There are multiple ways a marketing strategy can be beneficial to a business and its success. But first, what exactly does a marketing strategy entail and why is it so important? A marketing strategy is a business strategy that is employed in order to accomplish certain goals. The plan contains various objectives, strategies and tactics that are directly attributable to the specific goals the business wishes to achieve. Taking this first strategic step before engaging in other marketing services allows a company to go into extensive detail and thorough thinking before jumping into something that might not work. A marketing strategy often gives businesses a huge advantage and allows you to be one step ahead of your competitors. In a nutshell, a marketing strategy allows you to be proactive and strategically invest in marketing to gain success rather than reacting to market issues after they arise.
Improved Organization
The phrase “a goal without a plan is just a wish”, applies to every business that wants to achieve certain targets but do not have a strategic plan in place. Every business needs a well-organized and well-structured plan to follow. A plan that is organized and detailed is much more likely to achieve success than trying random approaches. Although a marketing strategy might sound easy to create, it is extremely thorough and often a challenge to create. A marketing strategy must be clear, consistent, realistic and detailed. Many businesses attempt to create a marketing strategy without collaborating with various stakeholders or an external agency and often struggle to think of tactics to best achieve their goals. Partnering with marketing professionals who are experienced in the development and implementation of a strategy allows business owners to have peace of mind knowing all their business objectives are in a formal document which everyone can be held accountable for.
One Unified Direction
A marketing strategy is also beneficial because it puts the entire team “on the same page” and ensures everyone is moving in the same direction. Occasionally, when running a business it is easy to assume your team is working towards a unified goal - but in reality, often they aren’t necessarily working with a specific business outcome in mind. Investing in a marketing plan not only clearly stipulates how a company can achieve success, but it gives the entire team a visual of the process that needs to be implemented in order to get that success. It also informs staff what the expectations are in terms of growth and development for the company. When employees, agency and business owners are all thinking ‘in the same direction’, the likelihood of business success increases.
Measurable Tracking & Results
Creating a marketing strategy ensures that business objectives are measurable. By setting quantifiable goals, it gives business owners something they can physically track as they implement each strategy and the associated tactics. It is also allows a business owner to re-evaluate the plan after a certain amount of time and, if the targets aren’t anywhere in reach, they can assess if this is due to the fact they set unrealistic end goals, or perhaps the specific tactic in place isn’t effective and it is time to try another. It is important to continuously evaluate progress to ensure that refinement or potential reconfiguration can occur if required.
Clearly Defined Target Audience
A marketing strategy is ineffective unless the business knows who their target audience is. Before a business attempts to create a marketing strategy, they need to define their target audience. If tactics within the marketing plan focus on the wrong audience, the goal will never be accomplished. Certain tactics are more effective for particular audiences than others and, this is important to consider during the planning phase.
During the collaborative process of developing a marketing plan, we help a business define their target audience and develop the best ideas to connect with them. We help the business understand the mindset of their target audience, which ultimately leads to more productivity and a more effective end result for the company.
Here at Inner Spark Creative, we are a full service creative communications agency who effectively and efficiently create marketing strategies for clients. Each marketing strategy we create is unique to the nature of the business and the goals that are in place. Being an external stakeholder, our perspective is objective which makes it easier to establish realistic objectives, strategies and tactics. Throughout the process, we sit down with your team to brainstorm ideas and collaborate ways to conquer the specific goals set by the client. Inner Spark Creative takes pride in being more than a vendor to our clients - we are a partner. Creating a positive relationship with the clients we work with is important to us, because we want to see our clients succeed. If you are interested in creating a marketing plan, please give our office a call for a free marketing consultation: (334) 826-7502.
