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My guide will walk you through developing your marketing strategy. Then, I’ll explain the five steps to creating your marketing plan, plus what you should include. You’ll find practical and actionable steps, working templates, and real-life examples.
Let me point out that if you get to the end of this guide, draw up a cracking marketing strategy, then put it in a drawer and forget about it… you’ll be doing yourself no favors.
You have to refer to it regularly. Every time you plan a campaign. Every time you launch a new product. Every time you work with an influencer. Every time you plan an event.
Every time.
It’s your long term game plan that’ll show you...
A comprehensive marketing strategy will include...
Your marketing strategy is a constant from where you create your marketing plans. Now and in the future.
Your target audience will be made up of what you consider your ideal customer. If you haven't done this exercise, you'll need to download my free buyer persona template. Based on real data, it'll define your audience's behavior, pain points, goals, etc. Teaching you how to speak their language and deliver the goods.
Marketing strategy => marketing plan => execution => win!
Look up strategy in a thesaurus and one of the synonyms up for offer is - plan.
But, that’s not quite right when we’re talking about marketing
The big picture, shaped by your business strategy, your marketing strategy is your purpose. Your USPs, brand messaging. It’s what you’re offering and how you’ll deliver it with your marketing efforts. Having a clearly defined marketing strategy is essential if you want your business to grow. Once your strategy is determined, you’ll be equipped to develop an effective marketing plan.
How you’re going to deliver your key messages. What you’re going to do. On which platforms. The timeline. How you’ll measure and analyze success. Your marketing plan is how you intend to reach your marketing goals. A roadmap that will direct you through each step. From where you build your marketing campaigns.
Example...
Simples.
It’s a roadmap for you, your team, and your business to follow. It’ll help you...
Your long-term marketing strategy will build a sustainable competitive advantage. It’s all your marketing goals in one place. You’ll have done extensive market research. You’ll be focusing on the best product mix so you can achieve maximum profit and grow your business. Your marketing strategy is the foundation of all your future marketing plans.
Important stuff.
Your marketing strategy...
A successful marketing strategy will...
To build an effective marketing strategy that’ll support future marketing plans, you need discipline, time, and focus.
The process is challenging, make no mistake. But, you don’t have to start with a blank sheet, this post - Marketing strategy to marketing plan - will steer you to success.
Also, download your free copy of my special-edition eBook: Digital Marketing Strategy Guide. You'll learn how to maximize the impact of your brand and increase your productivity. It's packed full of free templates, tips and tricks, simulated Talkwalker reports, and checklists. All you need, in one place.
Establish a clear path of action.
Your strategy, if a comprehensive one, will be around for a while. At the same time, you have to remain open to changes and improvements if for instance, your competitors take a new direction, you take a new direction. Flexibility is the name of the game.
Let’s take a look at how to start writing your marketing strategy:
Having agreed your marketing strategy, you’re now ready to write your marketing plan. Your plan will identify budgeting, deadlines, key team members, channels, etc.
Remember what I said earlier, about having a flexible strategy? Your plan, more so. Suppliers increase their prices, consumer behavior changes, team members move on, economies change, markets shift. Be ready to update.
Ready to present your marketing strategy to the board?
Your strategy - your business model - will define your objectives and business goals. You’ll win new customers, boost sales, strengthen your brand value, and increase your ROI. Your marketing strategy will help focus your team’s efforts. It’ll be the foundation on which you build future marketing plans and campaigns. And, determine how you should spend your budget.
You must be honest, you must be brutal.
Look at your business and find your strengths and weaknesses, your value proposition, your competitive advantage, your target market. When your board asks, you need to be ready to answer these questions...
You’ll have to prove you’ve done your research. That you understand your target market, customers, competitors, budget, and costs.
Measuring performance is a given. KPIs should be determined so you can measure the marketing effectiveness of your content - tracking email subscribers, email engagement rate, site traffic, time spent on your website, etc.
Okay, marketing strategy agreed, time to work on your marketing plan.
Here are the five tried and tested steps that’ll help you create your next marketing plan.
There are two reasons to report on last year’s plan:
#1 - You’ll be asked to demonstrate how you dealt with the priorities for the year, to show the big picture. What was the ROI? Were the results good or bad, targets met, goals achieved? Don’t get lost in details, you just need to show the bottom line.
#2 - If you don’t review your marketing plan and all your campaigns, how will you know whether they’re working? Should a campaign be dropped as a non-starter? Would a campaign improve if tweaked? Are people engaging with your messaging? If you can’t answer these questions, you won’t be able to plan future campaigns successfully.
Why do you need goals?
If you don’t know where you want to end up, how will you know how to get there and whether you’ve arrived or not?
To set achievable marketing goals, you need to evaluate your current marketing plan. What’s working, what’s bombing?
Example
If blog traffic has increased by 10% for the last six months, a 15% month-over-month target is challenging, but not impossible.
What were your business goals? They could include...
Fine-tuning your marketing goals could be...
What did you do? Did you launch a social media marketing campaign? Optimize/repurpose blog posts? Initiate a PPC or SEO strategy? Take a look at the more specific examples below:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
What worked and what didn’t?
To answer this, use qualitative and quantitative analytics. I’m sure you know what they are, but just in case:
Quantitative analytics - looking at figures to get hard data on how consumers behave
Qualitative analytics - putting data into context to understand why consumers behave a certain way
What were the results of your previous marketing campaigns? Reporting on your campaigns effectively isn’t always easy, but it’s vital that you have a high-level overview. You can then summarize what worked and what didn’t.
This free campaign management cheat sheet will help you report on your campaigns. It highlights best practices and the metrics to prove campaign performance.
Download my Free Campaign Management Cheat Sheet!
SWOT is old school. But it works.
SWOT refers to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It’s a comprehensive audit that helps you identify the internal and external factors affecting your team’s future performance. What differentiates you from your competitors. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors, opportunities and threats are external.
If performed with brutal honesty - no point otherwise - this analysis will be a vital part of your planning process in which financial and operational goals can be set for the upcoming year, and campaigns can be created to accomplish these goals.
Old school marketing strategy - SWOT analysis.
For constructive SWOT analysis, you have to be brutally honest about the good and bad points of your business. Most of the information is subjective, so keep it simple.
What are your strengths?
Example - your team, strong brand, loyal customers, healthy balance sheet, unique tech
What are your weaknesses?
Example - brand perception is weak, out of date technology, skills lacking, slow to publish
What are your opportunities?
Example - cross-selling, entering new markets, offering new services, partnerships/co-branding, competitors late to jump on trends
What are your threats?
Example - customer choice, new competitors entering your industry, new products launched, channel conflicts, economic downturn, competitors outranking you in search engines.
SWOT analysis finished, now it’s time for another acronym - TOWS.
TOWS analysis allows you how to exploit your strengths to maximize your opportunities and minimize threats. Or, create strategies to minimize weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities and minimize weaknesses to avoid threats.
Marketing strategy - TOWS analysis - be honest or you're wasting your time.
When you start planning a process, you’ll perform a SWOT analysis. A TOWS analysis helps you work out how to move forward.
There are four TOWS strategies...
Results of a TOWS analysis will depend on how honest you’ve been with your data. Just saying...
PEST analysis - an element of crisis management - ensures a company is prepared for a change in external factors, such as political, economical, technological, social.
Is a change an opportunity to improve? Is it a threat? How will you manage this change?
Answer these kinds of questions about your business and about your competitors. The answers should be included in your marketing strategy. PEST analysis includes the following potential changes that could impact your business...
PEST analysis - Political, Economical, Social, Technological.
This is a biggie, and if you’re so inclined, I’ve a competitive intelligence guide you can check out. It’s full of techniques, real-life examples, tools, and templates.
Where do you rank compared to your competitors? Why are they outranking you? How can you outsmart your competitors?
Competitive intelligence data feeds both your marketing strategy and your marketing plan. Understanding the competition will bring new ideas and fresh insights to inspire you and your team.
Marketing strategy - competitive intelligence cycle.
Information => intelligence => action
Your brand doesn’t exist in a bubble. You must consider the broader competitive space. You must gather, analyze, and share intel about new products being launched, price cuts, new audiences, and emerging competitors. Insights into the competition will help your brand grow, protect your brand from extinction, and improve your marketing campaigns.
Quick Search competitive intelligence analysis.
Coca-Cola has a 9.4% market share in South Korea. CI identifies a country that Pepsi should target.
Here are three ways competitive intelligence will help your brand...
Look and learn!
If you'd like to read more about competitive analysis, take a look at my guide - How to conduct a competitor analysis. It walks you through the what, why, and how - to identify opportunities for improving your business.
Understand your target audience - how they communicate. Where they communicate. The demographics - gender, job title, location, interests, language, pain points. What they're spending their money on, etc. Getting to know your audience means you'll be able to write content that they're eager to engage with. Launch products that they're desperate to buy.
The goal is to attract new customers that are like the best ones you already have. Look at your existing customers and identify what makes them profitable, loyal, engaging, and fun to work with. Confirm that the ideal customer profile and marketing personas established last year, are still accurate.
Compare the results from last year with the results from this year. Did the data change? An increase in female customers? Different age bracket dominating? Depending on the results, you can target your marketing campaigns to take into consideration possible changes, ensuring you’re still targeting the correct audience. Take a look at all the demographic information you can pull out.
Audience demographics found by Talkwalker Quick Search.
Let’s regroup.
Now let’s go crazy! Or, in industry terms, let’s start planning.
Last year's marketing plan worked like a dream.
But, what worked last year, isn’t necessarily going to work in the future. The pace of change is rapid, and you need to be able to adapt your plan if necessary.
Since you drew up last year's marketing plan, you’ve launched new products, your competitors have launched new products. There have been changes in your industry, your customer base has shifted, your competitors have announced new partnerships. Your marketing strategy needs updating before you can launch any new campaigns.
Okay. Updated. It's now a relevant, working business model. It's time to start using it to create your marketing plan campaigns.
Brainstorming is for problem solving, generating new ideas, encouraging cross-functional communication, identifying your competitive advantage, and for promoting innovation.
When you brainstorm as a team - white paper, blog post, webpage, video, event, product launch - it strengthens your team, cultivating a feeling of team ownership.
One industry that has changed dramatically over the last couple of years is financial services. While traditional banking is still a thing, digital banking has increased due to the lockdowns around the world. Marketing for financial services had to adapt quickly. This kind of flexibility is crucial for brands looking to meet new consumer demands and preferences.
Ignite the little grey cells
To generate new, creative ideas and solutions with interaction and group chat. So, who do you include in your brainstorms?
Invite all those who’ll be directly involved with managing and implementing your marketing campaigns. That could include content writers, market ops, community managers, graphic designers, demand generation, UX designers, email campaign officers, SEO and SEM specialists.
But, if you've launched new features, input from the product team would be helpful. If you're targeting a new country, sales intel would be great.
Preparation
There is no preparation, you start with a blank canvas; no researching, no preconceived ideas.
Think outside the box
Yeah, sorry, I hate that expression too. But this time, it works.
Nothing destroys the energy in a brainstorm quicker than calling an idea stupid - it’s a real cheap way to prove your own superiority.
Oh yes, like it or not, you're going to have to venture out of your office and talk to people.
I've already talked about including product and sales in brainstorms, but it shouldn't stop there. Take advantage of your customer-facing teams - sales, customer support, account managers. Each team has a unique perspective on customer touchpoints, behavior, spending power. Feedback from these teams gives a more comprehensive picture of your customers and your prospects, and how to keep them happy.
Tips for sharing information...
This is information that you should have already collected for your competitive intelligence program.
What do you see? A challenge or a nightmare?
(Created by @LoriLewis & @OfficiallyChadd)
This is the heart of your team. The big picture of your overall goals, where you see your team in the future.
Tips on writing your vision statement...
Here’re some great Examples of vision statements to spark Your imagination. Brands include IKEA and Nike.
Vision for your team
Keep it simple. Take a look at the image below, that’s all it needs to be.
Your team's vision statement.
A clear, concise declaration about your marketing strategy, the reason your team exists. Focus on what your team does for the company, and what it wants to achieve. Added bonus, it helps keep your team focused on your objectives. Answer these questions...
Take a look at this blog post - What great brands do with mission statements. Eight big names and their mission statements, including Google, Amazon, and Virgin.
Tactics, strategies, tools, and coffee.
We've published several blog posts that list the best martech tools on the market, along with a guide on why you need them and the analysis you can perform. The tools you’ll need, depend on the campaigns you plan to run. Here’re some suggestions...
You’ve moved on from crazy ideas, and now it’s time to formalize your marketing plan.
You’ve outlined your target markets and brought the four Ps into play - product, price, people, promotion.
More about the four Ps of marketing later in the post.
It’s not uncommon for digital marketers to be so reactive, that we run out of time to be proactive. But, it’s imperative that we find time to plan campaigns to enable us to achieve maximum profit and sustainability.
Internal strengths and weaknesses identified, external opportunities and threats recognized, you can now build a strategy that plays on your strengths, and minimizes your weaknesses.
What assets do you currently have that you can use to make your campaigns work? These are strengths, so refer back to your SWOT analysis for inspiration.
Here’re some examples of assets you're probably already using...
Do these assets need updating? Or could they be more effective if refreshed or relaunched. Here's a helpful website launch checklist.
Action plans - what your team is going to do to achieve your goals. Each plan has to specify:
Use a template - shown below - to demonstrate how you'll achieve your vision. List your assets - refer to the last year's performance and your team's vision.
Demonstrate how you'll achieve your vision.
Where we’re at.
You’ve had a cracking brainstorming session with your team, solved issues, generated exciting new ideas, and cultivated a warm, fuzzy feeling of team ownership.
You’ve bounced ideas off other customer-facing teams and found new insights.
Vision and Mission statements are completed, and you’ve checked out some interesting stats. Now it’s time to set your goals.
Your head may be bursting with exciting ideas, goals you want to achieve. But, you can’t pluck them out of thin air. The first step to planning effective and achievable goals is to define your strategic objectives. For this you need to be SMART.
SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely.
Use a template, - shown below - and list your strategic goals.
Determine your strategic goals for the following year.
The key to setting achievable marketing goals is to understand your current position. To move forward, you have to look backwards. Makes sense?
Your choice.
Some marketing plans concentrate on a single goal, while others have 1-2 core goals that impact the bottom line, and important initiatives or channels. I’d advise against more, as you’ll lose focus.
Choose goals that you care about, that are authentic, that are achievable. The type depends on what stage your business is at. If you’re a newbie company, focus on engagement and listening to feedback to validate your products and your content. Later, focus on growth metrics.
Avoid these pitfalls:
There’s no secret formula that I can share with you. But…
Yes, I called you stupid. Live with it!
So, let's pull it all together.
You've analyzed last year's marketing strategy, checked the figures, and found the ROI. Strategy sorted, goals vs results proved. After an electrifying brainstorm, you've set SMART goals. Quantitative and qualitative analysis has revealed what worked and what didn't. Your SWOT is set in stone, and your competitors’ performance has been pulled apart.
Now it’s time to pull it all together and prepare your marketing plan for next year. Ensure you’ve allocated enough resources to achieve your goals - people and money. The size of your budget depends on how much you have to invest, and how quickly you want to see results.
Time to meet up with the board. Present your marketing plan, supported by your marketing strategy. Break it down month by month and demonstrate what your team is going to do and how you’re going to achieve it.
Good luck!
Planning next year - how will you achieve your goals?
Alrighty... time to write your marketing plan. Keep it handy, because you’ll be using it throughout all your planning, monitoring, and analysis of your campaigns. You must include…
A simple overview of your plan.
Pain points, buying behavior, goals, messaging.
Key performance indicators - to measure the success of your campaigns, such as…
Goals, strengths and weaknesses, environmental impacts, market analysis, challenges.
Prove yourself to be a thought leader in your industry with content on your website that’ll help consumers and customers visiting your site. If your site is seen as a place where they can learn and benefit from your content, they’ll keep coming back. Ensure that your messaging resonates with your target consumer. That you’re talking their language. Establish trust, and you’ll generate more leads.
Evaluate your existing content strategy to ensure it’ll work in your marketing campaign. Update or repurpose your messaging to increase engagement with your audience.
Establish which channels you’ll use to communicate with your target consumers. Which channels do they currently use? If you’re not on the same channels, you won’t be heard.
Ensure you’re on the same channels as your audience. No point promoting on Twitter if your audience hangs out on Instagram. Will you work with social media influencers? Do you use social media as part of customer support? Do you reply to every comment - good or bad? How often do you post? How are you monitoring and measuring your social media strategy?
How to create a social media report will show you everything you need to monitor and analyze, and how to present your results.
How much will you allocate to your marketing efforts - paid ads, events, digital, website? Will you need to invest in more martech tools? Does your team have the knowledge needed or will you need training? Establish who’ll be responsible for each part of your campaigns - content, social media, email, paid ads, design.
Time to meet up with the board. Present your marketing plan, supported by your marketing strategy. Break it down month by month and demonstrate what your team is going to do and how you’re going to achieve it.
Want to measure the success of your marketing strategy? Read on to discover our simple framework for campaign measurement, to prove the success of everything you do.
Enjoy!