How Marketing Strategy Builds Business Success

A strong marketing strategy is essential for any business’ success. You may produce amazing products or deliver the best services, but if few potential customers have heard of you, your sales potential will be limited. In this article, we explore how our marketing services helped two very different businesses to realise success…

What Makes a Strong Marketing Strategy?

Marketing centres on pinpointing the individuals most likely to want or need your products or services, understanding what motivates them, and engaging with them to (ultimately) buy from your brand.

A marketing strategy can then be developed to achieve your company goals by delivering the right messages, to the right people, via the right means and at the right time. As customers’ needs change, the plan will need to adapt to maintain engagement. And of course, 2020 showed us the importance of being able to pivot! See Learning from Lockdown.

Marketing can take many forms, yet consistency across all channels is essential for building awareness of, and trust in, your brand. We are well aware that what works for one company may not for work another. In our book, one size does not fit all and, for this reason, we tailor our clients’ marketing plans to best fit their goals, their target audience, resources and budget.

This is illustrated by two very different clients that we have worked with as outlined below.

No matter what scale you operate on, a strong marketing strategy is critical to your business success and it needs to be relevant. If you’re a sole trader, your requirements will be very different to that of a global corporate. At its simplest it will capture how to translate and deliver on your business plan with objectives, target audience and budget.

Example 1: Lead Generation for a Small Local Business

As we’ve said, a marketing plan is vital for any size company – and it isn’t just large organisations that need marketing support. Alison Page Marketing has helped many small local and not-so-local businesses to grow and turn their profits around. One such example is Pendley Day Nursery in Tring, a small but growing childcare nursery, which opened its doors in January 2021.

Busy providing for the children in their care, the team had lost focus on their marketing activity. The Directors approached us at a point when the future development of the business was at risk. The budget was tight, and the goal was simple; they needed new enquiries, and quickly.

We went back to the basics, considering how best to identify and engage with their target audience – in this instance new parents and parents of young children in the area. We explored the messages that would reassure parents that Pendley Day Nursery was the best option for their children.

Following an initial meeting, we prepared a 3-month marketing plan which included a highly targeted paid advertising campaign, social media activity, local magazine advertising and the production of a quality brochure to give to interested parents. We implemented all of the agreed marketing activity on behalf of the client and helped them to track their incoming leads. This insight provided a clearer direction for future marketing activity.

Very quickly, this marketing drive helped to increase the numbers of enquiries and attendees to the point where the business became profitable. In our most recent communication, they stated that they were now in a far stronger position and felt positive about the future. This was an exciting project for APM, not least due to its speed of execution, and we hope to work again with Pendley Day Nursery at some point in the future.

Bob Winter the Operations Director, had this to say:

“Alison is a highly professional marketing expert. She did a great job for us – reviewing and redefining our marketing approach, and then implementing a set of agreed marketing initiatives to great effect. Engaging Alison to support and drive our marketing effort has delivered real and tangible results, and I would be pleased to recommend her services.”

Example 2: Marketing Support for a Large, Established Automotive Business

We were approached by Andy Alderson, founder of Vanarama, a local car and van leasing business. The company already employed a marketing team and outsourced SEO services, yet they were looking for additional resources to help them get ‘brand ready’ for a new TV campaign.

In brief, we were invited to review their current marketing activity, make recommendations, prepare a marketing strategy and provide practical help and advice with its implementation. Until that point, the majority of the marketing budget had been channelled into SEO, but numerous changes to the Google algorithms meant the effectiveness of this activity was vulnerable.

During the six-month campaign period, and following creation of the new marketing strategy, we mapped the customer journey process, instigating ways to standardise the experience and increase conversions; developed a customer charter, delivery and returns policy, price promise and email marketing strategy.

With a solid process for handling enquiries in place, we prepared a marketing plan, recruited an automotive journalist to write car and van test reviews and added fresh content, photography and video to the website to promote individual models.

The TV campaign was hugely successful and acted as a springboard for the company’s future success. We thoroughly enjoyed our time working with Andy and the team:

“Alison is a first class professional and really throws herself, heart and soul, into any project she works on. She really cares about the work she does and the people she works for.”

Whether your company has limited internal resources for marketing or an experienced marketing team, outsourced marketing services offer a fresh perspective, specific expertise and support with a campaign. We have the marketing know-how to listen, offer tailored solutions and deliver results that can drive business success.

For further information and to discuss your requirements, please contact us on: 07963 002065 or at hello@alisonpagemarketing.co.uk.