Creating your own marketing mix can be daunting, but it shouldn’t be. To begin your bespoke marketing strategy, start with the bare bones.
Your marketing mix should focus on promoting the product or services that you offer your target audience. This helps build your brand, share your message with customers, and generate more revenue.
Each business will have a slightly different marketing plan. However, they all start in the same place. The four P’s of marketing. Let’s take a closer look at what these are.
What Are The Four P’s Of The Marketing Mix?
Product
What are you selling? It could be a physical item or a service. Whatever it is, it should fulfil the needs of your customers. If nobody wants what you’re selling, there’s not much point in making the effort to sell it. That doesn’t mean to say that you couldn’t market something that’s never been seen before, but it must be able to satisfy a need.
Price
How much will you sell your product for? This could change who your target audience is. A more expensive product might attract a different clientele. You need to factor in a few elements to choose your price. Make sure that all your development costs are covered, as well as marketing, distribution and salaries. You then need to consider what your target audience would be willing to pay and price accordingly.
Placement
Where are you selling your product? This might be more relevant if you’re providing a service. You want to make sure that your marketing efforts are directed to areas where relevant customers will find you. You also need to consider where your product should be available. Luxury products don’t belong in bargain buckets, and likewise budget options don’t belong in high-end stores.
Promotion
How much can you commit to your marketing budget? Are you able to create effective campaigns online, in person and in print? What will your message be? There’s loads of questions you need to ask yourself before you choose your unique marketing mix.
Digital Marketing Disciplines
The digital marketing products that you choose to deploy will depend on many factors. Once you’ve established what your business’s four P’s are, you can decide which methods to focus on.
We’ve made a list of the marketing packages that Search4Local offer and included a few reasons why you might want to choose them. The marketing mix you decide on will be completely down to your preference.
You may find that you try one method and then switch to another. Just make sure you’re not making quick decisions on a whim. Some digital marketing products require patience for you to see their effects. If you’re ever unsure, a professional digital marketing agency like Search4Local can advise you on what the best steps are for your marketing mix.
SEO
Search engine optimisation is a process that covers many different techniques. At its core, SEO is all about making sure that your website is healthy and full of high quality content. It’s not about instant results. SEO is a process that requires time, research and patience.
If you’re not sure where your marketing mix should begin, SEO might be a good place to start. Getting your site’s technical health up to scratch will lay an excellent foundation for further work. You may not see ground-breaking improvements in a few short weeks, but the work will pay off in the long-term. It’s also worth doing some research and staying up to date with new developments to support your ongoing SEO plan.
A healthy website that’s full of excellent content will attract and engage new users. This shows search engines that your website is trustworthy and useful. In turn, you will be more likely to appear higher up in the search results. This translates to increased website traffic and a higher conversion rate.
Social Media Advertising
Your social media advertising strategy could be organic, paid or a combination of both. An organic strategy will require you to plan content ahead of time and post regular updates. Being active is important. You will struggle to build an engaged following without it.
If that sounds like too much work for you, but you’d still like to reach your audience via social media, you could pay for adverts. These ads can be displayed to users that meet a criteria of your choice, so you’re only paying to display your business to your target audience.
Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
To be seen quickly in the search results, you can opt for pay per click advertising. PPC requires you to select your keywords and set up a campaign. A link to your website will then appear in the sponsored search results, above the organic listings. This is the best way to get seen online quickly, and can lead a lot of traffic to your website.
PPC is a great tool to add to your marketing mix because it works well alongside other strategies. If you’re optimising your website with SEO, a PPC campaign can give that work an extra boost. It also offers immediate results. This means that you can use paid advertising to drive traffic to your website before your SEO efforts begin to take noticeable effect.
Digital Display Advertising
If you’re seeing some success with your social media and PPC advertising efforts, you might wonder where else you can display your message. Digital display adverts are placed on third-party websites. They come in many forms. You might be most familiar with the banner format, usually placed on the side or top of a webpage.
These adverts are usually put on sites that attract relevant users. You can also set them to display as remarketing ads, only targeting users that have previously interacted with your site. Those users will recognise your brand and might be more likely to return and complete a purchase when seeing your digital display advert.
Using The Four P’s In Your Marketing Mix
No matter which combination you use for your marketing mix, you should always keep the four P’s in mind. These can help guide your campaign and keeps your message clear. The prep work that goes into your marketing strategy can seem enormous, but don’t let that put you off. Thorough research of your market and keywords will set your business up for a successful future.
