Many businesses operate on a short-term basis. Everything from their marketing strategy to their sales tactics, to their general goals revolve around the concept of instant reaction. And while businesses certainly have to survive in the interim before they can plan for the future, it’s unwise to attempt to grow without first forming a long-term marketing strategy. Indeed, though it’s more difficult now to create overarching marketing strategies, business owners can –– and should –– look for persistent solutions to iterative issues. Here then are three tips you can use to flesh out a long term strategy for your operation:
Extrapolate
The easiest way to create a forward-thinking marketing plan is to, of course, examine your current methods and goals with the idea of projecting them out into the future. So, for instance, if your short-term goal is to increase an email thread’s click-through rate by five percent, a long-term aim might be to boost it by ten. Note here that no amount of effort will increase certain metrics once they reach a high threshold –– like conversion rate for example. No company –– no matter how efficient –– will ever achieve a 100% conversion rate for a product page or advertisement. It’s just not possible. (Heck, five percent conversion rate is often a great return for many companies!) On the other hand, though, there is plenty of value in working to maintain a healthy conversion rate.
Be SMART but Mostly Specific
Businesses that utilize SMART goals have a higher chance of reaching their objectives than their competitors that don’t. We’ve covered SMART goals before, but today we’re going to focus on a particular element of SMART-goal planning –– specificity. Many times, professionals feel daunted by the prospect of a long-term objective since it requires so much work to achieve. That’s true, but that shouldn’t deter business owners from building them out anyway. To wit, the more specific and detailed your planning is in the short and medium terms, the easier it’ll be to set reasonable long-term targets.
Control What You Can
Some factors are outside of a business’s control. However, creating engaging marketing content is a best practice that will help ensure the long-term viability of your company. What’s more, this action is completely under your control! Consumers have and will continue to value rich, informative pieces of content that answer tough questions and provide actionable solutions. So even if the subject of your content changes, the tactics behind it can stay the same. Plus, the beauty of digital content is that you can always re-optimize and update old blogs to make them more relevant to modern audiences.
Final Thoughts
Struggling to create content and manage ads from month to month will prevent businesses from realizing their full potential. At Agile & Co., our passion is making your ambitions come true. That’s why we use hard data and testable results to form marketing campaigns that will keep you on track in the short and long run. Contact our team today, or to find out more about our inbound methodology, check out our free eBook here:
