strategic marketing plan combines

Decide what you already have in your arsenal that can help you create your strategy. To streamline this process, think of your assets in three categories – paid, owned, and earned media.

Paid media means any channel you spend money on to attract your target audience. This includes offline channels like television, direct mail, and billboard to online channels like social media, search engines, and websites.
Owned Media refers to any of the media your marketing team has to create: pictures, videos, podcasts, ebooks, infographics, etc.
Earned media is another way to say user-generated content . Shares on social media, tweets about your business, and photos posted on Instagram mentioning your brand are all examples of earned media.

Gather your materials in each media type and consolidate them in one location to have a clear vision of what you have and how you can integrate them to maximize your strategy.

For example, if you already have a blog that's rolling out weekly content in your niche (owned media), you might consider promoting your blog posts on Twitter (paid media), which customers might then reTweet (earned media). Ultimately, that will help you create a better, more well-rounded marketing strategy.

If you have resources that don't fit into your goals, nix them. This is a great time to clean house and identify gaps in your materials.

6. Audit and plan media campaigns.

Cleaning house segues straight into this step. Now, you must decide which content is going to help you.

Focus on your owned media and marketing goals. For instance, will updating the CTAs at the end of your blog posts help you increase RSVPs to your event?

Next, look at your buyer personas. Let's say you work for a video editing software company. If one of your persona's challenges is adding clean sound effects to their videos but you don't have any content that reflects that, make a 15-second demo video for Instagram to show how great your product is at solving that challenge.

Finally, create a content creation plan. The plan should include topic clusters, goals, format, and channel for each piece of content. Be sure to include which challenge it's solving for your buyer persona.

For ideas on content creation or a more in-depth look at how to create a content plan, check out our post, The Ultimate Guide to Content Creation .

7. Bring it to fruition.

At this point, your market research and planning should help you visualize how your strategy will be executed – and by which teams.

The final step is to bring that all together and assign actions to your plans.

Create a document that maps out the steps you need to take to execute your campaign. In other words, define your strategy.

Think long-term when creating this document. A standard strategy document is 12 months. This structured timeline should be the home base for your strategic marketing efforts.

To paint an example, let's go back to the video software company.

Maybe in January, you will launch a software update that improves the exportation process for users. In April, you want to publish an ebook that explains editing terms to your buyer personas, and in September, you plan to launch an integration with other software.

Remember, your digital strategy is unique to your business, so the document should be as well. As long as the strategy includes the pertinent details outlined in previous sections, you'll be set.

Now that we've explored the critical steps of a complete marketing strategy, let's look at some "Why didn't I think of that?" strategies to inspire your own.

1. Regal Movies

Digital strategy: owned media.

Regal Movies took the Halloween spirit to a new level, even renaming its Twitter account to reflect the spirit of the season. This "Monster Madness" poll is a fun, interactive way to get followers invested in Regal's content:

In this case, the consumer is praising the brand’s product. Doesn’t get better than a fantastic review like that.

3. Small Girls PR

Digital strategy: event marketing.

Wait, is that Keke Palmer?

Small Girls PR is a boutique PR company based in New York, and one of the company's talents is throwing amazing events for their clients, like Olay. This event recap carousel on Instagram is an effective event marketing example, as it boosts awareness for your brand and offers social proof by featuring a public figure.

4. Superside

Digital strategy: paid media.

Design agency Superside launched an Instagram ad to promote a lead magnet: Their digital ad design guide. While the brand may have created the guide specifically for paid promotions, it’s also possible that they repurposed a high-performing blog post into a downloadable ebook.

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What is a Marketing Plan & How to Write One [+Examples]

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Thursday 28th Mar 2019

How to write a strategic marketing plan

The power of a well thought through and executed strategic marketing plan can have a profound impact on your growth ambitions. It’s overarching goal is to identify your target market and customers, understand how to reach and engage in a way that suits them, and in doing so, turn them from a potential customer into a raving fan. Your marketing strategy is one of the most important strategies you will ever develop, and it’s worth taking the time to get it right.

One of the easiest things in the world today is to find a book, a website, or a blog about marketing. Which is why I’m NOT going to talk endlessly about marketing theory, strategies, techniques or tactics here.

You see, most entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders get caught with the ‘ shiny object syndrome’ (SOS). The shiny object syndrome is simply getting distracted by endless new ideas, developments or innovations without truly understanding whether it’s right for their business or their customers or whether it’s the right time to implement. Anything new or ‘sparkly’ catches their eye and before you know it they or their team are researching, investigating and implementing it.

So what I want to do is give you some practical ideas to help you write your strategic marketing plan. A single document that combines all of your marketing goals and priorities with the strategic objectives of your business so if, or when, you are overcome with ‘SOS’ you can refer back to your strategic marketing plan and say ‘thank you, but no thank you. I don’t want to take my business down the wrong path’.

What to include in your strategic marketing plan

You’ve probably heard the principle of spending an hour to save five minutes (those five minutes being saved over and over again, forever, thanks to the hour long investment you have made), and that’s precisely the point of a structured strategic marketing plan.

Don’t allow ideas to live in your head, or to be the basis of informal, or even formal discussions. A strategic marketing plan is your comprehensive document or blueprint that details the current market position of your business, your target market, a description of the marketing mix you’ll use to achieve your marketing goals and most importantly, how you’ll measure whether it’s working or not.

Section 1: Executive Summary

This is the last section you’ll write as it summarises everything included in your plan. It should be short and succinct. Your executive summary should allow the reader to easily grasp the fundamentals of what you are trying to achieve and instantly make the decision as to whether they want to read more.

Section 2: Market Potential & Target Customer

Defining your market potential will identify the overall market size, the total revenue opportunity for your product or service, and your target customer. When looking at market size and opportunity it’s important to quantify how many customers are willing to pay for your products or services and who those customers are. A baseline estimate is better than no estimate at all. Without knowing your market size you may be conducting business in a market so small, it’s next to impossible to make any money. This section should validate your target market can deliver sustained and profitable business growth, making your marketing efforts viable and realistic.

Market Size: 13 questions to help you define the opportunity

Not sure how to define your market potential and target customer? Check out these 13 questions here

Section 3: Compelling Value Proposition

Document how you differentiate your products and services, and what you believe is your competitive edge. Most likely if a business doesn’t have or can’t develop competitive advantages they won’t survive. Know your business; your strengths, weakness, threats and opportunities ( SWOT analysis ) and know the same of your competitors.

Create a baseline of precisely where you’re at with the maturity of your current product & service offering as this will give you the platform to systematically and strategically enhance and develop your value proposition. Knowing your ultimate goal is to become truly market leading.

Not sure how to map out your CVP? Read 5 steps to building a compelling value proposition .

Section 4: Market & Price Positioning

Market and price positioning is a highly complex area: get it right and sales and profit flow; get it wrong one way and sales flow, but profit is poor; the other way and sales are poor, but profit per transaction is good. Any market and price positioning should be based on informed, decision making aligned to your long-term strategic goals.

A good book to check out is ‘ Blue Ocean Strategy’ which focuses on how to create new market space, and in doing so, you make the competition irrelevant. Consider your market position; differentiated, undifferentiated, low end or high-end and identify your white space opportunity.

Detail how you set or adjust your prices including any promotional pricing you may implement (discounts, product bundling etc.) across your various product lines and most importantly, the rational for this (end of product line, up-sell or cross sell opportunity).

Section 5: Distribution (Place)

Your distribution channel – your route to market – should make it easy for your customers to buy what you are offering, in the way they want to buy it, at the time they want to and are ready to consume it. Include your current channels to market and your plans or aspirations to consider new ones i.e. e-commerce / online.

Section 6: Promotion

Naturally this section should be the largest section in your strategic marketing plan. It will detail how you are going to ‘promote’ your products and services (section 3), to your target audience (section 2), with your agreed pricing strategy (section 4) and channels to market (section 5).

Your promotional activity will probably be multi-faceted, a mix of online (digital) and/or offline activities, taking into consideration your target audience and your product and service offering. Taking your overarching marketing strategic priorities (section 12) outline the initiatives you intend to implement in order to achieve that particular goal. This will detail amongst other things the initiative (i.e. advertising), channel (i.e. social – Facebook), timeframes (6 week campaign).

It is this section of your strategic marketing plan which you can lift and transfer into a more tactical marketing plan detailing your key milestones, action owners, budget allocation and deadlines per initiative. This is a great sense check because if you find you are working on tasks which are not in your marketing plan then you can bet they are not in your strategic marketing plan. If that’s the case, stop and sense check why you are doing them (are you suffering from SOS?). Ask yourself ‘will this help me achieve my business growth goals?’

Section 7: People

All companies are reliant on their people from front line Sales staff to the Managing Director. Having the right people is essential because they are as much a part of your business offering as the products or services you are offering.

Outline any people developmental gaps you may have identified or are aware of. For example, are you proposing an advertising campaign for a product which will require a refresher of knowledge. Or are you planning a brand awareness campaign and you want to ensure all your people are ‘on brand’ with key messages. Include it. If you’re responsible for people development as well as marketing, great, you’ve started outlining your people plan. If you’re not, you’ve just demonstrated you can think outside of marketing.

Section 8: Processes (Customer Journey)

The delivery of all products and services need to be underpinned by clearly defined and efficient processes. Customer journey maps are extremely useful as they will help you map your end to end customer interactions, from prospect to sale to long-term relationship, identifying those moments where you add real value to your customers and those which don’t.

Your customer journey links directly to your customer experience. Check out 4 components of the customer experience you should know.

Section 9: Presence (Physical Evidence)

Physical evidence is what attracts your customers first – they will judge your service or product after looking at your physical evidence. Customers tend to rely on physical cues to help them evaluate the product before they buy it or before they buy it again! The role of the marketer is to design and implement such tangible evidence; your website, packaging, materials, store or ‘shop front’, invoices, email templates, newsletters etc.

This ‘physical evidence’ is the proprietary channels and customer touch-points you control. Businesses are missing opportunities every day to maximise their engagement, marketing messages, brand building and sales through these touch-points which they already own and have genuine legitimacy to communicate through.

List all your proprietary channels and how you are maximising their effectiveness.

Section 11: Financials

In financials include a three-year line of sight: target financial goals, revenue and profitability for years 3, 2 and 1. Plus the business growth aspirations to give context to the numbers. For example, plans to enter a new market, or merger, or new proposition launch. The numbers and background context should be easily available / extracted from the business’s strategic plan.

Haven’t got a strategic plan? Check out Strategic Plan: what to include in yours.

Section 12: Marketing & Communications Key Strategic Priorities

Documenting your key strategic priorities will keep you focused on what you want to achieve and not become distracted by SOS (there it is again!). Create 4-5 strategic objectives to keep you laser beam focused as opposed to having 10-15 which all start to merge into one over time. Examples areas include; brand awareness, lead generation, customer engagement and nurturing, online presence, thought leadership, new product launch.

Your strategic marketing priorities should naturally come off the back of your business growth plans. If they don’t, then question whether they are in alignment.

Section 13: Marketing & Communications Key Performance Indicators/Metrics

Your KPI’s are an imperative element of your strategic marketing plan. If you don’t know what’s working how do you know what to change or improve? There are a number of KPI’s that should be on your radar but the most important thing to remember is that you need to be able to measure them. There is no point building a complex dashboard of metrics if you haven’t the means to measure the results. Identify the KPI’s you absolutely need and want to track and then ensure you have the tools in place to measure the outcomes.

KPI’s to consider…

Sales growth derived from marketing effort (actual ROI per activity)

Leads & opportunities created

Website traffic – unique visitors, impressions, landing page conversions

Social media reach & engagement

Email marketing performance

Tracking your marketing KPI’s will help validate everything you do and provide you with transparency in your marketing efforts.

Why writing your strategic marketing plan is like completing a jigsaw puzzle

The interdependencies between marketing and the other nine business growth enablers is so tightly woven that the boundaries where one stops and another one starts can often become blurred, especially when you focus in on market potential, customer experience and products & services.

It is important to recognise this because, in your business, if you own and manage all these areas you can easily find the interdependencies and work to make them stronger. If on the other hand, you’re part of a wider organisation with stand-alone functions, there is a real risk insights and lessons won’t be shared unless you take action to ensure they are.

This is where your strategic marketing plan comes in. It will bring the different elements into one place, into your strategic marketing plan. One view of the world. One version of the truth.

Want to know how your strategic marketing plan shapes up?

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Learning Outcomes

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

What Is the Promotion Mix?

We are all consumers, and we have all been the target of promotional campaigns. To connect with consumers of a target market, companies conduct extensive market research so that they may better understand the consumer. When companies understand the consumer, they can better structure a message to appeal to the consumer and also find the best channels for reaching the customer.

The created messages aim to get consumers’ attention. Sometimes they create awareness of a new event, a new product, a new idea, or a place to visit. Sometimes they are asking consumers to make a purchase. Marketing promotion is all around us.

According to the marketing firm Yankelovich Inc. , the average digitally connected person is exposed to around 5,000 ads per day. 4 Among the biggest promotional spenders in the United States is Disney . 5 Disney produces ads for everything from its movies and toys to its vacation clubs and theme parks. While we should be flattered that these companies are thinking of us and trying to figure out how to reach us and what messages they should send, many consumers are busy trying to figure out how to shut out the messages.

When you sit down to watch television, you are typically exposed to ads that a company believes that you will respond to based on the research it has done about the audience watching the show you tuned in to watch. During your time scrolling through your news feed on Facebook , you are being served ads that correspond to your Internet search history and even products you may have mentioned while your phone was on and your news feed open. Digital advertising relies heavily on algorithms of your search history and site visits.

As recipients of these marketing messages, many consumers believe that marketing is only advertising or sales. However, advertising and sales are simply two options in a marketer’s arsenal of communication tools used to connect with the target market. Developing a marketing communications strategy is something marketers should only do after they have developed the rest of the marketing mix.

In fact, marketers have a wide variety of strategies to use from the overall promotional mix (see Figure 13.2 ). Most companies choose to use a combination of the promotional mix methods to create an integrated marketing communication message that reaches the customer in many different ways. When the messaging is integrated, the consumer receives the same message no matter which method of promotion is chosen. If the consumer is watching the news and hears a story about the company or product, public relations has impacted them. If they then scroll through their social media accounts at the end of the day and they see an ad for the same product, advertising has impacted them. When they sort through their email and have a message from the company, they have received a direct marketing communication.

No longer does promotion need to rely heavily on just one method of marketing communication. Marketers can be much more targeted and more cost-effective in the promotional methods they choose. Using a combination of methods to send the same message allows the marketer to be more strategic in their messaging and in their budgeting.

The best products are nothing until the consumer knows about them. Without good promotion, the best products are just secrets. We all have things we want to say, and on any given day we make phone calls, create Instagram posts, upload TikTok videos, send emails, shoot off text messages, and talk face-to-face with people. And just like us, marketers also have things to say. Usually, they want to tell consumers about their new brand extension of Reese’s, a trade-in allowance for a new Toyota Camry that just hit the car lot, or even a buy-one-get-one-free promotion for your Starbucks latte. How marketers decide to say and send the message is the promotion mix.

The promotion mix is the set of strategies marketers use to communicate with their customers. With combined strategies, the promotion mix creates a powerful method of connecting with the customer and conveying all the other marketing mix elements for a holistic marketing approach. The promotion mix allows marketers to reach customers in many different ways, ensuring that the message is seen, heard, and understood. After determining and defining the target market, creating a good product, selecting a pricing strategy and optimal price, and deciding on the distribution method, the marketer is ready to communicate with the customer.

Messages sent by multiple methods provide a better opportunity for consumers to see and hear the message and make the connection back to the company. When a message is only sent by one method, the potential for interference, noise, and avoidance is more likely to occur. Marketers use a multichannel approach to send an integrated message.

Promotional mix methods include advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, and internet or digital marketing.

Promotion Mix Defined

The full set of strategies that combine to make up the promotion mix include advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, and Internet/digital marketing. Each of these methods is intended to produce different results when used. Combining the elements creates an overall integrated message designed to reach consumers at various points in their path to purchase. Marketers call this integrated messaging integrated marketing communications.

The Importance of the Promotion Mix

Of all the marketing mix variables, the promotion mix can be further divided into different message channels that allow for connection and communication with the customer. When the promotion connects with the customer, it is the moment when all the marketing activities come together. When the messaging and method of delivery reach the customer and create the desired result, the marketing has achieved its purpose.

The strategies in the promotion mix provide the marketer with an arsenal of methods to achieve their marketing objectives, such as increasing sales or introducing a new product. However, consumers are bombarded with marketing messages throughout the day, and these are combined with the business of everyday life events like news, music, work, chores, family, and friends. With this busy pace and activity, the consumer is very difficult to reach. For the busy consumer, one communication method alone is not likely to cut through the clutter and noise to reach them and make an impact. Marketers must combine the various communication elements to connect with the customer and meet the communication objective.

Elements of the Promotion Mix

When analyzed individually, each of the promotional mix elements is powerful. They each have a part to play in the overall success of a company. When combined and carefully executed, they create powerful brands with legions of loyal fans and followers—the consumers. What do each of these promotional mix elements do, and how do they contribute to the whole process of connecting with the consumer?

Advertising

Advertising is a multibillion-dollar industry. According to Statista, in 2020 alone, worldwide advertising spending reached $586 billion. 6 Advertising is paid, nonpersonal communication from an identified source that allows for creative messaging about all aspects of a product, service, idea, person, or place. Consumers are able to quickly point to advertising as a form of promotion. It is perhaps the element of the promotional mix that we are most familiar with and the one we have been most exposed to throughout every phase of our lives.

From our very first commercial showing how much fun it is to build with LEGO to imagery of a toddler walking the Disney streets with a costumed princess and Cinderella’s castle in the foreground, we know what advertising looks like. And while advertising can take many forms, it is important to note that advertising consists of carefully designed messaging from the company to the consumer. Advertising is meant to produce a response in the viewer. And advertising is all about what the company wants to tell us.

Advertising can be the pop-up window while we are doing a Google search. It can be the Chick-fil-A billboard we pass every day on our way to work. Advertising can be the trailer we watch before our movie starts. And advertising can be the fun Doritos spots we look forward to during the annual Super Bowl.

While advertising can be a costly means of communication with the customer, it is relatively inexpensive based on the number of people reached. When NBC priced the 2021 Super Bowl at $6 million for a 30-second spot, with a record 96 million viewers, the price averaged out to around $0.06 per person reached. 7

Advertising is effective based on the frequency with which it is usually viewed. And because of the media, the advertising message can usually be repeated many times, depending on the budget. Due to its repeatability, production costs have a better return on investment (ROI) the more an ad is used, and the recall of the ad increases significantly.

Sales Promotion

Most consumers love a sales promotion . It creates a feeling of excitement and often includes a bit of a gaming experience into the purchase decision. Marketers value the benefits of sales promotions because the results are immediate and they have a wide variety of options when using this promotional mix element. A sales promotion is a method for a marketer to induce sales in the short term. Sales promotion is not a long-term strategy but is geared toward specific calls to action, typically aimed at getting the consumer to buy something immediately or enter a sweepstakes or contest (see Figure 13.3 ).

A retail window shows two mannequins wearing shirts that say sale. There are two signs in the window that say sale up to 50% sale sale.

Using sales promotions can be an effective method of getting the consumer to try a product or buy more of a product, or it can be a way to quickly deplete an inventory to make way for new products.

While sales promotions have many tactics that the marketer can employ, several commonly used examples of sales promotion include the following:

For National Ice Cream Day (see Figure 13.4 ), Cumberland Farms wanted to increase the sales of its house brand of ice cream, Ultimate Scoop . 8 It offered consumers a digital coupon for $1 off a pint of the ice cream. Cumberland Farms’ existing customers received their coupon via text message, and new customers could text in to get the coupon.

A hand holds a vanilla ice cream cone with strawberry syrup and rainbow sprinkles.

Rebates . Companies offer rebates to induce purchase and generally to receive something in return besides the sale. When a rebate is offered for the purchase of an Energy Star–certified product, the consumer gets a designated dollar amount off the price of the product, and in turn they must submit the proof of purchase along with identifying information about themselves.

Personal Selling

Personal selling is one of the most expensive forms of promotion because it is a one-on-one, person-to-person form of communicating with the customer. The role of the salesperson is to inform and persuade the customer. This is usually done in what is termed an exchange situation. The salesperson is exchanging knowledge and something of value, while the customer is exchanging money for the item of value. Personal selling is ideal for products that can be customized, are complex, and have a relatively high price point.

Typically, personal selling is most often used in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Business buyers have longer buying cycles, more complex buying situations, and larger budgets. The pharmaceutical industry is well-known for using personal selling. Company representatives must have a high degree of training and knowledge about the products they are selling to physicians and hospitals. It is also very common to have a sales force to sell equipment and machinery to manufacturing plants. Businesses rely on the knowledge and service of the sales force selling them products.

In the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, personal selling is used for items that cost more or items that have a high degree of variation. We find sales representatives when we buy automobiles, home improvement products, and insurance. The job of the sales representative is to determine our needs and provide solutions that fill those needs.

When compared to advertising, which has a very general message directed to a very large audience, personal selling is an individualized message for one or several people within the buying group. When evaluating the costs of personal selling, it is typically hundreds to thousands of dollars per person reached.

The process of personal selling can be time-consuming. The process of selling and the tasks of the sales force can be complex. The sales professional is tasked with prospecting to identify the right customers and then qualifying them to make certain they are a good fit for the product.

It is not uncommon to hear people say, “You talk a good game. You could sell to anyone.” In reality, salespeople do not want to talk people into a product. A good sales force only wants to sell to customers who want and need the product. The best sales force knows that when the customer is a good fit, they will bring repeat business and good word of mouth.

While some salespeople have a natural inclination for selling, others are highly skilled with the technical knowledge of the products they are selling. Understanding customers, the buying situation, and the product being sold are a few of the skills needed to master the art of selling. Good sales professionals know that the real work of the sale is to service the needs of the client long after the sale has been made.

Public Relations

Public relations is a nonpaid, nonpersonal form of promotion. Because it is nonpaid, it has a high degree of credibility and is beneficial because a typically credible, non-biased third party is the messenger. While there are many tactics that marketers might use for public relations, some of the most commonly used include press releases, press conferences, events, and annual reports.

Many of the other promotional tools focus specifically on communication with the customer. By contrast, public relations includes efforts to work with the community where it operates, media, government officials, educators, and potential investors.

When Nordstrom opened its flagship store in Manhattan, it unlocked the doors a few days early for a VIP celebration that included Vogue ’s editor, Anna Wintour , along with actresses, models, and designers. Some of the noted attendees included Zoe Saldana , Katie Holmes , Olivia Wilde , Karlie Kloss , Joan Smalls , Winnie Harlow , Tory Burch , Tommy Hilfiger , and Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia . Guests formed long lines around the store in an attempt to access the party. 9

TOMS shoes has long been a leader in cause marketing (see Figure 13.5 ). When you buy from TOMS, one-third of the profits go to Grassroot Good . 10 TOMS’ annual report highlights the people the company helps and how it helps them. Investors and any interested parties receive the annual report that details the work TOMS does right along with the profits it is making.

A close up of a TOMS loafer has a bracelet and a person who is saying “fly”.

When celebrities wind up in the news, it is public relations, and it works to keep their name before the public and their fans. So the headline that hits the front page of the New York Times or is a leading story on the NBC nightly news both create publicity for the celebrity. Businesses also use publicity. A business might have a product as part of a movie, such as BMW vehicles showing up in 37 of the highest-grossing movies of 2018. 11

Public relations can also include crisis communication when negative issues occur. One of the biggest public relations issues happened in 1982 to Tylenol . A malicious person or persons in the Chicago area tampered with a few bottles of Tylenol Extra Strength capsules by replacing the actual capsules with cyanide-laced capsules. Consumers who unwittingly bought the Tylenol ended up dead. Johnson & Johnson , the maker of Tylenol, was facing issues that could easily have destroyed its business. The issue was the leading story for every news outlet.

Johnson & Johnson faced the issue head-on and made the bold move to have Tylenol removed from all shelves. The recall resulted in the removal of 30 million products from store shelves. 12 In the end Tylenol was a hero and won the trust of a nation.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing allows for direct communication with the customer. Messages can be tailored to specific market segments and even personalized toward individual consumers. Early tactics of direct marketing included telephone and mail; however, technology has allowed for new methods of connecting with the customer to include text messaging and email marketing.

In 2019, the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) reported that the direct mail industry was valued at $44.2 billion. 13 It’s the second largest channel for ad spend in the United States, and it continues to grow. Transformed by technology, direct marketing is finding new methods to connect with the customer. Most connection includes a call to action that provides for immediate feedback on the effectiveness of the method.

Internet/Digital Marketing

Internet/digital marketing includes uses of technology to reach customers at many different points of interaction. Marketers have at their disposal a variety of methods to reach their customers and brand products. Some of the tools include websites, landing pages, social media pages, widgets, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. All the digital properties work together to drive traffic to the branded properties and engage the consumers.

Digital marketing is geared toward very specific market segments and is primarily interactive. Think of digital marketing as the mechanism that produces the immediate interaction with the customer and produces some type of feedback. Digital is considered two-way communication between the company and the customer. During the early stages of launching the SPANX brand, Sara Blakely primarily used digital marketing with a heaving emphasis on social media. 14 She involved her women friends who were in her target market demographic and had them post about the brand through their social media.

By contrast, Internet marketing is sending a message to a mass audience. The Internet is used to for digital marketing and includes websites and digital ads as well as the two-way communication of social media. Other forms of digital marketing include mobile technology such as SMS and mobile apps.

When a consumer completes a Google search for shoes and then jumps to Facebook to scroll their feed and are served shoe ads from Nordstrom, Macy’s , and Steve Madden , they have been targeted by these shoe companies. The targeting, immediacy, and changeability of the messaging makes digital a quick and efficient method of reaching consumers. Digital promotional tools are extremely effective and can cut through the clutter and reach the consumer when they are in the demand phase of the buying process and have signaled an intent to purchase.

According to a 2020 chief marketing officer (CMO) survey from Gartner , two-thirds of promotional budgets are being spent on digital. 15 Because of the tremendous analytics available, marketers are able to assess the effectiveness immediately. Messages can be tested for effectiveness and quickly changed if they are not producing results. It is very difficult to get the same quick feedback with any of the other forms of promotion. Through careful tracking and robust customer relationship management (CRM) systems, marketers are quickly able to promote products, increase brand awareness, and move consumers down the sales funnel to instantly purchase through online e-commerce sites.

Utilizing mobile app technology, marketers are able to push promotions to customers while segmenting them by their behaviors and simultaneously filling their CRM with insights and analytics that can help drive promotions and sales.

Careers In Marketing

Integrated marketing career.

An integrated marketing communications (IMC) professional builds and manages campaigns that integrate all the facets of marketing—advertising, public relations, digital campaigns, sales, etc. If you’re interested in this job role, check out this article to learn about the qualifications, experience, and salary . You can also refer to programs offered by educational organizations that specialize in integrated marketing. A few examples of those educational organizations include San Diego State University , Marist , Northwestern , and Eastern Michigan University, to name a few. Check out this list for the Best Marketing Communication Colleges according to Best Accredited Colleges .

Additional resources to explore include the following video:

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Strategic Marketing vs. Tactical Marketing: What’s the difference?

July 21, 2020

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Strategic Marketing vs. Tactical Marketing: What's the difference?

Strategic marketing and tactical marketing are like peanut butter and jelly or macaroni and cheese. They are very different and work on their own, but the magic doesn’t happen until they come together. Strategic marketing directs marketing tactics with the company’s short and long term goals in mind. Tactical marketing brings strategies to life with attention to detail – and measurement. They work differently, but together, to help you achieve your goals.

What is Strategic Marketing?

Strategic marketing is focused firmly on your company’s goals. The strategic marketing plan combines market knowledge and customer behavior. It brings together a series of different tactics designed to help you achieve your goals. The process may include discovery questions such as:

What are your company’s realistic goals?
Who are the customers you need to achieve your goals?
How do you reach these customers?

Strategic marketing also requires involvement from other departments within your organization such as the financial, sales, operations, and human resources teams. Their input and intel are invaluable when creating a strategy. After all, if the operations team is planning a new service launch and marketing isn’t aware, it is not going to be successful. Once a unified strategy is assembled, you’re ready to go. Make sure to include measurement strategies and regularly check back to be sure you are on the right track.

What is Tactical Marketing?

Tactical marketing is rolling up your sleeves and getting in the weeds. The word ‘tactical’ just like ‘strategy’ comes from the military mindset of how to win a battle or organize troops and execute an operation. Tactical marketing is not so different. Instead of ships, tanks, and infantry, we use websites, blogging, social media, digital ads, and more. These tactics support the overall goals and should be evaluated on a continual basis to ensure success.

Who doesn’t like pizza?

Depending on who you ask, there is a strategy for making a pizza. A plan is needed to purchase the correct items to make the dough, sauce, and desired toppings.

Tactically, you lay out the pepperoni, cheese, homemade sauce, tomatoes, and you got a pizza, right? While each of these (tactical) items is delicious on its own, without the plan (strategy) to make the pizza, they are just not as good…. or as effective.

Marketing tactics are just like this. They are good on their own but without a common company goal and strategy, they may flounder and not succeed. The sum of the parts is less than the whole.

Now let’s tie the strategic and tactical marketing plans together.

Tactical marketing is practical. It is social media posts, digital ads, e-blasts, and much more. Without the strategy, tactical marketing efforts do not deliver the why . They aren’t unified and working toward your company goals.

If the Facebook post differs from the message on the website, a customer may be confused and struggle to understand your message and offering. A confused customer is much less apt to engage or purchase and will leave the website – probably to visit your competitor’s instead. When messages across different channels aren’t firmly unified, marketing tactics simply don’t work as well.

Do you know if your marketing investment is generating the results you need?

Perhaps you are working the strategic marketing process without a strategy?

Is the strategy lost within the organization and it may be time to regroup and review the overall company goals?

Is your marketing reactionary rather than proactive?

Let’s schedule some time to talk about your company goals and how a strategic marketing plan can help you achieve them. Our passion is helping businesses just like yours use strategic and tactical marketing strategies to achieve those goals. We’d love to put our experience to work for you!

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How To Build a Strategic Marketing Plan (+ a Free Template!)

You know what you want your campaigns to achieve, but you’re not quite sure how to get there yet.

Sound familiar?

For even the most experienced marketing teams, it can prove difficult to turn aspirational business objectives into actionable steps. While you’re busy trying to figure out what actually works, resources are being spent left and right while showing minimal returns. Fortunately, you can avoid falling victim to this common trap.

Read on to learn how to create a strategic plan to hit your own marketing goals — plus, since you’re already here, be sure to grab your free template to get the ball rolling.

What Is a Strategic Marketing Plan?

A strategic marketing plan is a comprehensive outline for the advertising and marketing efforts of a brand or organization. Founded on audience research and industry trends, this ultra-focused, strategic plan formalizes the steps an organization will take to promote its offerings to a target market of existing and potential customers.

The strategic marketing planning process follows 6 key components:

Know where you are .
Know your audience .
Know where you want to go .
Pick your channels and tactics .
Develop your budget and your revised tactics .
Measure and adjust your strategy periodically .

By following these steps, your team will be well on their way to achieving a sustainable competitive advantage — all while making sure each marketing dollar is well spent.

Why Is a Strategic Marketing Plan Important?

Planning for any major undertaking is essential for success.

The modern media landscape is crowded; researchers have estimated that most Americans see between 4,000 and 10,000 advertisements per day .

A strategic marketing plan lays the groundwork for your brand to delight and satisfy your customers. As the old saying goes: “Proper prior planning prevents poor performance.”

By taking the time to develop a thoughtful marketing strategy, you’ll gain several benefits, including:

A better understanding of your brand’s value proposition.
Deeper knowledge of your audience’s needs and desires.
A roadmap for how to manage your brand’s growth.
Methods for measuring your marketing performance.

Creating an effective plan takes time, but when you see the results, you’ll know it was well worth the effort.

4 Basic Marketing Strategies: The 4 P’s of Marketing

Today’s digital marketers have a long pedigree of great thinkers who have shaped the way we think about appealing to customers.

We may be producing content for distribution on digital channels that few people could have predicted several decades ago, but the basic principles combining human psychology and economics are still relevant and powerful today.

In fact, the marketing mix commonly deployed in any modern campaign was first conceived by Harvard Business School professor Neil H. Borden and subsequently expanded upon by University of Minnesota professor E. Jerome McCarthy.

Though first published in 1960, McCarthy’s four P’s of marketing are still the common starting point of an effective marketing strategy.

A product can be a tangible item or an intangible service that satisfies a need or want.

B2B and B2C marketers need to possess a firm grasp of both what the product is and how it provides value to customers. The more specifically you can define these aspects, the more confident you will be in your marketing strategies.

For example, when selling products and services to other businesses, you’ll need to know what challenges your customers face and understand how your offering solves those problems.

Importantly, marketing and sales departments need to be aligned so that every customer encounter can occur within the same context.

The cost of your offerings has an obvious influence over your customers.

Having a complete understanding of the product and its features will help stakeholders determine the best possible pricing strategy.

You may need to determine if it’s better to offer your product on a subscription basis or as a one-time purchase.

Your product’s price point will impact your organization’s profit margins, inventory requirements and more. The marketing team can work with other business units to determine the best course of action.

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3. Promotion

With deep knowledge of the product, it’s value and price point, you can more effectively promote the offering in the marketplace.

This is where your strategic marketing strategy will come into play.

As you’ll see a little further on, your marketing plan should include the various channels you’ll use to communicate with your customers.

These days, the avenues for communication are much more varied than when the four P’s were developed, but the advice remains the same. Whether you’re promoting your product on a billboard or on Instagram, you need to ensure that each touchpoint supports your brand’s goals and addresses key customer needs.

The fourth P can refer to a physical location, a digital touchpoint or a mindset.

As the old saying goes, it helps to be in the right place at the right time. Marketers can control this factor by developing thoughtful buyer journeys – or sales funnels – and lead nurturing campaigns that help customers make a purchase decision.

For example, if you find that your customers are most inclined to buy once they understand the cost-saving benefits of your offering, you can construct a marketing funnel that places your audience in that position before making the hard sell. So, if customers read a blog and then download a white paper about cost savings, you could include a call to action at the end of the white paper, encouraging readers to call for more information.

6 Steps of the Strategic Planning Process

When making a marketing plan, it’s a common mistake for new marketers to start with the deliverables. Full of enthusiasm, they’ll dash off several blog articles, social media posts and pay-per-click ad headlines. Often, their eagerness will begin to wane when they don’t see huge results from their efforts.

This happens due to a lack of foundation.

The best marketing strategies aren’t built on gut feelings, enthusiasm or brute force; they’re built on carefully researched information, scientific analysis and psychological understanding.

An effective strategic marketing process includes:

Deep knowledge of your organization’s goals and how your marketing plan promotes those objectives.
Researched findings about your customers’ needs and desires.
Campaign-specific marketing goals (E.g. building thought awareness or driving sales) supported by measurable performance indicators.
Tangible collateral and associated distribution channels.

Follow these 6 steps to create an actionable marketing plan for your business:

1. Know Where You Are

Before you can make a plan, you need to know where your organization stands today.

Work with relevant stakeholders to define the goals of the business and how the marketing department currently supports them. Consider the brand’s current search engine optimization strategy and how it will benefit the organization’s marketing efforts.

Conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) to pinpoint what you’re doing right, what you can improve on and how external market factors will affect your customer relationships. This process can open up areas in need of further analysis.

The beginning of the planning stage is the time to consider everything that might influence your market position.

2. Know Your Audience

Understanding your organization is one side of the coin, knowing your customers is the other side.

Segmenting your audience is a good way to identify the number of marketing tactics you’ll need to employ. For example, if you find that only half of your customer base uses social media, you’ll need to spread your efforts across multiple channels.

The importance of scientific research at this stage cannot be overstated. Even if you have years of experience in the field, you can’t fully predict how your customers’ expectations, needs and wants will evolve over time.

Conduct surveys, do research and – most importantly – talk to your audience!

3. Know Where You Want to Go

With a firm understanding of your offerings and your audience, you can start thinking about next steps.

Define your goals for the year, then break them down into quarterly, monthly and weekly objectives. Tie these goals to the organization’s long-term goals. For example, if your organization wants to increase revenue by 10% over four years, what marketing objectives must be accomplished for that to happen?

Be optimistic when setting goals, but never lose sight of real market conditions.

For every target you establish, you should define metrics by which to judge your success. Metrics can tell you when to adjust your course of action.

4. Pick Your Channels and Tactics (Think Big)

An effective marketing strategy addresses the entire sales cycle.

For B2C brands, that might be as simple as making customers aware of your brand. For more complex B2B brands, you may need to build thought leadership, spread awareness, develop engaging relationships with potential buyers and more.

There are many unique ways to appeal to B2B customers .

At this stage, you should think big.

How would you market your product or service if you had an unlimited marketing budget?
What channels would you use?
What type of content would you create?

Get all of your ideas out so you can consider each one carefully. At this stage, you may need to conduct further research into the cost and ROI of each tactic.

5. Develop Your Budget and Your Revised Tactics (Pare Down)

Now it’s time to solidify your plans into actionable tactics.

Decide which channels you want to use and create a calendar of content you want to promote. If you’re using paid advertising like billboards, radio ads or pay-per-click display networks, you’ll need to create budgets and bidding strategies.

Compared with the previous step, this is where you get realistic.

To maximize your marketing budget, and choose the ideal mix of collateral, you’ll need to be confident that each investment of time and resources is relevant to your business goals and your customers’ needs.

6. Measure and Adjust Your Strategy Periodically

Implementing your marketing plan isn’t the end.

Once your strategy is off the ground, you’ll need to watch it carefully to determine if it’s meeting expectations. By giving every tactic a metric by which to judge its performance, you can make valuable adjustments to your strategy over time.

These alterations may be small, like posting to your social media accounts at a different time of day; they might be big, such as swapping out one tactic for another. The important thing to remember is that any change you make should be informed by keen analysis of your current progress.

Your Free Strategic Marketing Plan Template

Use this template to structure your own marketing plan. It’s designed to be extensible and easy to use. Simply make a copy of it and add or delete fields as they apply to your needs. By filling it out, this template will help you visualize your strategy more clearly and ultimately become more confident in your ability to grow your brand’s footprint in the marketplace.

Your ability to clearly plan your marketing strategy will determine your future success. The more detailed your plan, the better your chances of success. Map out your goals, choose your metrics and commit to adjusting your strategy based on scientific evidence.

[Company name]

Marketing mission statement.

Briefly outline how your marketing strategy will support your organization’s business objectives.

SWOT Analysis

What are you currently doing that’s giving you an edge over your competitors? What do your customers like about your brand?

What do your competitors do better than you? What can you do more efficiently? Where do you struggle to fully support your customers?

Opportunities

How is your industry changing? How can you prepare for the future? How can you better define your value proposition to engage new customers?

What could draw your customers away from your brand? What industry disruptions are on the horizon? What could slow the growth of your organization?

Marketing actions

Overview: Briefly describe the initiative. (E.g. We’ll build a library of infographics to help our customers understand market trends.)

Desired outcome: What’s your goal? (E.g. We want to increase organic traffic to our resource library by 3% over the next quarter)

KPI / Metric: How will you objectively measure your outcome? (E.g. Page visitors, time-on-site, clicks, etc.)

Desired outcome:

KPI / Metric:

Market segments

[segment 1].

Demographics: Superficial details about your audience. (E.g. gender, age, income and marital status.)

Psychographics: What motivates your audience? (E.g. personal interests, attitudes, values, desires.)

Challenges: What problems do they need to overcome?

Preferred channels: Where do they absorb industry news? Where do they go to ask questions and seek professional insights?

Preferred content types: How do they prefer to gain new knowledge? Do they prefer video, audio or written content?

[Segment 2]

Demographics:

Psychographics:

Challenges:

Preferred channels:

Preferred content types:

[Segment 3]

Buyer personas, [persona 1].

Name: Each persona should have a unique name.

Age: What’s the average age range of this persona?

Job title: List a few common job titles.

Motivations / goals: What do they hope to achieve? What drives them?

Personal interests: What do they like to do outside of work?

Challenges: What business challenges do they face? What’s stopping them from achieving their goals?

[Persona 2]

Motivations / goals:

Personal interests:

[Persona 3]

Competitor analysis, [competitor 1].

Company name:

Competing products: How are their offerings similar to your own? How are they different?

Areas of overlap: How do they market their offerings? Are you competing for space in the same channels ?

[Competitor 2]

Competing products:

Areas of overlap:

[Competitor 3]

Strategy overview, [product / service 1].

Price: What’s the current pricing strategy? How do customers perceive the price in relation to the value of the product?

Promotion: How will you communicate the offering’s value proposition?

Place: Which channels will you use to promote this offering?

[Product / Service 2]

[product / service 3], website / content.

Channel Name:

Intent: What’s your goal? (E.g. We will promote brand awareness through a series of blog posts written by our senior leadership.)

KPI / Metric: How will you measure your progress? (E.g. Organic traffic, bounce rate, conversions.)

Social media

Influencers.

Editor’s Note: Updated November 2021.

By Alexander Santo

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Strategic Marketing Planning

Market-oriented strategic planning is the managerial process of developing and maintaining a viable fit between the organisation’s objectives, skills, and resources and its changing market opportunities.

The aim of strategic marketing planning (SMP) is to shape and reshape the company’s businesses and products so that they yield target profits and growth.”

Strategic planning takes place at four levels- Corporate, division business unit and product.

Learn about:-

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1. Meaning of Strategic Marketing Planning 2. Characteristics of Strategic Marketing Planning 3. Importance 4. Need 5. Approaches 6. Steps7. Techniques 8. Levels 9. Models 10. Strengths 11. Pitfalls.

Strategic Marketing Planning: Meaning, Characteristics, Importance, Need, Approaches, Techniques and Other Details

Strategic marketing planning – meaning and objectives.

Strategic Marketing Planning – “Without a strategy, the organisation is like a ship without a rudder” – Joel Ross and Michael Kami

In a hyper competitive marketplace, companies can operate successfully by creating and delivering superior value to target customers and also learning how to adapt to a continuously changing market place. So to meet changing conditions in their industries, companies need to be farsighted and visionary, and must develop long-term strategies.

Strategic planning involves developing a strategy to meet competition and ensure long-term survival and growth. The marketing function plays an important role in this process and it provides information and other inputs to help in the preparation of the organisation’s strategic plan.

The overall objective of strategic planning is twofold:

(i) To guide the company successfully through all changes in the environment.

(ii) To create competitive advantage, so that the company can outperform the competitors in order to have dominance over the market.

Strategic planning consists of developing a company mission (to give it direction), objectives and goals (to give it means and methods for accomplishing its mission), business portfolio (to allow management to utilise all facets of the organisation), and functional plans (plans to carry out daily operations from the different functional disciplines).

No matter how well the strategic planning process has been designed and implemented, success depends on how well each department performs its customer-value-adding activities and how well the departments work together to serve the customer.

Value chains and value delivery networks have become popular with organizations that are sensitive to the wants and needs of consumers. The marketing department (because of its ability to stress the customer’s view) has become central in the implementation of most strategic plans.

Ultimately, the aim of strategic planning is to serve the company’s business products, services and communications so that they achieve targeted profits and growth.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Characteristics

Strategic planning provides a broad framework according to which all future organisational activities will be conducted. Thus, it is a very essential to do strategic planning for any organisation very prudently.

Strategic Marketing planning is said to have the following characteristics:

1. Top Management Involvement – Strategic planning or formulation of strategy is directly involved in building up the future of the company. Strategic decisions primarily involve development of long-term objectives and policy formulation of the organisation. Thus, it becomes imperative that these decisions are taken by the top level management of an organisation as it requires a lot of wisdom and insight on the part of decision-makers.

2. Involves Huge Allocation of Resources – Strategic decisions involve commitment of the firm for a long period of time and on major issues related to overall organisation. Thus, it requires deployment of resources in huge volumes in terms of men, material, money, machines and time.

3. Impact on Long-Term Survival and Success of the Firm – Strategic planning, having a long- term commitment in terms of organisational objectives, are usually said to have a strong impact on the success of the firm. A good strategy formulation may bring company to new heights whereas a weak strategy formulation may ruin the company.

4. Future-Oriented – Strategic planning is done for the purpose of implementation in future. It is shaping of the future today. Strategies are proactive plan of actions developed for future execution. Strategic planning aims at reducing the total uncertainty of the future by devising goals and objectives and methodologies to attain them.

5. Irreversible – Strategic planning due to its complexity, huge investment involvement and long-term commitment is generally said to be irreversible. Such decisions if required to be reversed or changed, requires a huge cost. That is the reason why strategic planning is to be done very carefully after detailed analysis of both internal and external factors.

6. Sensitive to the Environment – Strategic planning in order to be effective requires maintaining a balance between internal strengths and weaknesses of an organisation with the external opportunities and threats stemming from the environment. The main prerequisite of strategic planning is that it should be responsive to the environmental factors and be capable of adapting the changes.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Importance

Imagine starting college and just randomly taking classes because they are interesting, easy, or you have friends enrolled in a particular section. You could be a full-time student each semester, get good grades, and at the end of four years what would you have? Not much of anything except student loan debt.

Most of you have a checklist of courses you must complete to graduate in your selected field. Selecting your major as a freshman or sophomore and determining when you will take the required courses is a strategic plan you set for yourself.

Without the specific objectives of your degree program and a strategy for balancing your classes with the personal and professional demands on your time, you likely will not succeed in achieving your desired result – a college diploma.

Whether you are marketing yourself or some other product, strategic planning can greatly increase the likelihood of success. Strategic planning is the process of thoughtfully defining a firm’s objectives and developing a method for achieving those objectives. Firms must continually undertake the task of strategic planning.

Shifting conditions, including changing customer needs and competitive threats, ensure that what worked in the past will not always work in the future, thus requiring firms to modify their strategy. Strategic planning helps to ensure that marketers will select and execute the right marketing mix strategies to maximize success. The primary strategic planning tool for directing and coordinating the marketing effort is the marketing plan.

1. The Marketing Plan :

A marketing plan is part of an organization’s overall strategic plan, which typically captures other strategic areas such as – human resources, operations, equity structure, and a host of other non-marketing items. The marketing plan is an action- oriented document or playbook that guides the analysis, implementation, and control of the firm’s marketing strategy.

Creating a marketing plan requires the input, guidance, and review of employees throughout the various departments of a firm, not just the marketing department, so it is important that every future business professional understand the plan’s components.

The specific format of the marketing plan differs from organization to organization, but most plans include an executive summary, situation analysis, marketing strategy, financials section, and controls section. These five components communicate what the organization desires to accomplish and how it plans to achieve its goals.

Each of the components should be grounded in the firm’s overall mission, which is ideally defined in a clear and succinct mission statement. We’ll discuss the characteristics of an effective mission statement that follows before turning to a more in-depth discussion of each of the marketing plan components.

2. Mission Statement :

The first step in creating a quality marketing plan is to develop an effective mission statement. A mission statement is a concise affirmation of the firm’s long-term purpose. An effective mission statement provides employees with a shared sense of ambition, direction, and opportunity.

A firm should begin the process of developing a mission statement by considering the following classic questions posed by Peter Drucker, who is considered the father of modern management –

i. What is our business?

ii. Who is our customer?

iii. What is our value to the customer?

iv. What will our business be?

v. What should our business be?

These basic questions are often the most challenging and important that a firm will ever have to answer.

From there, the firm should focus on instilling the three primary characteristics of a good mission statement:

i. The mission statement should focus on a limited number of goals:

Companies whose mission statements contain 10 or more goals are typically focusing too much on small, less meaningful objectives, rather than creating a broader statement that provides purpose and direction to the entire organization.

ii. The mission statement should be customer oriented and focused on satisfying basic customer needs and wants:

Advanced technological products of just a generation ago, such as the VCR or Polaroid camera, are outdated technologies today. Still, consumers’ desire to watch movies in their home and to take and share pictures with friends and family is stronger than ever.

Apple has been one of the most successful companies of the past decade because it has designed innovative new products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Since it is quite possible that consumers 20 years from now will think of these products the same way you think about VCRs and Atari game systems today, Apple’s mission statement should reflect the firm’s customer orientation and focus on meeting customer needs.

iii. Mission statements should capture a shared purpose and provide motivation for the employees of the firm:

They should emphasize the firm’s strengths, as Google’s does – “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

The following mission statements of other leading companies illustrate these three characteristics:

i. Amazon – We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company for four primary customer sets – consumers, sellers, enterprises, and content creators.

ii. Citigroup – Citi works tirelessly to serve individuals, communities, institutions and nations. With 200 years of experience meeting the world’s toughest challenges and seizing its greatest opportunities, we strive to create the best outcomes for our clients and customers with financial solutions that are simple, creative and responsible. An institution connecting over 1,000 cities, 160 countries and millions of people, we are your global bank; we are Citi.

iii. CarMax – To provide our customers great quality cars at great prices with exceptional customer service.

iv. Xerox – Through the world’s leading technology and services in business process and document management, we’re at the heart of enterprises small to large, giving our clients the freedom to focus on what matters most – their real business.

v. Microsoft – Microsoft’s mission is to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.

vi. Ford – An exciting viable Ford delivering profitable growth for all.

A firm’s mission statement drives many of the other decisions it makes, including how best to market its goods and services to consumers. A sound mission statement provides a basis for developing the marketing plan and, as the firm continues to modify its marketing plan to fit changing times, the mission statement provides a standard to ensure that the business never strays too far from its core goals and values.

Once the firm has established its mission statement, it can begin to develop the five main components of its marketing plan.

3. Executive Summary :

Once you have graduated and begun your career, you will likely come into contact with senior level executives at your firm in casual places, such as – the break room or elevator. When they ask what you are working on, you won’t have 20 minutes to discuss yourself and your projects.

More likely, you will have time for only a short elevator pitch, which is a one- to two-minute opportunity to market yourself and share the main points of the work you are doing.

The executive summary serves as the elevator pitch for the marketing plan. It provides a one- to two-page synopsis of the marketing plan’s main points. In the same way that you should put great effort into making sure that every second of your elevator pitch counts, every line of an executive summary should convey the most valuable information of the marketing plan.

Depending on your organization’s size and objectives, the marketing plan you create may be viewed by dozens or even hundreds of people. Some will take the time to read each line, but most are looking for a way to quickly understand the basic ideas and strategies behind your plan. The executive summary provides this resource. While the executive summary is listed first, firms should complete this part of the marketing plan last.

4. Situation Analysis :

The situation analysis section is often considered the foundation of a marketing plan because organizations must clearly understand their current situation to make strategic decisions about how to best move forward. A situation analysis is the systematic collection of data to identify the trends, conditions, and competitive forces that have the potential to influence the performance of the firm and the choice of appropriate strategies.

The situation analysis comprises three subsections:

i. Market summary,

ii. SWOT analysis, and

iii. Competition.

i. Market Summary :

The market summary sets the stage for the situation analysis section by focusing on the market to which the firm will sell its products. A market is the group of consumers or organizations that is interested in and able to buy a particular product. The market summary describes the current state of the market.

For example, a market summary for McDonald’s might look at the size of the fast food market in the United States and how rapidly its numbers are growing or declining. A quality market summary should provide a perspective on important marketplace trends. For example, the residential home phone market is a multibillion-dollar-a- year industry.

However, a market summary for this service should also point out that the number of traditional landline customers for AT&T, Verizon, and other carriers shrinks every year as more people decide to use only a cell phone. Understanding where a market is and where it might be going gives organizations a much better view of what resources to invest where, and what a firm can achieve through a specific marketing plan.

The market summary would also consider the growth opportunities internationally and potential sales through international expansion.

BCG Matrix:

One of the most popular analysis tools to describe the current market is The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix. The tool is a two-by-two matrix that graphically describes the strength and attractiveness of a market. The vertical axis measures market growth while the horizontal axis measures relative market share, which is defined as the sales volume of a product divided by the sales volume of the largest competitor.

The BCG matrix combines the two elements of market growth and relative market share to produce four unique product categories—stars, cash cows, question marks, and dogs—each of which requires a different marketing strategy.

Star products combine large market share with a high growth rate. Apple’s iPad falls under this category. Firms with star products generally have to invest heavily in marketing to communicate and deliver value as the industry continues to grow. Marketing efforts around star products focus on maintaining the product’s market position as a leader in a growing industry for as long as possible.

b. Cash Cows:

Cash cows are products that have a large market share in an industry with low growth rates. An example of a cash cow product is the Apple iPod. The market growth rate for MP3 type players has slowed in recent years, but the iPod still retains a large share of the market.

As a result, Apple marketers may decide to allocate only enough marketing resources (e.g., television commercials, special pricing discounts) to keep sales strong without increasing costs or negatively affecting profits.

c. Question Marks:

Question marks have small market share in a high-growth industry. Products in this quadrant are typically new to the market and require significant marketing investment in promotion, product management, and distribution. A new iPhone application would be a question mark product.

Marketers for the new app must move quickly and creatively to reach Apple product users before competitors develop comparable apps. Question marks have an uncertain future and marketers must monitor the product’s position in the matrix to determine whether or not they should continue allocating resources to it.

Dogs are products that have small market share in industries with low growth rates. Products that fall into this category typically should be discontinued so the firm can reallocate marketing resources to products with more profit potential. An example of a dog product might be compact discs, an industry in which no firm has large market share and the growth rate is declining.

As part of the market summary, The BCG matrix allows a company to determine where its product will fall in the marketplace and serves as a starting point for developing marketing strategies to address that market position.

ii. SWOT Analysis :

The evaluation of a firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is called a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis can be a valuable tool in the development of a marketing plan, but only if it’s executed well. Perhaps the most common mistake a firm makes when conducting a SWOT analysis is failing to separate internal issues from external issues. Consider how a firm like McDonald’s might conduct a SWOT analysis.

Internal Considerations:

The strengths and the weaknesses aspects of the analysis focus on McDonald’s internal characteristics. Strengths are internal capabilities that help the company achieve its objectives.

McDonald’s strengths include its strong brand recognition with consumers of all ages and backgrounds; a system that ties individual store owners’ profits to company profits; and the fact that it’s a profitable company, which gives it the financial strength to consistently develop new products, further promote its brand, and make strategic acquisitions when opportunities present themselves.

Weaknesses are internal limitations that may prevent or disrupt the firm’s ability to meet its stated objectives. One major weakness for a firm like McDonald’s is the challenge of finding and retaining quality employees.

Another weakness is the perception that McDonald’s drives profits by selling unhealthy foods to consumers, especially children. Marketers must be honest with themselves when identifying weaknesses because developing strategies to overcome them begins with recognizing them as problems.

External Considerations:

The opportunities and threats aspects of the SWOT analysis focus on the external environment. Opportunities are external factors that the firm may be able to capitalize on to meet or exceed its stated objectives. Opportunities for McDonald’s in the years ahead include increased international expansion.

McDonald’s currently serves approximately 68 million customers each day in 119 countries. International growth, especially in Europe and Asia, has exceeded earnings growth at domestic McDonald’s restaurants in recent years.

Threats are current and potential external factors that may challenge the firm’s short- and long-term performance. McDonald’s faces a number of potential external threats, including a declining global economy and the domestic consumer trend of eating healthier and consuming less fast food.

External factors can be both opportunities and threats. For example, the sluggish economy following the global recession that began in December 2007 has made it harder for many firms to expand their businesses, secure loans, and hire new employees. Restaurants as an industry have faced additional challenges as consumers attempt to reduce the amount of money they spend on luxuries like going out to eat.

This reality threatens McDonald’s as well. However, the slow economy has also prompted consumers to look for cheaper food alternatives, and, as the world’s leading choice for discounted dining, McDonald’s has an opportunity to take advantage of this trend. Firms must understand and analyse environmental factors—both internal and external—to develop a quality marketing plan.

iii. Competition :

Many firms struggle to successfully compile the competition section of the market summary. The section should begin by clearly stating the organization’s direct competitors. Continuing with our McDonald’s example, direct competitors would include Burger King and Wendy’s. The section should briefly describe how Burger King and Wendy’s position their products relative to McDonald’s.

It should also indicate where McDonald’s is most vulnerable to Burger King and Wendy’s on important customer metrics such as – taste, value, pricing, convenience, and customer satisfaction.

While most marketing plans examine direct competitors thoroughly, indirect competitors typically receive far less attention or are overlooked entirely. Indirect competitors can take market share away from a firm as macro trends or consumer preferences change.

McDonald’s must worry not only about other burger chains but also about the consumer trend of eating healthier, which has translated into massive expansion for chains like Subway. In 2011, Subway surpassed McDonald’s as the largest restaurant chain in the world, with almost 34,000 stores worldwide compared to less than 33,000 for McDonald’s.

Consumers choosing to eat at home rather than purchase fast food in a slow economy also compete indirectly with McDonald’s. A good study of the competition provides a thoughtful analysis of both the direct and indirect competitors.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Need

In a changed setting described above, it is interesting to know how the companies compete in a global marketplace. Philip Kotler found that one part of the answer is 9 – commitment to creating and retaining satisfied customers. He added a second part to this answer- Successful Company and high-performance businesses know how to adapt to a continuously changing marketplace.

They practice the art of market-oriented strategic planning. According to Philip Kotler, “Market-oriented strategic planning is the managerial process of developing and maintaining a viable fit between the organisation’s objectives, skills, and resources and its changing market opportunities. The aim of strategic planning is to shape and reshape the company’s businesses and products so that they yield target profits and growth.” Strategic planning takes place at four levels- Corporate, division business unit and product.

Strategic marketing planning calls for action in three key areas:

1. The first-calls for managing a company’s businesses as an investment portfolio. Each business has a different profit potential, and the company’s resources should be allocated accordingly.

2. The second key area involves assessing accurately each business by considering the market’s growth rate and the company’s position and fit 111 that market. It is not sufficient to use current sales or profits as a guide. For example – if the Ford Motor Company had used current profits as a guide to investment in the 1970s, it would have continued to pour money into large cars, since that was where it made its money at that time.

But Ford’s analysis showed that the profits on large cars would dry up. Therefore, Ford needed to reallocate its funds to improving its compact cars, even though the company was losing money on compact cars at that time.

3. The third key area of strategic planning is strategy. For each of its businesses, the company must develop a game plan for achieving its long-run objectives. Because there is no one strategy that is optimal for all companies in that business, each company must determine what makes the most sense in the light of its industry position and its objectives, opportunities, skills and resources.

Strategic Linkages :

Marketing plays a critical role in the company’s strategic planning process. In the words of a strategic planning manager of General Electric, “The marketing manager is the most significant functional contributor to the strategic planning process, with leadership roles in defining the business mission – analysis of the environmental, competitive, and business situations; developing objectives, goals and strategies; and defining product, market, distribution, and quality plans to implement the business’ strategies. This involvement extends to the development of programmes and operating plans that are fully linked with the strategic plan.”

Thus, the chief marketing executive’s strategic planning responsibility includes:

1. Participating in corporate strategy formulation, and

2. Developing business unit marketing strategies in accordance with corporate priorities.

Since these two areas are closely interrelated, it is important to examine marketing’s role and functions in both areas to gain more insight into marketing’s responsibilities and contributions.

Peter Drucker describes this role, “Marketing is so basic that it cannot be considered a separate function (i.e., a separate skill or work) within the business, on a par with others such as – manufacturing or personnel. Marketing requires separate work, and distinct group activities. But it is, first, a central dimension of the entire business. It is whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view.”

Some more needs for Strategic Planning are as follows:

Many companies operate without formal plans.

However, formal planning can provide many benefits:

i. It encourages management to think ahead systematically.

ii. It forces managers to clarify objectives and policies.

iii. It leads to better coordination of company efforts.

iv. It provides clearer performance standards for control.

v. It is useful for a fast-changing environment since sound planning helps the company anticipates and respond quickly to environmental changes and sudden developments.

There are three different types of plans that companies might use:

i. Annual plans (deal with the company’s current businesses and determine how to keep them going).

ii. Long-range plans (also deal with company’s current businesses and determine how to keep them prosperous).

iii. Strategic plans involve adapting the firm to take advantage of opportunities in its constantly changing environment.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Practical Approach to Develop Strategic Marketing Plan

A Practical Approach to Developing a Strategic Marketing Plan:

Making spur of the moment strategic decisions reduces the likelihood that these decisions are the best marketing is an exciting process and one that lends itself to creativity, enthusiasm and innovation. Preparation of a marketing plan requires information that is available within the organization (e.g. sales data) and information that is external to the organization (e.g. demographic trends).

Development of a marketing plan can be approached in a variety of ways and, of course, is impacted by the size of the organization, the number of products and services offered and the number and size of the target market segments.

A better approach is to perform an annual comprehensive review of markets and opportunities, then make long-term strategic decisions without the distractions of day-to-day marketing and sales activities. Daily decisions then fit into the company’s overall strategic marketing goals.

It’s important for a strategic marketing planning process to look at the company from the customer’s point of view by asking questions that have a long time horizon, such as:

(i) What needs or problems cause customers to consider buying from our company?

(ii) What improvements in the customer’s personal or business life can we enable or improve?

(iii) Which customer market segments are attracted to our company or products?

(iv) Which customer motivations or values lead people to decide to purchase our products?

(v) What changes or trends in our customer base are affecting their general interest or attraction to products like ours?

Other Aspects:

Freewheeling Opportunism :

Under this approach, a business will not have any formal system of strategic planning, and will exploit the opportunities as and when they arise. The firm will not operate within the rigid structure of an overall corporate strategy. The opportunities are judged by their individual merits and not evaluated by preplanned strategy.

This approach is more appropriate in the following situations:

(a) Turbulent environment – where change is impossible to predict and the organization is in some respect vulnerable to change.

(b) Size of the firm – Small firms need to establish a market niche.

(d) Exploitation of synergies.

Advantages:

(a) It is flexible and adaptable.

(b) It encourages a more creative attitude among lower level managers.

(d) Rigid planning framework is eliminated.

Disadvantages:

(a) It fails to provide a coordinating framework for the organization, as a whole.

(b) It cannot guarantee that all opportunities are identified and appraised.

Milking Policy :

The management of some companies exploit their business by squeezing as much as possible from the operations of the firm and its profits. This is generally done through improper practices like by not transferring profits to reserves for expansion and modernization; declaration of liberal dividend; paying very high salaries than prevailed in the industry; insufficient provision of depreciation; improper methods of accounting; insufficient provisioning for estimated risks; losses and damages etc. Such financial practices will enrich the stakeholders at the expense of the company. The above situation is termed as ‘milking policy’. Such policy is adopted through management rather than mismanagement.

Position Audit :

It examines the current state of the entity in respect of resources of tangible and intangible assets and finance, products, brands and markets, operating systems such as production and distribution; internal organization; current results; return to stakeholders.

Miles and Snow’s Organization Typology :

Raymond Miles and Charles Snow have developed a typology of organizations that describes the relationship between an organization’s culture, strategy and mission. A firm’s culture shapes the internal strategies, policies and plans which guide the organization in its relationship to its environment.

Miles and Snow classify organizations as follows:

1. Defenders :

Defenders choose a position in the environment and attempt to maintain (or defend) that position. Defenders strive towards a stable form of organization in a stable market niche. Defenders focus on stability and maintaining their markets.

They defend their markets aggressively; compete through maintaining their internal efficiencies and produce reliable, high-quality products at low prices. Defenders are efficiency oriented, achieving high employee productivity and low direct costs through high capital intensity.

2. Prospectors :

These organizations are with fairly broad product lines, and they focus on product innovation and market opportunities. These are likely to adopt an offensive strategy by identifying weaknesses of the leader and attacking it.

Prospectors are organizations in a constant state of change and constantly seek new product and market opportunities, striving to pioneer in product-market development while avoiding becoming locking into any single product, market, technology or facility. These firms seek to innovate, take risks and aggressively seek new opportunities for growth. High product R&D expenses and marketing expenses deter the competitors from entering into the industry.

3. Analyzers :

These firms try to balance efficiency and innovation by maintaining core in established markets and look for expansion into new areas. Analyzers fall between the defenders and prospectors in their orientation toward efficiency, stability and product-market changes.

4. Reactors :

These firms do not have consistent strategy, but they are interested in Guerrilla warfare and consistently perform poorly. Reactors don’t have clear strategies and respond to whatever is happening in their environment.

They will not attempt to strategies and plans to meet the changing environment and to meet new opportunities. They maintain an existing strategy and structure when environmental changes require a major reorientation by the organization.

Sustainability :

The term ‘sustainability’ refers to a development process that improves economy, society and ecology, to meet the needs and wants of the current generation, while maintaining or increasing the resources and productive capacities that are passed along to future generations.

Sustainable Growth :

Sustainable growth is the term used to describe a view on growth which advocates that growth be limited to a relatively slow rate so that growth does not jeopardize the carrying capacity of the immediate physical environment. Organizations must recognize changes in the environment that will limit the organization’s growth. Specifically, population, resources, pollution and technology are important environment parameters.

For e.g. the slower population growth in a country will lead to fewer people to consume products and a smaller workforce and limited growth opportunities for some organizations in such countries. Another environmental constraint on growth is resources availability. Technology is another factor in the environment that may limit the growth of some firms. The control of pollution is another constraint limiting growth prospects of some firms.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage :

A business strategy is powerful if it is capable of producing sustainable competitive advantage. Normally, a firm can sustain a competitive advantage for only a certain period due to rival firms imitating and undermining that advantage.

A firm must strive to achieve sustained competitive advantage by:

(a) Continually adapting the changes in external trends and events and internal capabilities, competencies and resources; and

(b) Effectively formulating, implementing and evaluating strategies that capitalize on those factors.

The organization has to develop its resources so that they reflect the uniqueness of the organization and they continue to remain within the organization. For a business unit’s competitive advantage to be sustainable, its resources must be valuable, scarce and difficult to imitate or substitute.

The advantage that results from generating core competencies can be sustained due to the lack of substitution and imitation capacities by the organization’s competitors. The generic building blocks of competitive advantage help the firm in charging premium price thereby it can improve sustainable competitive advantage.

Normally, imbalance between various dimensions of competitive advantage such as efficiency, quality, innovation and customer responsiveness are to be considered to be the basic causes for failure of a business firm. The new organizational structure, appropriate leadership style, proper control systems in response to the changed environment will help in maintaining competitive advantage.

Situation Audit :

In relation to strategic planning, the concept of situation audit is to break the business into its component parts and functions and then to evaluate them separately in relation to each other, in relation to the whole, and in relation to the environment that affects them. The concept tries to break the business into its component parts and functions, and then evaluates those parts and functions in relation to the environment that affects them.

The basic purposes of situation audit are:

(a) To identify and analyze the key trends and forces that has a political impact on strategy formulation.

(b) To emphasize on the systematic assessment of environment impacts.

(d) All such information collected provide a base for the strategic planning process – from evaluating missions to strategy formulation or implementation.

(e) A critical assessment of key market forces and its impact.

The situation audit refers to the analysis and appraisal of basic planning premises and covers some of the following issues:

(a) Expectations of major inside and outside interests in relation to customers, competitors, business community, managerial staff.

(b) Data base with respect to past performance, current conditions.

With these data, strategists will be in a position to define the basic mission of the organization, purpose, strategies and the various policies.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Process

Strategic marketing planning process consists of following steps:

1. Conduct a situation analysis

2. Determine marketing objectives

3. Select target markets and measure the market demand

4. Design a strategic marketing mix

5. Prepare an annual marketing plan.

Process # 1. Situation Analysis:

It is review of company’s marketing programme. By analysis where the programme has been and where it is now, management can determine where the programme should go in the future. A situation analysis normally includes an analysis of the external environmental forces and the non-marketing resources that surrounds the organization’s marketing programme.

A situation analysis also includes a detailed review of the company’s present marketing mix – its product and pricing situation, its distribution system and its promotional programme.

Process # 2. Determine the Marketing Objectives:

The next step in the marketing planning process is to determine the marketing objectives. As with organizational objectives, the marketing goals should be realistic, specific, measurable and mutually consistent. And they should be clearly stated in writing.

The goals at the marketing level are closely related to the company wide goals and strategies. In fact a company strategy often translates into a marketing goal.

Process # 3. Selection of Target Markets:

Selections of target markets is obviously the key step in marketing planning. Management should analyse existing markets in detail and identify potential markets. At this point, management also should decide to what extent and in what manner, it want to segment its markets. As part of this step in the planning process, management also should forecast its sales in its various markets.

Process # 4. Designing a Strategic Marketing Mix:

Management next must design a strategic marketing mix that enables the company to satisfy the wants of its target markets and to achieve its marketing goals. The design and later the operation of the marketing mix components, constitute the bulk of a company’s marketing effort.

Process # 5. Preparing Annual Marketing Plan:

Periodically, the ongoing strategic marketing planning process in an organization culminates with the preparation of a series of short term marketing plans. These plans usually cover a period of a year. In some industries, it is necessary to prepare these plans for even shorter time periods because of the nature of the product or market. A separate annual plan should be prepared for each product line, major product, brand or market.

An annual marketing plan is the master guide covering a year’s marketing activity for the given business unit or product. The plan then becomes, the how-to do it document that guides executives in each phase of their marketing operations.

The plan includes:

(i) A statement of objectives

(ii) The identification of target markets

(iii) The strategies and tactics pertaining to the marketing mix and

(iv) Information regarding the budgetary support for the marketing activity.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Techniques

SWOT Analysis is a simple framework generating strategic alternatives from a situation analysis. A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning process. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as Strengths (S) or Weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm can be classified as Opportunities (O) or Threats (T), such an analysis of the strategic environment is referred to as a SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Analysis is applicable to either the corporate level or the business unit level and frequently appears in Marketing Plans. SWOT (sometimes referred to as TOWS) stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The SWOT framework was described in the late 1960’s by Edmund P. Learned, (Ronald Christiansen, Kenneth Andrews, and William).

The SWOT Analysis is useful when a very limited amount of time is available to address a complex strategic situation. It provides information that is helpful in matching the firm’s resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. As such, it is instrumental in strategy formulation and selection.

SWOT Analysis Framework :

By understanding these four aspects (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) of its situations, a firm can better leverage its strengths, correct its weaknesses, capitalize on golden opportunities, and deter potentially devastating threats.

Technique # 1. Internal Analysis :

The internal analysis is a comprehensive evaluation of the internal environment’s potential strengths and weaknesses.

i. Strengths:

A firm’s strengths are its resources and capabilities that can be used as a basis for developing a competitive advantage.

Example of such strengths include:

a. Your specialist marketing expertise

b. A new, innovative product or service

c. Location of your business

d. Quality processes and procedures.

f. Strong brand names

g. Goodwill among customers etc.

ii. Weaknesses:

The absence of certain strengths may be viewed as a weakness for example.

Weakness could be:

a. Lack of marketing expertise

b. ii. Undifferentiated products or services

c. Damaged reputation

d. Lack of patent protection

e. Weak brand name

f. Poor reputation among customers.

Technique # 2. External Analysis :

External Analysis refers to analysis of various opportunities and threats prevailing in the external environment i.e., outside the company.

i. Opportunities:

The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth.

Some examples of such opportunities include:

a. A developing market such as the internet.

b. ii. Mergers, joint ventures or strategic alliances.

c. Moving into new market segments that offer improved profits.

d. A new international market.

e. A market vacated by an ineffective competitors.

f. Arrival of new technologies

g. Loosening of regulations etc.

ii. Threats:

Changes in the external environmental also may present threats to the firm.

For example, a threat could be:

a. A new competitor in your home market.

b. Price wars with competitors.

c. A competitor with new, innovative product or service.

d. Competitors have superior access to channels of distribution.

e. Shifts in consumer tastes.

f. Emergency of substitute products.

g. New regulations.

h. Increased trade barriers etc.

The SWOT Matrix :

A firm should not necessarily pursue the more lucrative opportunities. Rather, it may have a better chance at developing a competitive advantage by identifying a fit between the firm’s strengths and upcoming opportunities. In some cases, the firm can overcome a weakness in order to prepare itself to pursue a compelling opportunity. Once the analysis has been complete, a SWOT profile can be generated and used as the basis of goal setting, strategy formulation and implementation.

The completed SWOT profile are sometimes arranged as follows:

When formulating strategy, the interaction of the quadrants in the SWOT profile- To develop strategies that take into account the SWOT profile, a matrix of these factors can be constructed.

i. S – O Strategies pursue opportunities that are a good fit to the company’s strengths.

ii. W – O Strategies overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities.

iii. S – T Strategies identify ways that the firm can use its strengths to reduce its vulnerability to external threats.

iv. W – T Strategies establish a defensive plan to prevent the firm’s weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats.

Rules for Successful SWOT Analysis:

i. Be realistic about the strengths and weaknesses of your organization when conducting SWOT analysis.

ii. SWOT analysis should distinction between where your organization is today and where it could be in the future.

iii. SWOT should always be specific. Avoid grey areas.

iv. Always apply SWOT in relation to your competition i.e., better than or worse than your competition.

v. Keep your SWOT short and simple. Avoid complexity.

vi. SWOT is subjective.

SWOT Analysis Limitations :

While useful for reducing a large quantity of situational factors into a more manageable profile, the SWOT frame work has a tendency to oversimplify the situation by classifying the firm’s environmental factors into categories in which they may not always fit the classification of some factors as strengths or weaknesses, or as opportunities or threats is some that arbitrary.

For example, a particular company culture can be either a strength or a weakness. A technological change can be a either a threat or an opportunity. Perhaps what is more important that the superficial classification of these factors is the firm’s awareness of them and its development of a strategic plan to use them to its advantage.

Strategic Marketing Planning – 3 Main Levels

A business plan should always have a strategic face. Strategy gives a specific focus to the plan. It throws light on how the plan gets into action. This is the reason why an organization dwells on strategic planning. Without strategic planning, the organization cannot cope with the vagaries of the market situation, insulate it from competitive thrust and attain targeted sales and profits. It aims to equilibrate corporate objectives and resources in perfect synchronization.

Kotler (1988) defined strategic planning as the managerial process of developing and maintaining a viable fit between the objectives and resources of an organization. The aim of strategic planning is to shape and reshape the businesses and products of a company so that they combine to produce satisfactory profits and growth.

Strategic marketing planning finds development at three levels.

These are as follows:

1. Corporate level.

2. Business level.

3. Product/Functional level.

1. Corporate Level Strategic Plans :

These strategic plans are the ones that are chalked out at the helm of the organizational ladder where the top brass of management is entitled to decide about –

i. Corporate mission,

ii. Strategic business units (SBUs),

iii. Allocating resources to SBUs, and

iv. Filling up strategic planning gaps for existing and new businesses.

These issues are discussed briefly as follows:

i. A mission is a stated sense of purpose for an organization.

It answers the following questions:

a. Who are the organization’s stakeholders?

b. Why and how does the organization serve them?

c. Where does the organization intend to reach by serving its stake holders?

Through mission statements, a workforce can understand the shared sense of purpose, scope, values, direction, opportunity, and achievements of the business. Both sales managers and salespeople operate within the framework of corporate mission statements. Moreover, these statements are the bases of corporate guidelines that are observed by sales management.

ii. Most organizations are multi-business centres, manufacturing more than one product or service. Each of these businesses deals with at least one product or service and serves a definite customer group. So each business unit has a specific product/service-market combination with a definite strategic purpose. Each unit is called SBU.

Each SBU has its own objectives, strategies, profit motives, budgetary allocation because each unit is an independent business centre having its own target markets, customer groups, competitors, modalities of serving customer needs, and capacity to contribute profits to the organization.

So, the principle underlying the business-level planning is that all related products or services are grouped under one SBU. For example, the BPL group with more than one hundred products in its portfolio constituted six SBUs. These are entertainment electronics and appliances, components, telecom, power, soft energy, and financial services.

iii. The third activity of allocating resources to various SBUs is based on the business potentials and market demands. Resources add strength to the unit to become equal to or to surpass the competitors. Resources are needed to make further development (Build), maintain current position (Hold), reap short-term benefits regardless of long-term effects (Harvest), as well as, sell or liquidate the business because of no attractiveness (Divest).

Sales managers under the ‘Build’ strategy advise their subordinates to increase their efforts to increase sales volume and distribution network. The objective here is to increase market share of SBU and consolidate the business on financial fundamentals. ‘Hold’ makes sense when sales managers want to maintain their sales volume by securing the present sales force and distribution network.

The objective is to concentrate on the present target market(s). Maintenance of a steady cash flow is the smart way to stay uncluttered in the ‘Hold’ strategy. ‘Harvest’ involves the efforts of the sales managers to target profitable accounts and reduce selling costs. So, limiting ties with customers where business prospect is dim and shift attention to profit-making customers under the ‘Harvest’ approach is the strategy used by managers.

Fourthly, when an SBU finds no hope, both in short- or long-term business accruals, the company decide to sell it off or terminate the operation. Sales managers in the ‘Divest’ strategy suggest stopping all the selling activities except making desperate bids to clear off inventories. The ‘Divest Strategy’ also recommends expansion of present business in new geographical areas, if possible or establishment of new businesses to fill the strategic planning gap.

iv. In selling parlance, sales managers call for greater market expansion, penetration or development (intensive growth) or suggest ways to strengthen the supply chain by forward integration (e.g., pursuing exclusive distribution network to firm up customer service), backward integration (e.g., acquiring one or more businesses of the suppliers) or horizontal integration (e.g., acquiring one or more competitors).

The company, as an alternative move can also choose the diversification strategy that entails where and how it should venture out to explore other business opportunities not akin to the existing businesses. Sales managers need to bother more about intensive growth because they are to operate under varied product-market situations. Each situation evolves an opportunity for improving the performance of the organization.

2. Business Level Strategic Plans :

An organization consists of a number of SBUs. Each SBU develops its own missions, objectives, and strategies to achieve. Each SBU explores its marketing opportunities separately and analyses its external threats as well. It lays down its own strategic plans which must not contradict the overall corporate plan.

The components of the SBU’s strategic plan, in general, are:

i. Defining the business mission.

ii. Analysing the external environment for identifying opportunities and threats.

iii. Analysing the internal environment for introspecting strengths and weaknesses.

iv. Developing business objectives and goals.

v. Developing business strategies.

vi. Preparing programmes or action plans.

vii. Implementing action plans.

viii. Monitoring feedbacks and take corrective actions.

These are discussed briefly in the following paragraphs.

Each business unit within the organization has its own mission to develop. The mission statements for the business covers up the market segment and the target market for a company that they will serve. For example, mission for a pharmaceutical business that manufactures paediatric medicines is to spread goodwill amongst parents by taking care of their children’s health.

How better an organization can fulfil its mission depends on how better it can manage its resources and control its impediments in its way to success. This means the ability of the organization to capitalize on strengths by keeping weaknesses at bay and exploit business opportunities by thwarting threats convincingly. SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) analysis is an important strategic planning tool that helps the organization to do a critical review and compare its strengths and weaknesses with opportunities and threats.

SWOT analysis can be separately undertaken by the sales managers to review and identify the strategic advantages that they can use as promotional weapons. At the same time, the analysis will signal cautions on disadvantaged areas of the organization that the sales managers should take care of in the strategic planning process.

After the business mission is defined and the SWOT analysis is over, the sales manager decides on the objectives of the business dealing with specific product(s) or product line. Multiple objectives are set to cover up the major points of destination. Kotler (1988) viewed that most business units should pursue a mix of objectives including profitability, sales growth, market share improvement, risk containment, innovativeness, reputation, and so on.

Strategies lay down the activities and distribute resources with a long-term plan of how to compete with the designated products and markets zeroing in on business objectives and goals. A business strategy, in the same lines, suggests the plan of action which should be pursued by a business unit to accomplish objectives in a cost-effective manner.

In this regard, Porter’s strategic thinking is worthy of discussion because, according to him all strategic routes are condensed into three generic strategies. According to Porter, these generics provide food for strategic thoughts for managers to steer businesses towards accomplishment of objectives.

3. Product/Functional Level Strategic Plan :

A strategic plan provides the framework for preparing marketing strategies for a specific product or service. These product/functional level strategies should be consistent with the business strategies.

Marketing Mix Decision:

Marketing mix development is the central part of a marketing programme. A marketing programme should be designed in a manner that always surpasses that of competitors, which is termed as the competitive advantage. The development of marketing mix takes place basically in its four components, namely product, price, place, and promotion. Information on market potential, market size, growth, level of competitor’s activity, level of tastes and preferences of the customers, economic behaviour of customers, key buying influencers, cost factors for market entry, etc., are other factors to be studied before taking entry decisions.

Marketing mix decision is geared towards developing the marketing mix elements product, price, place, and promotion in a way that meets the needs and preferences of specific target market. Kumar and Meenakshi (2006) advocated that competitive advantage can be built in the marketing programme by the following –

i. Being better – Superior quality or service.

ii. Being faster – Anticipate and respond to customer needs faster than the competitors.

iii. Being closer – Establishing close long-term relationships with the customers.

The objective is to create a clear competitive advantage over rivals. A higher fit amongst the dimensions of the marketing programme, as compared to other competitors, can bring competitive advantage to the organization.

Levels of Strategic Management:

Before we could discuss the various levels of strategy, we need to understand two terms:

1. Enterprise Strategy:

Enterprise Strategy seeks to answer the question “what do we stand for?” Enterprise strategy is the organization’s plan for establishing the desired relationship with other social institutions and stock holder group by maintaining the overall character of the organization.

2. Strategic Business Unit (SBU):

“A strategic business unit (SBU) is an operative division of a firm which serves a distinct product/market segment or a well-defined set of customers or a geographic area. The SBU is given authority to make its own strategic decisions within corporate guidelines as long as it meets corporate objectives.”

In a multi-business enterprise having several SBUs there would be three levels of strategy, viz:

i. Corporate strategy,

ii. SBU strategy and

iii. Functional strategy.

i. Corporate Strategy:

Corporate strategy is the long term strategy encompassing the entire organization. Corporate strategy addresses fundamental questions such as –

a. What is the purpose of the enterprise?

b. What business it wants to be in?

c. How to expand? etc.

Corporate strategy is formulated by the top-level corporate management. Corporate level strategic planning is the planning of activities, which define the overall character, and mission of the organization, the product/service segments it will enter and leave, and allocation of resources and management of synergy among its SBUs.

ii. SBU Strategy:

SBU level strategy, sometimes called business strategy or competitive strategy is concerned with decisions pertaining to the product mix, market segments and measuring competitive advantages for the SBU.

The responsibility for SBU strategy is with the top executives of SBU who are normally 2 nd tier executives in the corporate hierarchy. In single SBU organization, senior executives have both corporate and SBU level responsibility.

iii. Functional Strategy:

Functional level strategies are strategies for different functional areas like production, finance, personnel, marketing etc. Functional level strategy is the responsibility of functional area head.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Top 3 Models of SMP

Over the past few decades, a number of frameworks or tools – known as models have been designed to assist the strategic planning exercise. Most of these models can be used with both strategic company planning and strategic marketing planning.

A few other models are being discussed below:

1. Life-Cycle Portfolio Matrix:

The Arthur D Little model which is illustrated below uses two dimensions – the firm’s competitive position and the stages of industry maturity.

a. Dominant – This is a comparatively rare position and in many cases is attributable either to a monopoly or a strong and protected technological leadership.

b. Strong – By virtue of this position, the firm has a considerable degree of freedom over its choice of strategies and is often able to act without its market position being unduly threatened by the competition.

c. Favourable – This position, which generally comes about when the industry is fragmented and no one competitor stands out clearly, results in the giving market leaders a reasonable degree of freedom.

d. Tenable – Although the firms within this category are able to perform satisfactorily and can justify staying in the industry, they are generally vulnerable in the face of increased competition from stronger and more proactive companies in the market.

e. Weak – the performance of firms in this category is generally unsatisfactory although opportunities for improvement do exist.

2. The General Electric Model:

The General Electric Model (developed by GE with the assistance of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company) is similar to the BCG growth-share matrix. This also uses two factors in a matrix/grid situation.

The criteria used to rate market attractiveness and business position are assigned in different ways because some criteria are more important than others. Then each SBU is rated with respect to all criteria. Finally overall ratings for both factors are calculated for each SBU. Based on these ratings, each SBU is labelled as high, medium or low with respect to (a) market attractiveness, and (b) business position.

Every organisation has to make decisions about how to use its limited resources most effectively. That’s where these planning models can help in determining which SBU should be stimulated for growth, which ones maintained in their present market position and which one eliminated.

3. Porter’s Generic Strategic Model:

Michel Porter, a Harvard business professor proposed the following generic strategic models based on product market scope and competitive advantages.

Three generic strategies proposed by Michel Porter are:

a. Overall cost leadership – A company or an SBU, typically large, seeks to satisfy a broad market by producing a standard product at a low cost and then under-pricing competitors. The battle among Deccan Airways with other Airlines, and Maruti Udyog with other automobile companies revolves around cost leadership at the present time.

b. Differentiation – An organisation creates a distinctive, perhaps even a unique, product through its unsurpassed quality, innovative design, or some other feature and as a result, can charge a higher than average price. This strategy may be used to pursue either a broad or narrow target market.

c. Focus – A firm or an SBU concentrates on part of a market and tries to satisfy it with either a very low-priced or highly distinctive product. The target market ordinarily is set apart by some factor such as geography or specialized needs. For example, a small company in the auto parts business might target owners of cars that are no longer produced.

A low-cost leader’s basis for competitive advantage is lower overall cost than competitors. Successful low-cost leaders are exceptionally good at finding ways to drive cost out of their business. Outperforming rivals in controlling the factors that drive costs is a very demanding managerial exercise.

In markets where rivals compete mainly on price, low cost relative to competitor is the only competitive advantage that matters. A low-cost leader is in the strongest position to win the business of the price sensitive buyers and still earn a profit.

A successful differentiation strategy will provide customers with perceived and actual value that is difficult for competitors to copy. The essence of a differentiation strategy is to be unique in ways that are valuable to the customers and that can be sustained.

Focused (or Market Niche) strategy is based on competitive advantages either on- (a) lower cost than competitors in serving the market niche or (b) an ability to offer niche members something they perceive better suited to their own unique taste and preferences. Even though a focuser may be small, it may still have substantial competitive strength because of the attractiveness of the product offering and its strong expertise and capabilities in meeting the needs and expectations of niche members.

Best-cost provider strategies aim at giving customers more value for their money. The most successful best-cost producers have competencies and capabilities to simultaneously manage unit costs down and product caliber up. The most powerful competitive strategy of all is relentlessly striving to become a lower-and-lower cost provider of a higher-and-higher caliber product. The closer a firm can get to the ultimate of being the industry’s absolute lowest-cost provider and, simultaneously, the provider of the industry’s overall best product, the less vulnerable it becomes to rivals’ actions.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Strengths

Some benefits of strategic marketing planning are as follows:

(a) The increase in size of companies will increase its risk.

(b) It improves the quality of management’s decision making by encouraging creativity and initiative by tapping the ideas of the management team.

(d) The reduction in entry barriers has intensified the competitive spirit.

(e) The long-run survival and growth of a business firm requires a well-planned decision making, evaluation and control systems.

(f) The long-term, medium-term and short-term objectives, plans and controls can be made consistent with one another.

Strategic Marketing Planning – Common Pitfalls

The common pitfalls in strategic marketing planning are as follows:

(a) Non-availability of correct and accurate data.

(b) Doing strategic planning only to satisfy accreditation or regulatory requirements.

(d) Top management making intuitive decisions that conflict with formal plan.

(e) Failing to use plans as a standard for measuring performance.

(f) Delegating tasks to a few persons rather than involving all managers.

(g) Failing to involve key employees in all phases of planning.

(h) Failing to create an environment conducive of change.

(i) Lack of flexibility and creativity.

(j) Strategic planning is a costly exercise, as well as, time consuming.

(k) Strategic planning usually restricted to hard business concerns, leaving without proper attention for soft issues like customer, quality, labour productivity, social concerns etc.

(l) Strategy planning sometimes becomes a routine exercise, without having proper attention to strategic issues.

(m) The planning process is isolated from the external groups that critically affect the company like labour unions, consumer advocates, social service organizations etc.

Strategic Planning Process: 4 Stages | Business Marketing
Strategic Planning Process for Industrial Marketing
Strategic Planning, Alternatives and Implementation | Business Marketing
Process of Strategic Planning: 5 Stages | Management

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AI-powered marketing and sales reach new heights with generative AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in marketing and sales. And now, with the ongoing step-change evolution of generative AI (gen AI), we’re seeing the use of open-source platforms penetrating to the sales frontlines, along with rising investment by sales-tech players in gen AI innovations. Given the accelerating complexity and speed of doing business in a digital-first world, these technologies are becoming essential tools.

Inevitably, this will impact how you operate—and how you connect with and serve your customers. In fact, it’s probably already doing so. Forward-thinking C-suite leaders are considering how to adjust to this new landscape. Here, we outline the marketing and sales opportunities (and risks) in this dynamic field and suggest productive paths forward.

Our research suggests that a fifth of current sales-team functions could be automated.

How AI is reshaping marketing and sales

AI is poised to disrupt marketing and sales in every sector. This is the result of shifts in consumer sentiment alongside rapid technological change.

Omnichannel is table stakes

Across industries, engagement models are changing: today’s customers want everything, everywhere, and all the time. While they still desire an even mix of traditional, remote, and self-service channels (including face-to-face, inside sales, and e-commerce), we see continued growth in customer preference for online ordering and reordering.

Winning companies—those increasing their market share by at least 10 percent annually—tend to utilize advanced sales technology; build hybrid sales teams and capabilities; tailor strategies for third-party and company-owned marketplaces; achieve e-commerce excellence across the entire funnel; and deliver hyper-personalization (unique messages for individual decision makers based on their needs, profile, behaviors, and interactions—both past and predictive).

Step changes are occurring in digitization and automation

What is generative ai.

Many of us are already familiar with online AI chatbots and image generators, using them to create convincing pictures and text at astonishing speed. This is the great power of generative AI, or gen AI: it utilizes algorithms to generate new content—writing, images, or audio—from training data.

To do this, gen AI uses deep-learning models called foundation models (FMs). FMs are pre-trained on massive datasets and the algorithms they support are adaptable to a wide variety of downstream tasks, including content generation. Gen AI can be trained, for example, to predict the next word in a string of words and can generalize that ability to multiple text-generation tasks, such as writing articles, jokes, or code.

In contrast, “traditional” AI is trained on a single task with human supervision, using data specific to that task; it can be fine-tuned to reach high precision, but must be retrained for each new use case. Thus gen AI represents an enormous step change in power, sophistication, and utility—and a fundamental shift in our relationship to artificial intelligence.

AI technology is evolving at pace. It is becoming increasingly easy and less costly to implement, while offering ever-accelerating complexity and speed that far exceeds human capacity. Our research suggests that a fifth of current sales-team functions could be automated. In addition, new frontiers are opening with the rise of gen AI (see sidebar “What is generative AI?”). Furthermore, venture capital investment in AI has grown 13-fold over the last ten years. 1 Nestor Maslej et al., “The AI Index 2023 annual report,” AI Index Steering Committee, Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University, April 2023. This has led to an explosion of “usable” data (data that can be used to formulate insights and suggest tangible actions) and accessible technology (such as increased computation power and open-source algorithms). Vast, and growing, amounts of data are now available for foundation-model training, and since 2012 there’s been a millionfold increase in computation capacity—doubling every three to four months. 2 Cliff Saran, “Stanford University finds that AI is outpacing Moore’s Law,” Computer Weekly, December 12, 2019; Risto Miikkulainen, “Creative AI through evolutionary computation: Principles and examples,” SN Computer Science, 2(3): 163, March 23, 2001.

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What does gen ai mean for marketing and sales.

The rise of AI, and particularly gen AI, has potential for impact in three areas of marketing and sales: customer experience (CX), growth, and productivity.

For example, in CX, hyper-personalized content and offerings can be based on individual customer behavior, persona, and purchase history. Growth can be accelerated by leveraging AI to jumpstart top-line performance, giving sales teams the right analytics and customer insights to capture demand. Additionally, AI can boost sales effectiveness and performance by offloading and automating many mundane sales activities, freeing up capacity to spend more time with customers and prospective customers (while reducing cost to serve). In all these actions, personalization is key. AI coupled with company-specific data and context has enabled consumer insights at the most granular level, allowing B2C lever personalization through targeted marketing and sales offerings. Winning B2B companies go beyond account-based marketing and disproportionately use hyper-personalization in their outreach.

Bringing gen AI to life in the customer journey

There are many gen AI-specific use cases across the customer journey that can drive impact:

A gen AI sales use case: Dynamic audience targeting and segmentation

Gen AI can combine and analyze large amounts of data—such as demographic information, existing customer data, and market trends—to identify additional audience segments. Its algorithms then enable businesses to create personalized outreach content, easily and at scale.

Instead of spending time researching and creating audience segments, a marketer can leverage gen AI’s algorithms to identify segments with unique traits that may have been overlooked in existing customer data. Without knowing every detail about these segments, they can then ask a gen AI tool to draft automatically tailored content such as social media posts and landing pages. Once these have been refined and reviewed, the marketer and a sales leader can use gen AI to generate further content such as outreach templates for a matching sales campaign to reach prospects.

Embracing these techniques will require some openness to change. Organizations will require a comprehensive and aggregated dataset (such as an operational data lake that pulls in disparate sources) to train a gen AI model that can generate relevant audience segments and content. Once trained, the model can be operationalized within commercial systems to streamline workflows while being continuously refined by agile processes.

Lastly, the commercial organizational structure and operating model may need to be adjusted to ensure appropriate levels of risk oversight are in place and performance assessments align to the new ways of working.

At the top of the funnel, gen AI surpasses traditional AI-driven lead identification and targeting that uses web scraping and simple prioritization. Gen AI’s advanced algorithms can leverage patterns in customer and market data to segment and target relevant audiences . With these capabilities, businesses can efficiently analyze and identify high-quality leads, leading to more effective, tailored lead-activation campaigns (see sidebar “A gen AI sales use case: Dynamic audience targeting and segmentation”). Additionally, gen AI can optimize marketing strategies through A/B testing of various elements such as page layouts, ad copy, and SEO strategies, leveraging predictive analytics and data-driven recommendations to ensure maximum return on investment. These actions can continue through the customer journey, with gen AI automating lead-nurturing campaigns based on evolving customer patterns.
Within the sales motion, gen AI goes beyond initial sales-team engagement, providing continuous critical support throughout the entire sales process, from proposal to deal closure. With its ability to analyze customer behavior, preferences, and demographics, gen AI can generate personalized content and messaging. From the beginning, it can assist with hyper-personalized follow-up emails at scale and contextual chatbot support . It can also act as a 24/7 virtual assistant for each team member, offering tailored recommendations, reminders, and feedback, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates. As the deal progresses, gen AI can provide real-time negotiation guidance and predictive insights based on comprehensive analysis of historical transaction data, customer behavior, and competitive pricing.
There are many gen AI use cases after the customer signs on the dotted line, including onboarding and retention. When a new customer joins, gen AI can provide a warm welcome with personalized training content , highlighting relevant best practices. A chatbot functionality can provide immediate answers to customer questions and enhance training materials for future customers. Gen AI can also offer sales leadership with real-time next-step recommendations and continuous churn modeling based on usage trends and customer behavior. Additionally, dynamic customer-journey mapping can be utilized to identify critical touchpoints and drive customer engagement.

This revolutionary approach is transforming the landscape of marketing and sales, driving greater effectiveness and customer engagement from the very start of the customer journey.

Winning tomorrow’s car buyers using artificial intelligence in marketing and sales

Commercial leaders are optimistic—and reaping benefits.

We asked a group of commercial leaders to provide their perspective on use cases and the role of gen AI in marketing and sales more broadly. Notably, we found cautious optimism across the board: respondents anticipated at least moderate impact from each use case we suggested. In particular, these players are most enthusiastic about use cases in the early stages of the customer journey lead identification, marketing optimization, and personalized outreach (Exhibit 1).

These top three use cases are all focused on prospecting and lead generation, where we’re witnessing significant early momentum. This comes as no surprise, considering the vast amount of data on prospective customers available for analysis and the historical challenge of personalizing initial marketing outreach at scale.

Various players are already deploying gen AI use cases, but this is undoubtedly only scratching the surface. Our research found that 90 percent of commercial leaders expect to utilize gen AI solutions “often” over the next two years (Exhibit 2).

Our research found that 90 percent of commercial leaders expect to utilize gen AI solutions “often” over the next two years.

Overall, the most effective companies are prioritizing and deploying advanced sales tech, building hybrid teams, and enabling hyper-personalization. And they’re maximizing their use of e-commerce and third-party marketplaces through analytics and AI. At successful companies, we’ve found:

There is a clearly defined AI vision and strategy.
More than 20 percent of digital budgets are invested in AI-related technologies.
Teams of data scientists are employed to run algorithms to inform rapid pricing strategy and optimize marketing and sales.
Strategists are looking to the future and outlining simple gen AI use cases.

Such trailblazers are already realizing the potential of gen AI to elevate their operations.

Our research indicates that players that invest in AI are seeing a revenue uplift of 3 to 15 percent and a sales ROI uplift of 10 to 20 percent.

Anticipating and mitigating risks in gen AI

While the business case for artificial intelligence is compelling, the rate of change in AI technology is astonishingly fast—and not without risk. When commercial leaders were asked about the greatest barriers limiting their organization’s adoption of AI technologies, internal and external risk were at the top of the list.

From IP infringement to data privacy and security, there are a number of issues that require thoughtful mitigation strategies and governance. The need for human oversight and accountability is clear, and may require the creation of new roles and capabilities to fully capitalize on opportunities ahead.

In addition to immediate actions, leaders can start thinking strategically about how to invest in AI commercial excellence for the long term. It will be important to identify which use cases are table stakes, and which can help you differentiate your position in the market. Then prioritize based on impact and feasibility.

The AI landscape is evolving very quickly, and winners today may not be viable tomorrow. Small start-ups are great innovators but may not be able to scale as needed or produce sales-focused use cases that meet your needs. Test and iterate with different players, but pursue partnerships strategically based on sales-related innovation, rate of innovation versus time to market, and ability to scale.

AI is changing at breakneck speed, and while it’s hard to predict the course of this revolutionary tech, it’s sure to play a key role in future marketing and sales. Leaders in the field are succeeding by turning to gen AI to maximize their operations, taking advantage of advances in personalization and internal sales excellence. How will your industry react?

Richelle Deveau is a partner in McKinsey’s Southern California office, Sonia Joseph Griffin is an associate partner in the Atlanta office, where Steve Reis is a senior partner.

The authors wish to thank Michelle Court-Reuss, Will Godfrey, Russell Groves, Maxim Lampe, Siamak Sarvari, and Zach Stone for their contributions to this article.

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Digital Strategy

What Is A Digital Marketing Strategy? 5 Steps To Create One

A digital marketing strategy is part of a larger business plan that outlines how to reach its overarching business goals using digital channels.

Part of any successful business is a successful digital marketing strategy.

Creating a strategy is one thing, but the execution is just as important, if not more.

But with the digital landscape changing every day, where’s the best place to start creating and optimizing your strategy?

Read on to learn how to create a successful digital marketing strategy for your brand.

What Is A Digital Marketing Strategy?

Inevitably, digital must become the pillar of your overall marketing strategy.

With an average of 12 touchpoints and two months for a customer to convert from awareness to sale, many of those touchpoints will be digital.

While there’s not one clear-cut definition of what a digital marketing strategy is, it can be summarized as the following:

A digital marketing strategy must be tailored toward specific company key performance indicators ( KPIs ). Core elements of creating a successful strategy include:

Digital channels.
Target audience and regions.
Core messaging components.

As part of a digital marketing strategy, specific channels are identified to target the company’s ideal customers and lead them toward conversion .

These channels can include (but are not limited to):

Search engines.
Social media platforms.

Identifying channels is just one part of the digital marketing strategy. The second necessary key piece is consistent and relevant messaging to the target audience.

While the overarching message should be consistent across channels, the way brands engage and specifically talk to customers will, and should, vary by platform.

Digital Strategy Vs. Tactics

Many brands tend to confuse strategies and tactics and end up blending them together.

While both are essential elements of a marketing plan, strategy and tactics have different definitions and serve different purposes.

As mentioned above, a strategy is part of a larger business plan to help brands reach overarching company goals.

Conversely, tactics are planned actions to achieve a greater marketing strategy.

The Key Differences Between Digital Strategies And Tactics

One example of a digital strategy could be paid media marketing. The tactics that fit within paid media marketing could include:

Running paid search ads on Google or Microsoft.
Testing audiences on the Google Display Network (GDN).
Testing landing page or ad copy creatives for optimized conversion rates.

To summarize: Tactics do not equal strategies. Strategies are created to then inform which tactics should be used.

Digital Strategy Examples

While digital marketing strategies may contain similar characteristics across brands, each strategy and its tactics will look different. Strategies are not a “one size fits all.”

Below are some of the more common digital marketing strategies used by brands across the world:

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
Search engine optimization (SEO).
Content marketing.
Email marketing.
Social media marketing.

PPC Advertising

PPC marketing is a form of online advertising where brands pay each time a user clicks on their ad and is driven to the company website. Typically PPC campaigns are run in Google and Microsoft Ads.

Within those two PPC platforms are multiple campaign types to choose from, depending on the advertiser’s goals. These can include:

Search ads.
Display ads.
Shopping ads.
YouTube ads.
Discover ads.
Performance Max.

PPC ads can be hyper-targeted to specific audiences or targeted to the masses, depending on the brand’s objectives. PPC is generally used to drive a brand’s traffic, sales, and conversions.

An example of a PPC search ad on Google is below.

An example of a Google paid search text ad.

An SEO strategy involves optimizing the brand’s website, app, or content to help rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

When a brand’s website and content are optimized, it helps drive improved organic (non-paid) search visibility, ultimately driving more traffic to the website.

SEO is considered a long-term strategy, and while there are typically no “direct” costs (like PPC advertising), it does involve indirect costs such as:

Employee or agency time and fees.
Third-party platforms or technology costs.

One benefit of having a strong SEO strategy is that, over time, the reliance on PPC marketing can be reduced, making the budget more efficient.

Using the same example of the search query [ppc software], an example of organic listings and answer boxes on the Google SERP is below.

An example of organic listings for the query 'ppc software' in Google.

Content Marketing

This strategy is more “behind-the-scenes” work, if you will. It includes creating (and sharing) unique and valuable content with a company’s target audience.

Part of a content marketing strategy involves creating different types of content for each digital platform.

For example, if a brand wants to create content for the TikTok platform, the content would be in the form of short video clips (maximum of three minutes).

Conversely, if a brand wants to increase brand authority, it may involve creating a long-form article and blog strategy to live on its website.

Content marketing aims to help build and establish trust with the target audience and turn them into long-term, repeat customers.

Using the same example as the PPC section above, an example of content marketing is below. The brand Skai (formerly Kenshoo) curates blog posts for its readers to increase engagement.

If a brand sells physical products, an ecommerce strategy should be crucial to a company’s business goals.

Enabling an ecommerce strategy means an online storefront is created for consumers to purchase products.

Some of the tactics in an ecommerce strategy can include:

Creating an online storefront where brands sell direct to consumers (DTC).
Selling physical products on online marketplaces such as Amazon.
Creating affiliate sales programs where others get paid to promote the brands’ products.
Paid shopping ads on Google and Microsoft to drive sales.
Influencer and brand ambassador marketing.

Email Marketing

This component of a digital strategy involves sending targeted emails to potential and current customers. The ultimate goal of email marketing is to drive leads, sales, or transactions and create repeat purchasers throughout the customer journey.

For example, a soon-to-be bride is looking for the perfect wedding invitations after getting engaged.

After this user is subscribed to the brand’s email or marketing communications, an email strategy cadence is created to guide them throughout the planning process. That could include:

Promoting free samples on wedding invitations.
Discounts on wedding invitation suites.
Free (or discounted) Thank You cards after the wedding.
Referral program to create word-of-mouth sales.

Email marketing is a great way to talk to the target audience and build lasting customer relationships, even after the initial purchase.

Below is an example of a targeted email offering a promotion in my inbox:

What Is A Digital Marketing Strategy? 5 Steps To Create One

Social Media Marketing

Depending on the brand, a social media marketing strategy will have different use cases and goals.

As part of the larger digital marketing strategy, social platforms should be chosen to promote content or interact with the target audience in some form.

Below are just a few tactics that can be used in social media marketing:

Creating organic content to post.
Running paid ads on platforms to target audiences.
Launching influencer marketing campaigns depending on the specific goal.

Using the same brand example as the email section, below is an example of a retargeting ad on Facebook (Meta):

How To Create A Digital Strategy In 5 Steps

As mentioned above, a digital marketing strategy should be created after identifying the overarching business goals.

For this reason, the steps to create a successful digital strategy include specific steps to help achieve the larger business goals.

Step 1: Identify Target Audience And Build Personas

A digital marketing strategy will only be as good as the target audience behind it. After all, they’re the ones who purchase your brand’s products and services.

When identifying a target persona , consider the following items:

Demographics : After identifying where to sell your products/services, determine if any key geographic areas may outperform others. Other demographic categories are age, parental status, household income, and more.
Interests : What kinds of hobbies does your ideal persona have? This information can help shape content for the customer.
Behaviors : How (and where) do these users consume content on the internet? Are they impulse shoppers? What social platforms do they frequent?
Pain points : What problems are users trying to solve? This is the key area to focus on. By providing your target audience with a solution to their pain points and speaking to them in a way they understand, you’ll likely win a customer for life.

Step 2: Conduct Competitor Landscape Analysis

It’s important to understand the digital landscape before diving into digital channels.

Some of the key components of conducting a competitor analysis include:

Which competitors are bidding on relevant keywords you’d like to target?
How are competitors messaging their target audience?
Which channels are competitors advertising on?
How do competitors rank organically compared to you?
How much are competitors’ monthly digital ad budgets?

Third-party tools like Semrush, SpyFu, Google Keyword Planner, and Google Trends can help answer many of these questions.

Note that with any third-party tool’s data, the information provided cannot be guaranteed 100% accurate and should be used as a guide, not as an absolute.

Step 3: Determine Necessary Digital Marketing Channels

Once you’ve figured out who your target audience is and where they hang out online, it’s time to determine the key digital marketing channels.

Ideally, a mix of channels will be chosen as it’s not best practice to choose one or two and put all your eggs in one basket.

The key is to diversify the digital channels and meet your customers where they’re online at any given point in time.

These channels will likely include any of the above in the digital strategy examples section.

Each channel identified should include its own set of KPIs . These are set by the marketers and greater business teams.

Be sure not to set the same KPIs and measurement goals for each channel, as they all serve different purposes.

Creating realistic measurement goals ensures that awareness channels are measured against awareness KPIs, such as brand lift instead of direct conversions.

As with any digital channel, it’s important to understand how they can be measured.

This step should include identifying a proper measurement platform, such as Google Analytics or another tool, to ensure that marketing dollars and channels can be measured.

Step 4: Create Content And Unique Value Proposition Plan

Once the digital channels have been identified, it’s time to plan your content for each channel.

The key is creating a consistent messaging framework that can be reused and reworked in each channel. That way, you’re not starting from scratch each time.

For example, if you want to introduce your brand on YouTube or the Google Display Network, the content should not be focused on a direct conversion or a “Buy Now” CTA. That’s simply asking for too much on an initial brand awareness touchpoint.

On the other hand, for someone well on their search journey and looking for specific products and services, that could be a time to introduce discounts and special offers.

Lastly, make sure that what you’re providing your customers is unique and differentiated in the market. Conducting a competitor analysis first will help identify what’s currently being offered in the market.

Even if your product or service is similar to your competitors, it’s important to find a way to differentiate your brand.

Step 5: Execute And Optimize Digital Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve defined steps 1-4, it’s time to launch your digital marketing strategy.

However, the work is not done yet. Your digital marketing strategy should be ongoing and fluid based on performance and the changing market landscape.

Digital marketing channels and campaigns should be continuously monitored and analyzed to ensure that marketing budgets and resources are utilized most effectively.

This should include daily, weekly, and monthly checkpoints in each channel.

Monthly reports and quarterly business reviews (QBRs) should be conducted to provide opportunities to shift and pivot strategy based on findings.

Digital marketing strategies are not a “one size fits all.” They also should not be the only strategy a brand has.

While it’s important to think about “digital-first” when it comes to strategies, it needs to align with the overarching business goals.

Don’t confuse strategy and tactics and end up rushing into a tactics-first approach.

By taking the time to create a solid digital marketing strategy, you’re setting the brand up for long-term success and the ability to pivot based on performance.

More Resources:

Lead Generation: How To Get Started
The Ultimate Guide To Digital Marketing
The Top 10 Digital Marketing Certificate Programs To Enroll In

Featured Image: ImageFlow/Shutterstock

Brooke serves as the Leader of Digital Marketing at Smith Micro Software, with over 10 years of experience. She helps ...

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LinkedIn Marketing Strategy: 6 Tips for 2023

Posted by Jackie Gualtieri on May 23, 2023

Marketing Tools & Tips Social Media Best Practices

With so many social media platforms out there, why should companies be on LinkedIn? Perhaps it’s the fact that LinkedIn has over 875 million members . Or maybe it’s because 52 million people use LinkedIn to look for work every week or that 101 job applications are submitted through LinkedIn every second, according to Hootsuite’s roundup of LinkedIn’s most recent statistics.

But LinkedIn isn’t just for recruiting. Marketers see up to 2x higher conversion rates on LinkedIn, according to LinkedIn’s research . It’s no wonder that their surveys also found that 40% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn is the most effective channel for finding high-quality leads. Those leads can help you convert followers to customers, making LinkedIn just as crucial for your sales team.

Whether you’re looking to help your company find new employees, generate more leads, or simply build your brand awareness, your LinkedIn marketing strategy matters. Let’s get into how you can leverage LinkedIn and help every facet of your company.

6 Tips for Your 2023 LinkedIn Marketing Strategy

1. solidify your goals.

How you use LinkedIn may vary depending on what your goals are, so it’s crucial to know what you’re striving for before trying to configure your LinkedIn presence. Some of the main reasons for using LinkedIn include building brand awareness, making sales in a B2B industry, or recruiting new potential hires.

Once you name your goals, you should then further determine the steps you want to take to reach those objectives. For instance, if your aim is brand awareness, what might that look like for your company? Some LinkedIn metrics you may want to look at include your posts’ reach, your page’s following, or your overall engagement rate. But if your goal were recruitment, you may be more concerned with the rate of your messages being opened when sent to potential hires.

Ready to start analyzing your LinkedIn metrics?

LinkedIn is a highly versatile social media platform, which is both helpful and sometimes overwhelming. Breaking down and addressing your goals is the best way to ensure you’re using it in the way that’s most beneficial to your company.

Disney Park, Experiences and Products , the division of The Walt Disney Company dedicated to its theme parks and licensing products, optimized its company page for recruitment. The majority of the division’s posts revolve around promoting working at the Disney Parks and often share information about the benefits of working with The Walt Disney Company. By setting a goal of recruitment, the company can focus on reaching the right target audience with their LinkedIn posts and boosting attendance at their job fairs.

Senior Industrial Engineer Michelle, shares her perspective on working with the company and her focus on the customer experience, making for a very authentic LinkedIn post.

2. Complete your LinkedIn Page

Your company’s LinkedIn Page is your home base. When LinkedIn users see your posts and click to view your page, you want them to get a full picture of your company. Regardless of what your goals are, it’s essential to have this page filled out with all the information someone might need or want about your company. What’s your company’s mission? What do you do? What’s your history?

Having a LinkedIn company page with all tabs completed can up your weekly views by 30 percent , according to LinkedIn research. On your home page, you should have crucial branding details, like your company logo, a cover photo that fits your brand, an overview of your company, and a call-to-action button, which is often connected to the company’s website. In the About section, dive deeper into your biography with more information like your origin, industry, company size, and headquarters location. In the Jobs section, you can share recruitment information, while in the People section, you can connect with your coworkers and give LinkedIn users an idea of their potential colleagues.

Dig deeper: Additional tips to get the most from your LinkedIn company page .

LinkedIn offers a way to go further with Showcase Pages. While you can build your company’s LinkedIn Page, you can also create additional pages that branch off of the parent company. Showcase Pages, which appear under the main business page’s Affiliated Pages section, allow you to highlight unique aspects of your brand. You can build Showcase Pages to show off sections of your company, brand initiatives, nonprofit work, and much more.

Penguin Random House uses their Showcase Pages to show off the different aspects of the parent company. The Showcase Pages were built around the several imprints that Penguin Random House has, including Doubleday , which has published Rudyard Kipling, Dan Brown, and John Grisham, among many others. The imprint’s Showcase Page shares additional information about this subsection of Penguin Random House, including its history, location, and company size. As a Showcase Page, you can find Penguin Random House listed in their Affiliated Pages, labeled “Parent.”

Doubleday's LinkedIn showcase page is curated with an in-depth overview and company information.

3. Plan high-quality content

Now that your LinkedIn Page and Showcase Pages are all up and running, it’s time to start posting. Posting content is a vital way to engage your audience, whether that audience be potential customers or hopeful new hires. According to LinkedIn’s research, companies that post to their pages weekly grow their following 7x faster than those who only post monthly. But those who post daily grow 8x faster than those who post weekly.

It’s clear that developing a schedule that allows you to post more frequently can boost your following and build your brand on LinkedIn. But if you do decide to post as often as daily, you may find it difficult to keep up with the demand of making and posting high-quality content every day. Many social media managers find it beneficial to use a tool where they can schedule their LinkedIn posts for the week or even month in advance. Some tools can even help you create content in-app, making it even easier to stick to a schedule of well-made posts.

An application like Sprout Social , which allows you to both make and analyze posts on LinkedIn, can help you schedule posts in advance. You can even use audience targeting to control who you want to see the post. Through the tool, you can keep up with your engagement by responding to comments. An all-in-one tool that keeps your content in one place can help you feel less overwhelmed by the demand of posting more frequently and allow you to maintain your standards for high-quality content.

Start analyzing your LinkedIn content with Rival IQ.

4. Utilize employee advocacy

When you share a post, your hope is likely that it will have a significant reach. But the reality is that an employee’s network is 10x larger than their company’s follower base on average . That discrepancy is a major reason why employee advocacy is so crucial. But it’s not just about reach. It’s also about authenticity. When an employee shares a post, LinkedIn found that it’s viewed as 3x more authentic than a company’s post.

Through LinkedIn’s research, they uncovered that employee-shared posts are responsible for a 30% increase in total engagement for their company. However, they also discovered that only 3% of employees share content about their company. Depending on your goals, you should work with your employees and coworkers to engage in employee advocacy. If your goal is brand awareness, you might ask your coworkers to share or reshare posts regarding what’s new at the company, significant events coming up, or blog posts from your company’s website. Or, if the goal is recruitment, you may want them to share information about upcoming job fairs, post details about what makes their job worthwhile, or talk about the perks that come from working at the company.

Pinterest has a strong employee advocacy network. Jeana Kim-Timmons, the social platform’s Strategic Partner Lead for Agencies and Public Figures, often posts about what’s happening at the company, from ticketing information on the Pinterest Creators Festival to new in-app features. She also reshares content from Pinterest’s website, such as in this timely post about the Pinterest board that inspired a celebrity stylist for her client’s Met Gala look. Posts like these boost brand awareness and give greater insight into what the company does.

Jeana Kim Timmons' LinkedIn page where she shares a post about Marni Senofonte's secret Pinterest board

5. Optimize your InMail

Sending a message on LinkedIn only works if you’re already connected to the person. Unfortunately, you won’t be connected in many cases, which is why LinkedIn has InMail. InMail is a Premium feature of LinkedIn. You’ll receive a number of InMail credits per month with your subscription, allowing you to message someone outside of your connections.

With a limited number of credits per cycle, you must make sure that every InMail message you send is optimized for your audience. There are many steps you can take to improve your response rate. First, pick the right people, especially if you’re recruiting. LinkedIn found that people with “Open to Work” in their profile or who fall in your category of “Recommended Matches” are about 35% more likely to respond .

Don’t send messages in bulk. LinkedIn’s data shows personalized InMail messages tend to perform about 15% better. When you do write your message, stick to under 400 characters. The data also proves messages under 400 characters have a response rate 22% higher than the average response rate. Staying under this number can give you a leg up on your competitors, as LinkedIn found 90% of all InMail messages are over 400 characters. The below example message from LinkedIn is just 345 characters and has a personalized approach.

Inmail sample from a recruiter prospecting for hires.

For the most part, timing isn’t particularly important when it comes to sending InMail. But there is one thing to keep in mind: Avoid sending messages on Fridays and Saturdays. According to LinkedIn’s research, these two days receive the lowest response rates. Messages sent on Thursdays also receive a slightly lower-than-average response rate, which suggests that sending InMail earlier in the week is your best bet, regardless of what time it’s sent.

6. Test and reinvest

As with any social media network, analytics play a crucial role in building your online presence. LinkedIn gives businesses the ability to see certain metrics . Through LinkedIn Analytics, you can see who is looking at your LinkedIn Page, who followed you, how people are engaging with your content, and how your competitors are doing. These metrics help you determine what’s working and what isn’t. By staying on top of your analytics, you can eliminate what isn’t helping you reach your goal and spend more time and resources on what is.

LinkedIn analytics tools , like Rival IQ, can help you dive even deeper. By using such a tool, you can create custom dashboards that help you visualize what you should be reinvesting in. Get insight into who your followers are, what types of posts perform best, what the best time of day to post is, and much more. These additional insights are crucial to building a successful LinkedIn marketing strategy that works for your company.

LinkedIn analytics in Rival IQ provides you with all the LinkedIn insights you need in the selected time period including followers, page views, engagement rate, and more

Wrapping Up Your LinkedIn Marketing Strategy

A well-planned and well-executed LinkedIn marketing strategy helps many different parts of your company, from your recruiting to your sales team, allowing you to reach your social media marketing goals. By taking steps like completing your LinkedIn page, scheduling your posts, and utilizing your employee advocacy, you can target new audiences and boost your online presence. And by optimizing your InMail, you can help develop relationships online, resulting in company or sales growth.

But most often, finding an effective LinkedIn marketing strategy takes being willing to try and try again. By keeping on top of your LinkedIn analytics through tools like Rival IQ, you can see what isn’t working, allowing you to run tests to determine what’s worth reinvesting in.

Already a Rival IQ user? Check out how to set up your LinkedIn analytics on your Rival IQ dashboard to learn how to get more out of your LinkedIn strategy.

Jackie Gualtieri

Jacqueline is a writer and editor based out of the Central Coast of California. She initially started out as an influencer marketing strategist and continues to find herself fascinated with the way social media affects us. When she's not analyzing the world of social media, she can be found writing poetry and short stories. And if she's not writing, she's probably covering her house with more crochet and embroidery.

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