Introduction
The purpose of this article is to teach you how to create a meaningful marketing strategy for 2021. By the end, you should have a firm grasp of what you need to do to make 2021, your most successful year for marketing your business.
But this isn't just about creating a marketing strategy - it's about creating a meaningful marketing strategy.
And there's a big difference between just any old marketing strategy and a meaningful marketing strategy.
So, what is meaningful marketing?
Meaningful Marketing is all about understanding and embracing that your customers are living, breathing human beings; they aren't numbers in a spreadsheet. And they aren't statistical points in in some sort of sophisticated, abstract model.
Instead, they're human beings - people just like you.
Meaningful Marketing is based on creating an emotional bond with your customers, because what you have to offer is important to making their lives better. And it really doesn't matter what you sell. You could be selling a cure for cancer or thin crust pizza, there's always meaning in what you have to do, as long as it actually benefits your customers and makes their lives more enjoyable, better, or improves their existence in some way.
Remember that regardless of whether you sell b2b or b2c, you're always selling to people. Invoices are sent between companies, but the decisions are made by human beings. Meaningful marketing is about making what you have to offer meaningful for them.
People are hungry for meaning.
In a modern world filled with superficial interactions and a constant, firehose bombardment of meaningless drivel, people take notice when someone has something meaningful to say. They appreciate hearing a message with a strong, why behind it, and they definitely recognize when you show genuine concern for their interests.
Also people catch on very quickly if you're faking it.
You can't fake meaningful marketing.
So listen carefully. Adding meaning to your marketing will instantly set you apart. This is something that is entirely different from everything anybody else might be trying to teach you about marketing because this goes back to a fundamental aspect of human psychology.
It's all about converting that selfish message, "come buy something from me" into, "here's something that will make your life better for you".
Meaningful Strategic Marketing Plan
What is a meaningful strategic marketing plan?
A meaningful strategic marketing plan for 2021 is a roadmap that will take you from where you currently are to the place that you want to be.
It should cover three main phases of the customer journey:
- Phase one, attraction
- Phase two, tribe building
- Phase three, super fan cultivation
Your marketing strategy should contemplate all of the assets that you have at your disposal. It should also contemplate the resources you're going to need to make it happen. And in the end, it must make good business sense.
Creating a marketing strategy that doesn't follow basic common sense, is just a recipe for filling a binder and putting it on a shelf and forgetting about it. And that's not what this article is all about.
I want you to have a meaningful marketing strategy for 2021 that you can actually implement and convert into real sales and real world results for your business.
What a meaningful strategic marketing plan is not.
A strategic marketing plan is not a recipe for baking brownies. This isn't about three tablespoons of sugar and a cup of chocolate. This is about a high level strategic plan that will guide you as you implement specific marketing tactics throughout the year, and will help you achieve your real goals.
But it's also not the 10 commandments written on stone tablets. Your plan must be flexible, and it has to be something that is actually doable and applicable in your business.
So think of it more like a roadmap. You might have to take an alternative route at some time, maybe you want to stop and have lunch, maybe there's a scenic destination, you just can't let get by without visiting. All of these turns in the road have to be able to be fit into your marketing plan. Otherwise, it's just not going to be of practical use in your day to day business life.
Also, your strategic marketing plan is not a letter to Santa Claus. If you don't have the budget, then don't include it. This isn't wishful thinking. It's not "this is what I would do if I won the lottery".
This is all about actually putting on paper, a strategic plan that's possible given the restraints and the restrictions and the resources that you have at your disposal position in your specific business.
And finally, your strategic marketing plan isn't a Charles Dickens novel. You don't get paid more for making it longer. Nobody's going to give you a grade based on how sophisticated or how well thought out or how beautifully presented this plan is.
That's something that expensive consultants love to do, and maybe they do a really good job at it. But it won't actually make any difference in your business.
So we're going to keep this plan short, simple and straight to the point.
Read the rest of this in-depth guide here:
https://greenlight.digital/create-a-meaningful-marketing-strategy-for-2021-that-actually-works/