Strategy, LLC

FAQs

• How did you get started doing this type of work?

  The following statements define our outlook on life and our relationships and helped us choose to create Strategy, LLC. We invite you to do business with a growing group of people who hold these values. • We provide exceptional care and service to all clients and team members; we bring value to all of our relationships. • Our work exhibits highly creative solutions that are produced with excellence and passion. • We think out-of-the-box for our clients and produce multiple solutions so our customers can make informed decisions. • We find the best solution for our clients, not necessarily the best solution for ourselves. • We are agile, flexible, and forward thinking so that we can react in surprisingly timely ways and provide added value to our clients. • At the heart of our company we are missionally minded and strive to make our community and the world around us a better place to live. • We value integrity over profit; it’s business and it’s personal. Relationships matter.

• What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

  When you decided to start your business, you had a few things already in mind. Your vision included your passion for the products or services you wanted to provide, your financial investment position, and your local outreach, even if simply to family and friends. Maybe you got online and researched a URL, or maybe you already set up a website but it could use some traffic. In a world where marketing your business can make or break your success, we encourage you to dive right in. Whether this is your first year in business, or you’ve been in it for a while, marketing your business is crucial to growth. Word-of-mouth positive advertising is fabulous, but it can only take a business so far these days. You need some practical, easy first steps to get your marketing strategy off the ground. The following 5 starter steps to beginning your company marketing strategy will help you get your word out to a greater audience. 1. WRITE DOWN YOUR COMPANY’S USP - ITS UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION. What is unique about your company, your services, your products? What sets you apart from all the rest? What made people’s ears perk up when you told them about your company ideas the very first time? These things will make up your USP. Don’t miss this crucial step. It helps define the next 4 steps with great detail and will help you when you decide on your branding tactics. 2. DECIDE WHO YOUR TARGET MARKET IS AND HOW FAR THAT REACH WILL GO OUT GEOGRAPHICALLY. What is your best demographic? Do you intend to reach a younger generation, homeowners, women, everyone? Do pick a main target group to help with marketing wording and graphics, but by all means don’t leave out the parts of the population that unexpectedly will love your product or see its benefits and recommend it to those they know inside your target market. 3. WRITE DOWN THE BENEFITS OF YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AS THEY APPLY TO THE TARGET MARKET. What is it about your products and services that will turn them into “gotta have it” items for your target group? Here is where step #1 really kicks in. Your USP is YOURS, so now is the time to illuminate it. Build on it by going into more detail about what you offer. 4. DECIDE AND DOCUMENT HOW YOU WILL SHOWCASE THOSE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AND YOUR COMPANY AS A WHOLE. Would your company benefit from t-shirts, pamphlets, or other localized marketing products? Maybe you want to consider even greater territory and add hard copy ads. Is your company regional or national? Then consider a larger website than just a small, startup site. A larger website would include a blog that posts your expert advice and products, specific product and service pages, community involvement, charitable work, and possibly an e-commerce section. Make a long list here. Dream big about how you will showcase your company! 5. PICK THE BEST MARKETING METHODS TO SHOWCASE THEM BASED ON YOUR BUDGET, YOUR TARGET MARKET, AND YOUR DESIRED END RESULTS. Here is where you take the “dream list” in step 4 and choose a few that fit your current budget. Don’t limit yourself on this because when the marketing starts bringing people to your website and your phone rings more, then you will begin to add to that budget and get further into your “dream list.” Don’t forget who your main target market is, but leave a little room for those outside who might be drawn to your product or service in the near future. And now for Strategy’s SUPER TIP: Don’t put all these lists away and forget about them after you get your marketing plan up and running! Go back and look at them 2-3 times a year as you evaluate what is working and what may not be working to your best advantage. Marketing is never static in general, and it won’t be any different for your company. As you grow and change, so should your marketing. Strategy LLC is ready to answer any questions you may have about setting up your marketing strategy. Contact us today, and let’s get started! Visit our blog for more marketing tips. http://www.strategynewmedia.com/blog

• What questions should customers think through before talking to professionals about their project?

  DEFINITIONS SWOT: stands for Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats, this situational analysis will help fuel the marketing plan, strategies, and tactics. The SWOT helps us better understand internal and external factors currently impacting the business results. Key Message Framework: The message framework will help you consistently describe your products and services. The message framework serves as a foundation for expressing the organization’s brand and distinct personality and tone. Key messages will address the challenges and unique characteristics of the target audience, be believable, and differentiate you from your competitors. Content Marketing Plan: producing quality content is critical to search engine rankings. Google gives preference to sites that produce fresh content on a regular basis and to sites that are established as thought leaders. Using the approved Message Framework and any seasonal priorities, we will work together to create a 12 month content marketing plan to guide the content creation for the website and social media. The plan will include general themes, article topics, and production schedule. PPC (Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn): PPC stands for Pay Per Click. This is running ads on Google and other outlets by purchasing or bidding on keywords or ad impressions. This is an excellent way of driving immediate traffic to a site but can be expensive. Meta Tag Development: The primary foundation of good Search Engine Optimization and gaining Search Engine Ranking is creating well optimized meta tags. Meta tags are tags that are included in the code of a website and viewable by the search engines. Content Optimization: Beyond writing content for your customers, it is critical to write content in a way that search engines can understand where and how to rank your pages. Content optimization seeds content with keywords at a specific density of keyword to words-on-page ratio so that the engines can correctly determine the subject of the page. Content Marketing (Blogging & Social Posts): Producing quality content is critical to search engine rankings. Google gives preference to sites that produce fresh content on a regular basis and to sites that are established as thought leaders. To rank well with Google, content must be created regularly and shared socially. Email Branding: Email branding includes setting up an email account and template with Mail Chimp that is consistent with the company’s brand identity. Training will be provided on sending out email blasts if desired. Email Blasts: Email blasts are an excellent way of marketing to existing clients and gaining new prospects. We will write, layout, and send monthly emails on behalf of the company. Reporting: We provide monthly reports on traffic trends and analytics information to gauge the effectiveness of the marketing campaign. This report is an executive view that contains key indicators of success.