More than 80% of businesses that we started working with reported having no clear marketing strategy at all, or at least none that they could articulate. They reported that while they might enjoy now and then success, essentially they’re relying on luck or “influencers” more than science and creativity. We found that many businesses in Palestine are doing what everyone else is doing, which is focusing on tactics, without any kind of strategy in place. Being just like everybody else isn’t a unique selling point.
Business owners in Palestine have been investing in tactics, not an integrated marketing strategy. That’s why we see many businesses who work with freelancers get surprised when their business fails. The lack of a systemized, integrated marketing strategy from specialized marketing firms, is likely to mean that positive outcomes are difficult to achieve and/or difficult to repeat consistently. An example of a tactic without a strategy is when someone decides they need to hire someone to “do social media” for them. There’s rarely a thought, much less a strategy in place, to develop content for use in social media channels that’s specifically tied to business goals. There’s rarely any focus on the target audience and competitive analysis to develop clear insights to inform the marketing strategy. You must have a strategy (or multiple strategies) in place connecting your various marketing initiatives and powering one another if you want them to deliver results.
The only way people will know what you believe in is by the things you say and do, and if you’re not consistent and clear on both, no one will know what you believe. You might argue, there are plenty of successful companies whose primary motivation is to make money — that’s a fair argument. But as we established earlier, if your business aims to be successful in the long term, your goal should be to build a strong brand that stands out from the competition rather than is short-term financial gains.
At Elevate, we believe that creativity is everything, but nothing without a strategy. Understanding consumer behavior is at the heart of everything we do.