The term marketing strategy isn’t scary. Though it can strike fear into the hearts of both marketers and non-marketers alike. What many people do though is try and develop a Marketing Strategy in isolation. It is absolutely vital that a marketing strategy is developed in line with and directly alongside a Business Plan/Business Strategy. This is the only way you can be sure your marketing is going to get you the results you want to grow your business.
Many of you will have come across the 4 P’s (or even 5 P’s or 7 P’s) of marketing:
- Product
- Price
- Promotion
- Place
- (People)
These have been around for many years, and the reason is they are still 100% relevant when it comes to creating a marketing strategy, certainly as a basic guide.
Following a structured process means you can harness all the creativity required to create great marketing, whilst ensuring this is directed in the right ways to get you the results your business needs.
Here’s how we do it at Happy:
- What is it that you do, that others don’t? (describe your USP)
As the starting point for any marketing strategy this can sometimes be the scariest part. We can get so used to working within our companies that a mix of lots of different unique selling points (USP) seems to be the answer. However, the process of getting to the core of what it is that you do is at the heart of any marketing strategy.
Sometimes describing your USP seems straightforward, and sometimes it is. However it is often worth revisiting this once you’ve completed stage 5 to check that it really is your USP!
- What is your target market?
Defining your target market clearly is a key factor in all the marketing activities that then flow from your strategy. We have seen many examples where target markets aren’t clearly defined and that will inevitably lead to muddled messages and poorly targeted messages and the use of the wrong marketing methods.
Sometimes your target market changes over time, so revisiting the process of defining it will keep your marketing choices bang on track.
- What are the benefits of your products or services?
Step 3 comes very naturally to many businesses, but is often executed poorly. This is often the case when a technical product or service is involved. Writing down the benefits of your products or services should always be done from the point of view of putting yourself in the shoes of your potential targets and asking… So What?
Defining the benefits of your products or services from the point of view of your potential buyers will give you a huge advantage when executing your marketing.
- How will you position your products or services?
Positioning your products or services is essentially how you are going to be getting them to your targets. That isn’t just in terms of distributing them, but how they will be positioned against competitors, how customers will interact with the products/services. Are they cheap or expensive? Are they a premium one-off purchase or a mass market repeat sale?
All of these questions and more define not just your marketing, but the whole structure of your business.
- What marketing methods will you use?
Defining your preferred marketing methods is the final crucial part. This can only happen once you have defined steps 1 to 4 as it is through those steps that you can focus on your target market. This leads to an understanding of what marketing methods would be most suitable.
For example, if your target market was largely female and had no relation to sport it could be a very expensive mistake using football ground hoardings to advertise your products/service.
The best approach with any marketing method is to consider the full range of methods that are available first before zeroing in on the crucial ones. It is always best, and will get you the best results to look at your marketing methods as an integrated group. Deploying marketing methods in isolation leads to lesser results, guaranteed.
Simon Brooke is a Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
