Marketing Strategy

Having completed a marketing audit – which is normally the first stage of a marketing strategy plan – you’ll be keen to jump forward and make plans to achieve your goals – which usually means a desire to increase sales and profitability.

The next question in the marketing planning process therefore becomes:

Where do we want to be?

This is where many people confuse a marketing strategy plan with a tactical promotional plan and the two get mixed up and get called a marketing plan. The two are very different. (in our view anyway!)

This stage takes the foundations of the marketing audit and turns it into a strategy for growth. Typically it will include:

• Formulation of a mission statement, brand values and marketing objectives
• Identification of target markets with detailed profiles of your buyer persona’s and an outline of their needs and the benefits they seek
• Ways to position your offering above all others
• An outline of the strategies that will be implemented to achieve the objectives
• There are many academic marketing models that can be referenced to help determine the best strategies, however, a useful model which highlights the main growth strategies is Ansoff’s Matrix:
  • Market Penetration: Expand existing product in to existing markets
  • Market Development: Expand existing product in to new markets
  • Product Development: New products in to existing marketing
  • Diversification: New products into new markets

 

At Simple Marketing Consultancy in Nottingham we will work with you and use the information available to help you agree the best marketing strategy for your business. As chartered marketers we are always very practical during this stage to take account of your ambitions, as well as the budget and resources that are available and will work with you to agree a plan that delivers the desired results without immediately blowing the marketing budget!