What is a marketing strategy?
A marketing strategy refers to a business’s overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services. A marketing strategy contains the company’s value proposition, key brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and other high-level elements.
Benefits of Having A Marketing Strategy
- It helps to concentrate your resources and efforts on your best chances of success
- It increases your competitive advantage so that your company outperforms competitors in ways that matter to customers
- It increases the firm’s income more effectively
- It brings the leadership team together so that everyone is pulling in the same direction, maximizing positive results
- It gives your brand a clearer focus so that it will be better known in the marketplace
Tips for Writing a Marketing Strategy
Below are things to keep in mind when writing the marketing strategy section of your business plan to make it as effective and relevant as possible.
List your marketing goals
Define a set of specific marketing objectives based on the business objectives. These objectives will motivate you and your team while also allowing you to track your progress.
Increased market penetration (selling more existing products to existing customers) and market development are two examples of marketing objectives (selling existing products to new target markets). These marketing objectives may be long-term and may take several years to achieve. They should, however, be specific and measurable, with time frames for completion.
Make certain that your overall strategies are practical and measurable. A good marketing strategy will not be changed every year, but will be revised when your strategies or marketing goals have been met. If your external market changes due to a new competitor or new technology, or if your products significantly change, you may need to revise your strategy.
Research your market
Your marketing strategy must include research. You must collect data about your market, such as its size, growth, social trends, and demographics (population statistics such as age, gender and family type). It is critical to keep an eye on your market in order to be aware of any changes over time and to ensure that your strategy remains relevant and targeted.
Know Your Customers/Clients
The information in your marketing strategy should include all of the research you conducted during your market analysis.
Make sure you understand who your ideal customers or clients are, what they like, what they require, and what they anticipate. This will improve the accuracy and relevance of your marketing strategy to your target audience.
Remember Your Budget
You’ll outline your company’s financial analysis in another section of your business plan, but keep those figures in mind as you write your marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy may appear to be effective on its own, but you’ll struggle to meet your objectives unless you tie it directly to your financial situation.
Use the ‘7 Ps of marketing’
Utilize the 7 Ps of marketing mix to reach your target market. Your marketing strategy is more likely to succeed if you select the right combination of marketing across product, price, promotion, place, people, process, and physical evidence. To achieve your marketing strategy, you can use any combination of these.
Include Your Collateral
If you’re going to discuss marketing collateral in your marketing section, you should include samples as exhibits. Brochures, fact sheets, videos, and photographs are examples of such materials.
How to Write a Marketing Strategy for Your Business
