What is a Marketing Strategy?
A logo or website is not marketing rather they are elements that need to be combined into a marketing strategy. Simply put, a marketing strategy is a long-term approach that sets out your overall strategy to get clients for your business, it is what helps generate your leads. Your marketing strategy must work holistically, combining a range of elements such as Corporate Identity, website design, social media and advertising. These elements all play a particular role within your marketing strategy and they need to be integrated. If they work together harmoniously your business can position itself in the desired way to attract clients and achieve a competitive advantage. Your marketing strategy helps your business to relate and say the right things to the right people, through the right channels and then measure up to it. Your marketing strategy is a plan of action designed to promote and sell a product or services that a company provides.
By combining all your marketing goals into one all-inclusive plan, you bolster your business’s potential for success. When laying out your marketing strategy you need to do you market research – the goal is to focus on the right product mix in order to attain or reach that maximum profit potential and then, of course, sustain the business. The marketing strategy will all ways be the foundation of a marketing proposal.
Your marketing strategy is a function of your brand strategy (more about that later). The marketing you use to convey your particular identity and brand reputation to your customers. Your brand strategy defines what service or product that you offer. It is everything your business stands for – it’s the promise you make, the vision for your company and the character of your company that you want to convey. Think of your brand strategy as the roadmap and your marketing strategy as the car you use to get there – you can customise and accessorise your car depending on the required outcomes, but your roadmap will only change if your destination does.
Your brand identity exists in the day-to-day interaction you have with your target market. It is a culmination of all design elements, strategies and aspirations. It comes down to the image you convey, the messages you deliver whether it be on your website, proposals and campaigns, it’s the way your employees interact with customers and essentially it will build a customer’s opinion of your products versus your competitions.
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How to make it successful
To sell your product to the multitudes, you need to come up with an impressive and efficient marketing strategy that ensures sales and keep in line with your brand strategy. Having a really good marketing strategy can be the difference between having major profits and successful sales or having significant failure, leaving you with many unsold products. To avoid failure your strategy needs to incorporate what, in marketing terms, is called the marketing mix. The 4 P’s of marketing are defined as product, price, place and promotion. The marketing mix is the set of manageable, strategic marketing tools that a company uses to inspire a desired response from its target market. It consists of everything that a company can do to impact demand for its products and services. It is a means to help marketing planning and execution.
What are the 4 Ps of a marketing strategy?
Product: The goods and/or services offered by a company to its clienteles. Which contributes variety, quality, design, features, brand name, packaging, services to the marketing mix.
Price: The amount of money paid by clients to purchase the product. Price includes things such as list price, discounts, allowance, payment period, and credit terms.
Place (or distribution): The activities that make the product available to customers. These contribute to the fields of channels, coverage, assortments, locations, inventory, transportation, and logistics.
Promotion: The activities that communicate the product’s structures and benefits in order to encourage clients to purchase the product. Promotion contributes the main features and most vital features towards marketing – advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations.
An effective marketing strategy combines the 4 Ps of the marketing mix in a cohesive and motivating way. By carefully considering each element of the marketing mix and strategically combining them you can successfully reach your target audience by providing value and worth for your potential customers.
The SWOT analysis
SWOT Analysis is a useful system for considering your strengths and weaknesses, and for identifying the opportunities open to you and the possible threats you can come across. In business the SWOT analysis helps you to carve a sustainable role in your market. What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that, with thought and consideration, it can help you expose opportunities that you are able to exploit. Being thoughtful to the weaknesses of your brand, you will be able to manage and eliminate any threats that would otherwise catch you by surprise.
By looking at yourself and your competitors using the SWOT analysis, you can start to create a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from your competitors, so that you can compete successfully in your market, and be a step above your competitors’ brands.
What is Brand essence?
Brand essence is the essential characteristic by which you define your brand. It is an intangible trait that separates your brand from your competitors’. Your brand essence is the core of your brand strategy and it is in summary what your brand stands for. Brand essence is often assumed as your brand DNA the powerhouse behind your brand strategy, it is the most essential worth of your entire brand which stays consistent throughout your marketing. Remember, marketing is the car and your brand strategy is the roadmap.
Your brand essence is considered the definitive character your brand plays in the world, the way it looks, the message it sends, and the way customers and target audiences ultimately feel about your brand. It is a critical component of your calculated brand platform. If you want your customers to be clear about what your brand stands for, you must first create it to be above and beyond their expectations, it also helps to understand your brand as a living entity that must be fed and raised from infancy to a successful entity.
So why do you need a brand strategy document?
It is of vital importance to have a brand strategy document on hand. This document will be the guiding force behind your overall strategy. It will help to track your brand and monitor what needs more attention and what needs to be improved. It ensures that you remain steadfast on your path towards optimum growth and sales. If you are unsure as to why you need a brand strategy, keep in mind that the purpose is to comprehensively and clearly distinguish you from your competitors and makes your brand more recognisable to your target market and the clients looking for your specific product or service. It delivers a strong clear purpose for why you are appealing to the customers’ needs and how you are going about it. Having an organised and cohesive brand strategy helps you communicate more effectively and efficiently with your clientele.
If you need more clarification on the importance of a brand strategy, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Find out how we can help you with a FREE Marketing Strategy Proposal to help you achieve your brand goals and sales objectives.
