Marketing Strategy

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:17:13

So Mark, a lot of times when we're working with a new client, you know, the feedback we get is, hey, they've tried these other things in the past, all these various tactics, but it really hasn't worked for them. And you and I come look at it from a lens of strategy before tactics. So maybe we can talk a little bit about that today to our to our listeners and viewers about the importance of strategy.

00:00:17:15 - 00:00:36:04

Yeah. So in a typical engagement, you know, let's talk a little bit about what strategy looks like for someone. Yeah. Strategies research. And I think this is where a lot of agencies will drop the ball is they'll go in very tactical, you know, right on the offset, you know, and client has a legitimate need to bring it to the marketing agency.

00:00:36:04 - 00:00:57:03

The marketing agency has tons of experience here. They probably know what tactics may generate the best results, you know, based on previous engagements that they've had with, you know, other opportunities or other clients. The fact of the matter is, is every business is different. You know, every client need is different. Every client, every clients client is a little bit different, to be quite honest.

00:00:57:03 - 00:01:26:13

So if you're not going in with strategy and initially strategy is research and it's an abundance of research, it's understanding the business, understanding the client's understanding past marketing tactics, you know, understanding KPIs, you know, where they want to be in a year, three years, five years and really building out a holistic plan around that. So when you back up and you really look at it, certainly some of these tactical solutions will be implemented within a strategy, but there's always a bigger picture.

00:01:26:15 - 00:01:50:00

So another thing we see, Mark, is, you know, we come into a a new client and they're doing all these different tactics. And there's no overarching strategy I equated to. It's equivalent of strategy to me is the foundation. It is. You can't build the house with a strong foundation. So maybe we can speak to that a little bit about how we kind of pull all those tactics and make sure it's part of an overall overarching strategy.

00:01:50:00 - 00:02:13:04

No, absolutely. And I think, you know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with tactics and there's nothing wrong with having multiple tactics, you know, trying to bring in similar results. But the fact of the matter is, is these tactics need to be working together. Ofttimes what I've seen with past agencies is maybe to have an adverse campaign run and to have an SEO campaign run, and they have a paid media campaign running, maybe to have an email marketing campaign running.

00:02:13:05 - 00:02:39:18

But each one of these tactical solutions is speaking a different message, if that makes sense, you know, without one complementing the other. So, you know, I think this is really when you back up. This is where strategy comes into play, is strategy is not just about recommending to a client, hey, we should do some AdWords so you know you're visible on page one for keywords you may not be ranking for, or maybe doing some email marketing to try to retarget some of these clients that may have come in and not converted.

00:02:39:21 - 00:03:01:00

But the fact of the matter is, is most people don't have a linear solution as to how each one of these tactics can work symbiotically to produce an overarching result. And I think that essentially is the main issue. Yeah. And these things get pulled together. The clients can be wasting money. They're going to be wasting their time and they won't know what's working.

00:03:01:02 - 00:03:20:00

They won't know what's not only what's working, but but what's not working and why. And that's so key to this whole thing, isn't it? And it is, you know, and you know, and I've said this many times when you and I have spoken, one of the reasons that I love digital so much is because of its transparency is everything can be measured from the click to the attribution to the conversion.

00:03:20:06 - 00:03:43:23

And I think what's important here is when you have tactics that are working together with and with an overarching strategy, you can really start to see how one tactic fed into another tactic that fed into another tactic that produced a result, which is typically a conversion that made the inclined some money. So this is really when we're talking tactics over strategy.

00:03:43:23 - 00:04:01:02

This is the big picture solution that you want to be working with. And that's why it's so important to do the research early on. Mark, you know, we talk a lot about clients that are chasing vanity metrics. Maybe you can first of all, tell our listeners and our viewers what vanity metrics are. And then we can get into why why we shouldn't be chasing them.

00:04:01:03 - 00:04:26:04

Sure. Yeah. Metrics I would say, is anything that boosts your ego. You know, we see a lot of clients who are very proud of the amount of likes they got from a social post or, you know, how many, you know, YouTube comments, maybe that they got on a video that they shot. But unfortunately, you know, as much as this content could be going out, it's not producing a result that is actually driving any revenue into the business.

00:04:26:04 - 00:04:48:01

So vanity metrics to me can be the amount of clicks that came into a website or the amount of pressures that were shown from an ad. But essentially, again, we've talked about this a lot. When there is no strategy added to the tactical component, typically all you will see are vanity metrics. So what metrics should they be looking at?

00:04:48:05 - 00:05:07:02

Yeah. You know you know we need to reverse engineer the KPI. You know the end goal has to be a conversion of some kind. And you know, I will never say that there is nothing wrong with a click or a like or a share. Absolutely. These are important for the brand and the brand recognition is everything that you want to achieve.

00:05:07:03 - 00:05:28:08

Then certainly these metrics do hold some value, but nine out of ten times when a business or a business owner is putting this much effort into a marketing campaign, they want a financial return out of that time and out of that investment. So really, the ultimate, you know, metric that you want to be looking at is the conversion itself.

00:05:28:08 - 00:05:44:20

Is it producing a phone call? Is it producing a form fill? Is it producing a download. You know, is it actually getting chatter about the brand? You know, here's a metric that nobody looks at. You know, we look at the likes, we look at the shares on social media, you know. But is anybody actually talking about their brand.

00:05:44:20 - 00:06:00:17

And if they're not maybe it is vanity. Yeah. Mark what's the best way or how how can an owner approach differentiating their brand from all of their competitors? Because a lot of times when we go and talk to somebody for the first time, they'll say, well, you know, we have all these years of experience. That's what makes us better.

00:06:00:17 - 00:06:24:17

We do quality work. That's what makes us better. But in reality, the competitors are all saying the same thing. So you have you talk a bit about kind of bringing back the mandate, just how important the brand is and how to make sure that your, your brand is different from your competitors. Yeah, it's I think the brand and the brand voice is actually one of the most important marketing solutions right now that a business can be working on.

00:06:24:17 - 00:06:46:17

10 or 15 years ago, 20 years ago, when I started in digital marketing, our focus was so much on the brand or focuses on really, you know, how can we, you know, I don't like using the word manipulate, but, you know, how can we position a brand and a search engine so that it can be visible? And this is done through different types of tactics, technicality that we would do to a website, you know, to make a brand visible.

00:06:46:17 - 00:07:08:23

And that has changed. You know, I really do feel that we are now going back to a madman type of marketing in a digital era where the brand and the brand voice has never been more important. When you take a step back and you really look at this, you know, there's a lot of competition out there. If you're a business owner right now, I know that there is see a competition within your industry.

00:07:09:02 - 00:07:40:07

What I think is important to understand, though, is as noisy as it is. Most brands don't really understand who their clients are, what their needs are, what they expect that of the business, what their fear is, what their interest, the psychographics around the personalities. And I think as a brand, if you really want to step aside, understand who your client is so that you can build messaging around that for your brand, that is going to speak to that person that you are trying to attract.

00:07:40:08 - 00:08:02:16

I think essentially most businesses do a very poor job at doing that. And by just doing that small piece, just really understanding who your end user is by doing that exercise, which is a lot of brand agencies that can do that for you, it will set you apart pretty quickly from the competition that is out there. It's interesting because we always get pushed back.

00:08:02:17 - 00:08:19:18

Yeah. You know, well, no, this is you know, this is what makes us unique. And I'll tell them, listen, call up five of your competitors, call up their websites right now and you see the same words quality, service, experience or whatever that looks like. So your messaging is really key here because everything is it's it's a kickoff point from then on.

00:08:19:19 - 00:08:43:16

Right. For all of them are going forward. It is, you know, and you know, throw the UV at the window. You know, that unique value proposition, you know, it probably is poorly executed, poorly thought out. And it's no offense to any business owner that's looking at this. But the fact of the matter is, is everybody is trying to attract the same client, you know, so that value proposition is not overly unique.

00:08:43:17 - 00:09:02:02

You know, you do have to have a differentiator, something that is unique to you, that is unique to your business. You know, that you can bring forward to the client. So again, it's really taking a step back and analyzing the brand, who you are, who you want to be. You know how you want to be perceived in your community, within your vertical.

00:09:02:04 - 00:09:25:04

If you really start putting that exercise into play, this is what is going to make you stand apart from your competitors, because I assure you, they probably haven't done it. And like you said at the beginning, this all starts with making sure that the owner understands who their customers are, who their prospects are, because the branding, the messaging, everything around that the visuals, the, the, the wording, everything has to speak to their ideal customer.

00:09:25:04 - 00:09:42:05

It does. And you know, you and I have done this many times. If we sat down with business owners and asked about the client and sure, you know, my client is the 35 year old homeowner and it doesn't go any further than that. And it has to, you know, most businesses probably don't even understand what the lifetime value of that said client is.

00:09:42:06 - 00:10:02:01

You know, another exercise that still blows my mind to this day that we go into and we speak to homeowners, say, what is the lifetime value of client X if they buy the service or they buy this product? And nine out of ten times the answer is I don't know. And that, again is about the brand. This is about the brand position is about understanding who your clients are.

00:10:02:01 - 00:10:19:02

And when you do that, all of a sudden you start creating a message around your brand and something that you can put forward within your community, within your business community. Well, you mentioned lifetime value, and to me, that's such a critical component of everything that we're talking about today, which is really strategy. It is. And, you know, you got to know who your audience is.

00:10:19:02 - 00:10:34:04

You got to know how much they're going to spend over the course of their lifetime with you, because that will then determine how much you're willing to spend in order to acquire that new account. And these are the types of metrics that this is kind of things that we get into with people. We take kind of a business person first approach.

00:10:34:05 - 00:10:52:10

You and I are both serial entrepreneurs and have been a long time. We're not just marketing guys, so we understand the importance of those metrics. And really it is again, it's the foundation for all of their marketing. When we're talking to clients and to prospects, we see such a wide range of value propositions from other marketing agencies. Right.

00:10:52:11 - 00:11:28:22

We've got the person, you know, working in their parents basement that is doing SEO for, you know, a couple hundred bucks a month. And then we've seen the high end agencies. So what do you think people, viewers and listeners, how should they be evaluating when a marketing agency comes back with a pricing model? No, absolutely. And, you know, you know, when we're talking about the basement Bob's or, you know, the big agencies, you know, I think a lot of a lot of business owners who have had marketing companies, whether they're solopreneurs, do their marketing, whether it's an agency, whether it's a small company, you know, they've hit roadblocks if it hurdles.

00:11:28:23 - 00:11:46:10

You know, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You know, and again, it comes back to the strategy before tactics. You know, when this is done typically as we can hit the ground running. The fact of the matter is, is I've seen this over and over again. I've seen, you know, I've seen some of the most expensive marketing produced, the poorest results.

00:11:46:10 - 00:12:13:17

I've seen some of the less expensive marketing produce the best results and vice versa. You know, obviously, you know, prices, price, you know, the more financial fuel you can add to the fire, you know, the more that you can typically get out of it, especially when it comes to marketing. So it's really looking at an agency's portfolio. You know, I think most agencies that have had tangible results for their clients will have a reputation in their marketplaces.

00:12:13:17 - 00:12:30:11

Business owners like talking about success, you know, you know, we're all a little egotistical to a certain extent. So, you know, when a company is having a good year, certainly they like to promote that. And, you know, very often there's going to be two departments behind. The success is going to be the marketing department and the sales department.

00:12:30:11 - 00:12:59:04

And certainly, you know, when it comes to marketing, you know, companies who are evaluating a marketing agency should look at a reputation, should look at a portfolio, should look at the people who are behind or working behind the scenes within that agency. And I think most importantly right now is we're living in an era where technology is just evolving so rapidly, you know, and agencies, you know, need to be on top of this technology.

00:12:59:04 - 00:13:17:19

And we're talking about AI here nine out of ten times when we are talking about tech. So evaluate that side of it is how adaptable are they. How have they integrated AI within their agency to be just to perform better, you know, to be able to produce better results, quicker results, more data driven results. You know, I think that's important.

00:13:17:19 - 00:13:37:00

But essentially it boils down to one of my favorite sayings, you know, and as a business owner, if you're evaluating a marketing company, you know, if you want a cheap and fast, that won't be good. You know, if you want a good and fast, it won't be cheap. And you know, if you want it good and cheap, it won't be fast.

00:13:37:00 - 00:13:54:15

So, you know, and I think that saying just stands for just about anything that you are going to purchase. And that's even if you were going to be hiring a marketing agency. See, our conclusion to everything we talked about today is really for our viewers and our listeners is when you're evaluating your American, you got to look at it from a strategic lens first.

00:13:54:18 - 00:14:23:06

First and foremost, if it's not, if your current marketing is not working, that's probably why it is that you don't have a good strategy in place. And if you're going to hire somebody to help you with this, or bring either in-house or or externally, you got to make sure that those people understand that. Correct? Yeah. And a good rule of thumb for business owners to maybe certain marketing agencies and the potential for success within, you know, the tactics that they are going to implement if it is done right.

00:14:23:07 - 00:14:56:21

You know, and I've looked at this across hundreds and hundreds of different businesses and claims that we've worked this in the past, you know, when it is done strategically and the right tactics are put into play within that strategy, return on marketing dollars is somewhere between times five to times nine, you know, and that is usually going to be falling within that bucket, which means for every dollar spent at a minimum, it should be making you five, you know, and you know, so as a business owner is evaluating, is hiring a marketing agency for 3000, 4000, 5000, $10,000.

00:14:56:22 - 00:15:08:05

You know, within my budget. The fact of the matter is, if you hire the right agency, it will produce a return on investment almost all the time. You hire the wrong one, you will lose.

A marketing strategy establishes the foundation for deciding which tactics make sense for your business. Before investing in SEO, paid advertising, social media, email marketing, or other channels, businesses should understand their customers, objectives, past marketing performance, KPIs, and long-term goals.

Without that strategic foundation, individual tactics may generate activity but fail to work together toward a meaningful business outcome. Strategy helps ensure each marketing investment has a clear purpose and contributes to the bigger picture.

An effective marketing strategy should begin with research. This includes understanding your business, customers, competitive environment, previous marketing activities, performance data, and short- and long-term business objectives.

From there, the strategy should establish measurable KPIs and determine which marketing tactics and channels are best suited to achieving those goals. Most importantly, those tactics should work together as part of an integrated plan rather than operating independently.

Customers rarely follow a perfectly linear path before making a purchase or contacting a business. Someone might discover your company through Google Ads, visit your website, see your content on social media, receive an email, and later return through an organic search before converting.

When SEO, paid advertising, social media, email, content, and other marketing activities share consistent messaging and common objectives, each channel can support the others. An integrated strategy also makes it easier to understand how different touchpoints contribute to the final conversion.

Vanity metrics are measurements that can make a campaign appear successful without necessarily demonstrating a meaningful business result. Examples can include impressions, likes, shares, website visits, or clicks.

These metrics aren't inherently unimportant—particularly when brand awareness is an objective—but they need context. Businesses should connect marketing activity to outcomes such as qualified leads, phone calls, form submissions, downloads, sales, revenue, or other defined conversions.

The right KPIs depend on what the business is trying to accomplish. Rather than beginning with a metric such as clicks or impressions, businesses should start with the desired outcome and work backwards.

For many organizations, meaningful KPIs include qualified leads, phone calls, form submissions, downloads, customer acquisition, conversions, and revenue. The goal is to understand whether marketing activity is contributing to measurable business objectives rather than simply generating activity.

Effective marketing requires more than knowing basic customer demographics. Businesses should understand their customers' needs, expectations, interests, concerns, motivations, and behaviours.

These deeper customer insights help shape brand positioning, messaging, content, offers, and channel selection. When you understand who you're trying to reach and what matters to them, you can create marketing that speaks directly to those customers rather than relying on generic messages such as "great service," "quality," or "years of experience."

Differentiation begins by understanding both your customer and your own business. Many companies rely on similar claims about quality, service, experience, or competitive pricing, making it difficult for potential customers to understand why they should choose one company over another.

Businesses should identify what is genuinely distinctive about their organization and connect that difference to something their ideal customers value. Your brand positioning, voice, messaging, and customer experience should then consistently reinforce that distinction.

Customer lifetime value helps a business understand what a customer may be worth over the entire relationship with the company, rather than focusing only on the value of the first transaction.

Understanding this figure can help businesses make more informed decisions about how much they can reasonably invest to acquire a new customer. It also connects marketing decisions more directly to the financial realities and growth objectives of the business.

Digital marketing provides businesses with the ability to measure activity from initial interactions through to conversions. The key is establishing clear objectives and tracking the customer journey across different marketing channels.

Rather than evaluating each tactic in isolation, businesses should look at how channels influence one another and ultimately contribute to conversions and revenue. This makes it easier to identify what's working, what isn't, and where marketing investments should be adjusted.

Price shouldn't be the only consideration when evaluating a marketing partner. Businesses should examine an agency's reputation, portfolio, experience, people, strategic approach, and ability to demonstrate tangible results.

It's also increasingly important to consider how well an agency adapts to changing technology. As AI and other technologies reshape marketing, businesses should understand how prospective agencies are using new tools to improve research, analysis, efficiency, decision-making, and campaign performance.

Above all, look for a partner that starts by understanding your business and objectives before recommending specific marketing tactics.