You’ve got your brand’s epic tale figured out – now it’s time to share it with your audience. Have you thought about what you need to do in order to achieve your end goals or long-term goals for your business? If the answer is yes, then congratulations because you’ve already got the beginnings of your marketing strategy!

Nailing your strategy is crucial for your marketing plan, a.k.a. the actual steps you would take to turn those goals into a reality based on your strategy. Think of strategy as your GPS – you have your starting point and your destination. Your marketing plan is the route that the GPS maps out to get to where you’re going. While the plan can change from time to time, depending on various factors, the destination will remain the same and it’s the GPS’ job to keep steering you towards that direction. 

Now, it’s time to start ironing out the details. Pinpoint things like… 

• What makes you different from your competitors? 
• How well do you know your customers? 
• What needs or pain points do your customers have that your product or service addresses? 
• How do these align with your company mission and vision?

The answers to these will help guide you in working on your marketing strategy. 

4 things to Consider in Crafting Your Marketing Strategy:

?It’s All About the Customers

Your marketing strategy should keep its finger on the pulse of your customers. Tune in, listen up, and get to know their wishes, pain points, and preferences. This way, you can build your product and marketing efforts around them while staying true to your company’s mission.

?Omnichannel Marketing

Engage your customers where they are – social platforms, email, SMS, outdoors, etc. Having a cohesive message and presence across the different ways your customer will encounter you is key to building trust. There will be some trial and error though as you work on sparking that connection, and sometimes it can be wiser to pick one lane and try it out than try 10 different things all at the same time. 

?Timing 

When you launch is crucial. Stay on top of seasonalities, holidays, current events, and market trends. Be flexible so you can adapt on the fly and adjust your strategy as needed to make a splash in the crowded startup pool.

?Customer Feedback

Continuous improvement is the name of the game. Pay attention to what your customers are saying, tweak your product or service, and keep evolving based on your marketing insights.

Now comes the million-dollar question: To trend or to grow organically? 

Think of trends and organic marketing as the difference between a one-night stand and a long-term commitment. Either is a totally viable option, depending on what you want to get out of it. 

Trends can give you a boost in visibility but may vanish as quickly as they appear. 

Instant fame and becoming the talk of the town overnight can help position you as a trendsetter, earning those social points. However, everyone might crash the same trend party and your brand could get lost in the crowd. You also need to factor in your company values and brand story as trend-hopping could be detrimental to establishing your brand’s personality because you may get recognized for whatever is trending at the moment instead of being uniquely you. 

Organic marketing, on the other hand, may boost growth more slowly, but a well-thought-out, cohesive strategy keeps you on course, no matter what trend tries to rock the boat. Think laying down the foundations of a house. Building a brand organically could be slow but strong and helps position you as a reliable and trustworthy brand. People come back because they love what you stand for. It’s more like building lasting relationships instead of a one-time fling.

A Closer Look at the Case of Threads

Threads’ journey is a reminder that success isn’t a one-off deal. It was the cool kid on the social media block when it launched in July of 2023, making history with 150 million sign-ups within two weeks. They got the timing right – just when Twitter was floating on a sea of controversy. They also successfully leveraged parent company Meta’s other, more established platforms, Facebook and Instagram, to create awareness and encourage downloads and sign-ups.

But just a hot second later, the buzz started to decline. Even though a lot of people signed up (because Instagram promoted Threads in-app), actual usage only peaked at 49 million a day, later dropping to 10.3 million. Time spent on the app also went down from 14 minutes to only averaging at only 3 minutes a day. However, all hope isn’t lost yet.

Meta, being the savvy operator it is, didn’t throw in the towel when Threads hit this rough patch. However, after the initial sign-up rush, there appears to be a shift towards an organic marketing effort and working on getting more account holders to continue using the platform – including juicing up the features to make it more enticing for users. (i.e. launching the web version for added convenience after 8 weeks as a mobile-only app). 

Threads burned fast and bright when it launched but the initial excitement ended up fizzling out quickly as well. On the plus side, they were able to amass a large number of potential users who could easily jump back in with the right motivation. However, finding their niche in the social media sphere and letting it take root to grow their active user base is not likely to happen overnight. 

That said, balancing trends with a strong, organic strategy could be just the thing. When you know your brand, your audience, and the industry vibe, you’ll be cruising the marketing waves in no time.