Marketing activities would be on more different levels, which mean we need to avoid adding tasks that are not related to the marketing team, and that is why I believe in a more well-defined marketing structure, and the functions of the marketing team will most likely include, but aren’t limited to, the following:
Creating a market strategy:
This is usually a team effort led by the head of the marketing, whether the CMO or the VP of marketing, will work with all available senior marketing staff to set the strategy for the project. After the strategy is set then we will provide direction to other members of the team who will carry out the relevant tasks.In our case this will be carried out first ( after assembling the team ), the strategy will include the following information:
1- Identifying Business Goal:
In our case, as I understood from our meetings, these goals will include but are not limited to increasing awareness, getting more students and reaching new customers, recruiting IBs & affiliates, and most importantly drive sales throughout the project.More detailed reports regarding the project goal such as specification, measurements, achievability, and time frame will be presented in an earlier stage of the project.
2-Market research:
Research is an essential part of our marketing strategy. This could be done in House by collecting data on the market through some online tools like Similarweb, and social media, or it could be conducted by one of the marketing team members going to these countries ( Iraq, Egypt, Saudi ) and hosting a focus group or just conduct a survey, or we can hire someone from the region and give him the task to conduct full detailed research. We need to gather as much information as possible about the market, size, growth, social trends, and demographics (population statistics such as age, gender, and family type). And these will be monitored constantly due to the major and sudden changes this region faces especially in Iraq, Not much for Egypt and Saudi.
3- Profiling customers:
We will use the market research to create a profile of the potential customers that we will target and most importantly identify their motivation and for this, we will recommend for it to be carried out by an on-ground person whether we hire someone from these regions or we send someone to it. Profiling will help the team to have an idea of what to expect and have and define a pattern, including how they view investing online, where they invest, and what they invest in. It is very important to regularly review trends so we don’t miss out on new opportunities or become irrelevant with our marketing message approach.
4-Profiling competitors:
Similar to profiling customers, developing a profile of our competitors is a very important part of the marketing strategies which we will need to identify local Whitelabel IB’s, PSPs, Traders/investors, marketing tactics they use, promotions, and offers.We will use this information to identify our direct competitive advantages, what makes us different and what will help us to stand out.
5-Support for the marketing goals:
The team will list target markets and devise a set of strategies to attract and retain the marketing goal. For example, we will need to increase the social media presence, which we will focus mainly on Increasing both existing and potential clients’ awareness of the project ( posting daily videos, or tips via all platforms by the team on a daily basis ). So the corresponding strategies should be focused on increasing online social media presence by posting regular updates on Instagram, Facebook, TickTock, Twitter..etc; advertising in local magazines, billboards, holding events, targeted to potential clients; or offering discounts for new ones…etc.
Note: Testing is very important at all times but especially in the early stages of a new Project or Product, a testing budget should be set aside.
Performing online research, testing ideas and approaches on both staff and customers is very crucial to see what works.
