A guide to developing a brand marketing framework!

Put aside all distractions and start perceiving the world through the eyes of the most important stakeholders in business development.

This means more listening and learning, careful guidance and practice.

You’ve deployed customer surveys, created customer personas, and made calls with your most active buyers…

So, what's next?

Now you need to build a scalable, sustainable marketing engine. Think about this:

Without a blueprint, you wouldn't build a house.

Without a business plan, you won’t start a business.

You wouldn't take a road trip without a navigation system.

You can’t build an online application without wireframing the UX.

And you won’t spend money without knowing what you are going to buy (except for the rich).

So, your marketing plan should be planned too!

Whether you’re spending 10,000 RMB on Baidu ads or 100,000 RMB on TikTok videos, you need a well-planned strategy. Believe me, casting a wide net and then starting to “wait and see” is not an effective marketing approach. Every marketing plan needs to start with the results you want to achieve. RIO (Return on Investment) planning is not a guessing game.

1. Ignore stereotypes, think like a CEO, and trust the numbers you see

Marketing faces a big problem - cost. Often, top management is reluctant to invest money in new initiatives whose returns are difficult to quantify. A big reason why CEOs and CFOs believe that the marketing "funding pool" has limited value and are reluctant to invest budget is concern about effectiveness: how to determine whether marketing activities have generated any sales growth?

The way to convince them, or to prove yourself, is this: online marketing is profit-driven. It is not an investment or an expense. It works when it is executed correctly. We know it works because every step of the way is trackable, right down to the click source that generates sales. With the right tools and a little creativity, you can prove the value of marketing. Network analytics is just that powerful.

Marketing should receive the same attention and respect as any high-value business function. You just need to structure your plan around the goals that CEOs and CFOs care about most: profits and revenue. As the leader of your company’s marketing team, it’s your job to communicate the value of the results you produce.

The problem with executives is that they don’t care how much web traffic you drive, they care about how many sales and new orders your marketing spend generates. Here’s the thing, if you’re only focused on reporting clickthrough data, social media shares, and email open rates, it’s going to be hard to inspire buy-in from your executive team.

So what you need to do for these is:

Develop a strategy that positions marketing programs as a key business function that generates ROI. The problem is, it’s hard for marketers to make this mission-critical connection. Here’s what needs to be done to prove the ROI of your marketing initiatives:

1. Fee Application Instructions
2. Describe the income directly generated by the activity
3. Describe the tracking process
4. Describe the number of leads and sales generated by the marketing program
5. State the maximum profitable cost per lead (maxCPL) or cost per acquisition (maxCPA)
6. Use statistically significant numbers – small sample sizes can lead to misleading analyses
7. Create a control group to measure the success of your campaign

However, don't be too ambitious or too impatient for success. If you’re reading this guide, you’re probably running a marketing campaign for the first time. You don’t even have a strategic plan, let alone results ready to report. The reason we present this approach to you is that we want you to have a 360-degree view of what goes into preparing your marketing strategy, fully understand the type of results you should see from your investment, allowing you to have a macro perspective first and then work backwards to deploy the right plan.

Step 1: Understand the value of timing

Marketing success comes from reaching the right customer at the right time during the right customer decision process. Put yourself in the customer's shoes and think about the last time you shopped at your favorite online store.

Imagine you’re shopping for an upcoming holiday, and you might plan weeks in advance to give yourself enough time to decide what you need, but suddenly, within 24 hours, you start seeing ads for those exact items on TikTok.

Is it a coincidence? Absolutely not. A strategic and well-thought-out marketing plan goes a long way toward helping you succeed than you might realize.

You have shopped at this store before, so you left your contact information. After a while, you will receive various coupons and event information. Will you still wait to buy the items you planned? Be sure to get in early to enjoy the discount!

To a casual observer, these promotions may seem like convenient coincidences, but the reality is quite the opposite. On the other side of the computer screen is a marketer who is carefully analyzing your behavioral patterns and responding to them. And this isn’t just a marketer. They build their entire marketing system around the goal of moving customers through the purchasing funnel.

The idea is simple: Figuring out how and when to promote the right products and brands to the right customers, maximizing revenue in the process, is no simple problem, and whether you work for a big brand or run a small business, there’s one key lesson you need to remember – timing is absolutely everything.

• Banner ads perform better when shown to an audience that has already expressed interest in purchasing your product.
• Coupon codes are most relevant to customers who are interested in shopping with your brand but are reluctant (for one reason or another) to click the buy button.
• Email marketing/targeted SMS push campaigns are most appealing to customers who have subscribed to your product or brand.

When developing a time strategy, you need to consider more than just basic metrics like time on site, time of day, day of week, or month of year. What you need to do is sync the timing of your marketing campaigns with the perspective and psychology of your buyers.

This level of analysis will help your team deliver the right marketing message at the right time. As you begin your practice, try answering the following questions:

How do these marketing plans work together to effectively attract you and other potential buyers?

Step 2: Establish your core marketing goals

Every marketing plan requires a well-defined set of goals. Otherwise, you're basically shooting in the dark. Without clear goals, marketing campaigns have the potential to be dangerous for your business.

So, what types of goals does your business need to achieve?

You need to focus on goals that translate directly into ROI for your business.

For example, you can set a goal to acquire new users. Why? Because your business needs paying customers to remain sustainable.

Or another goal you might set is to increase shares and followers on your official account. Why? Because social media engagement brings exposure to your brand.

Goals should be tailored to your business revenue goals. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to determining marketing ROI. You need to really drill down into the goals your executive team cares about most: revenue and sales. Goals can be as simple as lead generation, which is a key framework for moving prospects down the sales funnel.

Customers are the lifeblood of your marketing efforts. In order to reach them effectively, you need to truly understand their needs, values, personalities, and interests. But you can’t neglect your business either. To choose the right target, you need to take three steps:

1. Identify customer needs
2. Determine your business needs
3. Bit by bit, let your company and customers connect seamlessly

Step 3: Start by asking questions

Not sure what your company's marketing goals should be? Start by asking questions and listening as actively as possible. Before you dive into any marketing strategy, there are certain types of questions you need to answer. Consider the following:

1. What are your company’s current strategic goals?

Are you looking to increase visibility or generate leads for your business? Or, you might want a little bit of both. An important thing to consider is that some marketing plans are better suited to your specific goals than others. That’s why you should understand what your company needs right now. Focus on traffic generation first, then produce corporate and product promotional videos within a few weeks. Especially in the beginning, you need to stagger your marketing spending.

2. How much upfront marketing investment can your company afford?

It’s hard to get the right marketing system right off the bat. You’ll need to run tests to see what works before you commit to scaling. You can start with a small budget. This level of spend will help you generate actionable learnings that you can reinvest to refine your marketing strategy. But without direction, even small budget investments can quickly add up, and you’ll incur early losses as you gain experience in the earliest stages of your marketing plan.

3. Who are your internal stakeholders?

Answering this question helps your team understand what results you need to drive and how to communicate them as effectively as possible.

4. What types of results can we realistically expect to achieve?

If you think marketing can transform your brand into an internet success story overnight, you’re dreaming. Those “overnight viral” marketing campaigns you see don’t happen by accident; they require careful behind-the-scenes planning. Marketing is not magic. You need to set straightforward and realistic expectations that align with the resources you’re willing to invest in your marketing program. A good way to start answering this question is to research examples of brands with business models and budgets similar to yours. Remember, you need to do more than just copy your favorite marketing campaigns. You need to tailor your marketing approach to the exact needs of your business.

Step 4: Connect marketing nodes with customers

Marketing should follow the consumer's buying cycle. These are the steps that prospects take to become clients and customers, and become returning customers.

It is best to group activities into the following key categories:

consciousness:

• Connect new prospects with your brand.
• Make sure existing customers are aware of new products and services.

participate:

• Keep new prospects interested in your company, products, and services.
• Make sure existing customers continue to re-engage with your marketing materials and view your company as a trusted resource.

decision making:

• Find new prospects at their critical decision-making point, when they might be considering a competitor instead of you.
• Reach potential customers when they are considering a product but are unsure whether to buy now or later.
• Connect with existing customers as they shop around for additional products and services.

Retention:

• Promote long-term brand loyalty.
• Connect with existing customers as they shop around for additional products and services.
• Prevent churn and attrition at all stages of the buying cycle.

2. Conclusion

It is important to remember the following concepts:

• Every marketing campaign needs to be part of a goal-driven framework. Before you start spending on testing or marketing, understand what your company wants to achieve. Even if your goal is just to try something new or learn, try to build as much experience into your decision making as possible.
• Remember, timing is everything. A strong marketing framework is built around delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time. Don't underestimate the power of this statement.
• Start by listening and asking questions. Understand what your customers want and take the time to understand your company’s most pressing priorities. A marketer’s job is to create a connection between your brand and your customers.
• Remember, your marketing plan will fall into the following core areas: awareness, engagement, decision, and retention. Learn which of these four functional areas is most important to your business and why. Make sure your marketing activities are aligned with your business’ most important goals now, in the medium term, and in the future.

Author: Operation Quick Attack

Source: Operation Quick Attack