Marketing and financing strategies: a partnership for success

In a context of expansion and economic transformation, attracting investment is increasingly important if companies are to strengthen their capacity to meet these new challenges.

Obtaining financing, particularly from EU funds (such as PRR and Portugal 2030), is in many cases an essential condition for making this journey.

In a process where formalities and legal requirements seem to dominate all other aspects, it’s important not to forget that it’s not just data and numbers that make companies relevant. Success in attracting investment and expanding companies – including international expansion – also depends on marketing strategy.

Marketing: how do you define a strategy?

When it comes to defining a marketing strategy, there are steps and procedures that must necessarily be followed. Starting with the means – i.e. the communication channels – is a waste of time and resources and will inevitably lead you back to the first step.

Setting SMART objectives and knowing your target audience are therefore the starting point for defining an appropriate strategy. You need to know where you want to go, outline precise and realistic objectives, focusing on concrete goals rather than trying to achieve everything and everyone at once.

Knowing who you’re talking to and the right language to be heard are also crucial points. B2B-oriented marketing is necessarily different from B2C. And even if the aim is to reach both audiences, there are different paths to take.

That’s why it’s also crucial to choose the channels and tools needed to reach these targets and potential customers/partners/investors. It’s true that an omnichannel option is a strategy in itself, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere. It has to be well thought out, otherwise the effort will be wasted and the results will be less than desired.

For example, using social media can be effective in achieving some objectives, but totally ineffective when the idea is to build a credible reputation with investors or business clients. Content marketing, on the other hand, is useful at all stages (from awareness to conversion), but you have to know when and how to apply it.

In other words, any strategy has to be thought out and designed by specialists who are able to assess the best way to achieve the objectives at each moment and in each case.

Creating and executing a marketing plan requires knowledge and time. It’s not something that happens spontaneously. Even if sometimes everything seems to be the result of a stroke of genius, the truth is that there is always a lot of work behind good results.

The implementation of a good marketing strategy therefore depends on the proper execution of all the previous steps. But it must also be accompanied by an evaluation of its performance and measures to optimize it.

Content as the key to relevance

When it comes to investment or financing, relevance is a factor that shouldn’t be overlooked. But what is a relevant company? Are we just talking about turnover, number of employees, data and graphs, or is there something else to take into account?

In a context where customers, partners and investors are demanding more from organizations than profits and positive results, the answer is simple. Relevance is measured in the contribution each company makes to the community. Whether through issues related to sustainability – increasingly a decisive factor when it comes to financing – or the way they build relationships with all the parties involved in their activity, from employees to consumers.

Helping, supporting, informing, teaching and clarifying are verbs that contribute to relevance and the creation of a solid reputation. And, once again, marketing has the necessary tools. This is not, of course, about creating a false image, because that will be easily unmasked by the increasingly intense scrutiny that companies are subjected to.

The role of marketing – particularly content marketing – is to create relevance for companies, making them stand out for their contribution.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing – that is, the use of people with the ability to create awareness, arouse interest or promote a brand, entity or idea – is increasingly present in marketing strategies.

While it’s true that influencer marketing has always existed, and in areas as diverse as politics and fashion, with the emergence and multiplication of social networks its growth has been notorious. Nowadays, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t follow so-called influencers, an activity that has become a lucrative business for brands and influencers.

But is influencer marketing the best way for an organization to achieve its goals, regardless of whether they involve creating a reputation, building a relationship with consumers or increasing sales? Can all companies integrate influencer marketing into their marketing strategies and achieve positive results? And how can these results be measured?

The answers to these questions are as many as there are companies and objectives and can only be given by those who have sufficient knowledge of how influencer marketing develops.

How can you use marketing to benefit your company?

As we’ve seen, it’s hard for a company to thrive and achieve its goals without a good marketing strategy. This is true both in cases where the goal is simply to reach new customers and in situations where it is necessary to create a reputation or reinforce relevance in the eyes of potential financiers.

The way to achieve this is often not by using internal resources, but by relying on the right partners. In an area that is constantly evolving, such as marketing, you need to ensure that the strategy is drawn up by people who keep up with changes and the latest trends and who know how to use them to your company’s advantage. Because each case is unique and requires the attention of a dedicated and specialized partner.