MARKETING STRATEGY

Develop a marketing strategy

Effective marketing starts with a considered, well-informed marketing strategy. A good marketing strategy helps you define your vision, mission and business goals, and outlines the steps you need to take to achieve these goals.

Your marketing strategy affects the way you run your entire business, so it should be planned and developed in consultation with your team. It is a wide-reaching and comprehensive strategic planning tool that:

• describes your business and its products and services
• explains the position and role of your products and services in the market
• profiles your customers and your competition
• identifies the marketing tactics you will use
• allows you to build a marketing plan and measure its effectiveness.

A marketing strategy sets the overall direction and goals for your marketing, and is therefore different from a marketing plan, which outlines the specific actions you will take to implement your marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy could be developed for the next few years, while your marketing plan usually describes tactics to be achieved in the current year.

Write a successful marketing strategy

Your well-developed marketing strategy will help you realise your business's goals and build a strong reputation for your products. A good marketing strategy helps you target your products and services to the people most likely to buy them. It usually involves you creating one or two powerful ideas to raise awareness and sell your products.

Developing a marketing strategy that includes the components listed below will help you make the most of your marketing investment, keep your marketing focused, and measure and improve your sales results.

Identify your business goals

To develop your marketing strategy, identify your overarching business goals, so that you can then define a set of marketing goals to support them. Your business goals might include:

• increasing awareness of your products and services
• selling more products from a certain supplier
• reaching a new customer segment.

When setting goals it's critical to be as targeted as possible so you can effectively measure the outcomes against what you set out to achieve. A simple criteria for goal-setting is the SMART method:

• Specific - state clearly what you want to achieve
• Measurable - set tangible measures so you can measure your results
• Achievable - set objectives that are within your capacity and budget
• Relevant - set objectives that will help you improve particular aspects of your business
• Time-bound - set objectives you can achieve within the time you need them.

State your marketing goals

Define a set of specific marketing goals based on the business goals you listed above. These goals will motivate you and your team and help you benchmark your success.

Examples of marketing goals include increased market penetration (selling more existing products to existing customers) or market development (selling existing products to new target markets). These marketing goals could be long-term and might take a few years to successfully achieve. However, they should be clear and measurable and have time frames for achievement.

Make sure your overall strategies are also practical and measurable. A good marketing strategy will not be changed every year, but revised when your strategies have been achieved or your marketing goals have been met. Also, you may need to amend your strategy if your external market changes due to a new competitor or new technology, or if your products substantially change.

Research your market

Research is an essential part of your marketing strategy. You need to gather information about your market, such as its size, growth, social trends and demographics (population statistics such as age, gender and family type). It is important to keep an eye on your market so you are aware of any changes over time, so your strategy remains relevant and targeted.

Profile your potential customers

Use your market research to develop a profile of the customers you are targeting and identify their needs.

The profile will reveal their buying patterns, including how they buy, where they buy and what they buy. Again,regularly review trends so you don't miss out on new opportunities or become irrelevant with your marketing message.

While you try to find new customers, make sure your marketing strategy also allows you to maintain relationships with your existing customers.

Profile your competitors

Similarly, as part of your marketing strategy you should develop a profile of your competitors by identifying their products, supply chains, pricing and marketing tactics.

Use this to identify your competitive advantage - what sets your business apart from your competitors. You may also want to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your own internal processes to help improve your performance compared with your competition.

Develop strategies to support your marketing goals

List your target markets and devise a set of strategies to attract and retain them. An example goal could be to increase young people's awareness of your products. Your corresponding strategies could be to increase your online social media presence by posting regular updates about your product on Twitter and Facebook; advertising in local magazines targeted to young people; and offering discounts for students.

Use the '7 Ps of marketing'

Identify your tactical marketing mix using the 7 Ps of marketing. If you can choose the right combination of marketing across product, price, promotion, place, people, process and physical evidence, your marketing strategy is more likely to be a success.

SWAI JOAN