What is strategic marketing I hear you ask?

Well by definition it’s something like this:

“MARKETING STRATEGY IS A LONG TERM AND FORWARD-LOOKING APPROACH ON WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE FOR YOUR BUSINESS WITH A FUNDAMENTAL GOAL OF ACHIEVING A SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.”

Translation:

1. Setting your goals,

2. doing your homework to make sure your goals are achievable; and

3. setting a plan of attack to make sure you do a better job than the guy down the road!

Now let’s dig a little deeper:

Identifying your goals

When identifying and more importantly prioritising goals, the classic 80/20 rule applies. Focus on what is going to give you the biggest impact – no more than 2 or 3 at a time. Let’s face it, we all know you’ve made a really long list, so review it and single out those nuggets of gold that you know will blow everyone away!

Researching

This involves understanding and getting to know your target market, finding out who your most threatening competitors are and why, acknowledging what you have to offer and working out your USP (Unique Selling Proposition), or in other words, what makes you special – remember to be aspirational, but also realistic about what you can and can’t offer.

Develop a marketing strategy

Now is the time to develop a strategy around those killer goals you identified. By this stage you know WHO you want to target and WHAT marketing strategies and tools you will use to reel them in. This could involve events, special offers, social media posts, mail-outs, magazines – the marketing world is your oyster!

Plot your plan of attack (otherwise known as a marketing plan)

We’ve finally arrived at the nuts and bolts of the process, outlining who is going to do what and when. Create a simple action plan with dates and responsibilities – it should be operational, not strategic, covering:

what activities will be rolled out,

which marketing tools will be used, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, email, mail, SMS etc.,

who is responsible for which activities; and

when are they due.

In the end, you need to remember to be clear and consistent, so you will get the results you set out to achieve.

Remember to KISS (Keep It Simple stupid!).