Marketing Goals vs. Marketing Strategy: What's The Difference

Digital marketing for the manufacturing and industrial sector can be difficult. The decision-making process in this field is slow, so it can be hard to connect with the audience and move them through the buying cycle. Industrial marketers often struggle to provide useful, engaging content that is directly useful to their audience.

In order to achieve scalable growth in the next few months and beyond, it is important to set marketing benchmarks. This will help you plan your business goals for next quarter or even next month.

To help you with this, we have outlined the difference between marketing goals and a marketing strategy. With this information, you can improve your strategy and connect with higher-quality prospects.

There are many things you can do to improve your business. You can increase revenue, expand market share, improve brand recognition, or boost website traffic. However, it can be helpful to use the SMART mnemonic to more clearly define your goals. This will help you measure whether or not you have achieved your desired outcome.

Here’s what SMART means:

• Specific. The desired outcome should be defined in clear, specific terms. Set real numbers and real deadlines to hold yourself accountable.
• Measurable. Your goal should be easily trackable and measurable.
• Attainable. Make sure the goal is realistic given the resources available (your employees, your budget, your tools). Set high standards, but take things a step at a time.
• Relevant. The goal should make sense for your specific needs and should tie in with a big-picture plan.
• Time-Bound. All goals should have clear deadlines for achievement. Without set dates, your goals will just be a form of wishful thinking.

There is a lot of confusion about the difference between objectives, tactics, and strategies. Many people think they are the same thing, but they are actually all different concepts.

• An objective is a milestone you achieve on the way to reaching your goal. For example, if your goal is to increase leads by 40% this summer, one possible objective would be to have new lead magnets in place within two weeks. Lead magnets are things like free content that encourages people to sign up for your mailing list or contact you.
• Tactics are the ways that you try to get people interested in what you're selling. In the example, industrial marketers may use paid advertising to bring interested prospects to their new freebies. Tactics help you reach your goals.

However, none of these concepts provide a plan on how to reach the destination that is defined in a set goal.

This is where strategy comes into play.

• A strategy is a plan that will help you achieve your goal. It will include a few different approaches that you can use.

If you want to increase leads by 40%, for example, an industrial marketer might create a strategy focused on becoming an authority on the topic of lean production.

• Goal: 40% more leads by summer,
• Strategy: Become an authority on lean production
• Objective: Offer content freebies about lean production on our website
• Tactic: Use PPC to drive traffic to these freebies

Examples of marketing goals

Many small companies determine their marketing goals based on their needs. For example, they may need more website visitors, more leads that turn into customers, or more conversions in general. Once you have identified your specific needs, set a realistic goal with a time frame attached to it using the SMART template for guidance.

Here are some examples of marketing goals for inspiration:

• We will get 20,000 people to visit our blog this year by increasing the number of times we publish a blog post from 2 times a week to 4 times a week.
• We predict that by the end of Q3, there will be a 10% increase in eBook downloads on our landing pages after optimizing the length and style of the form.
• By this time next year, we will have gained 25% more email subscribers after implementing targeted display ads and using PPC for the first time.

The different types of industrial marketing strategies

A marketing strategy should be your blueprint for marketing success, which should:

• Show the way forward, helping to set clear objectives,
• Eliminate confusion,
• Guide in the choice of specific tactics during the different stages of execution,
• Ensure proper budget utilization.

There are four key characteristics of successful marketing strategies:

• Targeted. You should start by creating a buyer persona. This is the ideal customer that you have in mind. You should think about what this person wants and what they need. Once you know this, you can create a strategy that is based on them. You can then use this information to create campaigns that will reach them.
• Dynamic. Having a strategy is important, but it's not set in stone. In fact, the biggest advantage of having a well-thought-out strategy is that you can quickly identify what isn't working and change it.
• Data-Driven. A strategy is not just a set of guesses. You need to use data to drive your decisions, looking at past results and considering what might happen in the future. This will help you make calculated risks that have a good chance of succeeding.
• Scalable. If you want to achieve a bigger goal, your strategy should be able to handle a larger budget. A strategy is like a machine. You can use the same direction to get a 40% increase in leads, and also use it for a 200% increase. This will help you reach your goal without any serious problems.

Planning a marketing strategy involves research

You should keep your goals in mind when creating and executing your marketing strategy. Take some time to reflect on what you have tried before. What worked, what didn't, what was a success, and what failed? This is why it is important to analyze the data you have available (and that you have documented). This information will help you make better predictions about the future market.

Planning for your new industrial strategy also involves analyzing your competitors. But don't go too deep into their work. Just look at how your competitors market their products. Follow them on social media and subscribe to their emails and newsletters to understand what is working for them and what might work for you too. You should also consider getting a digital health from industrial marketing experts to see how you are currently doing online and where you can improve.

There are different types of customers. Current customers and people you want to be customers are different. They have different needs and goals, and they are in different stages of the buying journey. You should use different marketing strategies for each type of customer.

Work on understanding your target audience. You can do this by figuring out what type of people would want to buy your product or service. You can also learn about them by looking at data from sales and website analytics. It is also a good idea to talk to your current clients to see what their needs are.

After you know who your customers and prospects are, you can figure out what marketing strategy each group needs to reach their unique goals.

The framework for organizing your marketing strategy

There is a reason why marketing plans and content strategy are important. You want to make sure that everything you do is cohesive and on topic. This will help you achieve better results. How can you get your marketing strategy organized and on track?

#1. Clearly define your brand

If two businesses offer the same things, like products and prices, what would make a person choose your company instead of the competitor? The answer to this question is your brand. Marketing guru Seth Godin says that a brand is "a set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships." So you need to figure out what kind of expectations you want people to have about your company, and what kind of stories you want to tell about it.

For a B2B company, having a clear and cohesive strategy is essential for making sure that your brand is memorable to your audience of prospects and customers.

#2. Plan your content

Calendars are important for content marketing. You need an editorial calendar of topics for your blog and a daily schedule of what kind of post to make (industrial news, economy, technical developments, etc.) They will help you balance the different types of content you distribute. You also won't promote yourself too much on social media, and you'll have ideas for posts when it's time to sit down and write.

#3. Use an automation tool

You don't have to post on social media every 45 minutes. You can use a program like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule your posts throughout the day. As you grow, you may need a complete program to automate your social media, emails, and other tasks. HubSpot is an example of this type of program.

#4. Make sure you monitor your efforts

Make sure you are paying attention to what people are saying about you online. This includes website pages, retweets, shares, mentions, and any other form of publicity. You should either get notifications of these events or use a platform like HubSpot that gives you a "one-stop" view of all your social media interactions.

#5. Keep your messaging consistent and clear

Stick to your brand and what you believe in when creating content. Share content that is useful and interesting to your target audience. View marketing as an extension of the service and quality you have always provided. Don't use tactics that would turn people away.

Define your marketing strategy and goals

It can be difficult to put together a marketing strategy that meets all of these requirements. This is especially true if you are new to industrial marketing and don't know where to start. It seems like there are always new strategies to learn about, and it can be hard to stay ahead of the curve. There will naturally be some questions and uncertainty, but this is all part of the process.

In order to stay ahead of the competition, it is important to have a well-thought-out marketing strategy that meets your specific needs. It is also important to have the discipline to stick with the plan and continue growing your business.

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