Last updated on September 24th, 2024 at 04:07 pm
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu, author of ‘The Art of War’
Developing a strategy in marketing for your business is now an essential requirement rather than just a good-to-have option. In today’s dynamic business world, having a well-defined marketing strategy is crucial to staying ahead of the competition. Without a concrete marketing strategy in place, you risk wasting your time, efforts and marketing dollars on ineffective campaigns and activities.
What Is a Marketing Strategy?
To prevent that from happening, you need to map out a marketing master plan before any execution. A marketing strategy is defined as the overall game plan of a business, a roadmap for your business to reach prospects and turn them into customers of your products and/or services. In brief, it should include an achievable and specific marketing-related goal or goals, your company’s value proposition, target audience, financial objectives and budget, as well as extensive research and conclusions on elements such as your brand, business and industry, competitors, and more.
Why Does Your Company Need to Create a Strategy In Marketing?
“Marketing takes a day to learn. Unfortunately it takes a lifetime to master.” ~ Philip Kotler, American marketing author and the ‘Father of Modern Marketing’, best known for popularizing the definition of marketing mix.
Help You Create a Guide for Your Business to Achieve Its Goals
Whether you are a startup or an established business, creating a strategy in marketing with a master plan of action is critical because it will help you develop a roadmap or a guide for your business to achieve its goals.
According to Philip Kotler in his book ‘Marketing Management‘, a marketing strategy is “the basic approach that the business unit will use to attain its goals and which comprises of elaborate decisions (strategies) on largest markets, market positioning and mix and marketing expenditure allocation.” Other authors in the industry such as David Aaker and Michael Mills, and Michael Porter, refer to a marketing strategy as an ‘over-riding directional concept’ that guides us in the ‘planned path’, a formu for how your business is going to compete and achieve its goals.
Reduce Time and Effort
Besides preventing you from wasting your time, efforts and money dollars, a suitable marketing blueprint can also lessen the time and effort it takes for your business to achieve its desired objectives. This is because employees in your team will already have been informed and updated by your marketing strategy, with everyone knowing what to expect, and what they need to do. Most importantly, it will reduce the possibility of duplicated efforts as each team member will know exactly their own responsibilities.
Help You Identify Your Audience and Attract Prospects
In your marketing strategy, you need to identify and segment your audience, and define how you can attract and reach prospective leads and turn them into loyal customers of your products or services. It should also encourage your existing customers to maintain their purchase relationship with your company and not product- or service-hop.
Force Your Business to Focus Its Resources on Effective Platforms
Such a marketing roadmap will also force a business to focus its limited resources on the best opportunities and channels to increase sales and its competitive advantage, and achieve a sustainable return on investment.
Enable You to Create a Repeatable System to Grow Profits
Without a strategy in place, a business will not have a repeatable system that can predictably generate profit and grow. Such a system will enable you to scale your business, or just hand it over to another team or employee to implement it. A well-planned marketing strategy will also keep every employee in the company on the same page, and enhance brand awareness.
When Is a Marketing Strategy Developed?
A marketing strategy should rightfully be developed and planned before you even start your business, although according to a 2019 survey, of 350 small and medium-sized businesses, half of them are operating without any plan at all. It is definitely not effective for you to operate a business without knowing what your direction is, or where you are going – you must know your vision, objectives, target audience, or understand the market and competitors before starting a business.
Differences Between a Marketing Strategy and a Marketing Plan, a Marketing Tactic and a Marketing Campaign
What Is the Difference Between a Marketing Strategy and a Marketing Plan?
Often, the terms ‘marketing strategy’ and ‘marketing plan’ are used interchangeably because sometimes, the strategy and the plan may be placed into the same document. This is true particularly for small and medium-sized companies who may not have big budgets for multiple marketing campaigns throughout the year.
For bigger companies, ‘marketing strategy’ and ‘marketing plan’ can be different. The information you received from the marketing strategy, which outlines the overall value proposition, is then used to create your marketing plan, which outlines marketing activities on a monthly basis (well, mostly, though some are drafted on a quarterly basis).
What Is the Difference Between a Marketing Strategy and a Marketing Tactic?
A marketing strategy is considered a destination – your overall, focused plan to achieve your end marketing goal, while a marketing tactic refers to a specific action that you can choose to take throughout your strategy to help you promote your products and/or services and achieve your goals. Such marketing tactics are definable steps within your strategy, and they include social media, content marketing, SEO, advertising, PR, events, radio, TV ads, print ads, and so on.
What Is the Difference Between a Marketing Strategy and a Marketing Campaign?
Your marketing strategy for the year should encompass a few marketing campaigns, defined as short-term activities executed to achieve specific goals of a company, spread out across different months.
What Do You Need to Include In Your Strategy?
Once you have understood the basics, your next task is to develop the actual strategy.
I have spent countless hours to develop a 40-page marketing strategy ebook, which includes detailed explanations of all aspects of the strategy, plus a giant infographic template, a 25-page editable Powerpoint marketing strategy template and an editable Excel marketing plan template. This kit will be an excellent backbone for any company, entrepreneur or marketer to design and execute the most effective marketing plan in the new year. Here are the major sections:
Part A: Research and Analysis
Part B: Defining the Marketing Strategy
Part C: The Marketing Mix
Part D: Analysis and ROI
This giant downloadable kit is the result of years of experience, research and more than 1,500 hours of work, all condensed into an easy-to-use framework. So instead of spending the next few weeks trying to develop the strategy yourself, you can just use the Marketing Strategy Catalyst kit to develop a winning marketing strategy plan for your brand or company, saving your time and efforts. You can get it here. Here’s what it includes again:
- [e-book] A 40-page marketing strategy e-book
- [Powerpoint] A 25-page editable Powerpoint strategy template
- [Infographic] A giant infographic strategy reference guide
- [Excel] An editable, month-by-month marketing plan template
Get it here now.
Get Started Here!
Are you finding that your marketing efforts aren’t generating the results you want? It may be time for a marketing tune-up. With over 20 years of experience in branding, marketing and communications, I can conduct a free, no-obligation marketing diagnosis to identify areas where you can reduce costs or boost leads. Don’t let your marketing efforts fall short – let’s work together to get your strategy on track and achieve the results you want! Contact me at +65-9622-8824 or bei@beithoven.com.
Bei, a bilingual (English/Chinese) Singapore content strategist, has over 20 years of experience in marketing for small businesses. She mostly writes about China marketing (Chinese market marketing), content marketing, SEO, GenAI, metaverses, and social media.