Marketing strategy

By failing to plan are you planning to fail?

The marketing strategy serves as the long-term action plan for your business's success. It is the process that allows you to focus your business resources on the best opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

One of the key elements of a successful marketing strategy is a thorough understanding of who your customers are and what "needs" they are looking to satisfy. The ability to satisfy your customers' needs better than your competitors do can help you build customer loyalty and increase sales. In spite of this, both customer needs and the business environment in which you operate are constantly changing. Your marketing strategy will consider what changes are taking place, and the opportunities and threats that are emerging.

A marketing strategy will also help you assess how successful you are at meeting your customers' needs, as well as how successful your competitors are. It may also help you identify new markets that you can successfully target.

Crystal Ball Marketing will work closely with your business to formulate your marketing strategy. The marketing strategy document will include the following elements:

• Business Audit
• Introduction & Mission Statement
• Current Market Position
• Market Overview
• SWOT Analysis
• Assumptions
• Objectives
• Strategy for target market, brand, 4p’s & services marketing (if applicable)
• Resource Requirements and Budgets

Customer is king

Customer groups or segments can be identified and each targeted with marketing activities that specifically addresses their particular needs. In order to meet customer needs and remain competitive, it is important to identify and respond to any changes in customer needs and attitudes in your industry and in the broader business environment.

We will therefore be able to create a marketing strategy that makes the most of your strengths and matches them to the needs of the customers you want to target.

The marketing plan

The marketing plan is how your business puts its marketing strategy into practice. A good marketing plan works with your overall marketing strategy and the business environment you operate in. Your marketing plan must do more than just say what you want to happen. It must include how you will make sure that it happens. The plan should include a schedule of key tasks. This sets out what will be done, and by when.

Without a schedule, it's all too easy to get bogged down dealing with day-to-day tasks and lose sight of what you are trying to achieve. It should also assess what resources you need. For example, you might need to think about what brochures you need, and whether they need to be available for digital distribution (by email or from your website).

You might also need to look at how much time it takes to sell to customers and whether you have enough salespeople. The cost of everything in the plan needs to be included in a budget. If your finances are limited, your plan will need to take that into account. You may also want to link your marketing budget to your sales forecast.

Once you have decided what your marketing objectives are, and your strategy for meeting them, you need to plan how you will make the strategy a reality. Many businesses find it helpful to think in terms of the 7Ps: Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, People, Processes & Physical Evidence.

• The Marketing Plan will include:
• Business background
• Objectives
• Broad strategy
• PEST analysis
• SWOT analysis (derived from marketing strategy)
• Marketing Tactics – 7P’s
• Consideration of budget

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