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Strategic Marketing Planning: Transforming Ideas into Impact

Unleash business potential through Strategic Marketing Planning, a transformative process aligning objectives, target audiences, and robust strategies. Strategic Marketing Planning is a systematic approach to setting organisational goals, understanding market dynamics, and developing effective strategies. Read this blog ahead to learn more!

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In the business world, where competition is fierce and consumer preferences constantly evolve, Strategic Marketing Planning emerges as a vital tool for organisations to thrive. Whether you're a startup looking to carve out a niche or a well-established company aiming to maintain relevance, Strategic Marketing Planning provides a roadmap for success by translating ideas into tangible results. 

Table of Contents 

1) What is Strategic Marketing Planning? 

2) Steps of Strategic Marketing Planning 

   a) Establish your initial position 

   b) Perform market research 

   c) Identify a specific target audience 

   d) Establish clear and measurable objectives 

   e) Obtain approval for the budget 

   f) Determine an array of strategies 

   g) Formulate a comprehensive schedule and commence implementation 

3) Example of Strategic Marketing Planning 

4)  Conclusion 

What is Strategic Marketing Planning? 

Strategic Marketing Planning is not just a buzzword; it's a dynamic and systematic process that can be the game-changer for businesses seeking to thrive in the competitive landscape. It involves a comprehensive approach to developing and implementing marketing strategies that align with overall business goals, ensuring a cohesive and purposeful approach to reaching target audiences.  

Understanding the core concept 

At its core, Strategic Marketing Planning is about setting a roadmap that guides a company's marketing efforts. It's a forward-thinking process that involves careful analysis, planning, and execution of initiatives designed to achieve specific marketing objectives. Unlike tactical or short-term approaches, strategic planning takes a holistic view, considering internal and external factors that may impact a company's success in the marketplace. 

Holistic analysis 

Strategic Marketing Planning begins with thoroughly examining the organisation's current standing in the market. This includes conducting a SWOT analysis—evaluating Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. By understanding internal capabilities and external market dynamics, businesses can identify areas for improvement and formulate strategies to leverage strengths while mitigating weaknesses and capitalising on emerging opportunities. 

Aligning with business goals 

One of the distinguishing features of strategic planning is its alignment with overall business objectives. It's not a standalone effort but an integral part of the broader business strategy. By ensuring that marketing goals resonate with the company's mission, vision, and long-term objectives, Strategic Marketing Planning helps create a unified approach, fostering synergy across different departments and functions. 

Strategic Marketing Planning Steps 

Effective Strategic Marketing Planning entails a systematic approach encompassing several key steps. Let's delve into each of these steps in detail:  

1) Establish your initial position 

Before delving into Strategic Marketing Planning, assessing your current standing within the market is essential. This involves thoroughly analysing your company's Strengths, Weaknesses, opportunities, and Threats (SWOT analysis). By clarifying your organisation's internal capabilities and external market dynamics, you can identify areas for improvement and devise strategies to capitalise on your strengths while mitigating potential risks. 

2) Perform market research 

Market research serves as the foundation of Strategic Marketing Planning, providing valuable insights into consumer preferences, competitor strategies, and industry trends. Businesses can gather relevant information through surveys, focus groups, and data analysis to inform their marketing decisions.  

3) Identify a specific target audience 

While mass marketing strategies were once dominant, today's hypercompetitive landscape often necessitates a more targeted approach. Successful companies prioritise identifying and targeting specific market segments with tailored messaging and offerings. By defining a clear target audience based on demographics, psychographics, and behaviour patterns, businesses can personalise their marketing efforts. This can address their customers' unique needs and preferences, driving higher engagement and conversion rates. 

4) Establish clear and measurable objectives 

Setting precise and measurable goals is essential for guiding Strategic Marketing Planning initiatives and assessing their effectiveness. Whether it's increasing brand awareness, driving sales growth, or expanding market share, objectives should be specific, achievable, and aligned with overall business goals. By implementing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics to track progress, organisations can measure the success of their marketing implementations. 

5) Obtain approval for the budget 

Allocating sufficient resources is crucial for executing Strategic Marketing plans effectively. Once objectives are defined, organisations must obtain approval for the budget required to implement various marketing initiatives. This may include allocating funds for advertising campaigns, digital marketing, market research, and other promotional activities.  

6) Determine an array of strategies 

With objectives set and resources allocated, the next step is to develop a comprehensive set of marketing strategies to achieve desired outcomes. This may involve a mix of tactics, such as content marketing, social media engagement, influencer partnerships, email campaigns, and SEO optimisation tailored to reach and engage target audiences across various channels. 

7) Formulate a comprehensive schedule and commence implementation 

Once strategies are finalised, it's time to develop a detailed schedule outlining the timeline and sequence of marketing activities. This includes setting deadlines, assigning responsibilities, and coordinating efforts across different departments or teams involved in execution. By adhering to a structured timeline and closely monitoring progress, businesses can ensure that marketing initiatives are implemented efficiently and effectively, maximising their impact and driving desired outcomes. 

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Example of Strategic Marketing Planning 

To illustrate the effectiveness of Strategic Marketing Planning, let's consider the case of a technology startup aiming to launch a new mobile app. Following the steps outlined above, the company conducts market research to identify target demographics, sets clear objectives to acquire a certain number of users within a specified timeframe, and allocates a budget for digital advertising and social media promotion. Leveraging data analytics, the company continuously monitors user engagement metrics and iterates on its marketing strategies to optimise performance and drive app downloads. 

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Conclusion 

Strategic Marketing Planning is pivotal in helping organisations navigate uncertainty and achieve sustainable growth in the business environment. Businesses can transform their ideas into impactful marketing campaigns that align with consumers and drive tangible results by systematically assessing market opportunities, targeting specific audience segments, and aligning resources with clear objectives. By embracing Strategic Marketing Planning as a core business practice, companies can position themselves for long-term success in an ever-evolving marketplace. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Strategic Marketing Planning involves a comprehensive and systematic approach to developing and implementing marketing initiatives. It goes beyond short-term tactics by aligning marketing efforts with overall business objectives , conducting thorough market research, and setting clear, measurable objectives .  

Success in Strategic Marketing Planning can be measured through various KPIs such as increased brand awareness, higher conversion rates, expanded market share, and improved customer engagement metrics. By tracking metrics over time, businesses can evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies and make data-driven adjustments as needed.  

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The Definitive Guide to Strategic Marketing Planning

No matter your goal, it’s always better to have a solid plan with defined steps in place than to try and haphazardly complete tasks. With strategic marketing planning, you can ensure that every step your business takes, regardless of which team contributes, will all coherently move towards promoting your brand and attracting new customers. 

What is the Strategic Marketing Planning Process?

The strategic marketing planning process allows you to outline your company goals for reaching your audience and the steps of how to reach them. Each step of the process defines your business objectives, your customers’ needs, and how your products can meet those needs. As your goals are defined, the steps of the process also track your implementation and progress toward your objectives. 

Mission Statement

The first step for strategic marketing planning is to outline your mission statement. We describe in the section below what a mission statement is and how to write it to effectively describe your business objectives. 

What is a Mission Statement?

How to write a mission statement.

A mission statement should be no more than three or four short sentences and should contain your long-term goals as a business. Your mission statement should be concise and inline with your North Star metric. Outline your objectives and ensure they can be measured. Then, break them out into examples so that your mission is clear. 

Situation Analysis

The second step is to evaluate the situation and analyze any internal or external factors that affect your business. Depending on your industry, these factors can incorporate a large number of possible aspects. Some examples of factors include:

• Industry competitors
• Available resources
• Current sales revenue
• Customer desire

Analysis Methods

Strengths might include competitive advantages, how your products stand out in the market, what you hope to improve or do with your services, or how your employees work together. Weaknesses might include limited resources, issues your business is facing internally, or areas where you aren’t reaching your goals.

Opportunities are external and therefore not under your control. It’s important to be aware of the socio-political climate to monitor your customers’ changing needs. For example, a company that produces cleaning products likely saw the COVID-19 pandemic as an external opportunity to take advantage of by producing more and increasing their advertising. Threats are the opposite of opportunities and present unpredictable problems that your company must notice and address immediately.

5C Analysis

The five Cs in the title refers to Company, Customers, Competitors, Collaborators, and Climate. These Cs include both internal and external factors to accurately analyze the entire situation for your business.

• Customers – Who are the people buying your products?
• Climate – What kinds of external factors affect your business?
• Competitors – Which other companies are producing similar products?
• Company – Do people know your brand name? What do they think of you?
• Collaborators – Do you work with distributors, suppliers, or other affiliated companies, and how do they affect your business?

PEST Analysis

A PEST Analysis measures the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors that affect your business. Unlike the previous analyses, the PEST Analysis only measures external factors, so we recommend using it in addition to another type of analysis that measures your internal factors, so you can have the complete picture of your business.

The political aspect looks at the laws and regulations that influence your customers and their purchasing habits—economics shows how the stock market, taxes, and exchange rates affect your services. Social demonstrates the attitudes and lifestyle demographics that define your customers. Technical examines any patents, technologies, or production trends that might influence your product.

Marketing/Strategy Plan

With the data you collected in the prior steps, you can start brainstorming which metrics you want to collect and leverage. Depending on your industry, some metrics may be more valuable than others.

How Does a Plan Help

With a marketing plan, you can identify the audience you want to appeal to and define the best ways to reach them. You’ll also be able to estimate how your marketing efforts will affect your business by predicting the rough costs and benefits.

What to Include in Your Plan

Ideally, your marketing plan should include overall cost, how you’ll place your product or brand among your competitors, and what your predictions for customer reactions are.

Using Kissmetrics, you can create a report documenting certain factors about your customers to see who is buying your product. You can also offer surveys and accept feedback from your customers to monitor their changing desires. Another option is to monitor social media interactions with your brand by your existing customers.

In order to see if your plan is working, you need measurable goals. The best goals are tangible, realistic, and have milestones for you to monitor during the timeline you choose. Your goals depend on what you want to achieve with your marketing plan. Do you want to grow your sales revenue? Brand awareness? Are you looking to increase the number of users on your website?

Be careful not to set any goals that are outside of your control. If you have a goal to increase the number of social media engagements on Twitter and a large number of people stop using that platform, you won’t be able to achieve the goal through no fault of your own.

Likely the first part of your marketing plan outlines the estimated budget. As with all plans, you should budget an extra amount for emergency funds, but you should be able to give a rough estimate of how much it will cost to create, implement, and monitor your plan.

Marketing Mix

Now that you’ve established what you want to achieve, who you are as a company, and what is happening inside and out of your business, it’s time to begin planning how you’ll actually accomplish your goals.

The first part is knowing what your company offers. What kind of product or service does your brand offer to your customers? How do you want them to interact with your offerings? The answers will dictate your metrics and how you measure your plan’s success. 

Knowing your customers also means knowing how much they’re willing to pay for what you have to offer. 

Promotion includes the platforms you plan on using to appeal to new and existing customers. Incorporating social media postings, a contact email, reviews, a phone number to call for support, and other communication methods are all essential for promoting your brand and spreading awareness. 

This aspect is more important for physical products because you’ll want to plan how you’ll get them to the customer. Are you planning to ship them from online orders? Will the customers need to come to your store to pick up their purchases? 

Implementation and Control

The final step means it’s time to put your plan into action. This means measuring your metrics over time and comparing them to your established objectives. As time goes on, you’ll likely need to come back to your marketing strategies to update them or change them in accordance with your company’s needs. 

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What is Strategic Marketing Planning? A Step-by-Step Guide

In today’s fiercely competitive business environment, understanding what is strategic marketing planning and creating a successful plan is crucial to achieving growth, profitability, and long-term sustainability.

This step-by-step guide will not only help you comprehend the importance of what is strategic marketing planning but also provide essential insights on how to develop and implement a well-rounded marketing strategy to stay ahead of the competition.

Short Summary

• Strategic marketing planning is a systematic approach to achieving business objectives and optimizing resources.
• Key components include market research, target audience identification, objective setting & utilization of the 4 Ps of marketing.
• The process involves effective execution & monitoring with regular reviews for successful results and continuous improvement.

Understanding Strategic Marketing Planning

Strategic marketing planning is a systematic approach that our agency follows to reach predetermined marketing objectives. It provides the essential foundation, guidelines, and steps to achieve those objectives. Strategic planning plays a pivotal role in optimizing marketing efforts and achieving better results, ultimately leading to business growth and profitability.

Definition and significance

Strategic marketing planning is defined as a systematic approach to achieving marketing goals through the analysis, segmentation, and identification of competitive advantages. Efficient marketing operations are crucial for the successful strategic marketing implementation of the successful strategic marketing plan. By employing successful strategic marketing planning , businesses can ensure that their marketing plan is well-executed and delivers the desired results.

Crafting a successful marketing strategy primarily emphasizes the marketing mix, which consists of the following:

Incorporating price into a strategic marketing plan is essential to guarantee that the value of the product is justified to prospective customers.

Key components

The essential elements of strategic marketing planning include:

• Market research
• Identification of the target audience
• Establishment of objectives
• Formulation of the marketing mix
• Assessment of performance

A SWOT analysis is a tool used to evaluate a company’s internal strengths and weaknesses in comparison to external opportunities and threats.

Defining the ideal customer profile is crucial in creating efficient marketing communication strategies, conserving time and resources by concentrating on the requirements of the current consumer, and serving as the foundation of any marketing campaign.

The Strategic Marketing Planning Process

The strategic marketing planning process is a comprehensive approach to achieving business objectives by conducting market research, identifying the target audience, and setting marketing goals that align with overall business objectives. This process enables marketers to gain an understanding of the business’s current standing and craft suitable marketing strategies, optimizing marketing efforts and achieving better results.

By following this process, marketers can ensure that their marketing efforts are aligned with the overall business objectives.

Market research and analysis

Market research and analysis play an essential role in understanding external factors, market trends, and consumer behavior and conducting a competitive analysis to identify potential opportunities and threats. By analyzing the business environment, prevailing market trends, and consumer behavior, the likelihood of the marketing plan’s success is enhanced.

A competitive analysis assists in identifying opportunities for improvement in the largest competitors’ marketing strategies, enabling the agency to focus on areas where they are lagging behind.

Identifying target audience

Identifying the target audience involves:

• Defining the ideal customer profile based on similarities between existing clients and prospective customers
• Recognizing the target audience is significant in the strategic marketing planning process
• Assisting businesses in creating efficient marketing communication strategies
• Conserving time and resources by concentrating on the requirements of the current consumer
• Serving as the foundation of any marketing campaign

It is important to understand the target audience in order to create effective marketing campaigns that will reach the target audience.

Setting marketing goals

Setting marketing goals requires using prior data and desired business outcomes to establish realistic objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). In strategic marketing planning, specific marketing goals may include acquiring a certain number of new clients, growing followers on social media, or sourcing additional leads for the sales funnel.

Establishing marketing objectives enables the ability to:

• Assess performance
• Assign resources
• Maintain a clear direction
• Make decisions based on data
• Ultimately leads to improved marketing results.

Developing Marketing Strategies

Developing marketing strategies involves crafting the marketing mix and selecting appropriate marketing channels to reach the target audience effectively. The marketing mix is a combination of product, price, promotion, and place, which can be utilized to select marketing channels by determining which channels are most effective at reaching the target audience.

By understanding the target audience and the marketing mix, marketers can determine which channels are most effective.

Crafting the marketing mix

Crafting the marketing mix involves focusing on the four Ps of marketing to create a comprehensive marketing strategy. The components of the marketing mix are:

A successful marketing strategy primarily emphasizes the marketing mix.

Each of the four is one of the four. Ps of marketing must be carefully considered when creating a marketing strategy. Product refers to a product.

Selecting marketing channels

Selecting marketing channels involves choosing the most effective digital and traditional channels to boost brand recognition, draw in new customers, and accomplish marketing objectives. Digital channels such as websites, social media, email, search engine optimization, and online advertising are available, as well as traditional channels such as television, radio, print, and outdoor advertising.

Choosing marketing channels can assist businesses in:

• Connecting with their target audience
• Maximizing visibility
• Utilizing resources effectively
• Increasing brand recognition
• Monitoring and assessing outcomes.

Implementing and Monitoring the Strategic Marketing Plan

Implementing and monitoring the strategic marketing plan involves executing the plan, managing projects, and measuring performance to ensure success. Execution and project management are essential components of the strategic marketing plan, which can be ensured by using tools such as Teamwork or Plaky to assign tasks, set timelines, and track milestones.

These tools can help ensure that the plan is executed on time and that all tasks are completed.

Execution and project management

We utilize project management tools such as Teamwork or Plaky to assign tasks, set timelines, track milestones, and ensure the successful implementation of the marketing plan . These tools offer a convenient solution to marketing planning by providing capabilities for task management and assignment, as well as a pre-made marketing strategy plan template.

With these tools, teams can easily collaborate on tasks, assign deadlines, and track progress. This is a very good article.

Performance measurement

Performance measurement entails tracking progress, assessing effectiveness, and making data-driven modifications to marketing strategies, tactics, and KPIs/OKRs. Monitoring progress assists in assessing the efficacy of marketing strategies and tactics and in recognizing areas that require adjustment.

Assessing effectiveness enables us to recognize which strategies and tactics are successful and which are not and to make adjustments as needed.

Adapting to Market Changes

Adapting to market changes in the strategic marketing planning process involves:

• Modifying the marketing strategy to remain competitive
• Consistently reviewing and updating the marketing plan
• Recognizing and responding to the changing needs of the target market.

It may also include product adaptation to appeal to a new or evolving customer base.

Regular review and updates

To avoid potential implementation issues caused by fluctuating internal and external factors and to guarantee compatibility with corporate objectives, it is essential to regularly review and revise the strategic marketing plan.

Regular review and updates of the strategic marketing planning process are essential for the following:

• Assessing effectiveness
• Responding to changing market conditions
• Ensuring alignment with business goals
• Optimizing resources.

Continuous improvement

Continuous improvement involves executing, monitoring, and refining the marketing plan to reach goals, increase competitiveness, and foster strategic thinking. Launching, executing, reporting, and iterating the marketing plan should be done in an orderly fashion to ensure objectives are met, competitiveness is increased, and strategic thinking is promoted.

Ongoing improvement is fundamental for any effective strategic marketing plan. It guarantees that the plan is current and that objectives are being achieved. Moreover, it encourages strategic thinking and boosts competitiveness.

In conclusion, a successful strategic marketing plan is pivotal to achieving business growth, profitability, and long-term sustainability. Through a step-by-step approach involving market research and analysis, target audience identification, goal setting, marketing strategy development, implementation, monitoring, and continuous improvement, businesses can adapt to market changes, stay competitive, and achieve their objectives.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the marketing strategy planning.

Strategic marketing planning is the process of creating a plan to achieve a specific marketing goal, such as increasing revenue and profits or improving the brand’s visibility. Companies use this process to outline their objectives, the programs they’ll use to reach them, who is responsible for those metrics, and when they’ll be achieved.

These objectives are typically broken down into short-term and long-term goals, each goal having its own set of strategies and tactics. The plan should also include a timeline for when each goal should be achieved, as well as a budget.

What is the purpose of a strategic marketing plan?

Strategic marketing planning is an essential process that involves creating a plan to reach specific marketing goals. This plan outlines objectives, programs, who is responsible, and when the goals need to be achieved in order to increase revenue and profits, gain visibility, discourage competitors, or improve their appearance.

What are the five parts of a strategic marketing plan?

A strategic marketing plan consists of five core components: product, price, promotion, place, and people. These are the key elements that you need to focus on in order to create a successful plan that will help your brand reach its goals.

Each of these components should be carefully considered and planned out in order to ensure that your plan is effective. The product should be tailored to meet the needs of your target audience, while the price should be reasonable.

What are the 4 phases of strategic marketing planning?

The 4 phases of strategic marketing planning are formulation, implementation, evaluation, and modification. This process involves setting goals and objectives, analyzing internal and external business factors, product planning, implementation, and tracking progress to ensure successful outcomes.

Setting goals and objectives is the first step in the process. This involves identifying the desired outcomes and the resources needed to achieve them. Internal and external business factors must be considered.

What are the key components of strategic marketing planning?

Strategic marketing planning involves market research, target audience identification, goal setting, creating a marketing mix, and assessing performance. It is essential for businesses to have an effective strategy in place to be successful.

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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.

Alexander Santo

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Alexander Santo is a Brafton writer living in Washington. ​He enjoys searching for the perfect cup of coffee, browsing used book shops and attending punk rock concerts.

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• The Strategic Marketing Process: A Complete Guide

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A well defined and feasible marketing strategy makes meeting customer needs a likely and attainable goal. And while most companies do great marketing, only a few have created brand attachment and customer loyalty through their marketing practices and tactics.

© Shutterstock.com | PureSolution

In this article, we explore, 1) the definition and purpose of strategic marketing , 2) the three phases of the strategic marketing process , 3) guidelines for effective strategic marketing process , 4) problems to expect in the strategic marketing process , 5) p.e.s.t: trends to consider when implementing marketing strategy , 6) strategic marketing process simplified , and 7) why Apple’s strategic marketing process is genius .

DEFINITION AND PURPOSE OF STRATEGIC MARKETING

Strategic Marketing is a process of planning, developing and implementing maneuvers to obtain a competitive edge in your chosen niche. This process is necessary to outline and simplify a direct map of the company’s objectives and how to achieve them. A company wanting to secure a certain share of the market, should ensure they clearly identify their mission, survey the industry situation, define specific objectives and develop, implement and evaluate a plan to guarantee they can provide their customers with the products they need, when they need them. Of course, the central objective of any company will be customer satisfaction so they may dominate the market and become leaders in their industry and thus providing substantial business satisfaction. In order to do that, three phases of marketing strategy must be perfected to create delight in their customers and beat out the competition.

THREE PHASES OF STRATEGIC MARKETING PROCESS

1. planning phase.

The planning phase is the most important as it analyzes internal strengths and weaknesses, external competition, changes in technology, industry culture shifts and provides an overall picture of the state of the organization. This phase has four key components that will provide a clear diagram of where your company is and what it is doing.

• Analyze competitors
• Research company’s current and prospective customers
• Assess company
• Identifying trends in the company’s industry

Once this analysis is complete the results should be used as a basis for developing the company’s marketing plan, which should be measurable and attainable.

• Marketing program – Once the needs of the customers have been determined, and the decisions have been made about which products will satisfy those needs, a marketing program or mix must be developed. This marketing program is the how aspect of the planning phase, which focuses on the 4Ps and the budget needed for each element of the mix.
• Once the customer needs are understood, goals can be set to meet them, thus increasing the chances of success with new products.
• Find points of difference: like your company’s unique selling point, each product should also have a certain set of traits or characteristics that makes it superior to the competitive substitute. For example, your product could be longer lasting, more accessible, more reliable or very user-friendly so the buyers will choose it over the competition each time.
• Position the product: market so that in people’s minds your product is the “go to” for their problem. Through emotional and mental marketing customers will associate your brand with their solution and eliminate choice. For example, many mothers use “Pampers,” when referring to diapers, as this brand has been positioned as the go to in baby diapering needs.
• Select target markets: based on the research and their commonalities, that way needs and goals are both met.
• Price strategy : focuses on the list price, price allowances (reductions), discounts, payment periods, and credit contracts.
• Place (Distribution) Strategy : the final ‘P’ in the marketing mix should focus on distribution channels, outlets and transportation to get the product to the customer when they need it.
• Promotion Strategy : this element of the program should focus on direct marketing, advertising, public relations and sales promotions that create brand awareness.
• Product Strategy : this element focuses on the features, packaging, branding and warranty of the product.

2. Implementation Phase

The implementation phase is the action portion of the process. If the firm cannot carry out the plan that was determined in the early stages, then the hours spent planning were wasted. However, if the planning was adequately and competently structured, then the program can be put into effect through a sales forecast and a budget, using the following four components.

• Obtaining Resources – sums of cash to develop and market new products.
• Designing marketing organization – there should be put in place a marketing hierarchy to properly see the plans to fruition.
• Developing planning schedules – time needs to be allocated to specific tasks so they can be accomplished.
• Executing the marketing plan – effectively executing the marketing plan will take attention to detail, and focus on the strategy and tactics defined in your marketing plan.

3. Evaluation or Control Phase

The evaluation phase is the checking phase. This process involves ensuring that the results of the program are in line with the goals set. The marketing team, especially the manager will need to observe any deviations in the plan and quickly correct negative deviations to get back on course; for example fluctuations of the dollar creates a lesser need for the product than in the past, then the production of said product should be repurposed for a new more desired item. And they should exploit the positive divergences as well, for example if sales are better than predicted for certain products then there could be more resources allocated to greater production or distribution of the same item.

A few ways to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing strategy include paying attention to:

• Strategy versus tactic – strategy defines goals and tactic defines actions to achieve goals.
• Measurable versus vague – have milestones that define when you’ve achieved your goals.
• Actionable versus Contingent – According to Inc.com : “ A strategic goal should be achievable through the tactics that support it, rather than dependent upon uncontrollable outside forces.”
• Marketing strategy should be backed by a business plan with tactical moves to accomplish goals, or it is useless.

GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE STRATEGIC MARKETING PROCESS

A well thought out plan for offering value and solutions to your target market allows the company to discover the needs of the targeted customers and fulfill those needs in a cost effective and timely fashion. This in turn allows for the marketing team to be able to measure a company’s value based on your ideal customer’s response to your product and strategy. Some guidelines to ensure this strategy is effective are:

• Set measurable, achievable goals by ensuring they are clear, structured and measurable it will be easier to accomplish your purpose.
• Base plans on facts and validated assumptions through market research .
• Use simple, clear and precise plans to detail what benefits you will offer your clients and how. Customers are driven by needs and desires so a clear plan will target those to gain customer loyalty.
• Have a feasible plan by using research to decide the best way to connect with and engage your ideal customers and then implement a plan your company can afford and carry to fulfillment to do so.
• Ensure control and flexibility by customizing your business plans and goals to match the needs of the customers, as they determine the success or failure of your company.

PROBLEMS TO EXPECT IN THE STRATEGIC MARKETING PROCESS

While creating the perfect marketing plan for your company, there are certain issues that could arise to deter the process. Here are a few possible issues to be prepared to face:

• Organizational Issues such as Poor Assumptions : – assuming customer needs without validation, lack of skilled workforce to implement the plans once they are arrived at, loss of sight of customer needs during the planning phase and changing demographic of consumers.
• Issues in the Marketing Department such as : inflexibility, performance assessment problems, coordination problems, poor information management and human relations issues.
• General problems such as : trouble obtaining marketing feedback, issues related to cost of marketing and problems integrating collected information into plans.

P.E.S.T: TRENDS TO CONSIDER WHEN IMPLEMENTING MARKETING STRATEGIES

According to Business news daily , while industry related factors could affect a company’s performance, outside factors can also play a major role in the outcome of a business’s plans. To determine the role of the external factors, it is recommended that companies perform a PEST analysis. Below is a break-down of what the four factors analyze.

• Political – this analyzes how legal issues and government regulations affect profit and consumer behavior. The major considerations of the political aspect are tax guidelines, political stability, trade regulations and embargos, employment laws and safety regulations. An example of this analysis and how it works is looking at the effects of political instability in a foreign market and how it affects your company’s plans.
• Economic – this factor looks at the outside economic issues that affect a firm’s success. Companies should pay attention to economic growth, inflation rates, exchange, interest rates and local business cycles. Changes in interest rate could improve or decrease the company’s bottom line.
• Social – demographic and cultural aspects affect whether a company can compete in the market or not. The social factor helps businesses to examine why customers purchase and what exactly their needs are. Issues to consider include lifestyle changes, health consciousness, environmental responsibility awareness, and attitudes toward work, education levels, population growth rates and country demographics. A certain shift in educational requirements may result in career changes that could reflect in changing needs of the customers.
• Technical – this aspect considers how technology impacts product placement and marketing. Technology can bring advantages and challenges that will increase or decrease production level. Specific areas to consider are new technological advancements, the use of technology in marketing, the role of the Internet and the impact of the information technology changes. The introduction of the Internet has created an expectation of instant gratification in today’s consumer; so social media marketing has to be considered an option.

STRATEGIC MARKETING PROCESS SIMPLIFIED

According to Center for Simplified Strategic Planning , “ Any strategic planning process involves digesting information and some fairly difficult analysis. Good strategic planning should be simplified, not simplistic. ” And it should also answer the questions: what are we selling, to whom and how do we beat the competition? The first two questions will determine the focus of your overall business while the third will help you specify your strategies to market. The following five steps are essential to accomplishing a simple, effective strategic plan.

• Identify objectives and determine mission
• Do business environmental scan-including trends and competition
• Devise strategy including SWOT , budget, marketing, price and distribution
• Implement strategy-put your plan into action
• Evaluate and modify- measure how close or far you are from objectives, track what works and change what doesn’t.

WHY APPLE’S STRATEGIC MARKETING PROCESS IS GENIUS

Apple has a significant competitive advantage over it’s rival because of it’s strategic marketing process. This company was voted overall winner of the 2012 CMO Survey Award for Marketing Excellence and before that it was listed in the top marketers group for five years in a row, as reported in Forbes.com . This competitive advantage is due to a thirty-five year old, 3-point philosophy employed by the Apple brand. The three points that constitute this philosophy include

• empathy -authentic understanding of customer need,
• focus- eliminate all unimportant opportunities and
• impute – ensuring creative, professional presentation of products.

Listed below are some of the main strategies used by Apple to ensure they beat the competition in marketing, placement and brand awareness and loyalty.

• Identify and respond to trends – though an innovative visionary, (the Apple Tablets ignited a market and were an industry leader) Apple’s team saw the digital trend shifting and responded with the iPad mini, despite Steve Jobs showing his disdain for smaller tablets in the past.
• Analyze competition and adjust – Though Apple and Microsoft have always been in competition, the two technology giants have not passed up opportunities to collaborate. And while Apple worked with Microsoft to accumulate a very big share of the market, the company went ahead and added Intel chips into their computers to ensure they were a step ahead of the competition including Microsoft.
• Innovation – Apple is usually first to market with products and visions customers love, and though it does not strive to be an innovator, usually focusing on specific strategy and enthusiasm, Apple is usually a leader in the market segment they occupy.
• Emotional branding – Companies like Apple tend to have very specific strategic aims and work hard to ensure they are met. One such strategy can be seen as forming an emotional attachment to the products sold to ideal customers. By effectively integrating emotions into the marketing strategy, the brand recognizes positive results, such as customers spending nights lined up to be the first to own the newest product.
• Enhanced distribution systems – Apple opened international retail stores and improved sales drastically. Now Apple representatives can be found in local malls and plazas to help solve customers’ issues and offer upsells and upgrades. This accessibility helps to build customer trust and helps make the decision process much easier when choosing a brand.
• Excellent customer service – Apple brand is synonymous with excellence customer service, friendly environments, and great customer experiences. The secret lies in the acronym APPLE, which, according to Social media today spells out:

“ A pproach customers with a personalized warm welcome P robe politely to understand all the customer’s needs P resent a solution for the customer to take home today L isten for and resolve any issues or concerns E nd with a fond farewell and an invitation to return ”

• Product placement – The Apple App store and iTunes compliment and extend the customer experience and the personality and reputation of the brand lead to loyalty and evangelism.

By incorporating these practices into your company’s marketing program and ensuring to follow through consistently, your company will be rewarded and recognized for its efforts.

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Designing a Strategic Marketing Plan: A Comprehensive Guide

Whether you’re a small business owner or part of a large corporation, a key component to achieving your organizational goals is to create a strategic marketing plan. 

A strategic marketing plan takes into account your overall business objectives and analyzes your resources and capabilities to guide you in creating a successful marketing strategy. 

In this guide, we’ll cover the fundamentals of strategic planning for marketing and explore 10 steps to create an effective plan to achieve your marketing goals.  

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a systematic process where top executives and key stakeholders define (or redefine) the organization’s future aspirations and mission, identifying and outlining the specific goals and objectives required to achieve them. 

The strategic planning process enables organizations to:

• Set their long-term goals and objectives
• Identify the resources available to execute goals
• Establish the most effective approach to achieve the desired results
• Make informed decisions using rich data
• Achieve an edge over competitors
• Ensure their sustainability in the ever-changing business landscape

By setting a clear vision and mission, employees become more engaged and committed to the organization's objectives. Not to mention, strategic planning allows companies to proactively identify potential challenges and craft contingency plans , thereby mitigating risks and enhancing resilience.

A successful strategic plan should include how goals can be achieved to maximize impact. These mid- to long-term goals should focus on transformational changes rather than short-term profits, helping to create a roadmap that delineates the direction an organization wants to move in and the milestones it aims to achieve.

That way, organizations can optimize their marketing budget, time, and human resources by identifying and prioritizing initiatives that generate the highest returns on investment.

Also read: A Complete Guide to Marketing Project Management

What is strategic marketing planning?

Repeating the same marketing strategy every quarter won't deliver the record-breaking results you want. Whether you're aiming for more social media engagement, to improve CTR in your email campaigns, or to boost conversions on your website, it's difficult to achieve lasting success in your marketing activities without the use of strategic planning.

In marketing, strategic planning encompasses a range of activities such as establishing goals and objectives, evaluating internal and external factors impacting the business, creating product plans, implementing those plans, and monitoring progress over time.

So, what is strategic planning in marketing? 

Structural support for goals

Much like an overall strategic business plan, strategic marketing planning is a systematic approach to crafting and executing marketing strategies designed to support an organization's marketing goals. 

It encompasses the analysis of internal and external environments, segmentation of target markets, identification of competitive advantages, and formulation of marketing objectives and plans.

Roadmap toward growth

In general, strategic marketing planning aims to deliver value to customers while driving the organization's growth and profitability. But other factors like brand awareness and domain authority may also be included in the tactical goals of this plan.

Related: Marketing Management Tasks to Prioritize for Successful Results

What’s included in a plan for strategic marketing?

A plan for strategic marketing typically contains several key components, including:

• An overview of the organization's mission and vision
• An analysis of its external environment (competitors, customers, and trends)
• An assessment of its strengths and weaknesses
• A definition of its target market

SMART Goal Setting

Based on this information, organizations can then set SMART goals, which are objectives that are: 

• (M)easurable
• (A)chievable
• (T)ime-bound 

This empowers them to tailor their marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion) to their target audience and allocate the necessary resources to execute the plan.

Action items and KPIs

In addition, a strategic plan should outline the marketing strategies and tactics that the organization will employ in its marketing operations to achieve its objectives, as well as the key performance indicators (KPIs) or Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) that will be used to measure success.

Continuous monitoring and evaluation 

Finally, the plan should also incorporate continuous monitoring and evaluation processes to ensure that it remains effective and up-to-date.

Thorough strategic marketing planning should be performed once or twice a year to ensure maximum success in marketing efforts. There’s no real requirement for how often your team should review and update your plan. The frequency depends on the nature of the business and the particular components of your marketing mix.

That said, there are generally two main times that your plan for strategic marketing should be reevaluated:

Quarterly: Most competitive organizations conduct quarterly reviews of their marketing plans. Integrating an evaluation of your strategic planning system into quarterly reviews is a great way to track progress and ensure that objectives are being achieved.

Annually: While quarterly reviews can provide insights into monthly progress, annual reviews let senior leadership, key stakeholders, and business leaders see the bigger picture. The combined metrics from all four quarters may reveal marketing trends and insights not visible in quarterly reviews.

The maturity of a business can also dictate the frequency of the strategic planning cycle. A small startup in a competitive industry may need to reevaluate its marketing plan on a monthly basis, while a more established business may only need to revisit marketing plans once every few years.

The importance of strategic marketing planning

Aside from playing a pivotal role in shaping an organization's success, profitability, and long-term sustainability, some of the key benefits of strategic marketing planning include the following:

Enhances market and customer understanding 

The strategic marketing process requires thorough research and analysis of the market and target customers. By gathering and analyzing valuable insights, businesses can uncover emerging trends, identify gaps in the market, and better understand their customers' needs, preferences, and behavior patterns. 

This enhanced understanding enables organizations to develop and deliver innovative products or services that cater to the evolving needs of their target audience, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Drives decision-making and resource allocation 

Strategic marketing planning help organizations establish clear goals and objectives as benchmarks for marketing-related decisions. It provides a solid foundation for making informed decisions regarding key marketing activities like pricing, promotion, and distribution strategies. 

Plus, it facilitates efficient project resource allocation by prioritizing initiatives that align with the overall business objectives and deliver the optimal return on investment (ROI).

Promotes strategic thinking 

Developing a marketing plan that is strategic requires organizations to cast a critical eye on their own internal strengths and weaknesses and consider how those factors may impact their success in the market. 

This introspective process fosters a culture of strategic thinking and encourages businesses to proactively identify and overcome potential barriers to success. By evaluating the market in which your organization is currently operating, you can gain a better insight into your industry and can establish more robust marketing plans for your projects going forward.

Enhances competitiveness 

It enables businesses to identify their unique selling propositions (USPs) and leverage them to differentiate themselves from competitors. By carving out a distinctive market position, organizations can set themselves apart from the competition and enhance their overall competitiveness.

Facilitates measurement and evaluation 

Lastly, strategic marketing plans help businesses establish a clear framework for measuring and evaluating their marketing performance. By setting SMART objectives and defining relevant KPIs, organizations can track their progress, analyze the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, and make data-driven adjustments as needed to optimize their marketing ROI.

Through the strategic marketing planning process, companies can develop targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and bolster their brand identity, resulting in increased customer loyalty, improved profitability, and sustainable growth. 

Ultimately, strategic marketing planning is essential for any business that wants to achieve long-term success and maintain a competitive advantage in today's dynamic business environment.

10 steps for successful strategic marketing planning

When it comes to ensuring your business's success and growth, having a strategic marketing plan in place is essential. If you're not quite sure where to start, don't worry. 

We're here to help you make sense of the process and give you the tools you need to create a marketing plan that will drive your company forward and adapt to changing market conditions. With that in mind, let's dive into the 10 steps for successful strategic marketing planning.

1. Define your vision and mission

A clear and concise vision and mission statement are at the heart of any marketing plan. These crucial elements help guide decision-making and keep your marketing objectives on track. 

Take the time to articulate what it is you hope to achieve and what your company stands for. Your vision should be a clear and concise statement outlining where you want your company to be. In other words, it’s an aspirational and inspirational statement that provides a direction for your organization and marketing operations.

For example, if your organization is a bank, perhaps your vision is ‘to be the leading provider of small business loans nationwide by 2035.’ This statement describes your ideal future trajectory, who your business aims to serve, and the service you provide. 

Your mission statement, on the other hand, is a statement outlining the purpose and values of your company. It should explain why you exist as a business and what you hope to achieve. 

Both your vision and mission statements should be customer-focused, concise, and easy to understand. By defining your vision and mission, you can align your entire organization behind your marketing goals and use them as a guide for all your strategic marketing initiatives.

2. Analyze your current market position

Before you can plot a course to success, you must know where you stand within your industry. For long-term marketing success, you'll need to collect and analyze data on your current market share, customer base, competitor activity, and industry trends. 

This process involves identifying your company's current position in the marketplace, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It also involves researching the competition, assessing customer needs and preferences, and analyzing market trends. 

This information can then be used to develop a marketing plan to help your company achieve its goals and gain a competitive advantage. By understanding your market position, you can tailor your marketing efforts to effectively reach and engage with your target audience while also differentiating yourself from the competition. An effective marketing plan can help you increase sales, improve brand awareness and loyalty, and ultimately grow your business.

3. Identify your target audience

One of the key components of any successful marketing plan is identifying and understanding your target audience. Identifying your target audience allows you to tailor your messaging to specific groups who are most likely to be interested in your product or service. 

Knowing your target audience helps you understand their needs, preferences, and behaviors, which can inform your decisions on how to reach and engage them effectively. You can segment your target audience based on factors like demographics, psychographics, and behavior and create personas that depict the ideal customer for your brand.

For instance, if your target customer is a college-educated woman in her 30s living in a mid-sized metropolitan area, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the needs and wants of someone with that background to market to them more effectively. 

Demographic information can guide your efforts all the way from product development and pricing to brand messaging and advertising. By identifying your target audience, you can maximize the impact of your marketing strategy and achieve better results for your business.

4. Set SMART goals

Work with your marketing team to establish Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely (SMART) goals for your marketing efforts. Setting SMART goals ensures that you clearly understand what you want to achieve, how you will measure your progress, and when you can expect to accomplish your objectives.

The goals you set should meet the following criteria for each SMART letter:

• Specific: Goals should be narrow enough to monitor. 
• Measurable: Goals must be able to be numerically tracked in order to determine whether you’ve been successful. 
• Attainable: Goals should be challenging but within reach. 
• Relevant: Goals should contribute to your overall business objectives. 
• Timely: Goals should have a deadline. 

So, if you’re setting goals for a new marketing campaign, for instance, you should be specific on the channels you’re going to target, the metrics you’ll use for monitoring, and when the campaign will end. 

5. Develop your strategic marketing mix

The marketing mix is the combination of channels and tactics — the product, price, promotion, and place — your company will use to reach your target audience and achieve your goals. This may include a blend of traditional advertising, social media, content marketing, and other digital channels. 

Let’s say you’re marketing a new line of sunglasses. Your marketing mix will describe the styles you’re selling, the price, how you’ll get the word out, and where you’ll physically sell them. 

A successful marketing mix relies on understanding the needs and wants of the customer, analyzing the competition, and identifying the most effective channels for communication. Adjustments and monitoring of the marketing mix is key to ensure it continues to meet changing customer needs and shifts in the market.

6. Create a budget and allocate resources

To ensure the success of your marketing plan, you'll need to allocate your marketing budget and resources appropriately. Creating a budget for a strategic marketing plan requires understanding the company’s financial capabilities, marketing objectives, and target audience. The budget must be realistic while being able to allocate sufficient resources to achieve success.

It’s important to identify the most effective marketing channels for your target audience while also considering the cost of each channel. Allocating resources strategically within the marketing plan will ensure optimal ROI for the company. This may include investing in market research, content creation, social media advertising, email marketing, and search engine optimization. A well-planned marketing budget will help the company reach its desired outcomes efficiently and effectively.

Be sure to consider the size of your marketing team, the level of expertise required for implementing your strategy, and any additional investments in technology or tools you'll need to execute your marketing plan.

7. Develop your message and creative assets

With your target audience in mind and a clear understanding of your marketing mix, it's time to develop compelling, eye-catching, and relevant messaging and creative assets. Messaging should be tailored to each target audience and clearly communicate the value proposition of the product or service.

This message should be conveyed through various creative assets such as videos, images, social media posts, and web content. A consistent brand identity should be maintained throughout all these assets to build brand recognition and trust. 

The creative assets should also be designed to promote engagement and elicit an emotional response, as this can lead to increased brand loyalty and customer retention. Developing a strong message and creative assets involves careful research, planning, and execution to ensure a successful marketing campaign .

8. Implement and execute your marketing plan

It's time to assemble all the pieces and begin executing your marketing strategy. This means creating, distributing, and promoting your marketing materials, managing your advertising campaigns, and monitoring their progress toward your goals. 

Regularly analyzing your strategy's effectiveness and making necessary modifications will help ensure a successful outcome. By committing to a strategic marketing plan, your business can build strong brand awareness and customer loyalty, ultimately driving revenue growth and long-term success.

9. Measure and track your progress

Regular monitoring and analysis of your marketing efforts will help you identify ways to improve your strategy, eliminate ineffective tactics, and optimize your marketing budget. Measuring and tracking progress allows you to evaluate the success of your marketing efforts, identify areas for improvement, and adjust your approach accordingly.

One way to measure and track progress is to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your marketing objectives. These KPIs could include metrics like website traffic, social media engagement, lead generation, and sales conversions. Regularly reviewing and analyzing these metrics will provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of your marketing tactics and help you make data-driven decisions.

It’s important to remember that measuring progress isn't a one-time task but an ongoing process and regular monitoring will enable you to adapt and optimize your marketing plan as goals and circumstances change. Luckily, a marketing project management software tool can help make this part of the process easier. 

10. Refine and adapt your marketing plan as needed

The marketplace is constantly evolving, and so should your marketing plan. A good marketing plan must be flexible enough to allow for changes as market conditions change. It is necessary to track each marketing initiative's effectiveness and assess what needs to be adapted to maximize success. This may involve refining the target audience, updating the messaging, exploring new channels, and reassessing the budget allocation.

A plan for strategic marketing must be based on insights, data-driven analysis, competitive analysis, and a customer-centric approach. Regularly review and update your plan to account for new opportunities, emerging trends, and changes within your industry. Keep learning, testing, and refining to ensure ongoing success and growth.

By following these steps to develop a successful strategic marketing plan, your organization can better understand your target audience, stay ahead of the competition and achieve your most ambitious business goals. With the help of a well-executed strategy, your marketing efforts are far more likely to yield successful results.

Manage your marketing campaigns with Rodeo Drive

Once you’ve compiled a strategic plan to guide your marketing campaigns, you’ll need to find a project management software tool to serve as a centralized place to help you see everything through to completion. 

Rodeo Drive is an all-in-one project management tool built with the needs of creatives in mind — including in-house marketing teams and creative agencies . The platform can streamline your project management workflows by helping you: 

• Easily plan and assign tasks to your team members 
• Track time spent on projects
• Build in-depth budgets that update in real-time as your project progresses
• Create custom invoices and estimates and send them to clients from Rodeo Drive or via QuickBooks
• Access a rich set of reports on metrics like project profitability, employee productivity, time registration, and more

With all of these features in one user-friendly tool, Rodeo Drive gives you a truly comprehensive strategic marketing solution. No need to invest in additional third-party software to make your team more productive and your projects more profitable.

Come see for yourself and try out Rodeo Drive with no commitment. 

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What Is Strategic Marketing?

Published: April 14, 2021

Marketing is the actions you take to attract an audience to your business. You aim to get people interested in what you have to offer and share content with them to help them decide to do business with you.

However, since marketing helps you attract people to your business, it’s essential to know how to attract them, and even more so who the people are that you want to attract to begin with. Without this critical information, it will be challenging to be successful in your marketing processes.

The way you can get this information is through strategic marketing. In this post, we’ll define strategic marketing and explain the different phases of the process that will help you effectively market your business, attract customers, and drive revenue.

What is the strategic marketing process?

The strategic marketing process involves conducting research and establishing goals and objectives that will maximize the effectiveness and success of your overall marketing strategy.

This process is beneficial as it helps you be more intentional with your marketing. You’ll be able to ensure that you’ve targeted the right audience, entered the right markets, and used the correct mediums.

You can think of it like this: strategic marketing is the butter you spread on toast. You can have plain toast as it is, but the butter enhances the flavor and makes it better. Strategic marketing ensures that your marketing campaigns are well-planned, effective, and shown to the right people.

Essentially, strategic marketing is the act of uncovering the information you’ll need to create an effective marketing plan and execute successful campaigns.

Strategic Marketing Process Phases

Given that strategic marketing directly influences many elements of your overall marketing strategy, it’s important to approach the process carefully. Below we’ll discuss the different phases of a strategic marketing process.

1. Planning Phase

The first stage of strategic marketing is the planning phase. It’s the most critical step, as it is the basis of your efforts. You’ll want to identify your business purpose, needs, and the goals and objectives you want to accomplish, as the entire process will help you achieve them.

Without this information, it will be challenging to progress to the next steps as you won’t understand the purpose behind your marketing efforts, which makes it even harder to create a solid plan that helps you succeed.

2. Analysis Phase

The analysis phase involves taking an outward look at how your company measures up to your competitors and your industry. During this stage, many businesses will conduct market research and competitor analyses .

Market research will give you an understanding of what your industry looks like, like current trends, market share , and an overall sense of the playing field. The information you discover should also validate your goals and objectives and let you know if they’re achievable. For example, if your overall business goal is to bring a new type of fork to market, but there is no industry or consumer demand for this new type of fork, your efforts won’t be worthwhile.

A competitor analysis will teach you the ins and outs of how your competition works, their position in the industry, and any possible gaps in the market that you can take advantage of to out-perform them. You can look at competitors’ customer testimonials to get a sense of what your target audience is looking for that they don’t provide and use that insight to build a product that your ideal customer already wants.

You’ll also want to take time to study your target audience and create buyer personas . Aim to gain a well-rounded understanding of who your customers are, their needs, desires, interests, and where you’ll find them within the market.

All in all, your analyses should give you an understanding of how competitive you are, and how competitive you’ll need to be in your final strategy to outshine similar businesses and become a viable market competitor.

3. Development Phase

Once you have a clear picture of your industry and how you should present yourself in the market, the next step is to develop your marketing plan. This stage is more closely related to the aspect of marketing you may be most familiar with, as you’re establishing the marketing tactics that are informed by your strategic marketing process.

This stage involves defining your marketing mix, which is how you’ll meet the objectives from phase one concerning the information you discovered during phase two.

A marketing mix is composed of four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. Let’s go over some brief definitions of each:

• Product: This is what your business is selling. Product marketers or managers typically do this work, but it involves researching (from phase two), development, and creating a product launch timeline.
• Price: The price point at which you’ll sell to consumers. Pricing should also be informed by market research and reference to different pricing strategies .
• Place: Where your product or service will be sold, like online or in-store.
• Promotion: How you’ll advertise your product and introduce it to the market. For example, the different promotional channels (like social media) you’ll use to get your audience excited and entice them to do business with you.

You can think of it like this: say your end goal, developed during phase one, is to create a full-service CRM. Your discoveries in phase two have shown you that the current CRM your customers use isn’t scalable, which is a consistent pain point. They also want a more reasonably priced option.

This current phase would help you create, price, market, and promote your full-service, scalable, and affordable CRM to the correct audiences that are ready and eager to purchase what you have to offer.

4. Implementation Phase

The final phase of the process is when you begin to act on your marketing efforts. As the name suggests, you’ll start implementing the strategy you’ve developed based on your planning and market research. You’ll launch your product and begin seeing sales.

After implementation, it’s also important to take time to review your processes and make changes as necessary. As the market is constantly evolving, you may need to re-address certain things from phase two due to new trends or changing consumer interests.

Strategic marketing is a full circle process.

Although each phase has its unique requirements, it all comes full circle; the marketing mix you created during phase three is based on research from phase two. And, if you’ve put time and effort into your overall strategic marketing process, you’ll attract customers, drive revenue, and meet the goals and objectives you identified in phase one.

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What is Strategic Marketing Planning?

The strategic marketing planning process involves creating a marketing strategy that outlines what your objectives are, what programs you’ll use to achieve those objectives, who is responsible for those metrics, and by when you’ll be achieving those goals. In short, developing and managing a strategic marketing plan is crucial in reaching business objectives.

What is the strategic marketing planning process?

Step 1: liaise with other departments.

While marketing does proactively drive demand and new business, they need to do so in the framework of supporting the larger business objectives. That’s why when it comes to the planning process, start by looking at other departments. Here’s what to ask yourself before developing and managing a strategic marketing plan: 

• What are the executive team’s top priorities for this year and long term?
• Who is our target market?
• What pipeline and revenue numbers are we aiming for this fiscal year?
• Are any adoption rates or implementation goals being set for our products and services? 

Step 2: Create marketing goals that align with the business

Now that you’ve understood the business goals, you’re more informed on  how to plan marketing strategy.

For example, if the business has a goal to generate $5 million in new business from Jan. 1 to June 1, you have to ask yourself how marketing can drive new business. For instance, let’s say in your business, each new client would be purchasing an average of $500,000. That means sales needs to close 10 new clients in order to meet their $5 million goal. 

Then you need to figure out how many qualified accounts you need to tee up for sales, in order to close 10 new clients. For example, a good way to start is: how many accounts today engage with our marketing content, get passed to sales, are qualified, have a demo, and then book? If the percentage is 10%, then you need 100 contacts to get transferred to sales in order to close about 10 new clients. 

That is to say, starting with a focus on your goals, you ensure that you are actually building a marketing strategy vs. plan (a list of marketing tactics). 

Step 3: Determine which campaign planning will achieve that marketing goal 

In order to generate 100 engaged contacts for sales, you want to look at your existing programs and determine the success of each at driving engagement. For example, let’s say you ran four webinars last quarter. Each had 100 registrants, and 30 people attended. Of those 30 people, 10 requested a demo and five were from qualified accounts. Once passed over, sales closed one lead. 

If that’s the average data, then you now know that you can expect a webinar to result in five contacts and one deal.

After that, replicate the process across your campaigns to plan out which activities will actually support your company growth goals.

Step 4: Create a marketing campaign calendar that aligns with your goals 

Now that you have focused goals that are strategically aligned with business objectives, you can create a calendar of activities, from content marketing to events. The best part? You won’t have someone asking “why is marketing running that webinar again” because you’d know the answer—it’s to drive X number of leads to sales.

Then, in your marketing campaign planning calendar, you’d want to include this information:

Period: Q1 Goal: Support sales in generating $5 million in new business, from Jan. 1 to June 1, by generating 100 engaged contacts.

Step 5: Establish your investments

After that, it’s time to align investments to your planned campaigns. The good news is that marketers who conduct the marketing strategy process from the get go can easily justify and secure budget for their activities—because they can directly tie that dollar into how it will impact the business goal. That’s one of the reasons why Uptempo’s process of marketing strategy planning encourages marketers to directly tie their spend to specific company goals.

Step 6: Let it run!

Finally, it’s time to execute on your plan—and start achieving business impact. While you execute on your strategic marketing plan, keep in mind that you should revisit the business goals quarterly. That keeps you on the right track to ensure the marketing organization continues to drive toward overarching corporate goals.

Knowing how to strategize marketing plans is a critical part of the marketing process. Now that you’ve completed the six steps of strategic marketing planning, you’ve set yourself and your team up for success. 

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2.2 The Role of Marketing in the Strategic Planning Process

Learning outcomes.

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

• 1 Explain the role of marketing in the strategic planning process.
• 2 Discuss the business portfolio and identify planning tools.
• 3 Describe a SWOT analysis.
• 4 List and describe marketing strategies based on analytics.

Explain the Role of Marketing in the Strategic Planning Process

To get a better idea of the importance of marketing in the strategic planning process, let’s imagine that you’re the owner of a manufacturing business that produces widgets. You’ve been able to recruit top engineering talent to design these widgets and source components from trusted, reliable vendors, and your manufacturing facility is efficient and can produce the widgets in a cost-effective manner. Sounds like a winning business, doesn’t it?

Well, the only thing we’ve left out of the equation for success is customers, and without customers, the finest engineering staff and manufacturing facility in the world won’t ring the bell in terms of profits or revenue. You need to determine who your customers are, what their needs and wants are, how you’re going to reach them, and how you’re going to persuade them to buy your widgets. That’s where marketing comes into the strategic planning process, and that’s why it plays a crucial role.

Marketing in the strategic planning process has several basic but critical functions:

• First, marketers assist the strategic planning team in executing a marketing philosophy throughout the strategic planning process.
• Second, marketers assist the organization in gathering and analyzing information necessary to examine the current situation (the first step in a gap analysis).
• Third, marketers are responsible for the identification of trends in the marketing environment and assessing the potential impact of those trends. 24

Business Portfolio Definition

As noted above, many businesses have a single product or business unit. However, larger organizations such as Apple , Alphabet , General Electric , Meta , and Microsoft often have multiple diverse business units called strategic business units. Despite the fact that these SBUs report directly to the parent company’s headquarters, they typically develop their own vision statements, mission statements, objectives, and goals, and the strategic planning for these SBUs is performed separately and apart from other SBUs within the organization. 25 When companies have multiple products or business units, these comprise the business portfolio —the total group of product lines, services, and business units that the company possesses.

To give you a better sense of what a business portfolio entails, look at Figure 2.5 , which illustrates the products and services of Microsoft and how each offering contributes to the overall strategic plan of the company. 26 Microsoft reported $168 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2021, and each of its product lines (or strategic business units) contributes to this revenue in differing amounts. 27 It’s easy to see from this breakdown why each of these businesses under the Microsoft “umbrella” would have different strategic plans to execute within the markets they serve. You likely wouldn’t have one overarching marketing or business strategy for all of these SBUs because the markets for Office, Gaming, LinkedIn , and the other SBUs are likely very different and would require different strategies to reach and retain customers.

Analyze and Design the Business Portfolio

There are many reasons why an organization would establish separate business units or product lines as it grows. For example, if the current product line is in a market where growth is limited, it may choose to branch out to other product lines or markets. Alternatively, an organization may choose to expand into other product lines to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Emerson Electric , headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, has five business segments: Network Power, Process Management, Industrial Automation, Climate Technologies, and Commercial and Residential Solutions (i.e., tools and storage). These business segments provide products as diverse as hardware and software technologies; motors; fluid control systems; heating and air-conditioning products and services; and tools, storage products, and appliances for residential, health care, and food services. 28 When you consider divisions as diverse as these, it should be readily evident why each is a separate division with separate strategies to compete in its respective marketplaces.

Conversely, a business may choose to expand in areas in which it already has experience and can use the power of its core competencies to establish sustainable competitive advantage with new products in existing markets.

There are a few tools that can help determine which course of action is best advised given the current circumstances of the organization, the marketplace, and other factors. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix

The BCG matrix is a model developed by Boston Consulting Group that can be used to analyze a business’s product lines or SBUs and make decisions about which to invest in in the future and which they should try to minimize further investment in or even eliminate. The bottom line is that no business has unlimited funds to invest in its product lines, and the BCG matrix is a useful model in determining how to allocate money in terms of marketing, research and development (R&D), etc. to that portfolio.

As shown in Figure 2.6 , the BCG matrix considers both market share and market growth rate. The SBUs or products that have high market share in a high-growth market are called stars and are placed in the upper left quadrant. These are the opportunities that hold the most promise for the organization.

Conversely, those SBUs or products that have low market share in a low-growth market are referred to as dogs and are placed in the lower right quadrant. These are prime candidates for divestiture or elimination because they have relatively low growth potential, and although the business has significant funds tied up in them, they bring in virtually nothing in terms of revenues. Divestiture could also provide needed capital to invest in your stars or question marks.

Cash cows , in the lower left quadrant, are an interesting breed, so to speak. A cash cow is an SBU or product that has high market share in a low-growth market. They’re valuable to a business because they generate significant revenue that can fund other strategic initiatives or emerging opportunities. Incidentally, they’re called cash cows because the thinking is to “milk” these products for profits.

Those SBUs or products that have a low market share in a high-growth market are called question marks (sometimes also called “problem children”) and are placed in the upper left quadrant. Question marks are among the most complex decisions to be considered when developing a BCG matrix because a root cause analysis may be required in order to determine why these SBUs are, in fact, question marks. Obviously, with high-market growth, the market is strong, but there are one or more reasons why your organization hasn’t been able to capitalize on it and gain market share. Does the product line need more investment in order to move into the “star” category? Is competition so strong in this market that additional funding in terms of advertising campaigns or other marketing tactics render them useless? Is the question mark just a trend in which you can expect high growth without a lot of market share for a short period of time?

Once you have categorized each of your SBUs or products on the BCG matrix, you’ll have a crystal-clear vision of where each stands and can identify which you should prioritize and which need to be divested.

To better understand the BCG model, let’s do a simplified matrix for Apple and some of its products (see Figure 2.7 ). Because Apple has so many products and services, we’re showing only four hardware products in this matrix.

In this sample matrix, we’re going to place the Apple iPhone in the star category. You’ll recall from our discussion above that stars have relatively high market share in a growing market. Let’s face it: the iPhone is the shining gem of Apple’s portfolio. Even though Apple has diversified its product line, the iPhone is still responsible for 52 percent of the company’s revenue, raking in an astounding $192 billion in 2021. 29

Next, we’re going to put the iPad and the MacBook in the cash cow category. Remember that the BCG matrix is built on two parameters—market share and market growth. Both the iPad and the MacBook have relatively high market share compared to competitors, but the market for these products is not growing much anymore. 30 The Apple iPad had a 31.5 percent share of the global tablet market during the first quarter (down from 38 percent in the previous quarter), and the MacBook still holds popularity, garnering 15.3 percent of the market share. 31 Both the iPad and the MacBook are well-established products that continue to generate substantial income for Apple, and these products require relatively little additional investment for them to remain profitable.

Let’s move on to the question mark category. Remember that question marks have low market share in a high-growth market, and we’re going to place the Apple iWatch in this category. The iWatch has the potential to become as big of a hit as the iPhone, but the jury is still out because there are too many unknowns in the market. Global sales of smartwatches increased by 13 percent in the first quarter of 2022, and the Apple iWatch continues to lead in market share. 32 However, Apple will need to analyze its iWatch vis-à-vis its other products to decide if it should continue to invest in the product. 33

Finally, let’s move on to the dog quadrant of the matrix. We’re going to place the iPod in this category because market growth has slowed considerably as people use their phones to listen to music or podcasts. The iPod has experienced a shrinking market share as a result, and it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to continue to invest in the iPod. 34 As a matter of fact, Apple announced in May 2022 that it would discontinue the iPod Touch, while the touch-screen model launched in 2007 will remain on sale until supplies run out. 35

Link to Learning

Would you like to learn more about the BCG Matrix? Watch this brief video from Solve It Like a Marketer.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT is an acronym for a business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and it is a useful aid for zeroing in on a feasible marketing strategy. The purpose of a SWOT analysis is really quite simple. Marketers want to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the organization’s internal environment as well as the opportunities and threats that exist in the organization’s external environment. It is generally presented in the format seen in Figure 2.8 . You would complete the template with bullet points in each of the four quadrants.

A SWOT analysis will aid in taking advantages of the organization’s strengths and opportunities while avoiding (or at least minimizing) weaknesses and threats to its success. Realistically, some of the factors are in the control of the company (i.e., strengths and weaknesses), but other factors are outside the control of the company (i.e., opportunities and threats). Let’s consider each of these in a little more detail.

Strengths can be factors such as patents or trademarks possessed by the company that hinder competitors in participating in the market; a better cost structure than competitors; a talented, innovative staff; or strong brand recognition in the market. Strengths are internal to the organization, and they’re also positives. Questions to ask when developing this section may be: What do you do well? What unique resources you can draw on? Consider a company like Starbucks . If you were preparing a SWOT analysis for Starbucks, its strengths might include a strong brand image, solid financial performance, impressive growth in the number of stores, and an extensive international supply chain. 36

Weaknesses are also factors within a company’s internal environment, but these are hindrances to your success, so they’re categorized as negatives. Weaknesses may be difficulty in accessing capital or funding, outdated technology, an unmotivated workforce, weak brand recognition, or high levels of debt. Let’s go back to Starbucks. If you were preparing a SWOT analysis for Starbucks, some of its weaknesses may be high prices versus the competition and the imitability of its products. 37

Now we’ll switch over to external factors that affect the business. Opportunities are openings for something positive to happen if (and only if) you can capitalize on them. Opportunities can be moving into a new market segment that offers improved profits (like a snack food manufacturer moving into the health foods sector), competitors that have quality or delivery problems, or impending legislation that would favorably affect your organization if you’re able to capitalize on it. Once again, let’s go back to Starbucks. If you were preparing a SWOT analysis for Starbucks, some of its opportunities might be expansion in developing markets, a coffee subscription service similar to that offered by Panera Bread , and the introduction of new products and holiday flavors. 38

Finally, threats are anything external to your organization that can negatively impact your business. These may include supply chain problems, ongoing staffing problems, new competitors entering the market, or impending legislation that would negatively impact your organization, like tariffs. If you were doing a SWOT analysis for Starbucks, you might identify threats such as competition with lower-cost coffee sellers, tightening discretionary spending due to inflation, or the rising price of coffee beans. 39

Check out this video for a very simple example of a SWOT analysis.

When preparing a SWOT analysis, it is also helpful to compare elements by ranking strengths and weaknesses (internal factors) in terms of relative competitive importance. Marketers can also rank threats and opportunities (external factors) in terms of their likelihood and magnitude. 40

Earlier in this chapter, we pointed out the differences between corporate-level strategy, business-level strategy, and functional strategy. If you’re a fan of movies like Other People’s Money or Wall Street , you might think that corporate strategy focuses on hostile takeovers, mergers, and ruthless acquisitions.

The movie Moneyball is about a baseball general manager assembling a team by using computer analysis to hire new players. This is a great example of using analytics to inform strategy. Watch a clip of the movie here, where you see the analytics applied.

Market Penetration

When a company focuses on growing its market share in its existing markets, it is using what’s known as a market penetration strategy . This approach generally entails significant expenditures in advertising and other marketing efforts in order to influence consumers’ brand choice and create a brand reputation for the company, thereby increasing its market share.

In some mature industries (like soap, laundry detergent, or toothpaste), a market penetration strategy becomes a way of life because nearly all competitors are also engaged in intensive advertising and battle for market share. It becomes a way of life because companies fear that if they don’t advertise as much as or more than their competitors, they will lose market share.

To give you an idea of how fierce the competition is with a market penetration strategy, consider Procter & Gamble , which spent $4.7 billion on advertising in 2020. 41

Product Development

As noted above, a market penetration strategy focuses on existing products and existing markets. By contrast, a product development strategy involves the creation of new or improved products in order to drive growth in sales, revenue, and profit. Although the advertising expenditures involved with a market penetration strategy may be significant, they often pale compared to the expenditures involved in a product development strategy. This is because product development generally requires significant investment in R&D activities. 42

The automobile industry provides a good illustration of the product development strategy. Car makers generally refresh their models every few years to encourage car owners to trade in their old vehicles and buy the redesigned cars with the latest tech features such as driver assist, Wi-Fi hotspots, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. 43 At the same time, all the manufacturers are spending billions of dollars developing new electric vehicle models to meet ambitious goals for phasing out gasoline-powered engines.

Another great example of a product development strategy is Tide laundry detergent. Tide has undergone more than 50 formulation changes over the past 40 years in an effort to continually improve its product’s performance. The name always stays the same, but Tide has a “new and improved” formula with each new product release. 44

If you doubt the power of a product development strategy, the next time you go to the grocery store or supermarket, just look at how many “new and improved” products are on the shelves!

Market Development

A market development strategy involves searching for new market segments and uses for a company’s products. This strategy can involve the launch of its existing products into new markets or different geographical areas. In doing so, the company attempts to capitalize on the strength of the brand name it has developed in the existing markets and find new markets in which to compete.

Facebook is a great example of a market development strategy. It’s difficult to remember when Facebook wasn’t a household word, but Facebook started out as a small platform that enabled Harvard University students to compare headshots. The popularity of the platform spread to other college campuses, and eventually Facebook allowed nonstudents to join. It looks like the strategy worked—Facebook is now the largest social network in the world, with nearly 3 billion users! 45

To help you better understand these strategies, let’s consider each one from the perspective of one company— Harley-Davidson . If Harley-Davidson were to adopt a market penetration strategy, the company would focus on selling more Harley-Davidson motorcycles in the US market. If the company were to adopt a product development strategy, it would begin selling a new product such as biker clothing for children under the Harley-Davidson brand in the US market. Harley-Davidson is currently pursuing a market development strategy, with plans to develop a new motorcycle to manufacture and sell in China. Harley-Davidson’s diversification strategy might entail selling new products like children’s biker clothing in China for the first time.

Product Diversification

A product diversification strategy is still another tool that companies can use to improve profitability and increase sales of new products. This strategy can be utilized at both the business level and the corporate level. At the business level, marketers would expand into a new segment of an industry in which the company is already operating. 46 For example, consider Apple . The company launched its revolutionary iPhone in 2007, but it didn’t stop there. It has since diversified into tablets and other technology-related products. 47 At the corporate level, let’s consider a dine-in restaurant that adds corporate catering and perhaps a fleet of food trucks—both businesses outside the scope of its existing business.

There are three types of diversification techniques, as shown in Figure 2.9 .

Let’s look at each of these strategies in a little more detail.

The concept of concentric diversification revolves around the addition of similar products or services to an existing business. 48 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an example has to be worth even more, particularly an example to which you can easily relate as a student. As you’re reading this chapter, consider book publishers, like Harper Collins , Simon & Schuster , or Penguin/Random House . These book publishers don’t only print the works of one author; rather, they have hundreds or perhaps thousands of authors’ works in their arsenals. These publishers will publish print books, e-books (like the one you’re reading right now), and audiobooks and may even sell the rights to some of the books for film and TV adaptations, allowing them to garner additional streams of revenue for one product. 49

Conversely, the concept of horizontal diversification involves making available to existing customers new and perhaps even unrelated products or services so that you can garner a larger customer base. 50 For example, consider a company that produces dental hygiene products like toothbrushes and dental floss. In order to increase sales to existing customers, the company may decide to introduce into the market a line of oral irrigators or teeth whiteners. These products are new to the company, but they still serve the same customer base as its existing products.

Finally, conglomerate diversification takes horizontal diversification one step further. Conglomerate diversification involves the development and addition of new products or services that are significantly unrelated. You’re not only introducing a new product, you’re introducing a new product that is completely unrelated to your existing line of business. 51 Consider General Electric when looking for an example of conglomerate diversification. General Electric started out as a lighting business, but over the years, it has diversified into medical devices, household appliances, aircraft engines, financial services, and more. That’s taking conglomerate diversification to a whole new level!

Blue Ocean Strategy

Learn about market-creating strategies known as the Blue Ocean strategy from Harvard Business Review , where it uses Cirque du Soleil as an example.

Knowledge Check

It’s time to check your knowledge on the concepts presented in this section. Refer to the Answer Key at the end of the book for feedback.

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What Is a Marketing Strategy?

• How It Works
• Marketing Strategies vs. Plans

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

The bottom line.

• Marketing Essentials

Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Create One

Investopedia / Daniel Fishel

A marketing strategy refers to a business’s overall game plan to facilitate the buying and selling of its products or services. A marketing strategy determines how to reach prospective consumers and turn them into customers. It contains the company’s value proposition , key brand messaging, data on target customer  demographics, and other high-level elements.

A thorough marketing strategy covers the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Key Takeaways

• A marketing strategy is a business’s game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services.
• Marketing strategies should revolve around a company’s value proposition.
• The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies.

Understanding Marketing Strategies

A clear marketing strategy should revolve around the company’s value proposition, which communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves its business.

This provides marketing teams with a template that should inform their initiatives across all of the company’s products and services. For example, Walmart ( WMT ) is widely known as a discount retailer with “everyday low prices,” whose business operations and marketing efforts are rooted in that idea.

Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans

The marketing strategy is outlined in the marketing plan —a document that details the specific types of marketing activities that a company conducts and contains timetables for rolling out various marketing initiatives.

Marketing strategies should ideally have longer life spans than individual marketing plans because they contain value propositions and other key elements of a company’s brand, which generally hold constant over the long haul. In other words, marketing strategies cover big-picture messaging, while marketing plans delineate the logistical details of specific campaigns.

For example, a marketing strategy might say that a company aims to increase authority in niche circles where their clients visit. The marketing plan puts that into action by commissioning thought leadership pieces on LinkedIn.

Benefits of a Marketing Strategy

The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies by understanding the needs and wants of its consumers. Whether it’s a print ad design, mass customization , or a social media campaign, a marketing asset can be judged based on how effectively it communicates a company’s core value proposition .

Market research can help chart the efficacy of a given campaign and can help identify untapped audiences to achieve bottom-line goals and increase sales.

Creating a marketing strategy requires a few steps. Here are some of the steps you should consider when creating your marketing strategy.

• Identify your goals: While sales are the ultimate goal for every company, you should have more short-term goals such as establishing authority, increasing customer engagement, or generating leads. These smaller goals offer measurable benchmarks for the progress of your marketing plan. Think of strategy as the high-level ideology and planning as how you accomplish your goals.
• Know your clients: Every product or service has an ideal customer, and you should know who they are and where they hang out. If you sell power tools, you’ll choose marketing channels where general contractors may see your messaging. Establish who your client is and how your product will improve their lives.
• Create your message: Now that you know your goals and who you’re pitching to, it’s time to create your message. This is your opportunity to show your potential clients how your product or service will benefit them and why you’re the only company that can provide it.
• Define your budget: How you disperse your messaging may depend on how much you can afford. Will you be purchasing advertising? Hoping for a viral moment on social media organically? Sending out press releases to the media to try to gain coverage? Your budget will dictate what you can afford to do.
• Determine your channels: Even the best message needs the appropriate venue. Some companies may find more value in creating blog posts for their website. Others may find success with paid ads on social media channels. Find the most appropriate venue for your content.
• Measure your success: To target your marketing, you need to know whether it is reaching its audience. Determine your metrics and how you’ll judge the success of your marketing efforts.

Why Does a Company Need a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy helps a company direct its advertising dollars to where it will have the most impact. Compared with the data from 2018, the correlation between organization and success in marketers jumped from being almost four times more likely to almost seven times more likely in 2022.

What Do the Four Ps Mean in a Marketing Strategy?

The four Ps are product, price, promotion, and place. These are the key factors that are involved in the marketing of a good or service . The four Ps can be used when planning a new business venture, evaluating an existing offer, or trying to optimize sales with a target audience. It also can be used to test a current marketing strategy on a new audience.

What Does a Marketing Strategy Look Like?

A marketing strategy will detail the advertising, outreach, and public relations campaigns to be carried out by a firm, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives.

They will typically follow the four Ps. The functions and components of a marketing plan include market research to support pricing decisions and new market entries, tailored messaging  that targets certain demographics and geographic areas, and platform selection for product and service promotion—digital, radio, Internet, trade magazines, and the mix of those platforms for each campaign, and metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines.

Is a Marketing Strategy the Same as a Marketing Plan?

The terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” are often used interchangeably because a marketing plan is developed based on an overarching strategic framework. In some cases, the strategy and the plan may be incorporated into one document, particularly for smaller companies that may only run one or two major campaigns in a year. The plan outlines marketing activities on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, while the marketing strategy outlines the overall value proposition.

Companies need to sell their products and services to generate revenue and put them on the path of being a successful business. To sell their products or services, they have to let consumers know of them. They must also convince consumers to buy them as well as convert consumers from competitors. Having a marketing strategy that outlines this process and more is a crucial step in converting consumers into customers.

Walmart Corporate. “ About .”

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Essential Guide to the Strategic Planning Process

By Joe Weller | April 3, 2019 (updated March 26, 2024)

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In this article, you’ll learn the basics of the strategic planning process and how a strategic plan guides you to achieving your organizational goals. Plus, find expert insight on getting the most out of your strategic planning.

Included on this page, you'll discover the importance of strategic planning , the steps of the strategic planning process , and the basic sections to include in your strategic plan .

What Is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is an organizational activity that aims to achieve a group’s goals. The process helps define a company’s objectives and investigates both internal and external happenings that might influence the organizational path. Strategic planning also helps identify adjustments that you might need to make to reach your goal. Strategic planning became popular in the 1960s because it helped companies set priorities and goals, strengthen operations, and establish agreement among managers about outcomes and results.

Strategic planning can occur over multiple years, and the process can vary in length, as can the final plan itself. Ideally, strategic planning should result in a document, a presentation, or a report that sets out a blueprint for the company’s progress.

By setting priorities, companies help ensure employees are working toward common and defined goals. It also aids in defining the direction an enterprise is heading, efficiently using resources to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives. Based on the plan, managers can make decisions or allocate the resources necessary to pursue the strategy and minimize risks.

Strategic planning strengthens operations by getting input from people with differing opinions and building a consensus about the company’s direction. Along with focusing energy and resources, the strategic planning process allows people to develop a sense of ownership in the product they create.

“Strategic planning is not really one thing. It is really a set of concepts, procedures, tools, techniques, and practices that have to be adapted to specific contexts and purposes,” says Professor John M. Bryson, McKnight Presidential Professor of Planning and Public Affairs at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota and author of Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement . “Strategic planning is a prompt to foster strategic thinking, acting, and learning, and they all matter and they are all connected.”

What Strategic Planning Is Not

Strategic planning is not a to-do list for the short or long term — it is the basis of a business, its direction, and how it will get there.

“You have to think very strategically about strategic planning. It is more than just following steps,” Bryson explains. “You have to understand strategic planning is not some kind of magic solution to fixing issues. Don’t have unrealistic expectations.”

Strategic planning is also different from a business plan that focuses on a specific product, service, or program and short-term goals. Rather, strategic planning means looking at the big picture.

While they are related, it is important not to confuse strategic planning with strategic thinking, which is more about imagining and innovating in a way that helps a company. In contrast, strategic planning supports those thoughts and helps you figure out how to make them a reality.

Another part of strategic planning is tactical planning , which involves looking at short-term efforts to achieve longer-term goals.

Lastly, marketing plans are not the same as strategic plans. A marketing plan is more about introducing and delivering a service or product to the public instead of how to grow a business. For more about marketing plans and processes, read this article .

Strategic plans include information about finances, but they are different from financial planning , which involves different processes and people. Financial planning templates can help with that process.

Why Is Strategic Planning Important?

In today’s technological age, strategic plans provide businesses with a path forward. Strategic plans help companies thrive, not just survive — they provide a clear focus, which makes an organization more efficient and effective, thereby increasing productivity.

“You are not going to go very far if you don’t have a strategic plan. You need to be able to show where you are going,” says Stefan Hofmeyer, an experienced strategist and co-founder of Global PMI Partners . He lives in the startup-rich environment of northern California and says he often sees startups fail to get seed money because they do not have a strong plan for what they want to do and how they want to do it.

Getting team members on the same page (in both creating a strategic plan and executing the plan itself) can be beneficial for a company. Planners can find satisfaction in the process and unite around a common vision. In addition, you can build strong teams and bridge gaps between staff and management.

“You have to reach agreement about good ideas,” Bryson says. “A really good strategy has to meet a lot of criteria. It has to be technically workable, administratively feasible, politically acceptable, and legally, morally, and ethically defensible, and that is a pretty tough list.”

By discussing a company’s issues during the planning process, individuals can voice their opinions and provide information necessary to move the organization ahead — a form of problem solving as a group.

Strategic plans also provide a mechanism to measure success and progress toward goals, which keeps employees on the same page and helps them focus on the tasks at hand.

When Is the Time to Do Strategic Planning?

There is no perfect time to perform strategic planning. It depends entirely on the organization and the external environment that surrounds it. However, here are some suggestions about when to plan:

If your industry is changing rapidly

When an organization is launching

At the start of a new year or funding period

In preparation for a major new initiative

If regulations and laws in your industry are or will be changing

“It’s not like you do all of the thinking and planning, and then implement,” Bryson says. “A mistake people make is [believing] the thinking has to precede the acting and the learning.”

Even if you do not re-create the entire planning process often, it is important to periodically check your plan and make sure it is still working. If not, update it.

What Is the Strategic Planning Process?

Strategic planning is a process, and not an easy one. A key is to make sure you allow enough time to complete the process without rushing, but not take so much time that you lose momentum and focus. The process itself can be more important than the final document due to the information that comes out of the discussions with management, as well as lower-level workers.

“There is not one favorite or perfect planning process,” says Jim Stockmal, president of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP). He explains that new techniques come out constantly, and consultants and experienced planners have their favorites. In an effort to standardize the practice and terms used in strategic planning, ASP has created two certification programs .

Level 1 is the Strategic Planning Professional (SPP) certification. It is designed for early- or mid-career planners who work in strategic planning. Level 2, the Strategic Management Professional (SMP) certification, is geared toward seasoned professionals or those who train others. Stockmal explains that ASP designed the certification programs to add structure to the otherwise amorphous profession.

The strategic planning process varies by the size of the organization and can be formal or informal, but there are constraints. For example, teams of all sizes and goals should build in many points along the way for feedback from key leaders — this helps the process stay on track.

Some elements of the process might have specific start and end points, while others are continuous. For example, there might not be one “aha” moment that suddenly makes things clear. Instead, a series of small moves could slowly shift the organization in the right direction.

“Don’t make it overly complex. Bring all of the stakeholders together for input and feedback,” Stockmal advises. “Always be doing a continuous environmental scan, and don’t be afraid to engage with stakeholders.”

Additionally, knowing your company culture is important. “You need to make it work for your organization,” he says.

There are many different ways to approach the strategic planning process. Below are three popular approaches:

Goals-Based Planning: This approach begins by looking at an organization’s mission and goals. From there, you work toward that mission, implement strategies necessary to achieve those goals, and assign roles and deadlines for reaching certain milestones.

Issues-Based Planning: In this approach, start by looking at issues the company is facing, then decide how to address them and what actions to take.

Organic Planning: This approach is more fluid and begins with defining mission and values, then outlining plans to achieve that vision while sticking to the values.

“The approach to strategic planning needs to be contingent upon the organization, its history, what it’s capable of doing, etc.,” Bryson explains. “There’s such a mistake to think there’s one approach.”

For more information on strategic planning, read about how to write a strategic plan and the different types of models you can use.

Who Participates in the Strategic Planning Process?

For work as crucial as strategic planning, it is necessary to get the right team together and include them from the beginning of the process. Try to include as many stakeholders as you can.

Below are suggestions on who to include:

Senior leadership

Strategic planners

Strategists

People who will be responsible for implementing the plan

People to identify gaps in the plan

Members of the board of directors

“There can be magic to strategic planning, but it’s not in any specific framework or anybody’s 10-step process,” Bryson explains. “The magic is getting key people together, getting them to focus on what’s important, and [getting] them to do something about it. That’s where the magic is.”

Hofmeyer recommends finding people within an organization who are not necessarily current leaders, but may be in the future. “Sometimes they just become obvious. Usually they show themselves to you, you don’t need to look for them. They’re motivated to participate,” he says. These future leaders are the ones who speak up at meetings or on other occasions, who put themselves out there even though it is not part of their job description.

At the beginning of the process, establish guidelines about who will be involved and what will be expected of them. Everyone involved must be willing to cooperate and collaborate. If there is a question about whether or not to include anyone, it is usually better to bring on extra people than to leave someone out, only to discover later they should have been a part of the process all along. Not everyone will be involved the entire time; people will come and go during different phases.

Often, an outside facilitator or consultant can be an asset to a strategic planning committee. It is sometimes difficult for managers and other employees to sit back and discuss what they need to accomplish as a company and how they need to do it without considering other factors. As objective observers, outside help can often offer insight that may escape insiders.

Hofmeyer says sometimes bosses have blinders on that keep them from seeing what is happening around them, which allows them to ignore potential conflicts. “People often have their own agendas of where they want to go, and if they are not aligned, it is difficult to build a strategic plan. An outsider perspective can really take you out of your bubble and tell you things you don’t necessarily want to hear [but should]. We get into a rhythm, and it’s really hard to step out of that, so bringing in outside people can help bring in new views and aspects of your business.”

An outside consultant can also help naysayers take the process more seriously because they know the company is investing money in the efforts, Hofmeyer adds.

No matter who is involved in the planning process, make sure at least one person serves as an administrator and documents all planning committee actions.

What Is in a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan communicates goals and what it takes to achieve them. The plan sometimes begins with a high-level view, then becomes more specific. Since strategic plans are more guidebooks than rulebooks, they don’t have to be bureaucratic and rigid. There is no perfect plan; however, it needs to be realistic.

There are many sections in a strategic plan, and the length of the final document or presentation will vary. The names people use for the sections differ, but the general ideas behind them are similar: Simply make sure you and your team agree on the terms you will use and what each means.

One-Page Strategic Planning Template

“I’m a big fan of getting a strategy onto one sheet of paper. It’s a strategic plan in a nutshell, and it provides a clear line of sight,” Stockmal advises.

You can use the template below to consolidate all your strategic ideas into a succinct, one-page strategic plan. Doing so provides you with a high-level overview of your strategic initiatives that you can place on your website, distribute to stakeholders, and refer to internally. More extensive details about implementation, capacity, and other concerns can go into an expanded document.

Download One-Page Strategic Planning Template Excel | Word | Smartsheet

The most important part of the strategic plan is the executive summary, which contains the highlights of the plan. Although it appears at the beginning of the plan, it should be written last, after you have done all your research.

Of writing the executive summary, Stockmal says, “I find it much easier to extract and cut and edit than to do it first.”

For help with creating executive summaries, see these templates .

Other parts of a strategic plan can include the following:

Description: A description of the company or organization.

Vision Statement: A bold or inspirational statement about where you want your company to be in the future.

Mission Statement: In this section, describe what you do today, your audience, and your approach as you work toward your vision.

Core Values: In this section, list the beliefs and behaviors that will enable you to achieve your mission and, eventually, your vision.

Goals: Provide a few statements of how you will achieve your vision over the long term.

Objectives: Each long-term goal should have a few one-year objectives that advance the plan. Make objectives SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, and time-based) to get the most out of them.

Budget and Operating Plans: Highlight resources you will need and how you will implement them.

Monitoring and Evaluation: In this section, describe how you will check your progress and determine when you achieve your goals.

One of the first steps in creating a strategic plan is to perform both an internal and external analysis of the company’s environment. Internally, look at your company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the personal values of those who will implement your plan (managers, executives, board members). Externally, examine threats and opportunities within the industry and any broad societal expectations that might exist.

You can perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to sum up where you are currently and what you should focus on to help you achieve your future goals. Strengths shows you what you do well, weaknesses point out obstacles that could keep you from achieving your objectives, opportunities highlight where you can grow, and threats pinpoint external factors that could be obstacles in your way.

You can find more information about performing a SWOT analysis and free templates in this article . Another analysis technique, STEEPLE (social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal, and ethical), often accompanies a SWOT analysis.

Basics of Strategic Planning

How you navigate the strategic planning process will vary. Several tools and techniques are available, and your choice depends on your company’s leadership, culture, environment, and size, as well as the expertise of the planners.

All include similar sections in the final plan, but the ways of driving those results differ. Some tools are goals-based, while others are issues- or scenario-based. Some rely on a more organic or rigid process.

Hofmeyer summarizes what goes into strategic planning:

Understand the stakeholders and involve them from the beginning.

Agree on a vision.

Hold successful meetings and sessions.

Summarize and present the plan to stakeholders.

Identify and check metrics.

Make periodic adjustments.

Items That Go into Strategic Planning

Strategic planning contains inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. Inputs and activities are elements that are internal to the company, while outputs and outcomes are external.

Remember, there are many different names for the sections of strategic plans. The key is to agree what terms you will use and define them for everyone involved.

Inputs are important because it is impossible to know where you are going until you know what is around you where you are now.

Companies need to gather data from a variety of sources to get a clear look at the competitive environment and the opportunities and risks within that environment. You can think of it like a competitive intelligence program.

Data should come from the following sources:

Interviews with executives

A review of documents about the competition or market that are publicly available

Primary research by visiting or observing competitors

Studies of your industry

The values of key stakeholders

This information often goes into writing an organization’s vision and mission statements.

Activities are the meetings and other communications that need to happen during the strategic planning process to help everyone understand the competition that surrounds the organization.

It is important both to understand the competitive environment and your company’s response to it. This is where everyone looks at and responds to the data gathered from the inputs.

The strategic planning process produces outputs. Outputs can be as basic as the strategic planning document itself. The documentation and communications that describe your organization’s strategy, as well as financial statements and budgets, can also be outputs.

The implementation of the strategic plan produces outcomes (distinct from outputs). The outcomes determine the success or failure of the strategic plan by measuring how close they are to the goals and vision you outline in your plan.

It is important to understand there will be unplanned and unintended outcomes, too. How you learn from and adapt to these changes influence the success of the strategic plan.

During the planning process, decide how you will measure both the successes and failures of different parts of the strategic plan.

Sharing, Evaluating, and Monitoring the Progress of a Strategic Plan

After companies go through a lengthy strategic planning process, it is important that the plan does not sit and collect dust. Share, evaluate, and monitor the plan to assess how you are doing and make any necessary updates.

“[Some] leaders think that once they have their strategy, it’s up to someone else to execute it. That’s a mistake I see,” Stockmal says.

The process begins with distributing and communicating the plan. Decide who will get a copy of the plan and how those people will tell others about it. Will you have a meeting to kick off the implementation? How will you specify who will do what and when? Clearly communicate the roles people will have.

“Before you communicate the plan [to everyone], you need to have the commitment of stakeholders,” Hofmeyer recommends. Have the stakeholders be a part of announcing the plan to everyone — this keeps them accountable because workers will associate them with the strategy. “That applies pressure to the stakeholders to actually do the work.”

Once the team begins implementation, it’s necessary to have benchmarks to help measure your successes against the plan’s objectives. Sometimes, having smaller action plans within the larger plan can help keep the work on track.

During the planning process, you should have decided how you will measure success. Now, figure out how and when you will document progress. Keep an eye out for gaps between the vision and its implementation — a big gap could be a sign that you are deviating from the plan.

Tools are available to assist with tracking performance of strategic plans, including several types of software. “For some organizations, a spreadsheet is enough, but you are going to manually enter the data, so someone needs to be responsible for that,” Stockmal recommends.

Remember: strategic plans are not written in stone. Some deviation will be necessary, and when it happens, it’s important to understand why it occurred and how the change might impact the company's vision and goals.

Deviation from the plan does not mean failure, reminds Hofmeyer. Instead, understanding what transpired is the key. “Things happen, [and] you should always be on the lookout for that. I’m a firm believer in continuous improvement,” he says. Explain to stakeholders why a change is taking place. “There’s always a sense of re-evaluation, but do it methodically.”

Build in a schedule to review and amend the plan as necessary; this can help keep companies on track.

What Is Strategic Management?

Strategic planning is part of strategic management, and it involves the activities that make the strategic plan a reality. Essentially, strategic management is getting from the starting point to the goal effectively and efficiently using the ongoing activities and processes that a company takes on in order to keep in line with its mission, vision, and strategic plan.

“[Strategic management] closes the gap between the plan and executing the strategy,” Stockmal of ASP says. Strategic management is part of a larger planning process that includes budgeting, forecasting, capital allocation, and more.

There is no right or wrong way to do strategic management — only guidelines. The basic phases are preparing for strategic planning, creating the strategic plan, and implementing that plan.

No matter how you manage your plan, it’s key to allow the strategic plan to evolve and grow as necessary, due to both the internal and external factors.

“We get caught up in all of the day-to-day issues,” Stockmal explains, adding that people do not often leave enough time for implementing the plan and making progress. That’s what strategic management implores: doing things that are in the plan and not letting the plan sit on a shelf.

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Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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The Marketing Planning Process: Step-by-Step Breakdown

Erica Chappell

Managing Editor

September 7, 2023

Want to learn about the different steps that go into the marketing planning process? Managing a marketing project is a bit like managing a fast-food restaurant.

You have a very limited time to prepare the product (campaign). And you have to coordinate with staff members who are handling completely different duties. If it’s done right, you’ll be attracting a ton of loyal (and hungry) customers.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the strategic marketing plan process , how you can implement it in your business, and the best tool to help you with the entire process.

What Is a Marketing Plan?

Benefits of the marketing planning process, 1. document your business goals, 2. conduct a marketing audit and research, 3. define your buyer persona, 4. set a budget, 5. identify a marketing tactic, 6. schedule the marketing campaign , who benefits from using a marketing plan.

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A marketing plan is a document that showcases your company’s marketing strategy for the upcoming month, quarter, or year.

Here’s what a marketing action plan contains when you unbox it:

• Your current marketing activity and position
• A detailed overview of your marketing goal and business goal
• A description of customer needs
• The metrics you need to track (ROI, number of potential customers, etc.)

And what happens when you create an amazing marketing plan? You’ll be able to stay focused on your marketing goal and also create an equally amazing marketing strategy. Here’s how you can create a marketing campaign that can make even the pros jealous!

Marketing efforts, when done right, can result in significant positive effects that can kickstart your business’s success. Here are a few benefits of proactive marketing planning .

Learn about the top marketing tools for new businesses !

Provides benchmarks and accountability

Through the planning process, you will be able to set benchmarks and create a roadmap for your marketing strategy to reach business goals. Making this visible allows the entire team to be accountable for their actions and tasks. It will also ensure everything runs smoothly as everyone knows what’s happening and how they need to work together.

Encourages team collaboration

Because the marketing planning process will likely run across departments and need a fair bit of collaboration, it opens up cross-departmental communication and unifies the organization. Also, getting your team involved early allows you to be realistic with your planning.

Reduces risk

Now, you have a marketing strategy. By having a planning process in place, you now have a framework to gain an overview of the target market, competitive advantage, and market segmentation. This allows you to be better prepared for risk factors that you might not have foreseen.

Challenges your beliefs and assumptions

Since business is always changing, having a marketing planning process allows you to keep adapting more effective strategies. By continually honing your marketing efforts, you might run across new tools and techniques, incorporate new ideas from different team members, and challenge your standard operating procedures .

What Are the Steps in the Marketing Planning Process?

Creating a marketing plan for the first time might seem like a convoluted process, but it’s actually super simple. The planning process becomes 100x easier to deal with when you break it down into these six steps:

• Document your business goals
• Do market research
• Define your buyer/client persona
• Set a marketing budget
• Identify a marketing tactic
• Schedule the marketing campaign  

Let’s take a closer look at each step.

Before planning a marketing strategy, you and your marketing team should ask your senior management to highlight your corporate objectives. 

Ideally, every large-scale business goal and objective should span 18-24 months. This gives you enough time to develop marketing initiatives that align with these overall business objectives.

Let’s say you’re the marketing manager for Los Pollos Hermanos from Breaking Bad. The business owner, Gus Fring’s business goal might be to increase restaurant revenue to $3 million in the next year.

You’ll need to create a SMART marketing goal that can contribute to his business goals. For example: 

• Gain 20% more repeat customers
• Increase hot chicken sandwich sales by 35%
• Boost shipment and distribution revenue for other products 😉

Curious about SMART goals? Check out our guide for tips on how to create a great business goal.

After you’ve decided on the goal, marketing project management tools like ClickUp can help you document and track them. In ClickUp, Goals are high-level containers that can be broken into smaller objectives, known as  Targets. Targets can be measured by units like numbers, $$$, true/false, and task lists.

Bonus: Marketing Tools for Small Businesses

When you meet your Targets, you achieve your marketing goal too. ClickUp automatically updates the progress percentage as you meet Targets in real-time. This can motivate your sales and marketing teams as they see the numbers rising every day!

Want to monitor more marketing metrics? 

ClickUp is loaded with features that your teams need to manage your project or marketing program. Its Dashboards are the way to go. Each unique dashboard offers a lot of Custom Widgets that let you track marketing KPIs and every marketing objective.

Track sales, conversion rates, social media engagement, and more, with a Line Chart, Bar Chart, Pie Chart, Battery Chart, or however you best visualize data!

Want to get there faster? Use the ClickUp Content Management Template to easily track your content goals, budgets, and resources all within one space. Get this content branding template for free !

It’s time for a serious throwback. You need to take a look at all the marketing decisions and initiatives that you’ve taken in the past few years. Additionally, you’ll also have to go through old reports to see which marketing tactics worked and which didn’t.

With the help of a marketing audit, you’ll be able to avoid the issues your marketing department has faced in the past. Take it from Gus: ClickUp Docs let your team collaborate in real-time on your audit, marketing research , and annual marketing plan documents; it’s like Google Docs , but way better!

Not only can you embed lists, tables, images, and videos, but you can also assign actionable tasks directly within a ClickUp Doc. And to make your job even easier, ClickUp lets you save your work as a marketing plan template that you can use later!

After the audit, you’ll need to determine where you’re currently placed in the market and market trends. Ask your team:

• Are your customers price-sensitive?
• Have new competitors slowed down your business growth?
• Do you have a competitive advantage over other businesses?

But why just limit feedback to your company?  Your customers and clients’ opinion matter too. 

After all, they’ll be using your products or services. With the Form view , you can create detailed customer survey forms faster than you can say Heisenberg . 

Choose from different fields of text, labels, questions, and more. ClickUp allows you to publicly share these forms, and it then collects responses within the tool. This way, you can directly take action on their responses by including their inputs in the marketing plan.

How well do you know your customers, really? In this phase, you’ll need to embrace market segmentation. What’s that?

Essentially, you’ll need to identify the different kinds of customers in your target market. Then you’ll have to narrow your focus to a specific target audience. After that, you’ll have to create a buyer persona. These are fictional representations of your ideal customer in your target market. Ask your team:

• Who is this person?
• What are their needs and priorities?
• How do they make decisions?
• Where do they work?
• How much do they earn?
• What do they like, and what do they absolutely hate?
• What media do they consume?

You’ll need to really get into their minds, so you can tailor your marketing strategy that appeals best to them. For example, Los Pollos Hermanos settles on a buyer persona named Walt, who’s a middle-aged high-school chemistry teacher. 

Now that you have an idea of who he is, how he behaves, and what he wants, you can market to him better! But how do you come up with a buyer persona? Two words: Mind Maps .

Drawing Mind Maps in ClickUp can help your marketing team organize your thoughts and ideas when creating a persona . Just place a central idea and add relevant thoughts when they pop up. 

And remember the more detailed the persona Mind Map, the better. Knowing your customers well will allow you to create a personalized yet strategic marketing plan that connects to your target audience.

You might have tons of cool strategic marketing ideas, but if they don’t fall into your marketing budget, it would be almost impossible to execute them. And even if you do break the bank to work on them, there are no guarantees that you’ll be rolling in dough in the end.

So how much should you spend on your strategic marketing plan? Allocating 7-15% of your company’s income to your marketing department is ideal, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all rule. 

However, keep in mind that any initial marketing activity can be expensive. This includes getting a logo , branding , and creating a campaign from scratch. How do you track all your marketing expenses?

In ClickUp, every task can have additional details called Custom Fields . With these fields, you can record data like phone numbers, labels, checkboxes, and more.

In this case, you can track the budget, and cost of each marketing activity and task with the ‘Money’ field. What’s more is that with Column Calculations , you can automatically add up your spending to see whether it’s in line with your budget.

So no more half-measures when you’re creating your strategic marketing plan!

Bonus: Marketing calendar software !

Now that you know exactly what your customers are like, it’s time to choose the right distribution channels where they spend most of their time. After all, your target audience has to see your ad, right?

Let’s take a few platforms where you can implement your strategic plan , and the best tactics for each:

• Blogs: Content marketing + Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Facebook/Instagram : Social media marketing + Influencer marketing
• Google: SEO + Search Ads
• Newspapers: Print advertising 
• Television: Commercials + Sponsorships

Let’s look back at Walt’s persona. Since we determined that he gets all his news from TV, our marketing effort should focus on creating a wonderful commercial:

Remember that the message of your strategic marketing campaign should reflect customer needs. In this case, this commercial should reassure their target audience that their food is high-quality and fresh—99.99% fresh.

However, you don’t have to focus all your tactics on one single platform. A healthy marketing mix between offline and online media ensures everyone gets your message. Now, it’s up to your marketing team to decide which route they want to take.  For example, you can create and publish new content on your blog, host automated webinars , and at the same time promote offline content to convert your audience. With ClickUp’s Chat view , you can discuss tactics, and sales deals, attach images/videos, and assign tasks in your marketing mix.

Now we’ve finally reached the end of the strategic marketing planning process . After you’ve got the marketing plan locked down, it’s time to list all the tasks that need to be done in order to pull it off.

How do you do it?

With ClickUp’s Gantt Charts , you can create a dynamic timeline of your marketing campaign activities from start to finish. The Gantt view lets you visualize the start and end dates for each task, and any important milestones along the way.

With Task Dependencies , you can indicate the sequence in which you want to complete your tasks. All you have to do is draw a line between two tasks, and you’re done!

Now, your marketing team won’t be able to work on a dependent task until they’ve cleared the preceding task. Need to work on a digital marketing calendar ? You can schedule all your marketing activities through ClickUp’s Calendar view .

It’s super easy to schedule posts or tasks, and adjust due dates—all you have to do is drag and drop.

Note: Since the strategic marketing process requires your team to be quick on their feet, ClickUp offers marketing plan templates for your content calendar , SEO management , campaign tracking , promotional calendar , A/B testing , and graphic design processes . 

Just apply the marketing plan template, and you’re ready to start planning in seconds! However, note that ClickUp isn’t just built for the strategic planning process ; it can help with every marketing process from execution to monitoring. 

So, ClickUp has more features ? Here’s what ClickUp has to offer:

• Flexible views : visualize your tasks in a to-do list , Kanban board , or a Calendar
• Assigned comments : change a comment into an actionable task and assign it to a team member
• Collaboration Detection : know when your coworker is working on the same task or Doc as you
• Pulse : see what your team is doing in real-time; great for remote teams
• Agile Dashboards : monitor Agile and Scrum metrics with diagrams like Velocity Charts , Burndown Charts , Burn-up Charts , etc.
• Team Reporting : track and monitor your team’s performance and progress
• Automations : speed up your strategic marketing process by automating repetitive tasks and marketing workflows
• Integrations : allows you to connect with other important work software like Slack, Google Drive , and Outlook
• Mobile Apps : dynamic iOS and Android apps to help you manage projects on the run
• Restaurant Marketing Plan
• Starting a Business Marketing Plan
• Bookkeeping Marketing Plan
• Service Business Marketing Plan
• Creative Agency Marketing Plan
• Marketing Agency Marketing Plan
• Design Agency Marketing Plan
• Advertising Agency Marketing Plan

Get Planning on Your Marketing Strategy With ClickUp

So what’s the secret behind running a great strategic planning session? All you need to do is figure out what your customers want, set a time and resource budget, brainstorm the best way to serve your customers, and that’s it. We told you, it’s just like the restaurant business. 😁 

And as most restaurants have sophisticated equipment to help you out, you’ll need a dedicated marketing automation software and project tool like ClickUp to help you out too! From Goal Trackers to Dashboards and Timelines , it’s got everything you need you to get started with your marketing plans.

Get ClickUp for free today, and cook up the perfect marketing campaigns!

Want more tips? Read our expert roundup to get more marketing management ideas .

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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.

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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.

(c) Type of industry – Especially the industries in which the consumer tastes and habits change very frequently.

(d) Exploitation of synergies.

Advantages:

(a) It is flexible and adaptable.

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

(c) The environmental opportunities can be availed as and when they arise.

(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.

(c) It emphasizes the profit motive to the exclusion of other considerations.

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.

(c) To analyze divergent views about relevant environmental changes.

(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.

(c) Evaluation of the key forces of the market environment.

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.

(c) The economic environment of business is fast changing.

(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.

(c) Failing to communicate the plan to the people who execute the plan.

(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.

Related Articles:

• 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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Marketing Planning Process Explained

The marketing planning process is a systematic approach businesses use to align their marketing strategies with their overall objectives. This process involves several key steps:

Step 1: Situation Analysis 

Situation Analysis, the first step in the marketing planning process, is a comprehensive examination of a business’s current state and the external environment in which it operates. This analysis is crucial for understanding where the business stands and helps make informed decisions for future marketing strategies. Here’s a detailed look at the critical components of a Situation Analysis:

• Strengths : Identifying what the company does well, unique resources, competitive advantages, strong brand, financial resources, skilled workforce, etc.
• Weaknesses : Recognizing areas where the company may be lacking, such as limited resources, weak brand recognition, poor online presence, gaps in skill sets, or operational inefficiencies.
• Opportunities : Identifying favorable external conditions the company can capitalize on, like market growth, unfulfilled customer needs, technological advancements, and changes in consumer trends or lifestyles.
• Threats : Recognizing potential external challenges that might hinder the company’s performance, such as increasing competition, changes in the regulatory environment, economic downturns, and shifts in consumer behavior.
• Market Trends : Understanding current trends in the market, such as emerging technologies, social trends, or economic conditions.
• Market Segmentation : Segmenting the market into distinct consumer groups with different needs, behaviors, or characteristics.
• Target Market Identification : Identifying the specific segments the company aims to serve.
• Direct Competitors : Companies offering similar products or services.
• Indirect Competitors : Companies offering alternative solutions to the same consumer problems.
• Demographic Analysis : Age, gender, income, education, etc.
• Psychographic Analysis : Lifestyle, values, attitudes, etc.
• Behavioral Analysis : Purchasing patterns, brand loyalty, usage rates, etc.
• SWOT Analysis : A summary and integration of all the findings in the form of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This provides a clear snapshot of the company’s current environment.
• Political : Government policies, political stability.
• Economic : Economic trends, exchange rates, inflation rates.
• Sociocultural : Social and cultural trends.
• Technological : Technological advancements, innovation.
• Legal : Legal and regulatory factors.
• Environmental : Environmental issues and sustainability.

By thoroughly conducting a Situation Analysis, a company gains a holistic view of its current state and the external environment, providing a solid foundation for developing effective marketing strategies and plans.

PESTEL Analysis Framework: Explained with Examples

Step 2: Setting Marketing Objectives mentioned above

Setting marketing objectives is a critical step in the marketing planning process. It involves establishing clear, specific goals a business aims to achieve through marketing efforts. These objectives provide direction and a benchmark against which the success of marketing activities can be measured. Here’s a detailed breakdown of this step:

• Alignment with Business Goals : Marketing objectives should align with the business’s overall goals and strategic direction. For instance, if the broader business goal is to expand into new markets, a corresponding marketing objective could be increasing brand awareness.
• Specific : Objectives should be clear and specific to provide a clear direction. For example, instead of setting a goal to “increase sales,” a specific objective would be to “increase sales of Product X by 20%.”
• Measurable : There should be a way to measure the progress and success of the objective. This often involves quantifying the goals.
• Achievable : While objectives should be challenging, they must also be realistic and attainable, given the company’s resources and market conditions.
• Relevant : Each objective should contribute to the overall business goals and be relevant to the company’s mission and vision.
• Time-bound : Objectives should have a clear timeline or deadline, which creates urgency and helps in planning and execution.
• Sales Objectives : Goals related to increasing sales volume, revenue, or market share.
• Brand Awareness : Objectives aimed at increasing the recognition and recall of the brand among the target audience.
• Customer Acquisition and Retention : Goals focused on acquiring or retaining new customers.
• Market Penetration or Expansion : Objectives related to entering new markets or increasing market share in existing markets.
• Digital Presence and Engagement : Goals aimed at improving online presence, increasing engagement on digital platforms, or driving traffic to a website.
• Product Launch : Objectives associated with successfully launching a new product or service.
• Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty : Aiming to improve customer satisfaction scores or increase customer loyalty.
• Quantifying Objectives : Whenever possible, objectives should be quantified in terms of numbers, percentages, or specific milestones. For example, “Increase website traffic by 30% within the next six months.”
• Consideration of Stakeholders : While setting objectives, it’s essential to consider the expectations and needs of various stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders, and partners.
• Review and Adaptation : Marketing objectives are not set in stone. They should be periodically reviewed and adapted in response to changes in the business environment, market conditions, or the company’s performance.

By carefully setting marketing objectives, a business can focus its efforts, allocate resources effectively, and increase the chances of success in its marketing endeavors. These objectives act as a roadmap guiding all subsequent marketing strategies and tactics.

Step 3: Target Market Identification and Segmentation

Target market identification and segmentation is a crucial step in the marketing planning process. It involves dividing a broad market into subsets of consumers with everyday needs, preferences, or characteristics and selecting one or more segments to target with marketing efforts. This step is vital for effective marketing as it ensures that the marketing strategy and messaging are tailored to the specific needs and preferences of different groups within the market. Here’s a detailed look at this process:

• Demographic Segmentation : Dividing the market based on demographic factors such as age, gender, income, education, occupation, family size, etc. This is one of the most common forms of segmentation, as these factors often influence buying decisions.
• Geographic Segmentation : Segmenting the market based on geographical areas like countries, states, regions, cities, or neighborhoods. Consumer preferences can vary significantly across different geographic areas.
• Psychographic Segmentation : This involves dividing the market based on lifestyle, personality traits, values, attitudes, and interests. It helps in understanding the deeper motivations behind consumer purchases.
• Behavioral Segmentation : Segmenting consumers based on their behavior related to the product, such as usage rate, benefits sought, brand loyalty, user status (e.g., potential, first-time, regular), and readiness to buy.
• Segment Size and Growth Potential : Assessing each segment’s size and future growth potential. A segment that is too small may not be profitable, while a more significant or growing segment can offer more opportunities.
• Segment Accessibility : The ability to effectively reach and serve the segment through marketing channels.
• Alignment with Company’s Strengths and Objectives : Consider whether the company’s strengths, resources and overall objectives align with the needs and characteristics of the segment.
• Competitive Landscape : Analyzing the level of competition within each segment and the company’s ability to compete effectively.
• Customer Profiling : Once a target market is identified, it’s essential to create detailed profiles of the typical consumers in this segment. This involves gathering and analyzing data on their demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and preferences. Customer profiling helps understand the target audience more deeply, which is crucial for creating effective marketing messages and strategies.
• Positioning Strategy : The company develops a positioning strategy based on the target market and customer profiles. This involves deciding how the company wants to position its product or brand in the minds of the target consumers relative to competitors. It includes defining the key messages, value propositions, and the overall image that the company wants to convey to the target market.
• Continuous Monitoring and Adaptation : Market segments are not static; they can evolve. Continuous monitoring of the target market is essential to understand changing consumer needs and preferences. The target market identification and segmentation strategy should be flexible and adapt to changes in the market.

Target market identification and segmentation enable businesses to allocate their marketing resources more efficiently and tailor their marketing strategies to meet the specific needs of different consumer groups, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of their marketing efforts.

Step 4: Marketing Strategy Development

Marketing Strategy Development is a pivotal step in the marketing planning process, where businesses decide on the broad approaches they will use to achieve their marketing objectives, focusing on maximizing the potential of their target market segments. This strategy serves as a roadmap for all marketing activities and decisions. Here’s a detailed breakdown of this process:

• Product : Decisions about product features, quality, design, branding, packaging, services, warranties, and product lines. The product strategy must align with the needs and preferences of the target market.
• Price : Setting pricing strategies that reflect the perceived value of the product, competitive conditions, market demand, and cost structures. Pricing strategies can range from premium pricing to penetration pricing or economy pricing.
• Place (Distribution) : Deciding on distribution channels and logistics. This includes choices about physical locations, online presence, channel partners, inventory management, and logistics. The goal is to ensure that products are available in the right places, at the correct times, in the right quantities.
• Promotion : Developing a promotional strategy encompassing advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling. The focus is effectively communicating the value proposition to the target audience and encouraging them to purchase.
• Segmentation : Identifying distinct groups within the market based on various criteria (as detailed in the previous step).
• Targeting : Selecting one or more of these segments to focus the marketing efforts on.
• Positioning : Creating a distinct image and identity for the product or brand in the mind of the target segment.
• Competitive Advantage : Develop a strategy that leverages the company’s unique strengths to create a competitive advantage. This could be through superior product quality, unique features, exceptional service, lower costs, or technological superiority.
• Integration with Overall Business Strategy : Ensuring that the marketing strategy aligns with the overall strategy and objectives of the business. This includes considering long-term business goals, resource capabilities, and corporate values.
• Budgeting and Resource Allocation : Deciding how much of the budget to allocate to different marketing activities and how to allocate resources (human, financial, technological) for maximum effectiveness.
• Digital Strategy : A comprehensive digital marketing strategy is crucial in today’s digital world. This includes online advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, and leveraging digital analytics to track performance.
• Customer-Centric Approach : Placing customer needs and customer experience at the center of the marketing strategy. This involves understanding customer preferences, behaviors, and feedback to tailor the marketing mix accordingly.
• Sustainability and Ethical Considerations : Incorporating sustainable practices and ethical considerations into marketing strategies is increasingly important to consumers.
• Adaptation and Flexibility : The marketing strategy should be adaptable to changes in market conditions, consumer behaviors, and competitive landscapes. Continuous monitoring and willingness to pivot strategies when necessary are crucial.
• Measuring and Evaluation : Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) and regular measurement and evaluation processes to assess the effectiveness of the marketing strategy and make adjustments as needed.

By developing a well-thought-out marketing strategy, businesses can effectively guide their marketing efforts, make informed decisions, and significantly increase their chances of achieving their marketing objectives.

Step 5: Tactical Marketing Plans

Tactical Marketing Plans are the specific actions and detailed plans that put the broader marketing strategy into practice. They are the operational aspects of marketing, focusing on short-term actions designed to achieve the marketing objectives. Here’s a detailed look into developing and executing Tactical Marketing Plans:

• Breakdown of Marketing Strategy into Actions : This involves translating the overarching marketing strategy into specific, actionable tasks. Each element of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) is broken down into tangible actions.
• Product Tactics : Plans for product launches, improvements, branding, and packaging initiatives.
• Pricing Tactics : Specific pricing actions like discounts, promotions, or dynamic pricing strategies.
• Distribution (Place) Tactics : Deciding on distribution channels, logistics, inventory management, and retail placement.
• Promotion Tactics : Detailed plans for advertising campaigns, public relations efforts, social media marketing, content marketing, email campaigns, sales promotions, and personal selling.
• Timeline and Scheduling : Each tactical element is assigned a timeline. Schedules are critical to ensure timely execution and coordination between different marketing activities.
• Resource Allocation : Allocating resources (budget, personnel, technology, etc.) to various marketing tactics based on their priority and expected impact. This should align with the overall budget and resource plan set during the marketing strategy development.
• Responsibility and Team Coordination : Assigning responsibility for each tactic to specific team members or departments. Clear communication and coordination among different teams (such as sales, marketing, product development, and customer service) are crucial for the smooth execution of the plans.
• Integration with Overall Marketing Strategy : Ensuring that all marketing tactics are cohesive and integrated, working together to reinforce each other and achieve the overall marketing objectives.
• Utilization of Digital Tools and Analytics : Leveraging digital tools for execution (like marketing automation platforms CRM systems) and using analytics to monitor the performance of each tactic in real time.
• Flexibility and Adaptability : While the plans are detailed, they should also allow flexibility to adapt to market changes, unexpected challenges, or opportunities.
• Compliance and Ethical Considerations : Ensuring all marketing tactics comply with legal regulations and ethical standards, especially in advertising, data protection, and consumer rights.
• Measurement and Evaluation : Establishing metrics and KPIs for each tactic. Regularly measuring the performance against these metrics helps in understanding the effectiveness of each action and making necessary adjustments.

Tactical Marketing Plans are where the strategy becomes action. By carefully planning and executing these tactics, a business can effectively reach its target audience, communicate its value proposition, and move closer to achieving its marketing goals. The success of these plans is often visible in increased sales, improved brand recognition, and stronger customer relationships.

Step 6: Budgeting and Resource Allocation

Budgeting and resource allocation in the context of marketing planning involves determining how much money and other resources (such as personnel, time, and technology) will be devoted to marketing efforts and how these resources will be distributed across various marketing activities. This step is crucial for ensuring that marketing plans are effective, financially feasible, and sustainable. Here’s a detailed elaboration:

• Percentage of Sales : Allocating a certain percentage of past or projected sales to marketing.
• Objective and Task Method : First, determine what objectives need to be accomplished and then estimate the cost of the tasks necessary to achieve these objectives.
• Available Funds : Allocating funds based on what is available after covering other business expenses.
• Incremental Budgeting : Adjusting the previous period’s budget to account for changes in the business environment.
• Prioritizing Marketing Activities : Deciding which marketing activities are most crucial for achieving the objectives. Higher-priority activities receive more resources.
• Considering Return on Investment (ROI) : Allocating more resources to activities expected to yield a higher ROI.
• Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Initiatives : Ensuring a balance between immediate sales-driving activities and long-term brand-building efforts.
• Distribution Across Channels : Deciding how much to invest in various channels (digital, print, TV, etc.) based on their effectiveness and relevance to the target audience.
• Staffing and Time Allocation : Budgeting is not just about money. It also involves allocating human resources and time. Decisions need to be made about hiring new staff, outsourcing certain activities, or reallocating current employees’ time to different tasks.
• Utilizing Technology and Tools : Deciding on investments in marketing technology (such as automation tools, CRM systems, and analytics tools) that can enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Flexibility in Budgeting : Keeping some portion of the budget flexible to take advantage of unforeseen opportunities or to address challenges that arise during the execution of marketing plans.
• Monitoring and Adjusting the Budget : Regularly monitoring expenses and performance to ensure that spending aligns with the budget. Adjustments should be made based on performance data and changing market conditions.
• Ethical Considerations : Ensuring that budgeting and resource allocation decisions are made ethically and complying with relevant laws and regulations.
• Stakeholder Communication : To ensure alignment and understanding, communicate budget and resource allocation decisions to relevant stakeholders (such as the marketing team, sales team, and executives).

Effective budgeting and resource allocation is critical for the success of marketing plans. They ensure that marketing efforts are creative and strategic, financially sound and sustainable, maximizing the impact of every dollar spent.

Step 7: Implementation and Execution

Implementation and execution are critical phases in the marketing planning process, where the strategic plans and tactical actions are brought to life. This stage involves turning ideas and plans into marketing activities that reach and engage the target audience. Effective implementation and execution require meticulous coordination, clear communication, and diligent monitoring. Here’s a detailed elaboration:

• Activation of Tactical Plans : This step involves initiating the specific marketing actions developed in the tactical planning stage. Each tactic needs to be executed according to the plan, whether it’s an advertising campaign, a social media strategy, a promotional event, or a product launch.
• Resource Mobilization : Allocating the necessary resources (financial, human, technological) as planned. This includes ensuring that the marketing team, external agencies, and other stakeholders have what they need to execute their tasks effectively.
• Timeline Management : Adhering to the established timelines is crucial for the success of marketing activities. Delays in one area can domino effect other aspects of the plan.
• Coordination and Collaboration : Ensuring effective coordination among different departments and teams (marketing, sales, product development, and customer service) is essential. Collaboration ensures that everyone is aligned with the marketing goals and working cohesively.
• Communication : Maintaining clear and continuous communication within the marketing team and other parts of the organization. This helps quickly address any issues or changes and keeps everyone informed about progress and results.
• Quality Control and Compliance : Monitoring the quality of marketing materials and activities to ensure they meet the set standards. Additionally, ensuring all marketing activities comply with legal and ethical standards.
• Monitoring and Adjusting in Real-Time : Keeping a close eye on the execution of marketing tactics and being ready to make real-time adjustments as needed. This flexibility can be crucial in responding to unforeseen challenges or opportunities.
• Performance Tracking : Implementing mechanisms to track the performance of marketing activities against the set objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs). This involves collecting data on metrics like engagement, conversion, sales figures, and return on investment (ROI).
• Problem Solving and Crisis Management : Preparing to handle any issues or crises during implementation. Quick and effective problem-solving can prevent minor issues from becoming major setbacks.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Management : Managing relationships with stakeholders, including partners, suppliers, distributors, and customers. Their support and feedback can be invaluable.
• Documentation and Reporting : Keeping detailed records of marketing activities and outcomes. Regular reporting to management and stakeholders helps demonstrate progress and justifies the marketing investment.

Implementation and execution are where strategies are tested in the real world. The success of this phase depends not only on the strength of the marketing plans but also on the ability to execute these plans effectively and adapt as necessary. It’s a dynamic process that requires attention to detail, agility, and a strong focus on objectives.

Step 8: Monitoring and Control

Monitoring and control in the marketing planning process involve overseeing and evaluating the execution of marketing strategies and tactics to ensure they are on track to meet the set objectives. This phase is essential for understanding the effectiveness of marketing efforts and making necessary adjustments. Here’s a detailed look at the monitoring and control process:

• Establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) : Identifying specific, measurable indicators that reflect the success of marketing activities. These could include sales volume, market share, website traffic, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, engagement rates, and ROI.
• Data Collection and Analysis : Regularly collect and analyze data related to the KPIs. This involves using tools like web analytics, CRM systems, sales data, social media analytics, and customer feedback channels to gather relevant information.
• Performance Review Against Objectives : Comparing actual performance with the set objectives and targets. This review helps to identify areas where the marketing strategy is successful and areas where it falls short.
• Adjustment and Optimization : The marketing tactics are adjusted based on the performance review. This could involve reallocating resources, changing promotional messages, tweaking pricing strategies, or modifying distribution channels.
• Financial Monitoring : Keeping a close eye on the marketing budget, ensuring that expenditures are within the allocated budget, and analyzing the cost-effectiveness of different marketing activities.
• Market and Environmental Scanning : Continuously scanning the external environment for changes in market trends, customer preferences, competitive activities, and technological advancements. This helps in adapting marketing strategies to external changes.
• Feedback Mechanisms : Implementing systems for collecting feedback from customers, sales teams, and other stakeholders. Feedback is a valuable source of information for assessing the effectiveness of marketing strategies and understanding customer satisfaction.
• Compliance and Ethical Standards : Ensuring all marketing activities comply with legal regulations and ethical standards. This includes advertising standards, data protection laws, and consumer rights.
• Risk Management : Identifying potential risks in marketing plans and having contingency plans in place. This involves anticipating scenarios that could negatively impact marketing efforts and preparing strategies to mitigate these risks.
• Reporting and Communication : Regularly reporting the results of monitoring and control efforts to key stakeholders, including senior management, marketing teams, and possibly investors. Effective communication ensures transparency and supports informed decision-making.
• Continuous Improvement : Using insights gained from monitoring and control activities to improve marketing strategies continuously. This involves learning from successes and failures and applying these lessons to future marketing efforts.

Effective monitoring and control are integral to the success of marketing efforts. They allow businesses to stay agile, make informed decisions, and ensure that their marketing activities contribute effectively to the overall business objectives.

Step 9: Evaluation and Feedback 

Evaluation and feedback in the marketing planning process involve assessing the effectiveness of marketing strategies and activities and gathering insights from various stakeholders. This step is essential for understanding the impact of marketing efforts and making informed decisions about future marketing strategies. Here’s a detailed look at the process:

• Performance Assessment : Measuring the results against the initial marketing objectives using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as sales growth, market share, return on investment (ROI), customer acquisition and retention rates, brand awareness, and digital engagement metrics.
• Financial Analysis : Review the financial outcomes, including profitability, cost-effectiveness of various marketing tactics, and overall ROI.
• Customer Feedback : Collect and analyze customer feedback through surveys, focus groups, social media monitoring, and direct feedback. Understanding customer satisfaction and preferences is vital for future marketing strategies.
• Internal Feedback : Getting insights from internal teams such as sales, customer service, and marketing. Their experiences and observations can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of different strategies and operational challenges.
• External Feedback : This may include feedback from partners, distributors, or industry experts. It provides an external viewpoint on the market positioning and perception of the marketing efforts.
• Learning and Insights Generation : Based on the evaluation and feedback, identifying key learnings and insights. This involves understanding what worked well, what didn’t, and why. These insights are crucial for continuous improvement.
• Report Generation and Presentation : Creating comprehensive reports summarizing findings, learnings, and recommendations. These reports are typically shared with key stakeholders, including senior management, to inform future decision-making.
• Adjustments and Recommendations : Making recommendations for adjustments to the current marketing strategy based on the evaluation and feedback. This could involve suggesting changes in target markets, marketing mix, budget allocation, or tactical approaches.
• Benchmarking : Comparing the company’s performance with industry benchmarks or competitors. This helps in understanding the company’s relative market position and identifying areas for improvement.
• Incorporating Feedback into Future Planning : Integrating the feedback and insights into the next marketing planning cycle. This ensures that the marketing strategies remain relevant and practical and continuously evolve based on market and consumer dynamics.
• Fostering a Culture of Continuous Improvement : Encouraging a mindset of ongoing learning and adaptation throughout the organization. This culture helps in staying responsive to market changes and customer needs.

Evaluation and feedback are not just concluding steps but are integral to the ongoing marketing process. They provide a basis for making informed, data-driven decisions and refining marketing strategies over time. This continual loop of planning, executing, evaluating, and adjusting keeps a company’s marketing efforts aligned with its goals and responsive to the ever-changing market environment.

Step 10: Adjustment and Updating

Adjustment and updating in the marketing planning process refer to the continuous refinement and modification of marketing strategies and plans based on the ongoing evaluation of their performance and the changing market environment. This step ensures that the marketing efforts remain effective and aligned with the company’s goals. Here’s a detailed look at the process:

• Reviewing Marketing Performance : Regularly assessing the performance of marketing activities against set objectives and KPIs. This review should consider various metrics like sales data, market share, customer engagement, digital analytics, and ROI.
• Analyzing Market Changes : Keeping a close eye on the market for any changes, including shifts in consumer behavior, emerging trends, new technologies, competitive actions, and changes in the regulatory environment. Staying informed about these changes is crucial for timely adjustments.
• Incorporating Feedback and Learnings : Using the insights and feedback from the evaluation phase to inform adjustments. This includes customer feedback, employee input, and performance analytics.
• Updating Marketing Strategies : Based on the insights gathered, updating the overall marketing strategy to address new opportunities or challenges. This could involve redefining target markets, adjusting the marketing mix, or shifting focus to different marketing channels.
• Tactical Adjustments : Modifying specific tactics and actions within the marketing plan. For instance, reallocating the budget to more effective channels, changing promotional messages, or tweaking campaign elements based on what has been most effective.
• Budget Reassessment : Revisiting the marketing budget to ensure it aligns with the updated strategy and priorities. This may involve shifting funds between different activities or securing additional resources.
• Adapting to Technological Advancements : Embracing new marketing technologies and platforms that can enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Staying updated with technological advancements can provide a competitive edge.
• Training and Development : Updating the skills and knowledge of the marketing team to align with new strategies, tools, and market realities. Continuous training ensures that the team remains capable and effective.
• Ensuring Alignment with Business Goals : Regularly check that the marketing strategy continues to align with the overall business objectives and adjust as necessary.
• Communication of Changes : Communicating any adjustments and updates to all stakeholders, including the marketing team, other departments, and possibly external partners. Effective communication ensures everyone understands the new direction and their role in it.
• Documenting Adjustments : Keeping a record of changes made, their rationale, and the expected impact. This documentation is valuable for future planning and accountability.
• Continuous Improvement Culture : Promoting a culture of agility and continuous improvement within the organization. Encouraging openness to change and experimentation can lead to more innovative and effective marketing strategies.

Adjustment and updating are ongoing processes that ensure the marketing strategy remains dynamic, relevant, and effective in achieving the desired business outcomes. Regularly revisiting and refining the marketing plan allows a business to adapt to changing market conditions, take advantage of new opportunities, and mitigate potential risks.

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Strategic Marketing: Definition, Importance And Process

The channels and practices undertaken to ensure maximum sales while satisfying consumers sum up marketing as a concept. Marketing is…

The channels and practices undertaken to ensure maximum sales while satisfying consumers sum up marketing as a concept. Marketing is an essential aspect of doing business—in fact, it’s often called the backbone of business. Removing marketing from the equation automatically eliminates trade, and without trade, there’s no business. 

Given that every consumer has a different set of needs and preferences, it’s important to research, identify and study the type of consumers who have better chances of reacting favorably to a product. This exercise allows for building a marketing strategy unique to that product. This is strategic marketing . 

What Is Strategic Marketing?

Strategic marketing objectives  , process of strategic marketing, difference between strategic marketing and marketing strategy, important pointers for strategic marketing, importance of strategic marketing.

A growing number of organizations are now employing strategic marketing . It’s only natural, as strategic marketing presents them with the opportunity to outperform their competitors. Yet, there isn’t enough clarity as to what strategic marketing is. 

Under strategic marketing , organizations evaluate their positives (both present and potential) over their competition through the lens of their targeted consumers’ perception of them. Building on this allows organizations to provide better service and value to their consumers while creating an image that differs from their competitors. Successful application of strategic marketing into the marketing plan first requires answering these three questions:

• Where to compete: Determining markets suitable for competition
• How to compete: Determining the core element of an organization’s competitive advantage
• When to compete: Determining when and how to enter each suitable market

Understanding these tasks through research and analysis helps fulfill the role of strategic marketing. The role of strategic marketing is defined as determining what a business needs to be and become to consistently beat competitors by consistently delivering better value. After answering the questions mentioned above, you can advance to the next stage—the strategic marketing planning stage.

The strategic marketing objectives are fundamentals that give meaning to what the process of strategic marketing is known for. The strategic marketing objectives are as follows: 

• Drawing attention to what an organization is best known for
• Focused promotion for specific consumer groups
• All-around marketing using all available channels 

With these objectives in mind, the process of strategic marketing can be executed with a more tactical edge. 

Though each phase seems to perform differently, all are interdependent. This makes the strategic marketing approach a full-circle process. The findings and results of each phase in the strategic marketing process meet the goals set by the previous one until the objective in the planning phase is achieved. Let’s break down the process of strategic marketing into its separate phases: 

1. Planning

Planning is the first phase of the strategic marketing process. This phase is the most important because it lays down the groundwork for the subsequent phases. Here, identification and assessment are key. Goals, merits and shortcomings are identified while assets and liabilities are assessed. It’s divided into three steps:

• SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat. Using a SWOT analysis brings out an organization’s strengths, uncovers its weaknesses, identifies possible opportunities and reveals threats that may hinder progress.

This analysis proves beneficial in identifying the direction in which an industry is moving, understanding prevailing trends and gaining an approximate assumption of how well an organization might perform against competitors. A proper SWOT analysis becomes a major factor in developing a strategic marketing proposal for an organization.

• Marketing Mix

A marketing mix is a popular business model organizations use to formulate and pursue their marketing activities. It comprises four key factors, namely: product, price, place and promotion. These are also known as the 4Ps of marketing.

Here, it’s the next step in the planning phase. A marketing mix will help meet objectives brought to light in the strategic marketing proposal based on the SWOT analysis conducted. It aims to strengthen the organization on selling and brand fronts by focusing on its 4Ps.

Product will focus on what commodity or service is being planned for launch by the organization. It’ll involve research into the various aspects of the product, from its packaging to features and after-sales service, and work on developments on responses from focus groups.

Price focuses on the price point planned for the sale of the product. Based on research, factors such as flexibility, discount and anticipated value are to be taken into account.

Place focuses on the most advantageous channels of distribution (online, offline or telemarketing), key advertising locations for assuring maximum exposure and transit and storage.

Promotion is the process of identifying and implementing how the product will be advertised and introduced into the market.

• Setting Goals

Establishing achievable and measurable goals for a product boosts teamwork and efficiency in having them met and, therefore, is one of the best ways to achieve success for the product.

This phase helps in presenting management with a clear vision of the product’s current standing and the organization’s image. It’s a critical phase that ensures smooth progression.    

2. Implementation

As the name implies, this phase is where the strategic marketing proposal and all the data generated from the planning phase are implemented. Based on the data collected, it places a product’s launch into the planned market at a carefully determined price.

3. Evaluation

This phase can be seen as a review of the entire process. Based on the statistical data gathered from the sales in the second phase, the figures are evaluated with a plan to see if they live up to expectations. If yes, then the strategic marketing process has been successfully implemented. If the result is dissatisfactory, the plan needs to be worked on again.

With evaluation, this process completes a cycle. Another cycle of strategic marketing begins right after, and it is built upon the results of the preceding cycle.

The difference between strategic marketing and marketing strategy will help shed light on what sets them apart, so as to better understand how to best make use of each of these processes:

• Strategic marketing is aimed to have a lasting impact over a long time frame (three years), while a marketing strategy is effective over a shorter time frame (one year)
• Strategic marketing is built with the idea to steer an organization in the right direction, while a marketing strategy focuses on branding and publicizing the organization
• The strategic marketing process is concerned with personnel at a corporate level, while the marketing strategy process is concerned with personnel at the product manager level 

Strategic marketing, therefore, is very different from marketing strategy. While marketing strategy is formulated keeping the brand in focus, strategic marketing is a 360-degree approach to the organization’s entire marketing plan.

The following points must be kept in mind to ensure smooth execution of the strategic marketing process:

• A strategic marketing proposal must be built only after a thorough market analysis
• Avoid assumption of consumers’ needs and wants
• Product goal and plan objectives must be in accordance with consumer expectations
• SWOT analysis must be carefully cross-checked for any factual errors
• Budgeting issues due to fluctuating marketing activities can arise, so room for adjustments must be kept in mind

In addition to understanding the process, these pointers serve as helpful suggestions for better understanding and implementing the activities involved in strategic marketing. 

  Importance Of Strategic Marketing

The importance of strategic marketing can be seen in marketing plans. Plans built incorporating strategic marketing have proven integral to organizations when aiming for good reception on factors concerning product and brand name as well as retaining and gaining a growing consumer base and more. The ability of this process to refine organizational objectives sheds light on the importance of strategic marketing , Following are the ways that illustrate the importance of strategic marketing :

• By understanding where an organization stands in comparison to competitors and what trends prevail in the target market, strategic marketing smoothens the entry of an organization in a market. It ensures easy setting of its product’s sure-footing in the market.
• Data from strategic marketing plans give clarity on the current status of an organization’s resources. This helps in planning resource utilization better.
• Research and analysis conducted under strategic marketing provide important information on what updates are needed for a product to yield the highest profits with maximum customer satisfaction.
• Using strategic marketing, it becomes easy to identify and study groups that will have the most positive feedback on a product. This aids organizations by drawing their attention from a wide and varied spectrum of consumers to understanding a more narrowed down and suitable group of customers. Thus, organizations can work more efficiently on consumer engagement options.
• Strategic marketing maximizes sales targets by helping organizations determine and perform in areas they’re most suited to excel in. 

Put simply, the strategic marketing process has an equal impact on the outward performances of an organization as much as it affects its interior functioning. This makes strategic marketing plans an important factor for the marketing schemes of organizations.

Understanding and using a strategic marketing process is an advisable and highly sought-after approach, but doing so effectively can prove to be a challenge. Harappa’s Create New Solutions pathway is designed with the tools to aid this pursuit so that eager business minds are conditioned to formulate the best strategic marketing plans for maximizing chances of success. Sign up today! 

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What is strategic planning? A 5-step guide

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. In this article, we'll guide you through the strategic planning process, including why it's important, the benefits and best practices, and five steps to get you from beginning to end.

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. The strategic planning process informs your organization’s decisions, growth, and goals.

Strategic planning helps you clearly define your company’s long-term objectives—and maps how your short-term goals and work will help you achieve them. This, in turn, gives you a clear sense of where your organization is going and allows you to ensure your teams are working on projects that make the most impact. Think of it this way—if your goals and objectives are your destination on a map, your strategic plan is your navigation system.

In this article, we walk you through the 5-step strategic planning process and show you how to get started developing your own strategic plan.

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What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a business process that helps you define and share the direction your company will take in the next three to five years. During the strategic planning process, stakeholders review and define the organization’s mission and goals, conduct competitive assessments, and identify company goals and objectives. The product of the planning cycle is a strategic plan, which is shared throughout the company.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is the end result of the strategic planning process. At its most basic, it’s a tool used to define your organization’s goals and what actions you’ll take to achieve them.

Typically, your strategic plan should include: 

Your company’s mission statement

Your organizational goals, including your long-term goals and short-term, yearly objectives

Any plan of action, tactics, or approaches you plan to take to meet those goals

What are the benefits of strategic planning?

Strategic planning can help with goal setting and decision-making by allowing you to map out how your company will move toward your organization’s vision and mission statements in the next three to five years. Let’s circle back to our map metaphor. If you think of your company trajectory as a line on a map, a strategic plan can help you better quantify how you’ll get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be in a few years).

When you create and share a clear strategic plan with your team, you can:

Build a strong organizational culture by clearly defining and aligning on your organization’s mission, vision, and goals.

Align everyone around a shared purpose and ensure all departments and teams are working toward a common objective.

Proactively set objectives to help you get where you want to go and achieve desired outcomes.

Promote a long-term vision for your company rather than focusing primarily on short-term gains.

Ensure resources are allocated around the most high-impact priorities.

Define long-term goals and set shorter-term goals to support them.

Assess your current situation and identify any opportunities—or threats—allowing your organization to mitigate potential risks.

Create a proactive business culture that enables your organization to respond more swiftly to emerging market changes and opportunities.

What are the 5 steps in strategic planning?

The strategic planning process involves a structured methodology that guides the organization from vision to implementation. The strategic planning process starts with assembling a small, dedicated team of key strategic planners—typically five to 10 members—who will form the strategic planning, or management, committee. This team is responsible for gathering crucial information, guiding the development of the plan, and overseeing strategy execution.

Once you’ve established your management committee, you can get to work on the planning process. 

Step 1: Assess your current business strategy and business environment

Before you can define where you’re going, you first need to define where you are. Understanding the external environment, including market trends and competitive landscape, is crucial in the initial assessment phase of strategic planning.

To do this, your management committee should collect a variety of information from additional stakeholders, like employees and customers. In particular, plan to gather:

Relevant industry and market data to inform any market opportunities, as well as any potential upcoming threats in the near future.

Customer insights to understand what your customers want from your company—like product improvements or additional services.

Employee feedback that needs to be addressed—whether about the product, business practices, or the day-to-day company culture.

Consider different types of strategic planning tools and analytical techniques to gather this information, such as:

A balanced scorecard to help you evaluate four major elements of a business: learning and growth, business processes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

A SWOT analysis to help you assess both current and future potential for the business (you’ll return to this analysis periodically during the strategic planning process). 

To fill out each letter in the SWOT acronym, your management committee will answer a series of questions:

What does your organization currently do well?

What separates you from your competitors?

What are your most valuable internal resources?

What tangible assets do you have?

What is your biggest strength? 

Weaknesses:

What does your organization do poorly?

What do you currently lack (whether that’s a product, resource, or process)?

What do your competitors do better than you?

What, if any, limitations are holding your organization back?

What processes or products need improvement? 

Opportunities:

What opportunities does your organization have?

How can you leverage your unique company strengths?

Are there any trends that you can take advantage of?

How can you capitalize on marketing or press opportunities?

Is there an emerging need for your product or service? 

What emerging competitors should you keep an eye on?

Are there any weaknesses that expose your organization to risk?

Have you or could you experience negative press that could reduce market share?

Is there a chance of changing customer attitudes towards your company? 

Step 2: Identify your company’s goals and objectives

To begin strategy development, take into account your current position, which is where you are now. Then, draw inspiration from your vision, mission, and current position to identify and define your goals—these are your final destination. 

To develop your strategy, you’re essentially pulling out your compass and asking, “Where are we going next?” “What’s the ideal future state of this company?” This can help you figure out which path you need to take to get there.

During this phase of the planning process, take inspiration from important company documents, such as:

Your mission statement, to understand how you can continue moving towards your organization’s core purpose.

Your vision statement, to clarify how your strategic plan fits into your long-term vision.

Your company values, to guide you towards what matters most towards your company.

Your competitive advantages, to understand what unique benefit you offer to the market.

Your long-term goals, to track where you want to be in five or 10 years.

Your financial forecast and projection, to understand where you expect your financials to be in the next three years, what your expected cash flow is, and what new opportunities you will likely be able to invest in.

Step 3: Develop your strategic plan and determine performance metrics

Now that you understand where you are and where you want to go, it’s time to put pen to paper. Take your current business position and strategy into account, as well as your organization’s goals and objectives, and build out a strategic plan for the next three to five years. Keep in mind that even though you’re creating a long-term plan, parts of your plan should be created or revisited as the quarters and years go on.

As you build your strategic plan, you should define:

Company priorities for the next three to five years, based on your SWOT analysis and strategy.

Yearly objectives for the first year. You don’t need to define your objectives for every year of the strategic plan. As the years go on, create new yearly objectives that connect back to your overall strategic goals . 

Related key results and KPIs. Some of these should be set by the management committee, and some should be set by specific teams that are closer to the work. Make sure your key results and KPIs are measurable and actionable. These KPIs will help you track progress and ensure you’re moving in the right direction.

Budget for the next year or few years. This should be based on your financial forecast as well as your direction. Do you need to spend aggressively to develop your product? Build your team? Make a dent with marketing? Clarify your most important initiatives and how you’ll budget for those.

A high-level project roadmap . A project roadmap is a tool in project management that helps you visualize the timeline of a complex initiative, but you can also create a very high-level project roadmap for your strategic plan. Outline what you expect to be working on in certain quarters or years to make the plan more actionable and understandable.

Step 4: Implement and share your plan

Now it’s time to put your plan into action. Strategy implementation involves clear communication across your entire organization to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and how to measure the plan’s success. 

Make sure your team (especially senior leadership) has access to the strategic plan, so they can understand how their work contributes to company priorities and the overall strategy map. We recommend sharing your plan in the same tool you use to manage and track work, so you can more easily connect high-level objectives to daily work. If you don’t already, consider using a work management platform .  

A few tips to make sure your plan will be executed without a hitch: 

Communicate clearly to your entire organization throughout the implementation process, to ensure all team members understand the strategic plan and how to implement it effectively. 

Define what “success” looks like by mapping your strategic plan to key performance indicators.

Ensure that the actions outlined in the strategic plan are integrated into the daily operations of the organization, so that every team member's daily activities are aligned with the broader strategic objectives.

Utilize tools and software—like a work management platform—that can aid in implementing and tracking the progress of your plan.

Regularly monitor and share the progress of the strategic plan with the entire organization, to keep everyone informed and reinforce the importance of the plan.

Establish regular check-ins to monitor the progress of your strategic plan and make adjustments as needed. 

Step 5: Revise and restructure as needed

Once you’ve created and implemented your new strategic framework, the final step of the planning process is to monitor and manage your plan.

Remember, your strategic plan isn’t set in stone. You’ll need to revisit and update the plan if your company changes directions or makes new investments. As new market opportunities and threats come up, you’ll likely want to tweak your strategic plan. Make sure to review your plan regularly—meaning quarterly and annually—to ensure it’s still aligned with your organization’s vision and goals.

Keep in mind that your plan won’t last forever, even if you do update it frequently. A successful strategic plan evolves with your company’s long-term goals. When you’ve achieved most of your strategic goals, or if your strategy has evolved significantly since you first made your plan, it might be time to create a new one.

Build a smarter strategic plan with a work management platform

To turn your company strategy into a plan—and ultimately, impact—make sure you’re proactively connecting company objectives to daily work. When you can clarify this connection, you’re giving your team members the context they need to get their best work done. 

A work management platform plays a pivotal role in this process. It acts as a central hub for your strategic plan, ensuring that every task and project is directly tied to your broader company goals. This alignment is crucial for visibility and coordination, allowing team members to see how their individual efforts contribute to the company’s success. 

By leveraging such a platform, you not only streamline workflow and enhance team productivity but also align every action with your strategic objectives—allowing teams to drive greater impact and helping your company move toward goals more effectively. 

Strategic planning FAQs

Still have questions about strategic planning? We have answers.

Why do I need a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is one of many tools you can use to plan and hit your goals. It helps map out strategic objectives and growth metrics that will help your company be successful.

When should I create a strategic plan?

You should aim to create a strategic plan every three to five years, depending on your organization’s growth speed.

Since the point of a strategic plan is to map out your long-term goals and how you’ll get there, you should create a strategic plan when you’ve met most or all of them. You should also create a strategic plan any time you’re going to make a large pivot in your organization’s mission or enter new markets. 

What is a strategic planning template?

A strategic planning template is a tool organizations can use to map out their strategic plan and track progress. Typically, a strategic planning template houses all the components needed to build out a strategic plan, including your company’s vision and mission statements, information from any competitive analyses or SWOT assessments, and relevant KPIs.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. business plan?

A business plan can help you document your strategy as you’re getting started so every team member is on the same page about your core business priorities and goals. This tool can help you document and share your strategy with key investors or stakeholders as you get your business up and running.

You should create a business plan when you’re: 

Just starting your business

Significantly restructuring your business

If your business is already established, you should create a strategic plan instead of a business plan. Even if you’re working at a relatively young company, your strategic plan can build on your business plan to help you move in the right direction. During the strategic planning process, you’ll draw from a lot of the fundamental business elements you built early on to establish your strategy for the next three to five years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. mission and vision statements?

Your strategic plan, mission statement, and vision statements are all closely connected. In fact, during the strategic planning process, you will take inspiration from your mission and vision statements in order to build out your strategic plan.

Simply put: 

A mission statement summarizes your company’s purpose.

A vision statement broadly explains how you’ll reach your company’s purpose.

A strategic plan pulls in inspiration from your mission and vision statements and outlines what actions you’re going to take to move in the right direction. 

For example, if your company produces pet safety equipment, here’s how your mission statement, vision statement, and strategic plan might shake out:

Mission statement: “To ensure the safety of the world’s animals.” 

Vision statement: “To create pet safety and tracking products that are effortless to use.” 

Your strategic plan would outline the steps you’re going to take in the next few years to bring your company closer to your mission and vision. For example, you develop a new pet tracking smart collar or improve the microchipping experience for pet owners. 

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. company objectives?

Company objectives are broad goals. You should set these on a yearly or quarterly basis (if your organization moves quickly). These objectives give your team a clear sense of what you intend to accomplish for a set period of time. 

Your strategic plan is more forward-thinking than your company goals, and it should cover more than one year of work. Think of it this way: your company objectives will move the needle towards your overall strategy—but your strategic plan should be bigger than company objectives because it spans multiple years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a business case?

A business case is a document to help you pitch a significant investment or initiative for your company. When you create a business case, you’re outlining why this investment is a good idea, and how this large-scale project will positively impact the business. 

You might end up building business cases for things on your strategic plan’s roadmap—but your strategic plan should be bigger than that. This tool should encompass multiple years of your roadmap, across your entire company—not just one initiative.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a project plan?

A strategic plan is a company-wide, multi-year plan of what you want to accomplish in the next three to five years and how you plan to accomplish that. A project plan, on the other hand, outlines how you’re going to accomplish a specific project. This project could be one of many initiatives that contribute to a specific company objective which, in turn, is one of many objectives that contribute to your strategic plan. 

What’s the difference between strategic management vs. strategic planning?

A strategic plan is a tool to define where your organization wants to go and what actions you need to take to achieve those goals. Strategic planning is the process of creating a plan in order to hit your strategic objectives.

Strategic management includes the strategic planning process, but also goes beyond it. In addition to planning how you will achieve your big-picture goals, strategic management also helps you organize your resources and figure out the best action plans for success. 

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What Is the Importance of a Marketing Plan? (7 Easy Steps to Create One)

• by Web Admin
• January 11, 2023
• Digital Marketing

In today’s competitive business landscape, having a solid marketing plan in place is important for the success of any business. 

A well-crafted marketing plan serves as your roadmap and helps you identify and target your ideal customers, as well as differentiate yourself from your competitors. Without one, you might as well throw your marketing budget into the trash and hope all goes well.

In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of a marketing plan and provide a step-by-step guide on how to create one.

What Is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic document that outlines a business’s overall marketing strategy and tactics. 

It typically includes the following elements:

• Executive Summary – a brief description of the entire marketing strategy.
• Situation Analysis – a detailed analysis of the market, customers, and competition.
• Target Market – information on the business’s target customer, including demographics, psychographics, and buying habits.
• Marketing Objectives – specific , measurable , attainable , relevant , and time-bound (SMART) goals that the business hopes to achieve through its marketing efforts.
• Marketing Mix – information on the business’s products or services, pricing, promotion, and distribution strategies.
• Action Plan – specific tactics and actions the business will take to achieve its marketing objectives, including a budget and timeline.
• Monitoring and Evaluation – a plan to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing plan and to make adjustments as needed.

A marketing plan serves as a guide for your business’s marketing efforts, helping it to stay on track and achieve its goals. 

What Is the Importance of a Marketing Plan?

A well-crafted marketing plan is a living document that can be updated and modified as needed to stay on track with constantly changing market conditions and customer behavior trends .

This way, you can prioritize your marketing activities and allocate resources , such as budget and staff time, accordingly.

A marketing plan includes specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals . This helps you track your progress and make adjustments as needed.

It also helps you identify and target your ideal customer so you can better understand your target audience’s needs, preferences, and buying behaviors. 

Another importance of a marketing plan is that it helps businesses identify their unique selling proposition (USP) and communicate it effectively to their target audience.

Types of Marketing Plans

There are several types of marketing plans, each with a unique focus and purpose. 

Here are five common types of marketing plans:

• Product Marketing Plan – it focuses on the specific product or service that the business is offering, including information on its features, benefits, and target market.
• Brand Marketing Plan – this focuses on building and maintaining the brand identity and reputation of the business.
• Integrated Marketing Plan – combines different marketing tactics, such as advertising, public relations, and sales promotions, to achieve specific marketing objectives.
• Digital Marketing Plan – it focuses on the use of digital channels, such as social media, email marketing, and online advertising, to reach and engage with target customers.
• Marketing Communication Plan – it focuses on the development and implementation of a communications strategy to reach and engage target customers.

It’s important to note that a business may use different types of marketing plans at different times, depending on its goals, target market, and budget.

7 Easy Steps to Create a Marketing Plan

1. Know Your Business

Knowing your business is an important step in creating a marketing plan. It allows you to understand your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These are key factors in identifying your target market and differentiating your business from competitors. 

Understanding your business also helps you identify your unique selling proposition (USP), which is the one thing that sets your business apart from others in the market.

Additionally, knowing your business helps you determine your marketing goals and objectives and prioritize your marketing activities accordingly.

2. Define the Mission and Vision of Your Business

The mission statement defines the purpose of your business, outlining what you aim to achieve and for whom. The vision statement defines what you want to achieve in the future.

Defining your mission and vision can help you develop a clear and consistent message that resonates with your target audience. 

This message should be reflected in all of your marketing activities, from your website and social media presence to your advertising and customer service. 

By aligning your marketing efforts with your mission and vision, you can create a strong and consistent brand identity that will help to attract new customers and retain old ones.

3. Identify Your Target Market

By identifying your target market, you can learn more about your ideal clients’ demographics, psychographics, and buying behaviors.

Use this information to create a marketing plan that responds to their particular needs and interests and effectively conveys the value of your products or services.

Once you have identified your target market, you can conduct market research to gain a deeper understanding of their needs and preferences. 

This can help you refine your marketing strategy and tactics and develop effective marketing messages and campaigns that resonate with your target audience. 

4. Competitor Analysis

Conducting competitor analysis is an important step in creating a marketing plan because it allows you to understand the competitive landscape in which your business operates, including the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. 

For example, you may find that your competitors are not effectively reaching a specific target market or that they are not providing a certain service that your business can offer.

5. Describe Your Marketing Goals

These goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) so that you can track your progress and make adjustments as needed.

Here are three examples of marketing goals:

• Increasing brand awareness: This goal focuses on increasing the visibility and recognition of your business and its products or services.
• Generating leads: This goal focuses on attracting potential customers and turning them into leads that can be nurtured and converted into sales.
• Boosting sales: This goal focuses on increasing revenue by increasing online sales or the average order value.

Once you have set your marketing goals, you can develop a plan of action to achieve them. This plan should include specific tactics and activities, such as advertising campaigns, public relations efforts, and promotional events, as well as a budget and a timeline. 

6. Outline Strategies

Strategies are the specific actions and tactics that will be used to achieve your marketing goals.

It could be a product or service strategy that outlines the features and benefits of your products or services, as well as how they meet the needs of your target market. 

It could also be a pricing strategy where you outline the prices of your products or services, including any discounts, promotions, or bundled offers that will be used to attract customers.

You also have to think about how you will communicate the value of your products or services to your target market, including through advertising, public relations, and sales promotions. 

Or how you will make your products or services available to your target market. Are you going to put up a brick-and-mortar store or set up an online store within minutes, even without coding skills?

To reach and interact with your target market, you also need to consider the various digital platforms, including social media marketing , email, and online advertising.

Whatever your strategy may be, it should be aligned with your overall marketing goals and your specific target market.

7. Set Your Marketing Budget

Having a strategy is not enough. It’s important to have a clear implementation plan that includes a budget and a timeline.

Now that you have an idea of the marketing efforts that you will make, you can estimate the costs associated with each effort. 

The costs can include things like advertising space, production costs, website development, staff salaries, and more.

It’s important to consider both fixed and variable costs when creating your budget. 

• Fixed costs – expenses that do not change regardless of the level of production, such as rent, salaries, and insurance. 
• Variable costs – expenses that change with the level of production, such as materials, commissions, and travel expenses.

When establishing your marketing budget, you should also take your overall business goals and financial status into account. It’s important to balance your marketing efforts with the resources that you have available. 

A realistic budget will help you achieve your marketing goals without overextending your business.

What is the purpose of a marketing plan?

The key objectives of marketing plans are to identify a company’s target audience, share departmental goals, and establish a reasonable budget. A well-crafted marketing plan can help you implement strategies that reach a wide target audience while also aligning with your business goals.

Final Thoughts

A marketing plan is an essential tool for any business that wants to achieve its marketing goals and stay ahead of the competition. It helps them identify and target their ideal customers, differentiate themselves from competitors, allocate resources effectively, and measure progress.

Each of the steps mentioned above is important and should be given adequate attention and resources. By following them, you can create a well-crafted marketing plan that will surely take your business to the next level.

Further reading:

• Important Tips on How to Sell Online in the Philippines
• How to Connect With Customers on a Deeper Level?
• Budgeting Tips for a Small Business in the Philippines

Prosperna, Your Partner to eCommerce Success

Prosperna is an all-in-one eCommerce platform for Philippine businesses. We are on a mission to empower 100,000 Philippine MSMEs with simple and affordable eCommerce solutions.

In fact, we are super passionate about helping Philippine MSMEs we’re giving you a free account forever! 

Ready to put your marketing plan into action? Create your free-forever Prosperna account now. 

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Dennis Velasco is the CEO and Founder of Prosperna, an all-in-one eCommerce platform for Philippine businesses. As a technology evangelist at heart, Dennis is super passionate about helping MSMEs "level the playing field" with technology. Feel free to connect with him on Facebook and LinkedIn .

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Strategic Planning: Steps to Achieve Your Business Goals

The process of strategic planning is the core element of any business or other organization. In fact, strategic plans can even be applied to your own career and personal life. Despite being one of the most important elements of a business, strategic planning is often neglected by businesses, which tend to focus on a win-now approach. 

Each year, companies typically gather together a team to discuss strategy and plan for the next year. What comes out of that strategic planning meeting is key for what your company is going to be doing in the year to come and beyond and the goals that everyone will be working towards.

Strategic planning and management done right, can help lead you to success. On the other hand, weaker plans or those with less drive from the top can result in teams working at cross-purposes and significant market share losses…or worse. 

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is the process by which an organization establishes and revises its core long-term goals and creates a plan to achieve those goals. Strategic planning involves multiple review periods and continuous revisions to establish that the business is on the right strategic track. 

What is strategic management?

Strategic management is the overall control of the direction of your company based on current and planned capabilities to achieve a set of planned goals. In essence, this means that strategic planning is a part of the overall process of strategic management, which is a broader concept that includes implementation and review. For our purposes, we’ll look at strategic planning as encompassing the entire process of strategic management. Internally at your organization, you’ll also want to appoint some people to manage the strategy implementation, which is separate from the strategic planning process. 

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