Marketing Strategy

You always want to start with the end in mind. What do you want your business to look like in 6 months, a year, three years, and five years? Also, keep in mind that your plan and business will change as external and internal variables impact your business.

We recommend planning 6-12 months out while revisiting your plan via analytic tools weekly or monthly.

When building a marketing plan you want to focus on things you enjoy doing. For example, if you are terrified of being on camera, don’t make video part of your marketing plan. Consider another method of getting your message out that you will enjoy doing such as writing, posting on social media, or podcasting.

The best way to kickstart the process is to get ideas down quickly without organizing them. Use whatever format makes the most sense to you. Some tools we use are whiteboards, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and brainstorming sessions. Don’t get wrapped up in the how, the most important thing is to get ideas documented so you can start plugin them into a marketing plan that you can work, much like a workout plan.

We recommend planning 6-months in advance. If COVID taught us one thing, it is that plans will change. For this reason, we have always advised on 6 (and occasionally 12) month planning phases.

The key to long-term success is to revisit your plan and the results of your plan weekly or monthly.

We measure campaigns we manage every Monday morning.

It is easy to get sucked into the latest cool tech tool that promises to solve all of your problems. As technologists, we see the cool tools that are coming out daily and we also see the fascination with how these tools can help you achieve your goals.

If you start with tactics vs. strategy you will always be chasing the next big thing. You may get a short dose of success doing so, but long-term value creation is accomplished via a strategy-driven approach to marketing and business.

Starting with strategy creates a filter you can use to evaluate if a tactic makes sense to add to your marketing plan. Without a filter, most entrepreneurs will sign up for a but of systems, tech, and education that may not fit into the strategic filters we encourage everyone to establish.

Frankly, the strategy helps you sleep better at night. You get to critically evaluate things that do or don’t make it through your strategic filter (i.e. that cool new automation tool that prints money while you sleep).

You also get to be proactive vs. reactive in your marketing approach. Thinking strategically requires you to be proactive, which is how the most durable and valuable companies operate

Websites

Let’s break this down into the core categories of website platforms:

DIY Platforms: Many of these platforms sell you with a promise that you can have a professional website up and running in a day or two for a small monthly fee. The main players in this area are Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, and others. These are phenomenal platforms to use when you are bootstrapping your business IF you have the time and patience to learn how to use them. We have built sites on Squarespace and can tell you that there is a learning curve with each of these platforms. The more skilled you are, the better it will look.

DIY or DFY platforms: The large players in this space are WordPress and WebFlow. We classify these are DIY or DFY (Done For You) because they are built for both types of users. Is it much harder to build a site in WordPress or Webflow if you have never done so before? Absolutely.

Why is it harder?

These are professional tools with a lot of options and buried functions. It can be overwhelming for new users to understand how these all fit together. If you value your time it is often best to partner with someone who understands how to use these tools to build amazing websites.

Custom development: By far the most expensive route to go, some companies determine that a custom-developed website fits best for their company. 99% of companies do not need to utilize a completely custom process given all of the frameworks and platforms that are available to today’s website seekers.

After building over 500 websites we have developed a process that works nicely. Here’s how we do it:

  1. We ask our clients to fill in a website intake form that asks probing questions
  2. Then we host a strategy session to talk through what was in the brief and probe why these things are important.
  3. We use a StoryBrand exercise to help develop the core message
  4. We gather or produce all of the materials needed to build the site such as writing copy and taking original photos.
  5. Once all of this is complete we put the information into Asana, our project management platform and we start working on the 50+ tasks that need to be accomplished when we build the site.
  6. We conduct SEO research to see how we are going to fit search into the overall site language and structure
  7. We establish a development URL with our hosting company where the site will be built and reviewed
  8. Once the site has gone through three internal review cycles we share the site with the client.
  9. We often have a review cycle or two to get the site exactly where the client wants it
  10. Once approved we take the site live by changing DNS settings, installing the SSL Certificate, email deliverability records, and other nerdy items.
  11. Once the site has propagated throughout the internet we monitor the SEO rankings if we are replacing an existing site. It is common for a site to go backward in search results for a week or two while Google re-indexes the site. If adjustments need to be made, we make them quickly.
  12. We establish a reporting package and tools our client can use to understand what is happening with their site
  13. We support the client for two years offering unlimited changes

StoryBrand is a story-telling framework developed by Donald Miller. We were introduced to the framework in 2018 and have been ravings fans of it ever since.

The summary of StoryBrand is that as a business owner or person in charge of the marketing function in your company, you need to tell your story by putting your customer in the hero role and your company is the guide who helps the customer get what they want.

A word of warning about StoryBrand…if you go through the training you will realize that all movies have the same plot:). Star Wars and Happy Gilmore are the same movies with different characters. Here’s how it goes:

A hero has a problem
The hero meets an empathetic and well-qualified guide
The guide gives the hero a plan to overcome their problem
The hero is called to action once they have the plan
The hero faces their problem and this results in success (or failure) and often an identified transformation

Rinse and repeat for all movies.

Since humans are wired to resonate with the hero’s journey, we use StoryBrand to work through the steps above and develop copy, images, and marketing that puts the customer in the hero’s seat.

When done correctly, this results in differentiation in messaging and the ability to make a genuine connection with your prospective customers online.

A website built by Diffactory can range from $2K-$20K+ with the majority of our clients falling into our $397/mo (24-month term) fully managed solution. You can learn more about this service by clicking here

Our website process is designed to deliver your new site in 4-6 weeks. This accounts for time to write copy, take photos and conduct all of the discovery work required. The actual building process typically takes one focused week.

If you have an urgent need for a new site, please ask us what we can do on the timeline. We can typically meet deadlines, even tight ones.

We understand you are hiring Diffactory to claim back your time and to make sure your site is built professionally. We need some information from you at the beginning of the process:

  1. Completion of our website intake form (15-30 minutes)
  2. Participation in a strategy session (60 minutes)

Other time commitments you should consider include reviewing the site after it is complete and responding to any questions we may have along the way.

We do our best to gather everything we need upfront so that your involvement is only necessary at the beginning and the end of the process.

Shopify

Shopify is a phenomenal platform for any online seller who wants to get a professional e-commerce website without having to develop a custom solution.

We partnered with Shopify in 2016 before the company took off. We liked their infrastructure, ease of use, and app ecosystem.

One of the common misconceptions is that Shopify is a silver bullet for all of your e-commerce needs. We feel Shopify has done a great job in marketing their solution but may also make e-commerce appear easier than it is. Without a plan to market a new e-commerce site, it is hard to gain traction. Always make sure you have a solid site and a strong go-to-market strategy that will help you win.

We often use a car buying analogy when thinking about Shopify (and WordPress). Here’s the analogy that ties in the three core parts of a Shopify build: Shopify + Themes + Apps:

  • Shopify is your engine and the chassis for your car: this is the core of your site and what keeps it running
  • Themes are the body and interior finish: this is where you determine how your site is going to look and act
  • Apps are the options packages you select: this is where you get to add new functionality to your site

To add a layer of complexity to the process, Shopify, Themes, and Apps are almost never created by the same organization.