Marketing Strategy and Plan Components

Ok, I'm ready to make my business start out ahead of the crowd and develop a marketing strategy but where do I start?
By Belinda Stinson

I love the 'where do I start?" question. It is the most challenging and inspiring question a business owner can ask. When working strategically the answer is simple: "what is my vision?". It is about figuring out where you want to go, achieve. Simply identifying and defining your vision and working to it will put you miles ahead of your competition.

Any Marketing Strategy is a natural flow on from the Business Strategy. The Business Strategy captures your dreams for the business - what the business is to achieve, what it's to provide, how it is to do business, where and with whom it will do business. The Business Plan in the short term vision for the business - looking at between the next one to five years of the business.

Marketing is the promotion of the business, communicating to potential and existing customers what your business is about and why they should do business with you. So the Marketing Strategy is closely linked to the Business Strategy. The Marketing Strategy also linked to the more detailed Marketing Plans - how you plan to implement the strategy.

Here we will go through the components of both a Marketing Strategy and a Marketing Plan. You'll notice there are aspects from both the Business Strategy and Plan. Without the vision in place for the business it is extremely difficult to gain a clear picture of the Marketing Strategy and Plan.

Components of a Marketing Strategy

General Overview of the Business:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses

Business Goals and Achievements:

• Profits
• Sales
• Marketing
• Business Analysis
• What is limiting profits?
• What is limiting sales?
• What are marketing efforts currently achieving?

Position in the Market Place:

• Description of Our Customers
• Our Customer's Needs
• Why Out Customers Choose Us
• What Sets Us Apart From the Competition?

Marketing Analysis:

• What do we want to achieve with marketing?
• How do we want to generate business?
• What marketing activities are we currently doing and what are they achieving?
• Are the current marketing activities working, bringing in the returns we want?
• What financial recourses are available to fund marketing?
• What financial returns do we want back on marketing investment dollars?
• What marketing strategies suit our business best (eg. referral, subscription, exclusivity, multi-approach marketing, membership, direct marketing, affiliates etc?)

Marketing Strategy:

• Our marketing strategy is:

Marketing Tactics:

• What needs to be done to implement the marketing strategy?
• What tactics/plans do we need to develop and implement?
• What are the phases or steps we need to do to implement the marketing strategy?

A Marketing Plan is where the tactics identified in the Strategy are analysed and defined. The Plan focuses on campaign specifics; it is short term and specific. It can include a summary of the business plan and marketing strategy.

Components of a Marketing Plan

• General Overview of the Business
• Business Goals
• Position in the Market Place
• Marketing Campaign Specifics

Plan:

• Goals of the Campaign
• Campaign Focus: Specific Products or General Promotion?
• Products to be Advertised/Promoted
• Measurements of Success

Evaluation of Effectiveness:

• Message

Time Frame:

• Campaign Start Date
• Length of Campaign

Budget:

• Annual Marketing Budget
• Budget For This Campaign
• Cost-Saving Measures

So here you have outlines of two documents that will revolutionise your marketing and business results because they capture and define your vision for the business. Just remember, Strategy drives all your successful marketing achievements to much greater levels of performance; not tactics. Use your business skills to build your business. Take advantage of the powerful tools you have on hand and succeed.

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