-edge marketing improves sales and is one of the prime reasons for outsourcing marketing. You’re paying an outsourced marketing firm to perform. If they don’t live up to your expectation, they lose your business.

An in-house team can be more expensive than outsourcing marketing and has different incentives to perform.  Being a “client” to an outsourced firm can be an easier path than providing continual direction and oversight of in-house resources.

3. Focused Time From Experts

Your outsourcing strategy hires the focused time of experts. Marketing projects such as redesigning a website, rebranding, or media programs take a significant amount of time. You may not need a full-time employee to complete your marketing plan.

Your outsourced team frees your time to concentrate on other aspects of your business. Piling more work on in-house employees is less efficient than hiring experts who will complete work more quickly.

4. New Perspectives on Your Business

Another reason to outsource marketing is to reach a broader audience. A new perspective ties in with having a competitive boost, and is a key to get out of marketing ruts.

If you rely on an in-house team, they are influenced by your company culture and approach marketing in a static way.

5. Flexibility and Scalability

As your business grows and changes, you need the flexibility offered by an outsourcing strategy. A marketing firm adapts to the changes you need when you need them. 

Also, when outsourcing your marketing, you gain team members with different backgrounds and perspectives. Diversity increases flexibility in marketing campaigns.

As your business grows, an outsourced marketing team can scale with you and provide scaled costs.  Scaling in-house resources can be much more difficult.

How to Build an Outsourcing Strategy

Every dollar needs to get utilized to build a stronger business. Instead of throwing money at the wall to see what sticks, you need to have an outsourcing strategy.

  • What are your marketing strengths?

Always play to your strengths. If you love an aspect of your business, then keep doing it!

  • What are your marketing weaknesses?

We all have areas that need to be bolstered. Do you hate the email list? How about writing or creating new content? What you don’t like to do is what the outsourcing strategy should be focused on. Marketing is so important for your success, and it’s worth investing money for your success.

  • Make a budget

Marketing is not the place to deeply slash your budget, but you still need to be able to afford your outsourcing strategy. Make a plan for your marketing budget to gain a greater ROI. Expect changes in your budget as your business grows, and readdress it often.

If you decide the reasons for outsourcing marketing activities outweighs hiring an in-house team, we have more ideas for you about Hiring the Right Small Business Management Services.  At Sohuis, our goal is to provide resources to help you grow your business. Come check out our workshops and experts. We look forward to meeting you and cheering for your success.

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We’re Her Brand & Co, an educational platform and membership community that teaches early-stage female founders how to brand and launch their businesses into the market. You can learn more about us here, and check out our upcoming events here.

Our most recent marketing accelerator information can be found here, and be sure to check out our blog here. Follow us on social, and take a look around! 

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5 Reasons for Outsourcing Marketing Activities vs In-House Hiring
5 Reasons for Outsourcing Marketing Activities vs In-House Hiring

©her brand & co.  |  all rights reserved  |  terms & conditions  |  payment terms & conditions  |   contact  |  [email protected]

 

 

 

we are Proud members of The Female Founder Collective

5 Reasons for Outsourcing Marketing Activities vs In-House Hiring
5 Reasons for Outsourcing Marketing Activities vs In-House Hiring