There are businesses and brands all over the globe that are succeeding in different ways. There is no one surefire way to arrange your marketing schemes to get you to the next level. There are hundreds of different of marketing approaches that vary from business to business. Some are successful and some are not.

Still, out of all of those approaches, there are three strategies that seem to stay fairly stable and at the core of many successful marketing tactics. If you’re new to marketing or just can’t seem to get your current marketing approaches to work, see what you can do to incorporate the following into

Don’t Shift Objectives: Don’t give up on your marketing goals too quickly. Switching around the very reasons for your marketing tactics will cost you time, money, and confuse your customers. Starting from scratch on anything is frustrating and can set you back.

Know Your Customers: This is perhaps one of the most important cornerstones of developing a winning marketing plan. You have to know your customers inside and out: what are their hot topics, what presses their buttons, what they are looking for at that every moment, what trends do they tend to keep up with?  If you know all of this (and more!) you will be able to more accurately target your marketing. If you want to win against your competition, it starts at knowing your audience well.

Plan Ahead: It’s hard to resist starting a marketing campaign when you are certain you have a great idea. But starting before you have the entire strategy mapped out can be dangerous. You can end up sinking a lot of money and time into a strategy that ends up stalling a few weeks later. Take the time to plan ahead; if you start with simple social marketing in the first stage, you should have a very distinct idea as to when the next phase will start. Make a plan, mark it on your calendar and—most important of all—stick to it.

What experience do you have with these three crucial points? Which do you think is more important?