Strategy and design
START-UP, SCALE-UP

It's time to start-up, scale-up your business
Welcome to the start of your journey to growth. You're about to make your way through five stages of business learning.
Stage 1
Strategy and design
Define the vision and mission of your business and the goals you need to get you there. You'll learn to design products and services and shape your business.
Stage 2
Set up your business
Put in place the governance, policies, processes you need in any business. Think about and mitigate potential risks and set up your finances.
Stage 3
Digital tools and technology
Learn what digital tools and technology can bring to your business. Evaluate what would work best for your goals. Plus, learn to keep your business safe online.
Stage 4
Growth planning
Look at your growth options and understand which might be best for your business.
Stage 5
Implementation
Communicate and fund your plan for growth and embed it into your business.
Stage 1
Strategy and design
Define the vision and mission of your business and the goals you need to get you there. You'll learn to design products and services and shape your business.
Stage 2
Set up your business
Put in place the governance, policies, processes you need in any business. Think about and mitigate potential risks and set up your finances.
Stage 3
Digital tools and technology
Learn what digital tools and technology can bring to your business. Evaluate what would work best for your goals. Plus, learn to keep your business safe online.
Stage 4
Growth planning
Look at your growth options and understand which might be best for your business.
Stage 5
Implementation
Communicate and fund your plan for growth and embed it into your business.
Before you get started
Make sure you download your Digital Workbook (PDF, 1MB) - it’s both a programme guide and a notebook in one. There’s no need to print it, but be sure to save a copy and update it as you progress through the lessons. For the best experience, open it using your desktop or mobile app so you can easily keep it up to date.
In this stage
Make sure your strategy is set up for success.
Design or innovate your products or services.
Put the right people in place to help achieve your goals.

Business purpose webinar
- Define your business vision, mission and goals.
- Identify your target customers.
- Find your unique selling point (USP).
If you'd prefer to take this lesson in the moment, you can access the on-demand version.

Product and service design
Lesson takes: 15 minutes
- Know if your goods and services are right for your customers.
- Describe the design process.
- Pick the right tools and methods to help you.
Get started with design
Chapter 1
How long it takes
4 minutes
The design process
What is the design process? It’s the way you create your products and services. It’s a step-by-step route to help you meet customer needs. When you use this process, you’re aiming to meet the needs of your customers and your business.
The process involves several stages. These can vary depending on the approach you take.
Generally cover the following:
Coming up with ideas
Sketching out how these would look
Building a model or prototype
Testing and refining your model
Often, you’ll loop round one or more of these stages. This can help you as you deliver and improve on your design.
It’s worth noting there are many design approaches. We’re going to look at one of them in this lesson to get you started.
Design Thinking
The Design Thinking framework is a problem-solving approach to design.
It’s a non-linear, iterative process that broadly covers the following steps.
Understand/empathise
In this first step, you’re looking to understand your customers. This means setting aside any assumptions you may have about them. You spend this time finding out what they really want and need. So you might do some market or consumer research. If you have customer data, you would analyse this. You’re gradually building up a profile of your users’ needs and wants.
Define
Next, it’s time to write a problem statement, based on your customers’ needs. This tells you what your product or service needs to solve.
Ideate
Now you know you’re trying to solve, you can start coming up with possible solutions. In this approach, the idea is to look at it from different viewpoints. Why not get together with your team to brainstorm, or use other techniques to do this? The more ideas you generate, the better. Don’t worry if you think some are not great. You can always drop them later on.
Prototype
This step is where you make one or more prototypes of your ideas. You can share and test these with others, to help you decide which ones to take further.
You’ll start to note any issues with your design, and changes you may need to make. At the end of this step, you should have a better idea of how your design will meet your users’ needs.
Test
Once you have prototypes for your solutions, it’s time to try them out. It’s important – but can be hard - to be objective here. Don’t get too attached to a particular design. Jot down what you like – and what you don’t. Get your team to test it, too. They’ll often try it out in other ways. You could also test direct with customers.
Design thinking is not linear
This is key. You won’t always move from one step to the next. You’ll be assessing what works and refining at every step, all the time.
For instance, you may come up with new ideas, while testing others. You may decide that to build a particular design, you need to go back to your users and find out more about their needs. This means you may cycle through this process many times before you reach a design that works for your users.
Other design approaches to try
Design thinking is just one way of looking at the process of design. We’ve listed a few others here, for you to compare.
Select each one to find out more.
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The Design Council describe four stages of design: Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver. The first two stages form the first 'diamond'. This is when you explore a need or issue more widely or deeply. The second diamond includes the last two stages. It's when you act on what you've found.
Just like Design Thinking, it's not linear. And you can loop back around the stages at any time, as often as you need to.
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The focus here is on building user feedback into every stage. So your customers actively help to design, build and test. When you involve them in this way, you have a better chance of designing something that really meets their needs.
While Design Thinking works well for new products or services, HCD can often help when you want to improve existing ones. By asking your customers 'how is this for you?', you can adapt your designs to meet their needs. You can also combine the two.
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In this approach, there are six phases - Understand, Define, Sketch, Decide, Prototype and Validate. Each phase has a fixed time limit. And the time limits are short. One 'sprint' through the process may only last five days - that's a day for each phase. You can then add further sprints to refine and develop your design.
For some, this approach is very appealing. Because when you produce a design this quickly, you can see at an early stage if it's worth taking forward.
Design your products
Chapter 2
How long it takes
4 minutes
New and existing products
You may have a clear design approach for new products. This might change when you want to re-design existing ones.
With a new product, you may start with your mission in mind. For example, you may aim to launch an eco-friendly hair product. You do your research and find a gap in the market. So you go ahead, designing a product and you start to sell it.
As time passes, you gather data on how your customers use this product. They may give you feedback on challenges that they face. Your focus moves from your mission to your customers’ experiences. So when you come to re-design your product, you see how to make it better for your users.
How to apply Design Thinking to product design
Let’s work through the stages of Design Thinking for products now. We’ll point out where things might be different for new and existing products.
Understand/empathise - for product design
This is where you aim to capture the needs of your users. For new products, you could use personas to do this. These are short descriptions you write that depict a type of user you want to attract. You might also use market research. For existing products, why not ask your customers directly – with surveys, interviews or through online feedback.
Define - for product design
In this stage, put your research into a problem statement. What problems do your customers face? Now try completing the question ‘How can we …(solve this problem)’.
Remember – you’re just asking the question at this point.
Ideate - for product design
This is where you come up with as many ideas as possible. Then look at each idea in turn and ask:
- How effective is this?
- How achievable is this?
This helps you refine your list of ideas. You’re now ready to take the best ones forward.
Prototype - for product design
Start by sketching out your product. You want to create a minimum viable product (MVP). This is a product with just enough features to test it and check any assumptions.
Test - for product design
Test your product with your customers and team. Listen to their feedback. What works for them? What doesn’t?
Review and iterate your product design
Remember – this process is not linear. So all the way through, you’re assessing, looping back, making changes. Then you test these changes to see if your users think it’s better.
Here's some ideas to help you design your product. Select each one to find out more
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Your users are the best people to test your designs. After all, they're the ones who will be using them. For new products, get feedback from potential users. You want to see how well the design meets their needs and expectations.
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This means looking at the product's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. What does this design do well? How can it improve? What market opportunities does it have? What are the barriers it faces?
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If you have data, use this to help you test and refine your product. Look at key performance indicators such as sales, conversion rates and user engagement.
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Seek out your team members, investors and other key people. Ask them for their feedback. This all helps to make sure the design aligns with your company's goals and values.
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Look at how your product design compares to what your competitors have. What makes your design better or different from theirs?
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Take the feedback and insights you get through testing and ideating. Tweak your design and continue iterating until you're happy with the final solution.
Product launch
Once you have a design you’re happy with, it’s time to launch. You can use the ideas and feedback from the design process to help this.
Use design insights to help with:
- Where to focus – Focus on manufacturing, distribution and physical aspects.
- What to emphasise – Highlight your product’s features, performance and durability.
- How to price – You may base this on production costs, materials and market demand.
- Promoting your product – Do this through advertising, packaging and traditional marketing channels.
- Other things to consider – What is the lifespan of the product? How durable is it?
Design your services
Chapter 3
How long it takes
3 minutes
What is service design?
Service design is different to when you design a product. When you design a service, you’re building a customer experience. And you need to think about the whole experience, from start to finish.
So you’ll think about:
- How you communicate with your users.
- Who will help to deliver the service.
- What systems or processes you need to build or change.
- What else you need.
Just like product design, your approach may be different for new services and those you want to change. When you give a new service, your customers may not have anything to compare it to. If you change the way you deliver a service, they may prefer the old way. So there are different challenges for each.
How to apply Design Thinking to service design
Let’s see how this approach works for service design. And as we look at each stage, we’ll point out any differences for new and existing services.
Understand
For service design, you are trying to find out about user experience. It’s not just about asking what users like or not. You need to know what they expect through the whole experience.
Personas or user profiles can help when you’re designing new services. If you’re looking to improve existing services, try customer journey mapping. These techniques can help you build a picture of what your users need or want from your service.
Define - for service design
Use your customer journey maps and personas to define the service experience that your users want. Try writing these down from a user’s point of view.
For instance, you might write ‘I need/want to…’ (say here what the user wants to do) ‘… so that …’ (say why they want to do this).
This helps make it clear what your customers need from your service. It also shows you what you need your service to do, to meet those needs.
Ideate - for service design
Now it’s time to come up with ideas. Try brainstorming and co-creation sessions with others to get different ideas and solutions.
Be open to new ideas and tools that can improve the service.
Prototype - for service design
When you prototype your service solution, you’re showing others how it would work.
Be creative when you think about how you’ll do this. You might start by writing down what the service does. A diagram can help you show activity flow. Add details as you go. Next, think about how you can model the whole user experience.
Your prototype should be as close to the real service experience as possible, within the timeframes you set yourself.
Test - for service design
Testing a service design means checking each stage of the experience. Just like product design, your customers can help here. What works? Does it flow or are there gaps? Do you have everything you need? This is often the point where you see what is missing.
Review and iterate your service design
Keep going around that loop. Note new ideas and feed them into your solution. Use feedback from user tests to improve your model. Keep doing this until you are happy with your design.
Service launch
When you’re happy with your service solution, it’s time to launch it. Use the ideas and feedback from your service design process to help this.
Your service design insights can help with:
- How to price – This may be based on time and expertise.
- Who delivers the service – Give your team all the tools and training they need to do this.
- Promoting your service – Tempt users with previews and discounts, use customer reviews and support.
- Other things to consider – How often will customers use your service? And for how long?
After the launch
Use metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) to measure the success of the service.
Next steps
Chapter 4
How long it takes
1 minute
What you’ve got so far
In this lesson, you learned how to:
- Work out if your goods and services are right for your customers.
- Describe the design process.
- Find the right tools and methods to help you.
Now you can start to put this into practice. Here are some resources that may help you:

HR and people
Lesson takes: 11 minutes
- Identify where HR can help you run your business.
- Recognize different HR roles, processes and policies.
- Plan how to set up HR in your business.
The purpose of HR
Chapter 1
How long it takes
4 minutes
What is HR?
HR is the people-focused part of your business. It looks after everything to do with your employees.
This includes:
- Recruitment - Finding and hiring the right people for the job.
- Employee relations - Keeping a positive work environment and resolving conflicts.
- Performance management - Setting goals, providing feedback and tracking performance.
- Compliance - Making sure the company follows labour laws and regulations.
- Training and development - Helping people to learn and grow.
How can HR help you reach your business goals?
We’ve already talked about the benefits HR can bring, but how do they make them happen? There are different roles HR plays and each can help drive aspects of your business goals.
Let's look at some now.
Hiring
HR is there to help you hire the right people. It’s there to build you a strong team that can drive business success. This can help with all your business goals.
Training
HR provides training and development to help employees improve their skills. This helps them meet business goals.
Performance
It assesses employee performance. Regular feedback can help employees meet their goals and help your business succeed.
Growth
It creates a strong culture to help your business grow. HR helps guide your business through change. This can help you adapt.
Legal
HR helps with labour laws and regulations. This reduces the risk of things like issues and fines.
Engagement
HR helps boost employee engagement and satisfaction. Happy employees can be more productive and loyal.
How HR works with other departments
Department |
How they work with HR |
---|---|
Department Operations |
How they work with HR They work together to plan and manage your workforce. This makes sure you have the right number of employees to run your business. |
Department Product team |
How they work with HR HR can provide training to help your product team. This helps them get the skills they need. |
Department Finance |
How they work with HR They need to work together to budget for things like salaries and benefits. |
Department Marketing |
How they work with HR Marketing helps HR attract talent. They help create a good image that makes it easier to attract talent. |
Department IT |
How they work with HR IT support with technology. This can help make HR’s work easier and make sure the data they work with is secure. |
Department Legal |
How they work with HR HR helps you follow labour laws and regulations. They can handle employee issues. This means they work to help to lower legal risk. |
Department Customer services |
How they work with HR Providing service and sales skills, HR can help drive better customer experiences. |
Department Leadership |
How they work with HR Working with leadership on strategy, HR can help to make your business goals happen. They also support leadership development. |
People and policies
Chapter 2
How long it takes
4 minutes
HR roles
There are many parts to HR. If you are a small business, one person can look after many of them. Larger teams can hire more people to look after different parts. Let’s look at some of the HR roles you might think about for your business. Feel free to look at any you think may be of interest. Not all the roles will be needed, but it might help you plan for the future by knowing your options.
Select each role below to find out more.
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This person handles many HR tasks. They do everything from hiring to performance. Think of them as a go-to person for all things HR.
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This person looks after pay and benefits like health insurance and holidays.
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This person focuses on finding and hiring the right people.
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This person works with company leaders to make sure their HR support helps business goals.
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This person handles employee issues. They make sure you have a positive work environment.
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This person is all about employee growth. They design and deliver training to help your people grow their skills.
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This person keeps up with legal changes and makes sure you avoid any issues.
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This person helps create an inclusive workplace. They make sure all employees feel valued.
What about HR policies?
To run a smooth and fair business, you need policies. They help you to make sure all your people understand what they should do and why. Policies can help you avoid issues and risks. HR can help you to create and look after these.
Let's look at some of the ones you should think about.
Policy |
Why it matters |
---|---|
Policy Code of conduct |
Why it matters This tells people how they should behave at work. Topics include things like values and ways of working. It also explains what can happen if people don’t follow the rules. |
Policy Harasssment |
Why it matters This policy protects people from harassment. It explains how to report issues and makes it clear how you’ll handle complaints. |
Policy Health and safety |
Why it matters This covers things like the health, well-being and physical safety of your people. |
Policy Rewards |
Why it matters This makes clear how you’ll reward your people for their work. It covers salaries, bonuses and performance reviews. |
Policy Flexibility |
Why it matters Do you allow employees to work flexible hours? Can they work from anywhere? Give the options available and what they need to qualify. It should also show how to request these options. |
Policy Security |
Why it matters This protects your assets and information. It secures both the physical workplace and online. Make sure to include cybersecurity policies. |
Policy Sustainability |
Why it matters This makes sure your business stays committed to sustainable growth. Doing this helps create a positive employer brand. It can also attract clients with similar values. |
Budgeting for HR
Chapter 3
How long it takes
3 minutes
Why do HR need a budget?
Budgeting for HR is very important. A good HR budget reserves money for salaries, benefits and other HR needs.
Key parts of a HR budget
Let’s look at what a HR budget needs to cover.
- Salaries and wages - The biggest part of the HR budget is covering employee pay.
- Benefits - Health insurance, retirement plans and other perks all need to be covered.
- Training - Employee training, workshops and development.
- Hiring - This includes things like ads, recruitment agencies and interviews.
- Technology - Money for software to help make HR processes smoother.
- Legal - Costs of following laws and handling legal issues.
- Engagement - Activities to increase your employees' satisfaction.
- Employer taxes - Like employer contribution to National Insurance (NI).
- Employer pension costs - You will also need to contribute to your employees' workplace pensions.
What tools do HR use?
HR needs the right tools to work well. Let’s look at some of the main types. Every business will have their own needs, so explore the ones that work for you.
Let's take a look at some of the tools you can think about.
Human Resource Information System (HRIS)
This system stores and manages people data. Things like holidays and personal details. It helps keep all of this safe and in one place.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
This tool helps manage the hiring process. Tracking applications, scheduling interviews and managing candidates. It can make hiring easier and faster.
Payroll Management Systems
These manage pay. They calculate things like salaries and taxes. It can help to make sure your people get paid correctly and on time.
Performance Management Software
This software helps with goals, feedback and reviews.
Learning Management System (LMS)
This helps create and track training. It offers online courses and monitors progress.
Analytics and reporting tools
These tools analyse HR data. They help to make informed decisions.

Leadership and management
Lesson takes: 6 minutes
- See the difference between leadership and management.
- Identify and self-assess skills in both areas.
- Plan your own skills development.
Leadership vs Management
Chapter 1
How long it takes
1 minute
Leadership and Management – what’s the difference?
People often use the terms ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ to describe the same things. Clearly, there’s some overlap between the two. Leaders and managers share many traits – we’ll look at these shortly. First, let’s think about the key differences between them.
Leaders |
Managers |
---|---|
Leaders Use vision to guide change |
Managers Adopt and drive change |
Leaders Define or state goals |
Managers Work with others to reach goals |
Leaders Are strategic |
Managers Are tactical |
Leaders Innovate |
Managers Follow through |
Leaders Inspire, guide and influence others |
Managers Direct, organise and support others |
Skills and traits common to both
Now you know where these two roles differ, it’s time to look at their similarities.
Skills shared by leaders and managers include:
Communication
While a leader needs to articulate their vision clearly, a manager must define and explain how others are to achieve this. For both roles, listening skills are key.
Assess your current communication skills with a Skillsoft Percipio benchmark. This will test your skills and suggest learning to help deepen them.
Problem solving
For leaders, this is often at a strategic level, while managers focus more on operational issues and how to solve these.
Assess your current problem solving skills with a Skillsoft Percipio benchmark. This will suggest learning based on where your skills are.
Decision making
Though leaders and managers make different decisions, they both need the confidence to make these and the right mindset to focus on positive outcomes.
If you want to learn more about decision making, you can sign up for one of our free licenses on Skillsoft Percipio. They have plenty of lessons to help you feel more confident in decision making.
Accountability
Good leaders and managers know that they have a responsibility for both themselves and others.
Sign up and take Skillsoft Percipio's course on accountability to help you hone your skills as a leader.
Integrity
To lead or manage others, you need their trust. Integrity and an ethical mindset can help grow this trust.
Take Skillsoft Percipio's skills benchmark on this topic to assess where you are now and get suggested learning to help deepen your skills.
The next two chapters focus on skills that you may need as an owner of a new or growing business.
Leadership skills
Chapter 2
How long it takes
2 minutes
What skills do you need to lead your business?
Every business leader is different – but successful leaders share common traits. They include vision, innovation and influence. Think about these in the context of your own business.
You don’t need a large team of people to be a business leader. These skills will help your business grow, whether you’re a sole trader just starting out or an experienced business owner who already manages others.
Having a vision – and sharing it with others
Do you have a vision – one that you can state clearly?
Understanding both your aims and your audience will help you get your message across successfully. If you want help with this you can take Skillsoft Percipio's course on 'Sharing a vision'.
Creating a culture of innovation
We’ve said that leaders innovate. This takes a creative and open mindset. Maybe you have this. Can you also inspire others to do the same?
Take Skillsoft Percipio's benchmark to assess where you are on your journey and get recommended learning to support.
Motivating others
To motivate your team, get to know each of them. Use this knowledge – and a bit of creativity – to guide your team to meet business goals.
If you want more support with motivating others you can take Skillsoft Percipio's benchmark and take their recommended learning.
Being clear, credible and persuasive
Whether sharing goals with your team or bidding for business, these are key skills.
If you want to deepen your influencing skills, you can take Skillsoft Percipio's benchmark to understand where you are and get recommended learning.
Creating a culture of inclusion
Create an inclusive culture where your people can thrive. Find out how Lloyds Banking Group are doing this and take their training for business leaders.
Curious about your leadership strengths? Want some pointers that focus on your needs? Why not try a short quiz from Be The Business to help you assess.
Management skills
Chapter 3
How long it takes
2 minutes
What skills do you need to manage your business?
When we see the word ‘management’, we tend to think about people who look after large teams. But you don’t need a team to gain from these skills. Use them to help keep your business running smoothly. They’ll shape the way you work with others in and around your business.
Key management skills:
Planning and organisation
From setting out the day's tasks to managing large-scale projects. Use these skills to balance time, money and resource constraints.
If you want to assess your skills and get recommended learning to help you grow you can take Skillsoft Percipio's free benchmark 'Managing yourself'.
Communication
A range of skills that can help you, your team and your business. This includes active listening, collaboration, presenting skills and conflict management.
If you want to deepen your communication skills take Skillsoft Percipio's course on 'Effective Team Communication'.
Decision making and problem solving
The ability to assess, work out and drive solutions on issues and opportunities of all sizes.
If you want to deepen your skills here, you can take Skillsoft Percipio's course on 'Problem solving: Generating Solutions'.
Delegation
Trusting others with tasks can help in many ways. It may free up your time, get jobs done faster and build trust in your team.
Test your delegation skills with Skillsoft Percipio's benchmark and get recommended learning to help.
Time management
This combines a range of skills. Can you prioritise, give accurate estimates and stick to them? All these skills will help your business stay on track.
If you want to deepen your skills here, you can take Skillsoft Percipio's course on 'Be Productive by Working Efficiently'.
Meeting management
Preparation is key if you want to run a meeting that keeps to time and focuses on the key aims. Get into this habit for all your meetings, from team calls to supplier talks.
Hone your meeting management skills with Skillsoft Percipio's course on running meetings.
Next steps
Chapter 4
How long it takes
1 minute
Where you are right now
In this lesson, we’ve outlined the key skills for both leadership and management. You’ve had the chance to consider each one in terms of your own skill level and the impact on your business. Now it’s time to plan your skills development.
"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other"
Where you want to be
We’ve asked you to think about the skills you need to reach your business goals. Now it’s time to build on these skills. As part of this programme, you qualify for a free Skillsoft Percipio licence. This gives you access to a wide range of videos, courses and live learning to help you grow your business skills.
Activity
Find out how to sign up for your free Skillsoft Percipio licence today!
Related learning links
The learning links here will introduce you to the courses. There are paths to help plan your skills development. Plus, you’ll get the chance to benchmark yourself in core skills.

Creating your marketing strategy
Lesson takes: 31 minutes
- Work out the channels and tools that are right for your business.
- Know how you’ll measure success.
- Start to build an effective marketing strategy.
Benefits of marketing
Chapter 1
How long it takes
1 minute
The benefits of effective marketing
Marketing is all around us. We see adverts for everything, from a pair of shoes to healthy eating campaigns. It’s not a new idea. But the tools we use to create it have changed over time. What hasn’t changed? It helps you reach your users.
Alka Seltzer’s ‘Plop Plop Fizz Fizz’ ad campaign doubled their sales in the 1960s, by encouraging customers to use twice the dose of their tablets.
So let’s look at how marketing could benefit your organisation.
Effective marketing can help you:
- Get your brand known.
- Attract and keep users.
- Target your true audience.
- Let people know what you offer.
- Build trust between you and your users.
- Sell your products or services.
What marketing looks like right now
Online ad campaigns lead the way. Not surprising, as we spend up to 143 minutes a day on social sites. We search online for everything from today’s weather to meal ideas. And each search gives clues as to who we are and what we want. Online channels give you a great base for repeated exposure. You can use them to spread your message and convert your efforts into sales or support.
We use online tools for market research, too. These help us see data on how our users behave. We can use that data to target potential users. It helps us tailor our campaigns.
So in this lesson, we’ll discuss all the marketing channels. But our focus will be on the digital ones.
Building your strategy
Chapter 2
How long it takes
11 minutes
Create your plan of action
To build an effective marketing strategy, you’ll need a plan that includes these steps:
- Set out your objectives.
- Define your unique selling point (USP).
- Understand your audience.
- Research and analyse.
- Explain your initiatives.
- Measure your success.
We’ll talk through each of these steps over the next few sections.
Set out your objectives
These are measurable goals. They say what you want to achieve with your strategy. The idea is to first define what you want to achieve, then start to plan how to do this. And when you define your marketing objectives, be sure to link them to your overall business plan.
Say you run a coffee shop. You might want to boost cake sales. A marketing goal could be: ‘increase the number of people who visit the café’. Then you’d set numbers that you can use, to measure your success over a period of time. For example, ‘increase by 25% … within the next 6 months’.
Define your USP
Your USP is your ‘unique selling point’. It’s what makes you stand out from other organisations. A clear USP gives you a solid base to build your marketing strategy on. Think about the issues you can solve for your users. Focus on the ones that no one else does, or no one else does well. This is what you can uniquely give to customers.
Your USP should be clear and easy to understand. It should take your values and mission into account - how your users know and remember you.
Run a SWOT analysis
What do you do well? What’s holding you back?
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It’s a self-assessment method that helps you focus more on your market, your brand and your USP.
To run SWOT analysis, draw up a 4x4 grid. Now think about your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and note each of these in the different parts of your grid.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Activity
Spend 5 minutes drawing up your SWOT grid. Think - what strengths can you build on? What weaknesses do you need to overcome? What trends could you make use of? What external threats are there to your organisation?
Understand your audience
As users, we want to feel understood. We want organisations to feel like they live in our world and can help us. When you understand your audience, it’s easier to see things from their point of view.
With a clear idea of how your users feel and behave, you can take a really focused approach. This helps you give a great experience right from the start. You’ll gain deeper understanding through market research, data analysis and just thinking about how you keep in touch with your current users. Let’s look at how you can build your understanding of your users.
Build a selection of typical users
Use your research, data and understanding to build personas. These are short profiles that describe each of the core types of people who use your services. They help you relate to your target audience.
Your personas should include:
Demographic
Age, location, income, and opinions.
Lifestyle
What do they enjoy and do?
Personality
How they want to connect with you and others.
Demographic
See what comes to mind in terms of age, area, income, and views. These details help you see how large your market is. From there, you can plan your approach. For example, you might see your ideal user as a woman in her late fifties. She lives in a village outside a major city and is starting to use tech to connect with her family.
Lifestyle
Is your service aimed at food lovers, thrill seekers, busy parents, office workers? Use data you already have, to help you here. For example, you might look at your social media followers. From here, you might see that your ideal user is a yoga fan who enjoys walks and nature. This helps you to craft content that is useful and interesting to your audience.
Personality
Can you see how your users talk and act? When you look at them in this way, it can show you the kind of language, message, and marketing styles that will fit them. For example, you might see your typical user as a traditional, straight-talking type who prefers plain language and clear-cut content.
Research and analyse
Part of your research will be about your audience, as you start to build a picture of your ideal user. With this in mind, you’ll have an idea of the kind of content they might respond to. And you’ll see more clearly the issues they face. Then your content can focus on how you can help.
Now look at the rest of the market and see who else serves this audience - and how they do this. Where do they succeed or fail to make an impact? Remember to keep your USP in mind and think about how it relates to your ideal user.
Others in your market
You’re not alone in your sector. Other organisations out there could be larger or have more experience. So, look at what they do to market their goods and services. Find out what works and what doesn’t work for them.
This is where you can apply your USP. You’ll start to see what’s different between your own marketing aims and what others are doing. Make the most of gaps and trends in the market to show what you have to offer.
Your marketing methods and channels
As you gather data on your user base, start to think about the best channels and ways to deliver your message.
You might try an email campaign, print, or radio advertising, social media marketing. Or maybe a multi-channel roll-out that covers all bases.
We’ll talk about each of these channels in more detail in the next chapter. But whichever channels you go for, make sure you link your decisions with your business goals and user personas.
Explain your initiatives
As you start to build your strategy, think about who needs to see it. Do you have investors or other stakeholders who need to see the benefits? If there are team members who are getting involved in the campaign, they’ll need a plan, and details. Those not involved still need to know what’s going on.
When you pull your strategy together, keep these people in mind. Make sure you give them the information they need, at a level that’s right for them.
Top tips to get you started on your strategy:
- Define your approach – Try brainstorming ideas, then carving out actions from these.
- Understand the content your audience wants – Tailor content to your users, based on the data you’ve got.
- Create personas – A rounded picture of your users helps you give a more tailored approach.
- Track reader comments – Respond to feedback to learn more about your users and improve your processes.
- Conduct surveys – Get useful clues about your users’ needs and see where you can improve.
- Check out the competition – Learn from others in your sector, and how they connect with users.
- Understand online habits – How do your audience view other content? Find out their preferred online channels.
- Use tools – Products like Google Trends to find popular search terms to keep your content relevant.
Marketing channels
Chapter 3
How long it takes
13 minutes
What are the different channels?
We see all kinds of marketing for the products we use every day. Here, we’ll group them into online and offline channels. Look through the lists and think about the snacks you like or the toothpaste you use – which channels apply?
Offline channels include:
- Leaflets, brochures, and business cards.
- Direct mail – Material that comes through the post.
- Adverts and articles in newspapers and journals.
- Posters – On billboards, buses and more.
- Networking and public speaking events.
- Trade shows.
- TV and radio ads.
- Sponsorship – For example, an event or local sports team.
Online channels include:
- Social media
- Content marketing – Blogs, articles, and other web-based content
- Search Marketing – From ‘pay-per-click’ ads on search engines to keeping your site in the top search results
- Webinars
- Podcasts
- Customer review sites
Activity
We’re about to describe some of these channels in more detail. As you read through this chapter, jot down the ones you think would work for your organisation. Note that this is just a starting list – you can change or add to it later.
Offline options
These are less common today, compared to online channels. But it’s still good to consider them. Users generally trust them more. Some have real benefits for specific products or organisations. If you have a local focus, these options can help build your client base. And they can work well with other channels, as part of a combined approach.
Let’s look at a few examples.
Face-to-face contact
Making contact in person helps you get to know your potential users – and for them to get to know you. It can build trust and show what you have to offer, in a very personal way.
You could speak at a local club or networking group. Maybe host a stand at a trade show or other event?
This platform works best if you have a product you can demo or samples to share. And if your user base is local, then face-to-face contact is certainly one to consider. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but can take up quite a bit of time and effort.
90% of consumers said that word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family were the most trusted form of advertising.
Printed media
We experience social and other online ads briefly. We view the content, then move on. But if you want to give your users a permanent physical reminder, think about printed media. Business cards, leaflets and brochures stick around as a reminder of the service you give.
You can distribute these locally, share at events, slip into related magazines, or send out with customers’ orders. Think about your audience. If you’re targeting young professionals, place posters in busy office areas in town. Are young families your chosen users? Try putting out your message near schools and family attractions. Posters on buses or taxis will give you a wide reach – think of all those ‘stuck in traffic’ moments.
Costs can vary depending on format and quantity. Think about what you want to say, and the best format for this. If you plan to raise awareness or share contact details, business cards might be best. Want users to visit your shop or café? Leaflet the area, maybe with a special offer. To drive people to your website, make sure you include a QR code in your printed media.
Online options
Also known as digital marketing, this can be cheap, quick, and easy to measure. And as more of us spend more time online, it makes sense to market using these channels.
94%
of UK adults use the internet.
82%
of Brits use social media.
4 in 5
online consumers purchased through a social media ad.
Let’s look at the main online channels, to see which ones might work for you:
- Search Marketing – Pay for online adverts, or climb to the top of the search results.
- Content Marketing – Create blogs, videos and webinars.
- Podcasts – Give your users something to listen to.
- Email Marketing – Tailor emails to attract and keep users.
- Social Media Marketing – The most popular marketing channel.
Search marketing
Search engines can be a useful place to advertise. More people are searching, more often – as these stats show:
We make an average of
3.5 billion Google searches each day
58%
users mainly use the internet to find information.
77%
Google users search at least 3 times a day.
Here are two ways to use search engines as part of your marketing strategy:
Pay for search adverts
Search engine marketing (SEM) is where you pay for adverts to appear in search results. You can go for banner or display ads, or Pay Per Click (PPC), where you only pay for the adverts that users select.
The pros:
- Expanding reach – You’re paying to appear in searches with certain keywords, to reach a wider audience.
- Building brand awareness – Appearing in searches drives follow-through and sales and pushes you further up the results.
The cons:
- Time-consuming – It takes time to plan and keep track of updates.
- Expensive – This can be quite costly, especially for smaller organisations.
Reach the top of the results
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is about making your website pages easier to find when people search online. For instance, someone types ‘how to wash swim shoes’. If your sportswear site’s blog page is in the top results, they’re more likely to select it. There are techniques you can use to improve your ranking in search engines.
The pros:
- It’s free – If you do your own SEO, there’s no cost - just your time and effort.
- Brand integrity – SEO helps attract users who tend to avoid results marked ‘Ad’.
The cons:
- It takes time – Search engine algorithms change often, and results can be slow to show.
- No assurance – User behaviour and changing algorithms mean there’s no guarantee that it will pay off.
Content marketing
This is all about web content that adds value. You might craft articles, blogs, or videos. Maybe launch podcasts or webinars. The aim is to give something extra to your users. Your content can inspire them, show expertise, and boost brand awareness.
Podcasts
When we think of online content, we often think of the visuals. Text, images, and video content all fit well in website and social channels. But don’t forget the power of audio.
With a UK audience of over 19 million, podcasts are worth a look. Podcasts are like radio shows, hosted on digital sites like YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. We don’t need to take time out to actively read this content, like we do for blogs and posts. Most of us listen while getting on with our day – travelling, doing the housework, relaxing.
And podcasts can be a cheap and easy option. You don’t need lots of fancy kit – just a computer and a microphone to get started. You’ll need a hosting site too. Buzzsprout, RSS.com or Spreaker are all examples.
Re-use your content
Spread your reach by using all your online channels. Take quotes from your blog and share them on your social sites. Short clips from podcasts can go into emails. Read longer blog posts to make a podcast episode. Link a ‘how to video’ with a website ‘top tips’ article.
The pros:
- Provocative – Content that prompts an emotional response can give you a powerful advantage.
- A reliable source – Strong and informative content builds trust in your brand.
The cons:
- It's not easy – Creating good content takes time and effort.
- It’s not free – Hiring content creators, videographers and writers can be costly.
84% of marketers said that content marketing helped meet their brand awareness goals in 2023.
Email marketing
Email marketing can help you reach new users and build relationships. You can also use it to encourage more website visits.
When you include email in your marketing strategy, do check you’re following GDPR and PECR rules.
The pros:
- Cost effective – There are no advertising fees, media space or printing costs.
- Flexible and scalable – You could target a specific group with a campaign, or send it out to a wider audience.
The cons:
- ‘Spam’ – Even if you are GDPR-compliant and users have opted in, commercial emails can still annoy people.
- Design issues – You’ll need to check for spam trigger words and to see how your email will look on different devices.
Over 50% of consumers buy from marketing emails at least once a month.
Social media marketing
Social sites like Facebook, X and Instagram give you a way to share and communicate with your users through text, images, or video.
The pros:
- Large audience – You have a potential audience of over 5 billion worldwide users.
- Connection – You can build relationships with your users in a friendly and natural way.
The cons:
- Negative publicity – Users can tag your company in negative posts. And viral posts can harm your image.
- Mixed messages – If you have lots of different people working on your posts, this can dilute your brand ‘voice’.
Remember
Don’t forget to respond to your users and address criticism. The way you connect with them and deal with complaints says a lot about your organisation.
Using software to help your online marketing
Programmatic advertising can help you reach specific users across many online channels. Social site, website and podcast owners have space for adverts. You want to buy that space. Programmatic just does the buying and selling of this space for you, automatically.
This is how it works:
- A user goes to visit a walking magazine’s website.
- Software on the publisher’s side tells advertisers ‘this ad space is available …’.
- Software from each interested advertiser says ‘this is the type of user I’m targeting, and this is how much I’ll bid for this space’.
- The publisher’s software decides which bid wins that space.
- The user sees the winner’s ad on the website.
In this example, bidding brands could include sellers of hiking boots, walking holidays and camp sites. They’re all competing for that user to see them, on that website, at that time.
The key thing here is that the software does the bidding. And software decides the winning bid. As it’s all automated, the whole process happens instantly, in the time it takes the user to land on that web page. Now, imagine this happening all the time, on PCs, mobile devices and connected TVs. It can be really effective at spreading brand awareness and getting new users.
Something this powerful is not cheap. You’re likely to need a marketing agency. But it’s a popular and fast-growing option, with the UK the third largest market worldwide.
Taking a combined approach
So now you’ve seen a range of different channels. If there’s a few you like the look of, that’s great! A good marketing strategy doesn’t rely on just one option. Instead, it combines the ones that work best for you. People often use many ways to look for the same thing – research shows that over half of them use 3-5 different channels.
Ever browsed a website, added something to your basket then decided not to buy it? Later, you see an ad on social media for the item you didn’t buy. This is multi-channel marketing at work. The channels work together, to achieve marketing goals.
Check out these well-known examples of marketing campaigns. They all used a range of channels to reach their goals.
-
One hot summer in Australia, Coca-Cola launched its 'Share a Coke' campaign. Their aim - to increase sales, through customising and social sharing.
They printed different names on Coke bottles with the phrase 'Share a Coke with ...' Print ads, bus posters, TV and social media all carried this message. Their social media channel users loved it, and the campaign went viral. People shared photos of their own 'branded' Coke bottles. They sought out bottles with the names of friends and family.
In 2015, an eCommerce shop opened for people to order bottles with their names. And 3 years later, Coke added name labels that you could remove and stick on clothes, books, and phones. All with the call to action: 'Share a Coke'.
-
In 2012, charities faced tough times. Donations dropped, as people struggled financially. Save the Children looked for a way to draw new supporters and raise funds. And they found it - in jolly knitwear.
Their campaign encouraged people to wear a Christmas jumper on a Friday in mid-December and donate £1. They used press ads, radio, TV, and online channels. Social media proved a great success, with over 34,000 mentions in 2014 alone.
Creative ideas and assets boosted the promotion. These included free knitting patterns, and activity packs for people to decorate their own jumper rather than buying a new one. They also encouraged people to pass on knitted items to their shops.
It proved a powerful and rewarding campaign. Every December, people around the UK mark Christmas Jumper Day in their own style. And it's raised over £30 million for the charity.
-
Every Autumn, the UK health agency helps smokers to quit. And they do this in a positive way, called Stoptober. They encourage people to sign up for their 28-day challenge. This was based on research that suggests if you stop smoking for 28 days, you are 5 times more likely to stop for good.
Started in 2012, the campaign runs for 28 days each October. Offline, there are TV adverts, posters, and billboards, printed cards and leaflets. Pharmacies stock printed materials. Online channels include a Stoptober app, daily emails, and social groups to give support.
In its first year, the campaign led to 350,000 quit attempts. Impressed by these results, other countries like France, New Zealand and the Netherlands started similar programmes. By 2020, the number of quit attempts totalled 2.3 million (PDF, 590KB).
Tips and ideas for a combined approach:
- Be consistent – All your posts, flyers and emails should follow the same theme. This could be seasonal, product or offer-based.
- Track your channels – Use different discount codes for different media, to see where your users found you.
- Discounts and giveaways – Try face-to-face or paper-based offers to capture email addresses (while keeping to privacy rules).
- Countdown to your next event – Use social channels to highlight a trade show or radio appearance.
- Host online competitions – To find your next ‘poster star’ or artwork to feature in your new calendar.
Test your knowledge
Try again - that's not quite right!
Hint: Think about a channel that you can only access online.
That's right!
Email is a quick and easy way to reach your users online.
The power of social media
Chapter 4
How long it takes
4 minutes
What social channels can do
As we saw in the earlier examples, social media plays a huge part in a successful marketing strategy. And with over 60 million users in the UK, you can see why it’s so popular with marketers.
If you decide to use social media in your campaigns, you need to know how to make the most of the different sites. Let’s look at their core features.
Direct communication
Social media is – well, it’s social! It prompts users to get in touch with you, and share their experience. This generates valuable word-of-mouth prospects. Having this kind of contact with users helps in so many ways. You can get to know your audience, offer better customer service, and learn how they prefer to connect with you.
It's a space where users can ask questions and raise concerns. And you can respond, encourage shares, and lay out your message.
Remember
It's important to respond to feedback quickly and calmly. Show you’ve listened, then take steps to reduce any negative impact. This shows you care about giving good customer service.
Organic content
Social channels give you the chance to share strong content to keep your audience engaged. Posting content for free means you can constantly build brand loyalty and increase exposure. Use compelling content that tempts users to follow links, to drive traffic to your website.
Most social sites give you the chance to share text, image, and video content. It’s good to include all kinds of media, to appeal to your users. Keep your videos short, and use images that are clear and relevant.
We’ve got some great tips on how to create good content.
Be aware
It's easy for posts to go viral. While this can be great for your image, it can harm it too. Think carefully about what you’re putting out there and ask: could people misunderstand it?
Paid ads
On top of the content you create, you can also tailor ads to appear in other people’s feeds. It’s another way to win new supporters and grow your brand. Make sure to pick feeds where you know your product or service may be relevant.
Influencer marketing
This is a specific type of paid advertising. You pay for influencers (people with a large social media following) to promote your brand through their blogs and posts.
Pick someone whose values and interests truly match those of your organisation. This is key – users are more likely to trust your brand if they see a real connection between it and the person they’re following.
Influencers need to tell their audience if they are working with you. This includes whether you are paying them. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has clear rules on this.
The pros:
- Helps you reach the right people – If there’s a good match between you and the influencer, their followers are likely to be interested in you too.
- Builds trust in your brand – People trust the opinions of those they follow. So if an influencer talks positively about your brand, their followers listen.
- It can save time and money – The influencer spends time on creating content, not you. And some may work with you for free products or services.
The cons:
- If you pick the wrong influencer, it could damage your brand – Not all influencers send the right message. Followers could turn against you if they don’t like what they’re reading.
- You could be in trouble if your sponsorship is not clear – If the influencer doesn’t say that you’re paying them, then they – and you – are breaking the rules.
- Beware of fake influencers – These people use bots and fake accounts to make it look like they have many followers. So you won’t get the reach you were after.
The Advertising Standards Agency has a useful guide (PDF, 2024KB) about Influencer marketing.
Evaluation
Social media platforms make it easy to measure your performance. If you launch an ad campaign, you’ll have key metrics for impressions, follow-ups, and conversions. Use this together with post tracking, to help you review and tweak your strategy.
Idea
If you want to succeed with social media marketing, you’ll need frequent posts to connect regularly with your users. This can be hard for a small business. You may need a dedicated team member to look after day-to-day posting.
Top tips for social marketing:
- Research your platforms – These sites all differ, so find the ones that work best for you. Our Social Media lesson is a good starting point.
- Create videos – This powerful format delivers strong brand recall and can drive better engagement.
- Consider chatbots – Use these to help users, take bookings, give shipping updates, and more.
- Use automated posting – These tools schedule your posts across different sites and keep your brand visible.
- Keep users’ attention with infographics – For example, write 5 Top Tips to help users, with links to add value or make an offer.
Other components
Chapter 5
How long it takes
1 minute
What are analytics?
To see if your strategy’s working, you need to take some measurements. Analytics tools can help you do this. They give you an understanding of your market, your users, and your online performance. With their help, you can see if your marketing channels are helping to reach your goals.
With these tools, you can:
- Save time and money – The tools take on data analysis tasks.
- See exactly what your users are looking for – View patterns of behaviour.
- Tailor your content.
- Target certain markets.
- Track user feedback – To give better customer service.
- Compare your performance with others in your sector.
Check out our web analytics lesson to find out more about these tools.
Tracking offline data
Analytics tools are great for your online marketing initiatives. But what about your offline activities? How do you find out if they’re working? Can analytics tools capture this data?
Here’s a few ideas on how to see if your users come from your offline campaigns:
- Discount codes – Use these on any printed assets. Then you can track your sales using that code.
- Custom landing pages – On your website, create a page that you advertise in a specific channel – for example, www.mycharity.org/radio.
- Surveys – Free tools like Survey Monkey allow you to ask, ‘where did you hear about us?’.
Summary
Chapter 6
How long it takes
1 minute
What we’ve covered
In this lesson, you’ve learned how to get started with your marketing strategy.
Let’s recap
- What marketing looks like today – The range of channels out there.
- Steps to create your marketing strategy – From setting your goals to measuring success.
- The importance of research – Looking at your users, your market and the tools you select.
- How to find the right marketing channel for you.
- The strengths and weaknesses of online options – Including SEO, email and pay-per-click campaigns.
- Social media marketing – The unique features of these platforms.
- How analytics work – Using these tools to measure your marketing initiatives.
Activity
Now you’ve seen a range of marketing channels, think about which ones might be the best for you. Review your user personas - focus on their online behaviour. Pick three channels you might use to reach that target audience. Jot down a few ideas for campaigns based on these channels. This will help when you start to design content that works for your users - and for your platform.
This is the start of your digital growth
This lesson has given you a deeper understanding of digital marketing and the tools and platforms that can help you engage users and drive business. Continue your learning with our other lessons.
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