Marketing needs to be looked at strategically from understanding your customers, your unique selling proposition and developing a marketing plan that is measurable aligning it with your overall business plan.
What is a marketing strategy? “A marketing strategy focuses on the fundamental practices that every company has to carry out – identifying customers, researching their needs, analysing factors that influence their purchasing decisions and persuading them to buy products and services from you rather than a competitor.” Chartered Institute of Marketing
Reasons why you need a marketing strategy for your business
Gives you focus
A coherent marketing strategy is a co-ordinated and realistic approach that helps you focus and get the most effective use of your marketing resources, time and budget.
Look at the big picture
You will need to look at the big picture such as political, economic, cultural and technological trends which are shaping your market and how you deal with them.
SWOT analysis of your business
You will identify the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of your business using a SWOT analysis and build on these opportunities or address any threats.
Clear objectives & strategies
A marketing strategy enables you to set marketing objectives and strategies to help you achieve these objectives.
Measure your performance
You will set clear objectives and KPIs (key performance indicators) so you can see what’s working and what isn’t. Testing, analysing and reviewing are also key to the success of any plan.
Keep an eye on your competitors
Are you clear about who your competitors are? Who are your direct and indirect competitors? Part of the process includes a competitor analysis.
Ensures you create a USP
A clearly defined USP (unique selling proposition) will help you differentiate your services from your competitors.
Aware of your market share
Do you know what your market share is? Customer demand for your services may be underestimated if you haven’t researched this.
Integrated marketing
It’s all too common for small businesses to adopt an ad-hoc approach i.e. dabble in social media, few email campaigns or attend an event. Marketing works best when all your marketing channels are integrated.
Marketing plan & schedule
Every business needs to have a marketing plan, schedule & budget that is constantly reviewed and updated.
Makes you understand your customers
Do you know who your core customers are? Are they segmented? Is your messaging different for each segment? You need a good understanding of your customers and segment your messaging.
Marketing plan is not just a list of marketing jobs
A spreadsheet of marketing activity or just a list of campaigns. It’s not just a budget or set of goals but a coherent marketing strategy that looks at your business as a whole.