There is a huge difference between short term marketing and long term marketing strategies.

Marketing strategies can be a difficult thing to plan, especially for small businesses. There are a lot of factors to consider, and it can be hard to know how to allocate your resources. However, one of the most important things to consider is the time frame of your marketing strategy. Short term marketing strategies are typically used to generate quick results, while long term strategies are more focused on building sustainable brand awareness. So how do you know which strategy is right for your business?

One way to decide is to think about your goals. If you’re looking for immediate sales growth, then a short term marketing strategy might be the way to go. However, if you’re more interested in building a strong foundation for future growth, then a long term strategy might be better. Another thing to consider is your budget. Short term marketing campaigns can be expensive, so if you’re working with limited resources, a long term strategy might be a better option. Finally, it’s also important to measure your results and see what’s working (and what’s not). By regularly evaluating your progress, you’ll be able to adjust your marketing strategy as needed and ensure that you’re always moving in the right direction.

So lets look at each, and see what the pro’s and con’s are.

Short term marketing strategy

Let’s do short term first. Here’s a short term goal – I have an event coming up, and my goal is to sell twenty tickets. 

So I am going to make a facebook event page which has some branded graphics, and I am going to schedule some posts on my page. Maybe I will add it to my website. Then I’m going to send out a blanket message on messenger to every contact. Oh, and some flyers – put them together and pop them around the place. And I will book myself into that networking event next week so I can tell another 5 people about it, and put a flyer in their hands too. I need 20 people booked on, so I will find another 3 meetings to attend as well. That’ll do it. 

But I am doing a lot of work for one event here. I may succeed, but the next time I run an event I have to repeat ALL of this. This is even before the event has taken place – regardless of bums on seats. I have to do that sprint all over, next time I put on an event.

There is another pitfall. What it can look like is that I am selling something new every damn week. You’re working with short term goals when your marketing looks like this – discounts and sales, pay-per-click ads, sell sell sell. It looks like scattered social media posts when you think of something to say, rather than planning ahead. It’s the hopeful messaging of any contact you have – ‘you might like this! Please buy a ticket!’ You are doing some online or offline marketing but not both, not consistently or not very efficiently. 

Nothing joins up to achieve a goal, as you don’t know what that goal is. Thinking only in the short term… confirms you don’t see a future in your business. Tough pill, that.

Long term Marketing Strategy

So let’s look at Long term. By that, I mean strategies you work on for more than a few months to achieve the goal. (so not just the run up to this event.) Examples are: an informative and appealing website that performs well on mobile devices, near-top positions for search engine results, engaged social media audiences, growing email subscribers, returning customers, memorable original content that resonates with the buyer. A brand that people know about, they like it, and they trust it. 

Long term makes that brand yours. Your brand value really begins to come into play. The impact your brand has, how it shapes your reputation – this is where that happens. It’s also where stuff like buyer journeys, customer service and future product development lies. These three components are all customer-driven, all branding too – playing short term ignores it all.

For a long term strategy, I might be looking to boost the number of overall customers I have by 10%. Then, my strategy begins with awareness – getting my face and my business more widely known. I can look for opportunities where I can hold conversations with my target market, such as those networking events. Not purely because of this event I am running, but because they are the ones I want to build rapport with. So when reaching out to them about my event – with some prior foot-in-the-door work – I will see a better response rate.

Thinking long term, I might now turn my attention to what I am going to do after that event. Will I send them a little freebie or extra? Might I ask for feedback? Will I invite them to the next event I am running, or reserve an early bird rate for them? I’d be answering these queries with my set long term goals for visibility, customer conversion and retention. AND I’d be using what I observe from these practices to see if I am closing in on my goal. Am I on the road to getting that 10% growth?

Marketing strategies for business

In fact, this event – one where I was using a short term strategy of ‘bums on seats so I can pay my bills’- could be part of a longer term strategy. A goal to boost visibility, warm up potential buyers or deepen connections with existing customers, might help with those overhead goals when they convert into sales. 

Short term can work, and so can long term. Using the two in harmony means being in the position to sell to people, when they want you to sell to them.

Don’t sell yourself short!