What is building a marketing strategy?

Building a marketing strategy is the basis of every enterprise. Properly prepared, it allows you to focus on your target group, generate sales and increase your competitive advantage. How to create a good marketing strategy?

What is a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy is all sorts of goals and marketing activities companies gathered in one comprehensive plan. It is also a document that is the key to understanding how a company should operate in various marketing areas. Its purpose is to promote a product or service and, of course, to make a profit. It is developed based on in-depth market research as well competition analysis. A well-developed marketing strategy enables the implementation of the most effective marketing methods. Moreover, it includes an explanation of the goals that the company wants to achieve through its marketing activities. It must not be confused with marketing planwhich is already a concrete application of the developed strategy. The plan answers the question "how"? On the other hand, the "what" strategy? Building a marketing strategy requires a lot of work and precision, because it is the basis of the operation of every prospering enterprise.

Strategy vs marketing plan

If we want to build a marketing strategy properly, we must know the difference between a strategy and a marketing plan, which are often confused concepts.

The marketing strategy is a comprehensive document that speaks about the strengths and weaknesses of our company and emphasizes its goals. It shows the direction of activities of a given organization in the long term. It is oriented towards appearing in the minds of consumers to ensure the company's development for many years.

A marketing plan is an inseparable part of the strategy which tells us which marketing tools we will use to achieve the above goals. It consists of: defining the target group, selection of marketing instruments or budget of activities. It is short-term based and oriented towards specific and measurable business goals. It is imperative that the plan fits in with the assumptions of the marketing strategy.

Marketing strategy - elements

Building a marketing strategy is an extremely comprehensive activity that can be approached from various sides on the basis of various factors. What elements should a well-prepared strategy contain? Looking through the prism of time, it is certainly necessary to include in it the activities of the company and competitors described so far in detail. It is necessary to indicate what was the success and what was the failure while trying to find the cause of this situation. Then you need to create a description of the present, that is, everything that is currently being implemented. What company has current strengths and weaknesses, or the state of the budget. You should also focus on the future, which is what the company has set goals and marketing plans. However, you have to remember. that the time frames are a very general breakdown of the marketing strategy. For this reason, there is a broader division focusing both on the elements related to the company itself, the environment and the implementation of marketing goals.

How to build a strategy?

Creating a marketing strategy is a thorough understanding of the company's operations, competition, market, customers and the target group. Building a marketing strategy involves several stages:

• Create a company description - as part of this, make a SWOT analysis and work out the BCG matrix.
• Define your client - in order to create effective through marketing, it is necessary to understand to whom we direct our activities. Defining a buyer persona helps us better understand our customers. Ask yourself: what target market am I trying to reach? What demographic characteristics do my clients share? What are the purchasing decisions of my target group? The above questions are the first step in building your marketing strategy to be effective.
• Get to know your products - it is worth spending time on an in-depth analysis of your products. What features do they have. How can they change someone's life? What needs do they satisfy? Why are they relevant to my clients?
• Research the competition and the market - building a marketing strategy cannot do without competitor analysis. Think about what you want to stand out from and what unique features your products have. Also analyze the market, its situation, crises, etc.
• Create a unique selling proposition - after obtaining the above information, you are able to create a unique selling proposition. It is a sentence that will convince the consumer that it is your products that he needs.
• Specify the budget - each strategy requires a budget. Specified financial expenses will allow you to stick to the plan and not fall into debt.
• Define your strategy goals - each strategy should have a goal. To define it well, it is worth conducting a SMART analysis that will help you achieve a measurable result. In this place, there will be such elements as, for example: a marketing plan, a communication strategy, and even a sales strategy.
• Define marketing methods - when you get to know the market, customers and your resources, you need to choose marketing tools and methods targeted at your target group. Think about the best way to show your products / services. Which platform will convince customers to buy? It could be internet advertising, SEO activities, TV advertising, and maybe advertising activities in social media. There are many possibilities. You should choose those that will bring success to you.