Strategic Marketing

The term 'marketing strategy' is bandied around rather a lot, and sometimes I wonder if people are completely sure what it means in tangible terms.

In my view, it is absolutely fundamental to the future success of your business and your campaigns.

To quote Tzu in The Art of War:

‍“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

Which in my mind instantly translates to:

‍“Marketing without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

I believe we skip strategy at our peril!

It’s easy to try to save time and money by skipping to the action; the busy, noticeable, fun parts of marketing. And that is what many small businesses choose to do.

But did you know that:

• 25% of start-ups fail in the first year?
• 60% go bust within their first 3 years?
• Only around 30% make it to their 10th anniversary?
  

Think of all those shiny new businesses popping up on Instagram. Busily churning out content; will they still be around in 5 years time? Is their founder actually getting tangible benefits from all this activity?

I am not saying that business success is all down to marketing strategy and marketing planning, but lack of is a big contributing factor.

If you don’t know who your customer is, how do you know where to find them? And how do you compel them to engage, and persuade them to purchase?

If you haven’t defined your positioning, how will you build a position in your target customer's mind?

If don’t know where you sit in the marketplace, how can you be  ahead of your competition?

I could go on.

Marketing strategy sounds onerous. However, in my view this doesn’t have to be a 3-month piece of work; it could be a simple document defining the aspects which are most important to your business.

Strategic marketing for growth.

Some key work at the right time can make an enormous difference.

Call me today and we can talk about the areas where some marketing intervention – often a light touch mix of strategy, planning and action - can help build your business.