Building your marketing strategy. Is this something you have to hand, or are you winging it as you go along?
If you are not a natural at planning, picture this for one moment. Imagine what it would feel like if you had clarity in your business and you were always on top of your game? Crushing your goals seamlessly and overcoming obstacles in your way. Being crystal clear about what you are going to do, why you are going to do it, how you are going to do it and by when as opposed to ‘winging’ your way to success.
To do this, you need to have a plan. Without a plan you become reactive to your circumstances, rather than proactive, bouncing from one situation and opportunity to another. Whether you call it a business strategy, a marketing strategy, a plan or a road map, it doesn’t really matter.
Your plan should be a working document, with a clear vision, purpose, goals and timelines that you can use to make your decisions and to guide you and your team from a marketing perspective, across your retail and online channels, your stockists and retail partners, from a social media perspective across each month of the year. Your plan should support and elevate your product development.
Your plan is a document and a direction that you all believe in and agree to, that you don’t allow excuses and unplanned events to stand in your way. I tend to refer to this form of planning as a marketing strategy. It is your marketing strategy, plan and budget that drives your sales and builds your brand. As a product based business, your new product development and your new product launches are very closely linked to your marketing strategy.
* Your marketing strategy is your overall plan for the year, every year you will review the previous year’s performance, see what has and what hasn’t worked and create a new marketing strategy for the year to support your product development and your new product launches. This is prepared in the last quarter of each year. At this time of the year you will have a clear idea of how the current year has progressed and what you have and haven’t been able to achieve.
* To create this plan, you need to understand your marketplace, your competitors and your customers and then based on analysing this come up with a plan of action in terms of how you are going to compete and position yourself as a brand in your marketplace and communicate this message to your customers. Marketing is a competition, it is about knowing what you stand for, and promoting this to people who need what you want and are willing to buy this from you.
* Your plan will be broken down into goals, objectives, tactics with a cost associated with each. It will take into consideration your product development and key event activity. To support your plan, you will then create your budget and your marketing calendar by month across your various channels, retail partners, advertising, PR, trade shows, events, videos, podcasts. A content marketing calendar is also developed by channel to support your marketing plan for the year.
* As you roll out your brand across retail channels and into different markets, you will need to provide this to your agents and distributors and to your retail partners together with very clear brand guidelines, sales targets, and your marketing collateral for them to execute.
You may now appreciate why having a plan can provide you with a clear steer in moving forward with building your business. If you haven’t started planning your year yet, good luck and if the idea of sailing as opposed to drifting sounds a bit more appealing to you this year, and you are looking for support in achieving this, get in touch.
As a beauty and wellness consultancy, we develop a comprehensive strategy for your business by understanding your vision (and the marketplace) and then delving into the details to create order and structure neatly packaged up to deliver you commercial results. We design brand identities and visual elements, manage your product development, build your go-to-market strategies to help you to engage with your ideal customers.
We are proud to support our clients from different regions of the world – from Saudi Arabia, to Dubai, Sri Lanka, Africa, Australia, the US, Canada, Europe and the UK – from entrepreneurs, to multi-award-winning beauty and wellness brands, retailers, investors, distributors, embassies and trade bodies. And we work with you across the retail sector, and the professional sector, including the hair care market, professional nail care market, spas, salons, hotels and the aesthetics market – here’s a snapshot.
If you would like to discuss your ideas with us, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
As an international beauty and wellness consultancy, we are proud to work alongside clients from different regions of the world – Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Africa, Australia, Canada, US, Europe and the UK . We love collaborating with entrepreneurs, multi-award-winning beauty and wellness brands, retailers, investors, distributors, embassies and trade bodies across the retail sector, and the professional sector, including those selling into the hair care market, hotels, spas, professional nail care market and aesthetics market.
If you need support with devising a new strategy, developing a new product range, designing your packaging or rebranding your current product range, managing your PR, or with planning your market-entry into international markets, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
Bespoke is a brand management expert with deep industry knowledge, extensive experience and a comprehensive understanding of the beauty and personal industry in the UK and Europe, complemented by an extensive network of contacts in the relevant market segments. Bespoke’s expertise, experience and contacts significantly contributed the success of the UK/Europe project with the companies that Bespoke assisted successfully entering or well on track to enter the UK and European markets. The Bespoke team was very professional, responsive and obliging and always delivered within timeframes. It was a pleasure to work with them.
Working with Janet over the past year has been a real pleasure, she has fantastic industry experience and knowledge of the UK beauty market. She has delivered a number of webinars for my clients looking at how to enter the UK market, providing an overview of the market and how to build a strategy. She took the briefs we provided and added real value to them, included key insights and information that my clients have found incredibly useful. Feedback on these sessions has been very positive. Janet is a clear communicator and has always delivered as agreed and on time. We are continuing to work together on other projects and I very much value the conversations we share.
‘Janet has a wealth of experience across retail, buying and marketing. She conducted a full strategic review of our cross functional business and the travel retail market to develop a comprehensive buying and quality control strategy that was signed off at board level. I highly recommend her as an asset to any business.’
‘As a Queensland-based company, we were determined to tap into the European market and establish a strong presence. From the very beginning, Bespoke Advantage demonstrated a deep understanding of our export goals and objectives. Their comprehensive knowledge of the European market, coupled with their extensive network of contacts, enabled them to connect us with key decision-makers and influential stakeholders in our target countries. Their strategic guidance and insights were invaluable in shaping our export strategy and positioning us for long-term success.’
‘Through Janet’s management skills, expertise and proven track record on the job she successfully managed the purchasing of our retail operations and ensured the integrity of our brands in-stores. Her enthusiasm and total dedication, delivered results in any project she was involved in.’
‘Janet has excellent beauty market knowledge. Level headed with clear vision, direction and the ability to drive business forward, Janet led the teams through a complete product design change advising on what the key marketing messages should be, incorporating her technical knowledge and beauty expertise.’
‘Absolutely fantastic course. Condensed learning from Janet, an expert in developing beauty brands. Also, valuable introductions to expert professionals, in the Masterclass sessions. In 12 weeks, you will learn from Janet, what would take years to learn by yourself. A very worthwhile investment’