Good marketing should never begin with a social media post, an advert or a new website. It should begin by understanding what your business is trying to achieve, who you need to reach and why somebody should choose you rather than one of your competitors.

Whether you need a short-term promotional campaign or a long-term strategy to increase your audience and website traffic.  Let us go through just some of the digital marketing services we can help you with:

 

It is very easy for marketing to become a collection of activities. A business starts posting on social media, runs some advertising, sends the occasional email, redesigns its website and produces some new brochures, but nobody has really stopped to ask how all of those things fit together.

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That is where marketing strategy comes in. Before deciding which channels to use, we look at the bigger picture. What are you trying to achieve? Where is the opportunity in the market? Which customers matter most? What do those customers need from you? How should your business be positioned, and what needs to happen for more people to know about you, consider you and ultimately buy from you?

 

A good strategy creates focus. It helps you decide what you should be doing, but just as importantly, what you should not be doing.

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BUILDING YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

Every business is different, so there is no standard marketing plan that we simply copy and paste. We start by understanding your organisation, your commercial objectives, your customers, your competitors and the wider market you operate within.

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From there, we can identify where the biggest opportunities lie and develop a clear strategic direction for your marketing. That could involve strengthening your positioning, reaching a new audience, increasing awareness, generating more enquiries, improving customer retention or creating greater demand for a particular product or service.

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The strategy then becomes the foundation for the marketing activity that follows. Social media, SEO, advertising, email, content, PR, website development and creative campaigns all have a role to play, but only when there is a clear reason for using them.

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WHAT CAN A MARKETING STRATEGY INCLUDE?

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Market and competitor analysis

Understanding the market around you helps identify both opportunities and threats. We can look at your competitors, how they position themselves, what they communicate and where there may be gaps that your business can occupy.

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Customer and audience strategy

Trying to market to everybody usually results in marketing that means very little to anybody. We help identify the audiences that matter most to your business and understand what drives their decisions, what problems they are trying to solve and how your brand can become more relevant to them.

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Positioning and proposition

Why should somebody choose you? Strong positioning gives customers a clear reason to consider your business and gives your marketing something distinctive to build around. We can help define your proposition, messaging and the competitive space you want your brand to occupy.

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Brand growth

Marketing strategy is not only about generating immediate leads. We also look at how your business can build awareness, recognition and consideration over time, helping more potential customers think of your brand when they eventually enter the market for what you sell.

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Marketing channels and activity

Only once the strategy is clear should we decide which channels deserve investment. We can identify the most appropriate combination of digital and traditional marketing, from search and social media through to email, content, advertising, partnerships, events and PR.

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Measurement and objectives

Marketing becomes much more useful when you know what success looks like. We can establish clear objectives and measurements so that marketing performance can be reviewed against the outcomes that matter to the business rather than simply counting likes, followers or website visits.

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FROM STRATEGY TO MARKETING PLAN

A strategy sets the direction, but you still need to turn it into action. Once the strategic thinking is complete, we can help create a practical marketing plan that identifies the campaigns, channels, content and activity required to deliver it.

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That means your marketing team, agency or internal staff have a clear roadmap to work from rather than constantly deciding what to post next. The result should be marketing that feels more coordinated, more consistent and much easier to justify commercially.

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MARKETING STRATEGY CONSULTANCY

You may already have somebody managing your social media, running your advertising or looking after your website. That does not mean you necessarily need another agency doing the same thing. Sometimes what a business really needs is somebody who can look across everything, challenge the existing approach and help establish where the marketing should be heading.

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Red Squirrel Marketing can work alongside business owners, marketing teams and existing suppliers to provide that strategic input. This can be a one-off strategy project, a marketing review or ongoing consultancy where we regularly help shape priorities and marketing decisions.

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