It’s one thing to have a goal.
It’s another thing entirely to have the courage, foresight, grit, and determination to figure out how to make that goal happen.
Marketing is just a tool. We use it to help brands just like yours achieve their goals.
- Get more customers?
- Conquer a new niche or territory?
- Launch a new product and generate major sales?
- Rebrand your business?
It’s all possible as long as you know not only what you want but how you’re going to get it.
That’s where a marketing strategy comes into play, but even more importantly, that’s why you need a marketing strategy plan.
What is a marketing strategy plan?
Your marketing strategy details all the things that have to happen in order to get from where you are now to your pre-determined finish line.
Having a strategy is both unifying (keeping all your employees and contractors on the same page) and informative. Once you have a strategy, you can make a plan.
There are all kinds of marketing strategy plans too. In addition to a sort of master plan that encompasses all of your marketing efforts, you may create for focused plans, plans for specific projects or marketing efforts like:
- A new product launch
- Content marketing
- E-mail marketing
- PPC campaigns like Google Ads or social media promotions
- Time-sensitive campaigns like holiday marketing pushes or seasonal promos
- A plan to penetrate a new market or attract a new audience
What does a marketing strategy plan include?
A marketing strategy plan includes all the whats, whens, and wheres that make up your plan of action. It builds on your strategy by establishing what components will be used in the campaign, where and when they’ll be distributed, and what key business performance metrics or other data points to measure and track.
More specifically, most strategic marketing plans include:
- Market research
- Information about your target market and levels of segmentation
- Brand positioning and key differentiator(s)
- Competitive analysis
- Intended marketing tactics such as types of collateral and channels to be used
- Budget (both overall and broken down by category, channel, time period, etc.)
- Metrics to be tracked and methods for tracking/evaluating them
Of course, no two marketing strategy plans are the same because no two businesses are the same. Sure, you can use a template, but then your results are limited by whatever generic outline you used for inspiration. Which brings us to the big question.
How can I get started?
There are countless ways to start formulating a marketing strategy plan. Practically speaking, the first thing you need to do is tackle the planning process, including digging into whatever existing data and market research you can find. But really, your first item of business should be finding an expert who knows the ins and outs of planning, how to avoid common pitfalls, and what steps to take to make a plan that’s unique to your brand.
Let Aliste Marketing create and implement a customized marketing strategy plan for your business.
