Why? Just like a zebra without stripes (we mean incomplete, and basically just a horse), doing marketing without a plan can be disjointed, aimless, and ultimately ineffective. A strategic marketing plan provides direction, differentiation, and a competitive edge in a crowded marketplace.
The benefits of a marketing strategy.
Delivering a marketing strategy before implementing actual actions brings numerous benefits that can positively influence the success and efficiency of a campaign. Here are some of them:
Discovering real needs.
A well-defined strategy allows the identification and understanding of the real needs or insights of the targeted audience. This provides a solid foundation for creating and adapting messages and offers based on specific consumer requirements or addressing a specific need.
Market and competition analysis.
By delivering a marketing strategy, a comprehensive study of the market and competition is conducted, providing a clear perspective on the environment in which the campaign will operate. This enables the identification of opportunities and threats and adjusts the strategy accordingly to gain a competitive advantage.
Internal audit.
A comprehensive internal analysis, which may include stakeholders, work teams, website, and existing content, helps evaluate available capabilities and resources. This ensures the alignment of resources with objectives and allows the identification of strengths and weaknesses, laying the groundwork for efficient implementation of the strategy.
Anticipating and optimizing resources and budgets.
Delivering a marketing strategy allows for accurate estimation of resources and budgets required for implementation. This helps avoid underfunding or overfunding the project and ensures efficient resource allocation to achieve established objectives.
Anticipating necessary deliverables.
A well-defined strategy clearly establishes objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs), as well as the necessary deliverables to measure the success of the campaign. This anticipation of deliverables allows for constant monitoring and evaluation of progress and timely adjustment of the strategy to ensure long-term success.
What should a marketing strategy look like?
1. Situation Analysis: Assess internal and external factors.
2. Target Audience Identification: Define the audience demographics and psychographics.
3. Clear Objectives and Goals: Establish SMART objectives aligned with business goals.
4. Positioning and Differentiation: Determine unique selling propositions and value propositions.
5. Marketing Mix (4Ps): Decide on product, price, place, and advertising (promotion) strategies.
6. Budget Allocation and Resource Planning: Estimate costs and allocate resources.
7. Measurement and Evaluation: Set KPIs and track performance against goals.
Insights from the subsigners.
Jojo, our marketing strategist, specializes in taking a business from 0 and constructing a tailor-made plan for its own needs. Here’s her advice to every business owner or marketer when it comes to doing marketing with a purpose:
“I strongly believe that when a client has a plan for their business, the marketing shines and can pull through all the noise that is present in the market through the presence of a strategy. But when things are unclear and the owner/decision maker doesn’t have a clear goal in sight, no matter how good the strategy will be, the stakeholder will never be satisfied. And that happens because they don’t have the right expectations.
Therefore, my advice is to dig deep when asking the business owner what are their goals and why, and keep reframing the question until you can reach something palpable and reachable. You have the business problem, it’s time to find the marketing problem and put your working boots on. That’s where the strategy starts from, gets built on, and keeps getting updated on and on.
Another key component is doing your due diligence when it comes to research: the market, inside the company, and outside the company. You will be surprised how often the outside image is very different from the inside one.”
Externalize your entire marketing department.
If you think your business needs a marketing strategy that can be a long-term way to sustainable growth, but you also want an entire team that can implement all the requirements of this marketing plan, then you can choose to benefit from our services. When working with us you will have access to a team of marketing strategists, project managers, graphic designers, copywriters, social media experts, and more.
Why should you externalize your marketing department? Because, in the long term, you will save time, money, and other resources, and also, you will have the guarantee of long-lasting results for every marketing action your brand does.
If you want to get more information about our services, leave us a message.
