Planning a marketing strategy

Planning a marketing strategy starts with a detailed and ongoing investigation of the market and its sub-markets or segments.

This post and others in the series are all contained within our CIM ebook, 7Ps: a brief summary of marketing and how it works. If you'd like to know more on marketing strategy and planning, check out our Marketing Planning Principles training course.

Marketing focuses on the fundamental practices that every company has to carry out - identifying customers, researching their needs and preferences, analysing factors that influence their purchasing decisions and persuading them to buy products and services from you rather than a competitor.

All this requires a strategy that is coordinated, considered and realistic in terms of making the most effective use of the resources and budgets available. Planning a marketing strategy starts with a detailed and ongoing investigation of the market and its sub-markets or segments. Companies look at the social, political, economic, cultural and technological trends which are shaping the market, their own position within it and the resources they can marshal to change or influence it.

This is sometimes known as the marketing audit.

Planning a marketing strategy starts with a detailed and ongoing investigation of the market and its sub-markets or segments.

A marketing plan defining objectives, targets and performance measures is then developed, along with a financial budget. When specific goals have been defined, alternatives to the status quo can be discussed, and ways to achieve those alternatives can be chosen. The marketing strategy is then formalised within a specific plan of action, which is constantly revised and updated, and the marketing campaign progresses.

Planning an effective marketing strategy is intimately bound up with the planning process for the entire business, because it is linked to overall corporate strategy and requires endorsement from the top. The strategy also needs to be continually reviewed. Therefore, collaboration between marketing and other corporate activities such as finance, research, development and production, is important to effectively implementing the marketing strategy.

Marketing is a team effort requiring the orchestration of a range of different skills, outlooks and personalities. Some aspects of marketing deal solely in facts and finance; others explore the ambiguities and uncertainties of changing consumer styles. A coherent marketing strategy is essential to managing change, as companies everywhere operate in technological, legislative, corporate and market environments of rapid transition and change.

Future trends in marketing

We live and work in a world of unprecedented social and technological upheaval, which has introduced new levels of competition for all kinds of organisations. Business is becoming global, customers are more demanding, many mature markets offer little room for growth, brand valuation is recognised on financial balance sheets and environmental pressures are growing. Compounding every other difficulty, the pace of change is quickening all the time – speed of market introduction and acceptance are important factors.

The economic context is changing, so marketing is changing too. New social trends and corporate structures have opened up fresh avenues of opportunity for marketers to become even more central to business success. Only recently, technologies including database marketing, direct-to-plate printing and video-conferencing, the Internet and intranets were buzzwords for marketers. Since then, viral campaigns and social media have become everyday terms. Technology today offers exciting opportunities that would have been out of reach a generation ago.

What will tomorrow look like?

As organisations introduce streamlined management hierarchies and flexible working practices, the marketing approach is proving a valuable interdisciplinary asset to companies that want to break down internal boundaries to focus exclusively on what the company is good at. Distinct trends for the future of marketing have emerged in recent years, and continue to develop.

First, ever more emphasis is being placed on the collection, analysis and use of more (and better) marketing information. The explosion of data available to companies thanks to the internet has complicated the issue, but also offers incredible opportunities to reach consumers in a targeted way.

Second, more importance is being attached to measuring and monitoring performance, and more sophisticated tools are being developed to do the job as part of the general drive to be more accountable. ‘Big data’, analytics and measurement are playing ever greater roles in marketing strategy.

Third, there is growing investment in staff training and development, with particular emphasis on continuing professional development so that companies can more effectively defend the competitive advantage that successful marketing gives them.

One of the strengths of marketing is the way it constantly adapts and responds to changing conditions. Though our changing world creates unexpected challenges, the modern marketer will continue to overcome them with new tools and techniques, helping companies to defend their competitive advantage.

One of the strengths of marketing is the way it constantly adapts and responds to changing conditions.

Want to read more about the fundamentals of marketing? Check out our other posts in the series, What is marketing? and The 7Ps of marketing, or take a look at our marketing fundamentals course which has all of this info and more to get you immersed in everything marketing.