strategy – Page 2

January 2023January 2023

How to develop marketing personas for your business and why they matter

Developing marketing personas is an essential step in the marketing process that allows businesses to better understand and communicate with their target audience. A marketing persona is a fictionalized representation of the ideal customer for a business, based on market research and data. By creating detailed profiles of their target audience, businesses can create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns, develop better products, and improve their overall customer experience.

The process of developing marketing personas begins with market research. This can include surveys, interviews, focus groups, and other methods of gathering information about the business’s target audience. It is important to gather as much detailed information as possible about the demographics, behaviors, values, and pain points of the target audience. This information will be used to create the marketing personas.

Once the market research has been conducted, it is time to start creating the marketing personas. To do this, businesses should start by identifying the key characteristics and needs of their target audience. This might include things like age, gender, income level, occupation, education level, and family status. It is important to be as specific as possible when defining these characteristics, as this will help to create more accurate and useful marketing personas.

Next, businesses should give each marketing persona a name and create a detailed profile for each one. This should include information about their personal and professional lives, their values, and their goals. It is also helpful to include a photograph or other visual representation of each persona, as this can help to bring them to life and make them easier to relate to.

In addition to demographic information, the marketing persona profiles should also include information about the persona’s attitudes, behaviors, and pain points. This might include things like their attitudes toward your business or industry, their preferred methods of communication, and the problems or challenges they are facing. By understanding the needs and pain points of the target audience, businesses can create products and marketing campaigns that are more likely to meet their needs and solve their problems.

Once the marketing personas have been developed, businesses can use them to inform their marketing efforts. For example, businesses can use the information contained in the marketing personas to create targeted marketing campaigns that are tailored to the specific needs and interests of their target audience. They can also use the personas to create more relevant and personalized content, such as blog posts, social media posts, and emails.

It is important to note that marketing personas are not meant to be rigid or static. They should be regularly reviewed and updated based on new information and insights gathered through market research and customer feedback. This will help businesses to ensure that their marketing personas remain relevant and accurate.

Developing marketing personas is an ongoing process that requires effort and investment. However, the benefits of doing so are significant. By creating detailed profiles of their target audience, businesses can create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns, develop better products, and improve their overall customer experience.

January 2023January 2023

How to select the right marketing agency for your business

Selecting the right marketing agency to work with is crucial for the success of any business. A marketing agency can be a valuable partner that helps to elevate a brand, increase sales, and drive business growth. However, choosing the wrong agency can result in wasted resources and missed opportunities.

There are several factors to consider when evaluating potential marketing agencies. One of the most important is the agency’s expertise and experience. It is essential to work with an agency that has a deep understanding of the specific industry in which the business operates, as well as a track record of success in delivering results for clients.

Another key factor is the agency’s approach to marketing. It is important to ensure that the agency has a strategic and data-driven approach to marketing, rather than relying solely on tactics and gimmicks. A good marketing agency will take the time to understand the business’s goals and target audience, and develop a customized marketing plan that aligns with these goals.

It is also important to consider the agency’s creative capabilities. Marketing campaigns that stand out and capture the attention of the target audience are more likely to be effective. Look for an agency with a strong portfolio of work that showcases its ability to produce high-quality, innovative marketing materials.

In addition to these technical skills, it is essential to find an agency that is a good fit culturally. Working with an agency is a partnership, and it is important to ensure that there is good communication and a shared vision for the business’s marketing efforts. It is also important to find an agency that is responsive and able to deliver results in a timely manner.

Ultimately, the right marketing agency can be a valuable asset for any business. It is worth taking the time to thoroughly research and evaluate potential agencies to ensure that the business is working with the best partner for its needs.

April 2020

Why support from PIER 23 is free…

Built on the foundation of community, PIER 23 supports small and medium sized businesses around the world with their marketing and strategy challenges.

But how is it free?

PIER 23 was founded by Liam Hebron, a professional marketer from the United Kingdom, who noticed that every service trying to ‘help’ struggling businesses or new startups always had an eye at making money off them. This seems counterproductive, especially when it is these businesses, without financial means or in-house expertise, that need PIER 23’s help the most.

We aim to create tailored plans for these business, addressing the unique issues they face. Together, we can learn to overcome obstacles and find out what works for your business.

To get started, just send an email to concept@pier23.com today. Tell us the challenges you are facing and, together, let’s begin solving them.

By sharing our successes with each other, we can build a community of happy, successful and thriving entrepreneurs. That’s the goal of PIER 23 – sharing concepts for growth.

March 2020April 2020

3 key concepts for small/medium businesses to build during the coronavirus outbreak…

These are unprecedented times. Times we have only ever seen in movies or on TV. Thousands of businesses are now at risk as their daily operations have shifted dramatically or stopped altogether. For some, this means the regretful decision of closing their doors. But it’s important to remember that for most, this is only temporary and it does not mean all hope is lost.

Many businesses around the world are coming up with new innovative ways to pivot their strategy to survive. PIER 23 has released plenty of tips on how to create the spark needed in these dark times. Whether that be restaurants releasing YouTube recipe videos, travel agencies creating dream destination boards on Pinterest or businesses pursuing the ‘gift card’ deal to keep money coming in the door. Delivery of products and services direct to people’s homes has also become a great revenue stream for those able to do so.

With people confined to their homes or near-empty offices, one incredibly important thing that businesses – especially small, local businesses – must now focus on is brand-building. There are three key values that we at PIER 23 think are incredibly important and, as ever, we will continue to work with small and medium businesses for free to help develop tailored support for your company.

Community

The first core value may seem a little difficult to envisage, especially when we have been told over and over again to keep our social distance. A community in this sense refers to a shared passion, a shared goal or a shared lifestyle. People in isolation can get incredibly lonely and so being able to connect with like-minded individuals is a great way to not only create a loyal customer base but also an amazing way to proliferate your brand message and publicise you’re core values.

An example of a community-building brand campaign right now is an online forum discussing the trials, tribulations or even successes of self-isolation.

If you own a bakery, why not invite some local residents to share photos online of their baking creations whilst at home? Don’t just offer home delivery of your bakery’s famous seeded buckwheat loaf (delish). Include a recipe in the delivery. You could even keep it going and deliver the individual ingredients with the bread itself so people can try and make it at home too. Offer a ‘baking kit’ at a cost suitable for you. When they make the bread themselves, encourage them to share pictures and tag your bakery’s brand.

Inspiration

When the mind has little to no stimulation, we tend to get distracted. Social media is going to be an incredibly important channel over the next few months as more and more people work from home and find themselves drifting onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram every now and again. We’re all guilty of it – let’s not pretend.

Inspiration, in a time where the news is pretty bleak, will be an important form of escapism for many consumers. Whether this is the willingness to try something different, pick up a new skill or simply be entertained, all of these things require inspiration. This is something your brand can provide.

An example of an inspiring campaign right now for a small business would be to help people achieve something by the time their quarantine has finished. For example, if you’re a private language teacher that is struggling because of a lack of face-to-face interactions, why not move your classes online and set a goal for your students to achieve by the end of their quarantine – “Learn to ask what day of the week it is in Spanish before your quarantine is up or your money back”.

If you work in home improvements, why not post a step-by-step guide on how to fix a leaky tap. These things will get people to engage with your brand and put you in their thoughts for future purchases or services.

Even the previous example of a bakery could apply to this concept too – help people become better bakers by engaging and associating themselves with your brand and your products.

Anticipation

The final core concept to build during the COVID-19 outbreak is anticipation. You want consumers, or potential consumers, to have the feeling of ‘when I get out of here, this is going to be the first thing I do…’

This is obviously a more beneficial plan for the long-term rather than the here-and-now, but if you’re able to, it’s something that many small businesses often don’t get time to fully form in the ‘regular’ virusless real world and so is definitely worth putting time and resource towards. Whether it be a special ‘reintroduction to society’ offer or constant drip-feeding of tantalising content, it really can be a great way to build your audience’s intrigue.

Create an online content campaign full of visuals, something people can actually see and want to get involved in. Spending so much time inside makes people desperately want to stimulate their imagination.

Of course, if your small business is your sole source of income, you’ll need people to actually be engaging financially with your services. Building anticipation comes hand-in-hand with the gift card sales strategy. If it works for your business, get people excited to come and visit – maybe even offer a special perk to gift cards holders. Hopefully, it’s some of that famous seeded buckwheat loaf I was talking about earlier.

How to I stick those three values together?

Combining these three concepts for growth can be difficult and will depend entirely on the nature of your business. That’s why at PIER 23, we work with individual businesses and provide tailored support to help you specifically. Best of all? It’s free and it stays free. That’s incredibly important in a time where finances are uncertain.

An example of a campaign combining all three values could be a community rebuild project. What do I mean by that? Say you’re a local cafe, times are tough because you don’t have many customers and paying your staff might actually be losing you money.

You need to pivot your strategy. Bring in home deliveries for your baked and fresh goods. You could even sell the coffee beans you normally make your products with. Bring in discounted gift cards. Bring in online forums (just on Facebook or Instagram or even the app Nextdoor) discussing how locals are coping with the changes. You can introduce virtual coffee table chats for people to develop a sense of community and get them to interact with people in their local area online. And to keep going, build up to a ‘reopening ceremony’ where you invite those people from the online forum to contribute to getting your local business back on track.

In a time where it seems many things are hopeless, people always seek a purpose. Let your local business be something they support.

March 2020March 2020

How to create a new product…

Sometimes it’s necessary to get inventive, especially if business is a little slow. It might be that your current product or service is going out of style and needs reinvigorating, or it could be that you need an entirely new product altogether to offer new value for your customers.

In this article, PIER 23 will look at six top tips for creating a brand-new product for your business…

Take stock of what you already have

When creating something new, it’s important to know what you have already. It’ll always be difficult to sell something as an ‘original’ if it fulfils the same purpose as one of your existing products. An audit of your current products and services can put things into perspective and you’ll be able to take a step back and look at the ‘bigger picture’.

Know what’s working well for you (and what isn’t)

Don’t end up replicating something that’s already not doing well in your business. If you own a bakery and your marmite and custard pie isn’t selling (no surprise), don’t go creating a marmite and custard muffin. If your business has a range of products or services, examine the characteristics of the successful ones and look at forming them together to create something new and great – but only if it fulfils an appropriate purpose for the customer. You don’t want to end up with Frankenstein’s monster.

Find out what your audience wants

This seems fairly obvious but its importance should not be understated. Just like PIER 23 says in this post, doing your research is incredibly important. Use sales data you have collected for what sells well, which products people enquire about and, perhaps most importantly, what you often have to tell your customers you don’t do. If you’re a locksmith helping people get back into their properties and they ask you if you do key-cutting, but you keep saying no, perhaps it’s time to look at developing that as a new revenue stream.

If you’re a new startup with no data to assess then this next tip will be important for you…

Take a peek at your competitors

Competitive analysis is key to successfully increasing your share in the marketplace. It’s also great for coming up with new product ideas. Don’t just identify what your competitors do, identify what they don’t do too. This can help you identify gaps in the market which you can then develop into.

Be creative

This can sound daunting but if you prepare yourself in the right way, it can come quite easily. Once you’ve identified your current products, looked at the gaps in the market and analysed the things your audience are asking for, coming up with something new becomes immeasurably easier. Don’t rush this process, creativity can be stifled by stress. PIER 23 offers free services to collaborate with you through this, so just email concept@pier23.com for support.

Test everything, then test again

If you’re launching a new product, start small and then build out from there. Speak to small test groups or even your friends and family to get their honest opinion. Your research will push forward your strategy and, if you’re starting small, you can make changes to your product or service as you go until your ready to launch. Important things to test for are functionality (does it work?), customer satisfaction (do they like it?), advocacy (would your customer tell people about it?), commercial viability (does it make money?) and durability (can it stick around for a while?).

Keep us updated with your progress or, if you need any help for free, just contact PIER 23 at concept@pier23.com and together we can develop concepts for growth.