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Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan: What’s the Difference?

Is there really a difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan? Are they two sides of the same marketing program coin?

While the terms are commonly used interchangeably, they’re two very different concepts in the real world. It may seem like splitting semantic hairs, but understanding the difference between marketing strategy vs. marketing plan is crucial to the success of your campaigns and your progress toward overarching business goals.

Let’s compare and contrast the concepts in greater depth so you’re prepared when it comes time to take your marketing to the next level .

What Is a Marketing Strategy?

A digital marketing strategy is the “why” behind your marketing. Every piece of marketing collateral you create will be informed by this documentation, which means it works hand-in-hand with your content strategy .

Basically, a marketing strategy is a reflection of your short-term and long-term business approach. This strategy should also be a distillation of your brand values, voice, mission and messaging. For example, if your business aims to scale up quickly, the strategic marketing vision you develop needs to support that objective, perhaps by focusing on consumer acquisition or ramping up your online presence.

A good marketing strategy will encompass your unique selling proposition, all that your business hopes to achieve and its brand identity.

What Is a Marketing Plan?

Your marketing plan is the “how” to your strategy’s “why.” Ideally, a marketing plan should be just that — a plan of action for how you will execute your strategy to accomplish each marketing goal.

The process of creating a tactical marketing plan is about addressing the real-world steps you will take to create, promote, track and measure your campaign, programs and assets. The workflows and procedures you develop will provide a roadmap for making your strategy actionable.

How a Marketing Strategy and Plan Work Together

To use a not-at-all-complicated metaphor, let’s say your business needs a ship to sail through your marketing campaign. That ship needs a direction in which to travel (i.e., a strategy) and the sails to power it (i.e., a plan).

Marketing strategy and plan work hand in hand, with the latter taking cues from the former. Everything laid out by your strategy should be addressed with a plan — one that defines the processes for tactical marketing.

However, the lines can be a bit blurred. Strategic planning is one oft-used phrase that can create confusion. In reality, strategic planning is just high-quality planning informed by a thorough marketing strategy.

Needless to say, a strategy without planning is like a winning idea without a way to realize it; and planning without a strategy will lead to a rudderless ship.

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

Strategy is not an amorphous concept. It takes real work and thinking to establish a good marketing strategy that ultimately facilitates business success.

Here are some basic steps to crafting a comprehensive strategy:

• Identify each marketing objective: Strategy begins with your goals, both now and in the future. For example, if your business plan is to expand into new markets, the strategic marketing approach may be to make inroads with new customer segments. Brainstorm how your marketing can reflect other short-term goals and long-term ambitions, like becoming an authority in your industry.
• Refine your audience: Defining your audience enables you to resonate with buyers and push customers through the marketing funnel. A strategic marketing priority is to develop buyer personas. These personas will be central to deciding on the angle and value prop of the marketing you create.
• Establish your brand guidelines: Your brand needs to be codified in a way that ensures every piece of marketing content will be identifiable and conforms to your standards. This means outlining editorial voice, graphic design preferences and all other critical brand elements. Having a unified presence leads to a better customer experience. Without a single source of truth for how the brand should be represented, your actual marketing may devolve into disparate shots in the dark.
• Assess opportunities and threats: Your level of strategy will influence how prepared you are to capitalize on a market research opportunity or manage risks. Research competitors to understand what they’re doing — and, more importantly, what they’re not doing. Know how you’ll leverage your competitive advantage to meet a new market need or shifting consumer preferences.

Importantly, strategy is not static. It needs to be constantly updated and fine-tuned to keep your business on track and achieve changing marketing objectives.

How to Create a Marketing Plan

Returning to the question of “how” shows us the best way to create a marketing plan that works. Ask yourself these questions as you set out to develop your plan of action:

• How will we reach consumers? The answer to this question will help define your marketing mix. What types of marketing will you utilize to reach leads, prospects and existing customers? Content marketing, digital marketing, search marketing, social media marketing , event marketing and all other types of marketing are in play here.
• How will we create marketing materials? Clearly defined workflows and processes will support the creation of high-quality marketing materials. You need to suss out who owns which project phases, how cross-functional teams will collaborate and what quality controls are in place (like checking for adherence to brand guidelines).
• How will we share content and collateral? Not only must you choose your marketing mix, but also your selection of marketing channels. Once again, there are many types to consider: direct mail, social media, email, your website, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, organic search, etc. Each distribution channel will have its place in planning.
• How will we track campaigns and measure results? Data is the lifeblood of strategic marketing. You’ll need to create a list of key performance indicators (KPIs) with which to track campaigns. These may include anything from conversion rates to cost per lead.

Marketing Strategy and Marketing Plan Examples in Action

Let’s look at some examples of how the waterfall of business objectives to marketing strategy to marketing plan works in real life:

• Business goal: To pivot or reinvent the business, whether due to a merger, new market need or modernization effort.
• Marketing strategy: Launch a rebranding campaign; craft new messaging to align marketing with the business’s new direction; create new brand guidelines.
• Marketing plan: Pursue a website redevelopment; create a marketing plan template to ensure all new efforts adhere to guidelines; reoptimize website content and copy; coordinate a rollout of new colors, logos and fonts to all social media platforms; hire a marketing agency to consult on best practices.

It’s much easier to see the differences between marketing strategy vs. marketing plan in such a scenario, but also easier to grasp how they work in conjunction. Let’s consider another:

• Business goal: To launch a new service or product line.
• Marketing strategy: Research competitors and the existing market; develop a new set of buyer personas; outline the marketing funnel and customer journey; generate leads for the proposed expansion.
• Marketing plan: Create content around the new product for outreach (e.g., blogs, emails, white paper, one-pagers, etc.); decide which assets to gate in exchange for a name and email address; balance customer acquisition with retention by creating a loyalty program.

Getting the picture?

• Business goal: To increase revenue or raise sales by a certain percentage.
• Marketing strategy: Support sales enablement with high-quality marketing content and collateral; revitalize or refine the value proposition; reach out to new customer segments.
• Marketing plan: Track KPIs related to conversions; focus on high-performing channels; leverage customer data to make upsell or cross-sell recommendations; start a retargeting campaign.

One more for good measure:

• Business goal: To become an industry leader.
• Marketing strategy: Highlight brand strengths and competitive advantages; present the brand as friendly, knowledgeable and authoritative; raise brand awareness and cultivate brand evangelists.
• Marketing plan: Build influencer marketing relationships; publish thought leadership content and/or guest blogs; use social media for customer service and conversations; conduct webinars.

Level Up Your Marketing Campaign

When a marketing strategy and marketing plan are in harmony, what they create is music to your business’ ears. Alignment between the two gives your brand its best chance to impact consumers, raise its profile and succeed in its key business objectives.

Editor’s Note: Updated December 2022.

By Dominic Tortorice

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Differences between a strategic plan and a marketing plan, what are the differences between a strategic plan and a marketing plan, a quick introduction to strategic plans and marketing plans.

As a marketing professional, it is essential to understand the differences between a strategic plan and a marketing plan. While both are crucial components of an organization’s success, they serve different purposes and focus on distinct aspects of business operations. In this comprehensive article, we will explore the key disparities between these two plans, providing detailed insights and examples along the way.

1. Strategic Plan

A strategic plan outlines the overall direction and objectives of an organization. It is a high-level document that guides decision-making and resource allocation to achieve long-term goals. A strategic plan typically covers a period of three to five years and encompasses various areas of the business, including finance, operations, human resources, and marketing.

For example, let’s consider a fictional company called “XYZ Corp.” Their strategic plan may include objectives such as expanding into new markets, diversifying product offerings, and increasing profitability. The plan would identify the necessary resources and actions required to accomplish these goals.

2. Marketing Plan

A marketing plan, on the other hand, specifically focuses on the marketing activities of a company. It is a detailed roadmap that outlines the marketing strategies, tactics, and activities to achieve the organization’s marketing objectives within a defined timeframe. A marketing plan is typically developed annually and provides a tactical approach to reach the target audience and drive sales.

Continuing with our example, “XYZ Corp.” may develop a marketing plan that includes specific initiatives like launching a new advertising campaign, improving the company’s online presence through search engine optimization (SEO), and conducting market research to identify customer preferences and trends.

3. Key Differences

Now that we understand the basic definitions of strategic plans and marketing plans, let’s dive into the key differences between the two:

A strategic plan encompasses the entire organization and covers various functional areas, including marketing. It provides a holistic view of the organization’s long-term goals and how different departments work together to achieve them.

On the other hand, a marketing plan focuses solely on the marketing activities of the company. It details the specific strategies and tactics that will be employed to promote products or services, target customers, and achieve marketing objectives.

3.2 Timeframe

A strategic plan typically spans multiple years, providing a long-term perspective for the organization. It outlines the strategic priorities and initiatives that will be pursued over this extended period.

Conversely, a marketing plan is usually developed on an annual basis. It aligns with the strategic plan and defines the marketing objectives and activities for the upcoming year. The marketing plan may undergo revisions or updates throughout the year to adapt to changing market conditions.

3.3 Level of Detail

Due to its comprehensive nature, a strategic plan operates at a higher level of abstraction. It focuses on setting overall goals, objectives, and broad strategies without going into granular details of implementation.

In contrast, a marketing plan provides a more detailed and tactical approach. It includes specific marketing campaigns, budgets, timelines, target audience segments, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success.

3.4 Stakeholders

A strategic plan is developed by top-level executives and is primarily intended for internal stakeholders, such as the board of directors, senior management, and employees. It guides the overall direction of the organization and ensures alignment across different departments.

Conversely, a marketing plan is created by the marketing team and is primarily targeted at both internal and external stakeholders. It provides a roadmap for marketing activities and helps communicate marketing objectives to relevant teams, such as sales, product development, and advertising agencies.

In conclusion, while a strategic plan and a marketing plan are both essential for organizational success, they serve distinct purposes and cover different aspects of business operations. A strategic plan provides an overarching vision and direction for the entire organization, while a marketing plan focuses specifically on marketing activities to achieve marketing objectives. Understanding the differences between these plans is crucial for marketing professionals and executives to effectively develop and implement strategies that drive growth and success.

SO, whether you need a strategic or a marketing plan, don’t stress. Give us a call today, and we will help you!

Patrick Michel

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• August 21, 2019

The Connections Between a Strategic Plan and a Marketing Plan

As our VP for strategic marketing, I’m often asked to explain what I do. I respond, “I help companies find the best approaches (or strategies) to reach their goals.” Most of the time, those efforts are within the marketing realm. But one thing that sets Meld apart is our business consultation services . This includes strategic planning facilitation, change management consultation, and other valuable services. Most agencies don’t delve into those areas , but they’re important for ensuring business success.Meld starts all projects with discovery . During our discovery process, we ask for background information, guiding documents, and other resources to help us get up to speed on your business. One of the items we will likely ask for is your strategic plan, along with your current business plan and annual goals. If you have one, we’ll also ask for your most recent marketing plan.

Which Plan is Which?

A strategic plan is a guiding document focused on the future of the business or organization. It includes prioritized strategic focuses your organization wants to achieve within a time frame. Each strategic focus includes different initiatives (tactics) that will contribute to the strategy. Other content captured can include initiative ownership, timelines, tactical integration, and progress tracking. The strategic plan helps us understand the long-term goals —ultimately where you want to be in three to five years. Business planning for the year may also generate operational and financial goals that connect up to the larger strategic plan. These are typically short-term based (annual goals), but they should contribute toward the strategic goals. While your partner agencies may serve as a participants in this process, this is typically internally focused and led. A marketing plan looks at how marketing can help support both the company’s short-term and long-term goals. We need to know what you are trying to do immediately, but also your higher-level plan. This allows all of your marketing efforts to be more focused, strategic, and aligned with what you are trying to achieve. So which comes first? The ideal order would be:

• Strategic planning (long-term vision)
• Business planning (goals for the year)
• Marketing planning (to support both the strategic plan and business goals for the year)

So, Where Does Meld Come In?

We can serve as an outside expert to help your business or organization prepare your strategic or marketing plans. An external facilitator allows all of your staff, volunteers, and other stakeholders to be equally and actively engaged.

1. We can facilitate your strategic planning process.

We have experience helping both large and small companies and organizations generate their strategic plans. This is an inclusive and established process that sets the vision for the future and how the group plans to get there. The organization’s team members (and sometimes volunteers) are responsible for enacting the plan and reporting on progress.

2. We can partner with you to generate a marketing plan (or build one for you).

A well-developed marketing plan should be your playbook for the year’s marketing efforts. From the insights gathered and goals determined in the strategic plan, we identify how marketing can best support those goals. This includes key marketing focuses, relevant tactics and channels, building a calendar , and marketing budgets for the upcoming year. We also help mitigate potential risks that may occur and identify ways to measure success.

3. We can help you execute your marketing plan.

You may have staff or volunteers who are more than capable of supporting specific tactics from the marketing plan. Partnering with an agency provides greater access to a wide range of skill sets and best practices. We can help plan and execute your tactics, or even provide audits of your efforts. Combining your industry knowledge and our marketing expertise, you will have the best chance of being successful.

4. We can help you monitor and measure your progress.

Whether you choose to execute the plan on your own or want us to partner for execution, measurement is essential. When we identify your key performance indicators (KPIs), we build in a measurement plan. This allows you to see if you are on track to meet your goals for the year. We recommend meeting quarterly to review your progress, analyze results, and discuss challenges. We also help you ideate solutions and provide recommendations to improve.

5. We can help you collect and analyze end-of-year metrics.

You should always start next year’s marketing planning by reviewing the results of your previous year’s efforts. Poet Maya Angelou once said, “I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.”When you begin building your next marketing plan, it’s essential to look at how your past tactics performed. Otherwise you might plan to use the same tactics that didn’t generate the results you expected. Or you might not focus future budget or efforts where you saw the greatest response.

What’s Your Plan?

If you’re looking to build both a long-term strategic plan and a marketing plan this year, it’s valuable to have a consistent, third-party partner who can maximize both efforts. Check out our previous blog post on marketing plan mistakes so you know what to avoid and our multi-post series on building a marketing plan . Then reach out and let’s discuss how Meld can help you build your plans!

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Relationship Between Strategic Planning & Marketing Strategies

• Small Business
• Business Planning & Strategy
• Strategic Planning
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Strategic Planning at All Organization Levels

Examples of marketing performance appraisals, development of business strategies.

• New Year Business Marketing Plan & Annual Strategy Goal Update
• Measurable Goals for Brand Awareness

Strategic planning is a broad process that can address the entire business, or a portion of the business such as marketing, explains career website Indeed.com . Marketing strategies derive from strategic plans. To understand the relationship between the two, it's important to understand the purpose of strategic planning; the planning process; the difference between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics; and the important role of measurement in strategic planning.

The Purpose of Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is designed to provide an organization, its divisions, departments or even individual players with a game plan or road map to achieve specific goals and objectives. Strategic planning identifies internal and external effects and opportunities to consider in the creation of strategies and tactics. From a marketing standpoint, strategic planning might help to identify new market opportunities as well as new competitive threats.

The Planning Process

A number of steps are involved in any strategic planning process, including a strategic marketing planning process. These steps include identifying the overall planning goal, selecting team participants and gathering data related to the internal and external environment. It

They can include conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, developing specific objectives, creating strategies and tactics, and designing a measurement and reporting process. In many organizations, the overall strategic plan provides direction for the creation of sub-plans, including a strategic marketing plan.

Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics

The components of a strategic marketing plan include goals, objectives, strategies and tactics, according to Opportunity Marketing.com . Goals are broad and provide general direction in terms of what the marketing organization would like to achieve, for instance an increased market share.

Objectives are tied to goals and provide more specific, measurable outcomes – for example, increase market share in a specific geographic area for a specific product, by a certain amount or by a specific date. Strategies and tactics indicate how goals and objectives will be met.

Strategies are broad: for instance, implement a social media strategy. Tactics are more specific and indicate the individual tasks to achieve the strategies – for instance, set up a Twitter account or establish a YouTube channel.

The Important Role of Measurement

It is not enough to strategize – a plan must include some form of measurement and a process for monitoring and reviewing results. An overall strategic plan might outline broad objectives for marketing; the marketing plan would detail more specific objectives for the marketing department to monitor and report on.

The results achieved – whether they fall short or exceed expectations – provide input used to consider changes or adjustments in the plan. Ongoing measurement and reporting can help to ensure the strategic plan continues to achieve measurable results.

Using digital analytical tools, such as those that come free with most websites, help businesses track where potential customers are coming from and what they're searching for. Administering and analyzing sales reports and customer surveys also help manager learn what they are doing right and wrong.

• Indeed.com: What Is Strategic Planning?: A Definition
• Opportunity Marketing: What is Strategic Marketing and Why Is It So Important?
• "Marketing Plans"; Malcolm McDonald and Hugh Wilson; 2005
• "Breakthrough Marketing Plans"; Tim Calkins; 2008

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Home » Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan? (The Difference)

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan? (The Difference)

A company’s success relies heavily on the right marketing strategy supported by a robust marketing plan.

That said, beginning marketers often confuse these two concepts and consider them to mean the same thing.

But they are very different. Here’s how:

• A marketing strategy answers the “why”.
• A marketing plan answers the “how”. 

What Is the Difference Between a Marketing Strategy and a Marketing Plan?

A good exercise to think clearly about the differences between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan is to compare a SWOT analysis against the Marketing Mix .  A SWOT analysis is a structured review of the organization while the marketing mix plans the activities to bring your product or service to market.

A marketing strategy and a marketing plan are different in three distinctive ways:

• by definition,
• purpose, and

A business strategy informs what goes into a marketing strategy.

A marketing strategy explains why you intend to perform specific marketing actions. 

For example, if your startup wishes to scale up, the marketing strategy you develop will help you reach this goal, perhaps by building a customer base or through social media marketing.

On the other hand, a marketing plan describes how you intend to implement the actions laid out in the marketing strategy. 

It provides the specifics regarding branding, scheduling the communication channels you intend to use.

A marketing plan comes after a marketing strategy.

Moreover, one of the main focal points of any good marketing plan is monitoring the success of your marketing actions using key performance indicators (KPIs) .

These KPIs are crucial not only for measuring progress but also in ensuring the marketing plan lines up with the marketing strategy. A regular SWOT analysis is also a helpful activity to help you with your marketing strategy.

How Do You Develop a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy consists of the following practical steps.

1. Develop a marketing plan

Building a robust marketing plan will include the following components:

• Branding . How you sell the company matters. You need to determine the brand voice and incorporate this element in marketing campaigns.
• Timeline and budget . These two components are essential, particularly for small businesses that have limited funds.
• Roles . The success of a marketing plan requires that those involved in the execution understand and perform their functions.
• Content strategy . This strategy describes the schedule for dispensing the content, the communication channels, and the type of incentives you intend to use.

2. Identify buyer personas

A buyer persona is a company’s depiction of an ideal customer. When developing this persona, an organization  must consider several aspects, including:

• Demographics like age, income, and gender
• Psychographic factors such as interests and lifestyle

For instance, Netflix and other streaming services use behavioral segmentation. Here, the company knows which content to recommend based on watch history. Another example would be to look at fashion brands’ buyer persona. Zara’s buyer persona is a fashion-forward customer with mid-range income who lives in an urban area.

3. Determine marketing goals

As mentioned earlier, you should typically model your marketing strategy after your overall business goals. Plus, such a strategy will remain consistent. And will only change if your team meets its marketing goals.

Moreover, you may also need to revise these goals if there are any significant market changes, for instance, new technological trends or if you launch new products/services. Standard marketing goals include:

• Market development
• Increased brand awareness
• Wider customer base
• Increased sales

4. Understand the market

Market research is one of the essential elements of a marketing strategy. It helps you build the right buyer persona, stay updated on market changes and boost your business performance. Like other steps mentioned earlier, it would be wise to set clear goals for market research. Doing so reduces the scope making it easier to get accurate and relevant results.

Market research involves gathering information such as the market size, demographics, trends, and growth. Pay attention to specific matters like data availability and credibility when undertaking this process.

5. Competitive analysis

The competitive analysis provides valuable information about your competitors, including their pricing, advertisement strategies, plus strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, this process lets you in on your unique value proposition.

To understand your competitor’s strategies, ask yourself the following questions. Are your competitors:

• Attempting to create new markets?
• Trying to expand their market share?
• Bringing in technologically advanced products?

Once you’ve made a competitor profile, here’s how to go about the analysis.

• Examine the competition’s offerings. Start by examining your competitors’ products and their unique properties.
• Establish your competitor’s market share. A comprehensive market share can influence consumer perception and benchmarks for the product/service.
• Identify your company’s competitive position and develop appropriate strategies. Some potential ones include lowering prices, ramping up advertisements, or buying out the competition.

Examples of Successful Marketing Strategies

Here are two notable successful marketing strategies.

Spotify, a music streaming service, found a way to provide its listeners with a unique user experience, setting it apart from other providers. Besides the standard genre filters, Spotify offers users a chance to select music based on their current mood.

Sephora introduced a “Beauty Insider” loyalty program that rewards shoppers based on their spending levels.

• Beauty Insider (no minimum costs)
• VIB (at least $350 spent)
• VIB Rouge ($1000 minimum purchases)

Effective Marketing Strategies and Plans Equal Successful Business Strategy Goals

The success of an organization’s marketing actions requires a great marketing strategy and a good marketing plan. While different, a marketing strategy and plan mesh together to improve brand awareness, facilitate customer acquisition, provide a competitive edge, boost sales performance and ultimately gain a customer and keep a customer.

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Marketing Strategy vs. Plan: The Differences and Tips for Both

Mollie Kuramoto

Marketing plan. Marketing strategy. Marketing vision .

These words tend to be tossed around casually by marketers and executives alike. The only problem is, it’s not always clear what a marketing strategy or plan should look like—and what purpose each serves.

As someone who loves addressing the question everyone is thinking but no one is asking, I thought it would be good to clarify the differences between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan, what each one contains, and some advice for bringing both to life.

Quick note: if you’re looking for a holistic marketing toolkit to organize your thoughts—we have you covered. It’s free, it helps you document your thoughts, and it’s filled with some great resources to make you a better marketer.

Now let’s get into it.

What Is a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy is a document that answers the big questions— what you offer, who your audience is, what your company stands for, brand guidelines , what niche or industry you play in, and who your main competitors are . It can include less or more information than that, but its purpose is to be a sort of lighthouse, helping you keep your marketing focused on the bigger picture.

Marketing strategies are always rooted in what your overarching business goals are. If your business needs to increase revenue by 25%, then your marketing strategy would explain how marketing will help achieve those goals from a high-level point of view.

When writing a marketing strategy, do not—I repeat—DO NOT go into uber-specific marketing tactics. That’s for later. On the flip side, you should be asking the right kinds of questions .

What Is a Marketing Plan?

Your marketing plan, based on your marketing strategy, dives into the specifics—what channels and tactics you’re using , which segment of the audience you’re targeting, when initiatives are occurring, and how you’ll measure success.

Compared to your marketing strategy, your marketing plan is more about which tactics, campaigns, initiatives, and promotions you’ll run in a certain amount of time. Marketing plans can range from three months to a year, and should remain semi-flexible in case marketing needs to shift priorities.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

To help visualize all of this, we’ve created a graphic that explains the core differences between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan.

In our experience, the marketing strategy shouldn’t change as much as your marketing plan. If it does, it’s almost impossible to gain any real traction or measure the impact of your marketing on the business. That said, you’ll probably need to revisit your marketing strategy each year, whereas you’ll be executing against your marketing plan regularly.

At this point, you might be thinking, “this seems like A LOT.” It is, which is why strategies and plans are often broken down into smaller disciplines within marketing (think: content, customer acquisition, customer retention, and more). Let’s look at an example.

An Example in Action: Content Marketing

Most marketers are familiar with content marketing, so let’s use it as an example. Like I mentioned earlier, strategies address high-level issues whereas plans show how you’re going to execute.

Content Marketing Strategy

In this case, your content marketing strategy would answer those big questions discussed above. Questions like:

• Who should we be writing to?
• How will content marketing support our business goals?
• How much money can we spend on creating content?
• Who are our content competitors?
• What tone do we want to come across in our content?

The role of the content marketing strategy isn’t to point out every single topic you’re going to write about or even what your specific KPIs for the upcoming year are going to be. Instead, it’s supposed to give context to why you’re investing in content marketing, who you’re targeting, what content mediums you’re going to use (generally), and more.

Content Marketing Plan

Once you have your strategy set, your content marketing plan should explain how you’re going to attack the problem. This is where you’ll document content marketing goals and KPIs, what resources you plan on creating, when you plan on creating them, who will be involved in the process, how you’ll be promoting each piece of content, and more.

There’s more to content marketing plans than an editorial calendar, but your editorial calendar is a huge part of your plan. It tells everyone what topics your content is addressing, where it’s being published, when it’s being published, which channels you’ll promote it through, and the goals it should be aiming to hit.

Tips for Creating a Stellar Marketing Strategy or Plan

Whether you’re focusing on the overarching strategy or getting into the fine details, there are a few things you need to keep in mind throughout the journey that will help produce something of real value for your organization or team.

Tip #1: Document Your Plan/Strategy

This sounds obvious, but it is oh-so important. Enter impactful stat—marketers who document strategy are 538% more likely to report success than those who don’t. That’s a real number. Write your plan down. Even if you don’t think it’s 100% correct.

As marketers, we want so desperately to get everything right that it often has the opposite effect—we’re paralyzed. You can go back and adjust your plan or strategy as necessary, but it starts with actually having a plan or strategy. Plus, without a documented vision for the future, it’s much harder to gain buy-in from your co-workers and miscommunication ensues.

Tip #2: Collaborate with Others

You don’t have to do this alone. Nor should you. Even if you’re legitimately the only person in your marketing department, you can ask your marketing friends at different companies for some insight. If all your friends sadly work in sales (jk, jk) you can even gain some perspective from co-workers in different departments. They might not give you the best “marketing” ideas, but they might ask good questions and prove to be good sounding boards.

There are tons of positives when it comes to collaborating with others. A few I like are gaining new perspectives, considering other ways to solve the problem at hand, gaining feedback, and the efficiencies that come with asking people that may have done something similar in the past.

Tip #3: Make It Clear. Make It Realistic.

There’s no problem shooting for the moon. But if you create a marketing plan or strategy that requires 10 people to execute and you only have two sad interns, then it’s not all that helpful. You’ll just end up with a ton of ideas but no idea which ones to work through.

A wise person once said, “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” Try your best to paint a clear picture that’s based in reality.

Don’t Let the Scary Marketing “Strategies” Overwhelm You

To play on even more cliches, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Try your best to avoid paralysis by analysis, and instead tackle your strategy or plan one step at a time.

And if you don’t think documenting your marketing plan or strategy is important, think again. Remember: marketers who document strategy are 538%(!) more likely to report success than those who don’t.

Finally, one last reminder that for those who can’t wait to dig in and start planning, we created a marketing toolkit that allows you to work through building your very own marketing strategy. Happy planning!

Related resources.

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Lead, MQL, Opportunity: Why You Need Shared Internal Pipeline Definitions

Why Brand Strategy is a CEO Responsibility

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Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan: What’s the Difference?

What’s the difference between a marketing strategy and marketing plan? How can you leverage both to track, measure and ultimately improve your company’s performance?

A marketing strategy is a core pillar of every business.  Moreover, Marketers that document their strategy are 538% more likely to report success than those who don’t. That’s big. Yet more often than not, the words “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” are used interchangeably. 

However, there is a strong difference between the two. 

A marketing plan is a programme of marketing tactics. A strategy, on the other hand, is a blueprint to accomplish a specific goal (that is open for adaptation and change when needed.) 

It’s important for a company to understand the difference between having a marketing plan and having a marketing strategy. While they have their own strengths and purposes, they aren’t necessarily interchangeable. 

In this article, we explore the differences between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan, how they go hand-in-hand, and provide useful guidance tips. 

What’s the difference between marketing strategy and marketing planning?

It’s easy to confuse strategy and tactics and think the two terms are interchangeable. But they’re not. Your marketing strategy is the “what” part of the equation and helps you answer the question, “What are we trying to accomplish?”

Your marketing plan is the “how” part of the equation, and helps you to answer the question “How are we going to accomplish our goal?”.

Ultimately, a good way to think about the difference between the two is that marketing strategy acts as a guide to a set of actions in the plan that the marketing team will undertake. 

On that note: If you are in a position of reviewing a strategic plan, don’t be lulled into accepting a plan as strategy. Marketing leaders are often presented with plans masquerading as a strategy. The problem with plans is that they require massive amounts of investment and work — and often for very little reward.  While competitors are unhampered in playing to win, your organisation will be doing stuff — typically lots and lots of stuff. 

Instead insist on a strategy with an integrated goals and key milestones that positions your company to win. It must provide a clear roadmap. And as with any project on which you approve the spending of time and money, make certain that you can project results.

With that in mind, let’s explore the two and how they go hand-in-hand.

What is marketing strategy?

Your marketing strategy is your blueprint to accomplish a specific goal. It lays out the long-term, broad goals that you want to achieve. It should be very flexible and open for changes and course corrections when needed. 

Since the objectives set in the strategic plan are more long-term and typically evaluated over a longer time perious, strategic planning occurs at the beginning of the year, quarter, or month. 

While strategic planning should be reviewed every quarter at least, we recommend keeping a more laser-like focus on your goals and reviewing progress every two-weeks. 

💡 Remember : Strategy specifies the choice to do some things and not others. For example, a company decides it’s going to target Gen Z’s, and makes a decision to not target the baby boomer generation. 

What is a marketing plan?

Once you’ve created your strategic plan, it’s time to determine the tactics you’ll use to reach your goals. The scope of your marketing plan will vary depending on its purpose or the type of organisation it’s for. For example, you could create a marketing plan that provides an overview of a company’s entire marketing strategy or simply focus on a specific channel like social media marketing, or content marketing. 

Whether your marketing plan is a one pager, or a more indepth overview its essential that your team is on the same page. That’s why centralising your plan in one place is so important. 

It increases the transparency of your work, leaves no rooms for assumptions, and can prove that you’ve put in a lot of thought and effort. 

How marketing strategy and planning go hand-in-hand

The biggest issue with strategic plans is that after organisations devise a vision for the future, there is no plan to reach the future state.

The frustration only grows when evidence of little of no progress towards strategic objectives is evaluated, tracked, and measured. 

The message is clear: Meaningful change occurs only when strategy is converted into action. 

To do this, the goals from your strategy and plan should be clearly embedded within your marketing management systems and processes. Visibility is key. As is the ability to track goals, set key milestones, and report on progress regularly. 

Using technology to plan, manage, and execute marketing better

As marketing technology has advanced, so has the sophistication of the marketing planning process. Marketers now have access to A/B testing and multivariate testing to develop experiments around what users want, and then use the results to develop highly optimised strategies.

This will help you to create strategic marketing plans that make a real impact and deliver on the overall business goals. And again, that’s why it’s important to document your marketing plan in one place . 

When it’s visible, you can make iterative improvements. Yet when things aren’t recorded, the strategy becomes hit-and-miss. It also makes the marketing strategy too dependent on individuals. What if someone crucial leaves the business? They probably know aspects of the marketing strategy that they won’t have passed on. This is where technology can help .

In a nutshell: The reality is that developing a strategic plan – and then seeing it through to full implementation as an operating plan – requires a host of skill sets, tolls, and expertise. 

The last reason you’d want your marketing plan to fail, is because technology and tools let the team down. Consider how you want to keep track of your marketing activity and choose a marketing management tool that will support both marketing strategy and marketing planning. 

Marcus Taylor

Marcus is the CEO of TrueNorth, a growth marketing platform that helps marketing teams focus, align and track marketing in one place.

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Marketing Strategy vs Marketing Plan: What's the Difference?

Join thousands of successful marketers who get our weekly marketing mixtape email with fresh ideas & hot insider tips.

You’re posting on social media and you have blog posts on your website, but you’re not seeing any results. What’s the deal? The problem likely isn’t where you’re sharing content — it’s why you’re sharing content.

If your marketing efforts aren’t backed up by a strategy, then you probably won’t see results. Although marketers often use “plan” and “strategy” interchangeably, they are actually two different things. Learn more about the components of both so you can start creating your own foolproof marketing machine.

What Is a Marketing Strategy?

Shaped by your business goals, your marketing strategy is your purpose. It’s what solution you offer, how it aligns with your company’s mission, and why it’s the key to solving your prospect’s challenges.

While many people think about jumping into action when it comes to marketing, having a clearly defined marketing strategy is incredibly important for your business's growth. Once you have your strategy, only then will you be able to develop an effective marketing plan.

What Is a Marketing Plan?

Driven by your strategy, your marketing plan is the execution — the roadmap of tactical marketing efforts that will help you achieve your marketing goals. Your plan is your detailed campaign of what you will do, where you will do it, when you will implement it, and how you will track success.

What’s the Difference Between a Marketing Strategy and a Marketing Plan?

Laura Laire, co-founder of our agency, breaks down the topic in this quick video:

The main difference is that your strategy is the “why” behind your efforts, while your plan is how you’re going to execute the strategy. The chart below details the specific differences.

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

While a marketing strategy is a high-level overview, there are still a few key considerations you must understand and document.

Executive Summary

Consider the executive summary an outline or table of contents before you jump into the comprehensive strategy.

The background describes your business goals, marketing goals, and challenges. It can also include your previous marketing activities and initiatives.

Market Analysis

This asset describes the market opportunities, sizing, segments, and potential impacts, such as trends, the economy, and seasonality. A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis will help you capture this piece of your marketing strategy.

Target Audience

This section of your marketing strategy is the detailed version of your buyer personas and their characteristics, including demographics, goals, pains, and buying patterns. In this section, you’ll also want to include examples of negative buyer personas.

Competitive Analysis

Next, include the different categories of competitors and their characteristics including threats, market share comparison, differentiation, and barriers to entry. This will provide an overall look at what your competitors are doing digitally and how their activities seem to be performing from a keyword, paid advertising, and social perspective.

This includes what product or service you deliver to the market, the features and benefits for each segment, and how you intend on delivering those features and benefits. You’ll also want to document how your product or service is better than competitors’ offerings.

Your message is your opportunity to show prospects that you understand their challenges and that your offering is the key to solving those challenges. It should have variations that speak directly to each of your personas rather than trying to reach everyone with a single message.

Write down the channels you sell through and who is involved in selling through each step of the sales process. This is also a good place to document whether this is an impulse or planned purchase for your audience.

Additionally, describe the steps customers take through each stage of the buyer journey and understand their buying criteria. This will inform the content you can create and use in your marketing materials.

Every customer has unique needs. In some cases, the price may not be an important criterion in the buying process. Is this true for your segment?

What is your pricing model? Is it tiered? Are there discounts? Make sure to include competitive pricing, the perceived value of your product or service compared to the price, services that you include in the price, and how consumer trends could drive the price up or down.

How to Create a Marketing Plan

From your website to social media to all the other channels through which you will engage with potential clients, your marketing plan is a critical component to achieving your business objectives and producing results for your company.

Unlike your marketing strategy, you'll revisit your marketing plan frequently, referring back to it as you implement your tactics and monitor your findings . Here are the various elements you’ll need to create an effective marketing plan.

This is a high-level overview of your marketing goals and how you intend on achieving them.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Your KPIs measure the success of your marketing campaign. Here are some examples:

• Sales revenue
• Cost per lead
• Client value
• Inbound marketing ROI
• Website traffic-to-lead ratio
• Lead-to-client ratio
• Landing page conversion rates
• Organic traffic

Situation Analysis

Describe your goals, strengths, weaknesses, environmental factors, and market analysis to clearly articulate your challenges and impacts on your business moving forward.

The 4 P's of Marketing

• Product: What are you offering in the marketplace and how it is different from competitors?
• Price: How is your pricing model different? What is the dollar amount and structure? Why will customers choose your product or service over others?
• Place: Today's digital environment demands a shift toward online sales. Is online the first place that your buyers will see your product? What other avenues will you sell your product?
• Promotion: Where will you be promoting your product? Through online advertising? Email marketing? Blogging? Ensure that each avenue selected will positively impact your revenue.

What channels will you use to reach your audience? Where are they most active? Where do they seek advice? Ask your personas which channels they are on.

Website and Branding

Does your website messaging resonate with your personas? Is it optimized for lead generation?

Even if a potential buyer isn't ready to purchase your service or product today, it doesn't mean they won't later. Establish yourself as a thought leader, providing helpful content on your website to bring in leads until they are ready to buy from you.

Content Plan

Look at what content already exists on your website and determine whether it makes sense for your marketing campaign. Do you need to update the messaging so it better captivates and engages your audience? Are there additional questions or common objections you can address?

Social Media Plan

How is your business using social media ? Make sure you have a plan for engaging with thought leaders, replying back to happy clients, and how frequently you will post. Also, make sure you’re clear on what KPIs you’re tracking to measure success.

Communication and Promotion

Where and how often will you communicate with customers? What marketing materials can you create to facilitate this communication? Think about how customers might like to hear about you and your products or services, as well as the most relevant and effective channels for communication.

Ensure that you have a timeline for your campaign. Over time, this will help you measure the overall success and effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

What is the amount you will allocate to advertising, digital, website, event marketing, etc.?

Responsibilities

Identify who is responsible for each part of the implementation. Is one person creating all the designs? Do you have a content writer responsible for blogging and posting on social media?

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan: You Need Both

Your marketing plan acts as your roadmap, clearly identifying the plan of action for your marketing efforts. Your marketing strategy, on the other hand, describes the overarching reason for how your marketing efforts will help you achieve your goals.

And remember, to be successful and generate results, you must ensure that your team is executing a plan that backs up your strategy.

Understanding the current state of your digital presence can identify what you really need from a marketing strategy. Our free 20-minute assessment will show you how you're ranking against your competitors, opportunities for improvement, and more.

B2B Sales and Marketing Leader | CEO at LAIRE, a Digital Growth Agency - Co-Founder, Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Marketer, Sales Team Builder, and Change Advocate.

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