14 steps to build the marketing strategy of your DNVB
Get off to a good start
1. Define your buyer personas
Buyer persona = your ideal customer, the target of your marketing campaigns
You need to build a composite picture of your various types of clientele, which covers:
- Their demographic profile (what is their age, gender, location, socio-professional category...)
- Their consumption habits (why do they buy such and such product, how do they buy them, how often do they buy, what are their buying inhibitors...)
- Their means of communication and sources of information (what content is of interest to them, which media do they follow, on which social networks are they active...)
The better you identify your target's profile and buying behavior, the more you will be able to set up efficient marketing campaigns.
2. Analyze your competition
The competitive analysis or benchmark is a must for any brand building and for its marketing strategy. The steps to follow are rather simple:
- List your competitors, direct and indirect (other DTC brands, but also traditional brands)
- Identify their strengths and weaknesses in terms of image, positioning, marketing strategy and customer satisfaction
- Interpret your results by drawing conclusions on possible threats and opportunities
You may use proven methodologies such as the BCG matrix, which classifies competitors into 4 categories according to the degree of maturity of their offer on the market.
3. Clearly identify your USP(s)
USP = Unique Selling Proposition
Now that you have a clear understanding of your competition, you need to stand out. This is the purpose of the USP, which summarizes your value proposition in a way that is easy to understand and easy to remember.
Examples:
- Smoon: seamless menstrual panties, a comfortable alternative to traditional menstrual pads
- Papier Tigre : high quality stationery products that are out of the ordinary
- Respire : hygiene and beauty products that are healthy for the body and good for the planet
4. Build a strong brand platform
As a DNVB, branding is a crucial aspect of your marketing strategy. You need to develop a strong and differentiating brand image that can unite a community.
Clearly define the following elements of your identity:
- Your story
- Your vision
- Your mission
- Your values
- Your positioning
- Your personality and tone of voice
- Your graphic identity
Useful resources about the branding of some of the most iconic DNVBs:
- Analysis of the brand strategy of Casper, mattress specialist, by the Redantler agency
- Case study on the branding of the responsible sneaker brand Allbirds, by the agency Map & Fire
Set the right goals
5. Audit your existing marketing assets
Unless you are in the process of launching your brand, you can probably capitalize on:
- Existing assets
List out all the assets you have at your disposal (website & online store, flyers, press releases, content, samples, etc) and categorize them into 3 categories: what you can continue to use, what needs to be optimized or updated, and what should be discarded. Moreover, you need to identify missing resources that need to be created.
- Past campaigns
Take stock of the results and draw conclusions about potential growth levers. Don't forget to link them to the associated expenses.
This audit phase will allow you to identify the elements on which you can capitalize, as well as some of the major projects to integrate within your roadmap.
6. List out your objectives and prioritize them
This is a crucial step! Don't start building your roadmap without previously setting concrete objectives. A word of advice: settle on a limited number of objectives, which you will really stick to. Prioritize.
Also keep in mind that your goals depend on your development stage and marketing maturity.
You can use :
- The SMART method, which requires you to set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals.
- The OKR model, which consists of defining global objectives, breaking them down to all levels and associating key results to them.
7. Set your KPIs
KPI = Key Performance Indicator
You must then clearly identify the metrics that you are going to follow to determine if your actions are (or are not) in line with the set objectives. The best way to do this is to create a monitoring system like a dashboard to have a good visibility on your indicators.
A few crucial KPIs for a DNVB:
- Turnover
- Margin
- CAC or customer acquisition cost
- LTV or Lifetime value
- NPS or Net Promoter Score
- ROAS or Return On Ad Spent
8. Assess your resources
Meeting the objectives you have set will require resources. Before defining your marketing strategy more concretely, take stock of all the resources you have at your disposal:
- Your team (both your internal resources and your external resources such as agencies or freelancers)
- Your tools
- And of course, your budget
Identify the resources you might be lacking, and make trade-offs: if the goals you set are too ambitious for your resources, try to mobilize more resources or review your goals
Define the drivers of your multi-channel marketing strategy ⚙️
9. Map your marketing funnel
The sales funnel is the path followed by your target, from the moment they hear about your brand or product, right till the moment they carry out a purchase.
Mapping your sales funnel therefore consists of breaking down all the actions linked to your customer experience, to structure your marketing strategy into 4 main phases:
- Awareness: catching attention
- Consideration: arousing interest
- Conversion: provoke a decision and encourage action
- Retention: build customer loyalty and turn them into ambassadors
For each of these phases, you need to identify which channels are the most appropriate and list out the actions to implement or come up with the campaigns which need to be launched.
Some examples:
- To generate awareness: begin a contest on Instagram
- To encourage retention: set up an email campaign with a discount coupon sent on the customer's birthday
- To improve conversion: better value positive feedback from customers on your online store
10. Identify and assess your acquisition channels
Make a list of all the channels that allow you to establish contact with your target, and evaluate their potential, considering the performance of your past campaigns, and your objectives.
Some examples of acquisition channels generally used by DNVBs
- Search Engine Optimization or SEO
- email marketing
- influence marketing
- social networks
- partnerships
- online advertising or paid media: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Youtube Ads, etc.
- affiliation
Some acquisition channels are largely under-exploited by DNVBs. This is especially true for partnerships, which are still shunned by many brands.
But the good news is that Sqwad is on a mission to encourage synergies between brands, to build real online neighborhoods.
11. Build your acquisition mix
Choose the acquisition channels on which you are going to focus and define the campaigns to be launched in order of priority. Keep in mind that it is essential to diversify your acquisition channels to multiply your growth levers, gain agility and optimize your CAC. You must be able to count on:
- Sustainable growth engines with campaigns that run continuously.
- Growth boosters activated on a more occasional basis, based on targeted campaigns.
Don't hesitate to test as many acquisition channels as possible. Don't rely too much on your intuition, rely instead on the results of your tests.
Helpful Resources:
- Trendy and affordable shoe brand Clarosa explains in this episode of the podcast « Le Panier » how they increased their revenue by 20x thanks to (among other things) influencer marketing
- Men's clothing brand Paname Collection points out its main growth levers in this episode of the podcast « Les brutes e-commerce »: niche blogs and Facebook Ads
12. Establish your budget forecast
You are now in a position to make decisions in regard to the distribution of your resources, and mainly your budget. Allocate your budget to the various components of your strategy, allocating expenses by channel and by campaign.
Plan your concrete actions
13. Build your long-term roadmap
Building a roadmap with a medium or long-term horizon, for example over a year, allows you to establish your marketing vision and to set yourself a course. The purpose of this roadmap is to set a timeline for the major projects of your marketing strategy in the coming months, without going into the details of their implementation.
Keep in mind that you must maintain flexibility while planning your campaigns, and adopt a test & learn approach. It would be useless and unproductive to plan the details of your projects over the next 12 months.
You can use the GACC framework, developed by MKT1, which consists in defining the following 4 elements for each action of your marketing plan.
- Goals: what OKR or broader goal does this action stem from? What are the KPIs that need to be impacted? What is the key message to convey?
- Audience: Which specific buyer persona is targeted? Are we addressing existing customers, prospects, or both? What segmentation criteria should be used?
- Creative: what should be the perceived message or added value for the target? What are the creative expectations? What elements should be created?
- Channel: where and how will this action be visible? What will be the distribution? Will there be links to other assets?
14. Establish your short-term roadmap
All you have to do is set the outline for your project management and launch the concrete actions defined in your marketing strategy!
For example, you can establish a 3-month operational roadmap, with details of each project or campaign:
- Break down each project into tasks
- Assign them
- Plan them in time
- Track the progress of each task
You can use the RACI method, which allows you to define the role of each team member for all the project tasks
Now you have all the keys to develop the marketing strategy for your DNVB! It is recommended to update it regularly (once a year for example) to make sure that your roadmap is in keeping with your brand's strategic objectives and the evolution of your market.
By the way, what is Sqwad ?
Sqwad allows like-minded DNVBs to collaborate by leveraging each other's audiences and improve their brand awareness, not to mention, reduce their acquisition costs.
With Sqwad, you can join a community of leading brands and unlock a new acquisition channel by taking your partnerships to the next level!