Are you wanting to up your business's marketing strategy, but don't know where to start? It's easy to create a simple markeing strategy when you know the basics. And we mean basics. Start with the 5 W's: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and then you can throw in your How.

Who is your target customer? This doesn't mean just everyone. As much as we'd all like for our target to be everyone in the world, it is impossible to reach everyone at the same time. Narrow down your target customer to a very specific group. For example, wedding vendors are probably trying to reach newly engaged couples (brides specifically) in their 20's and 30's. This will vary for different vendors in different areas of the country, but finding this group will help you pinpoint who to gear your marketing strategy towards.

What services are you trying to market? If your business has a broad range of services, create a different marketing strategy for each one. You will most likely be able to run these strategies at the same time, but if you are trying to reach brides looking for wedding dresses, and teens looking for prom dresses at the same time, you will have to market to each group of customers differently.

This one may seem self explanatory. Market seasonal items in the appropriate season. This may mean beginning your marketing plan in the winter months to appeal to brides planning their wedding in the spring and summer.

Deciding where to implement your marketing strategy is just as important as the strategy itself. Do you want to market just to your social media audience? Or do you want to send out mailers to the entire community?

When you have answered the basic questions listed above, you should be ready to implement your plan. Your will need to create an overall goal using your answers. Then you will create tactics to achieve the goal. Tactics are the steps you will take to reach your goal. After you have tactics, you'll create strategies. These are very specific tasks you will use to complete your tactics. Create a timeline to help guide you through your marketing strategy and stick to it.

These are the very basic steps of creating a marketing strategy. If you have never created a marketing strategy or plan for your business, this should give you a starting place. When you are able to create a plan, it will help you complete your marketing strategy, and also help you measure your results (which is also important).

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