Marketing Strategy is the important bit of the jigsaw!
Unfortunately most businesses try to set out to achieve the “HOW” without first knowing the “WHAT”.
Skipping this crucial step often results in wasted resources for a business, both in time and money.
Why do businesses do this?
Because people get confused with the difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan.
So what’s the difference?
In simple terms…The difference between marketing and strategic marketing is like the difference between a piece of chocolate and using that chocolate to make a scrumptious cake – while the former may be delicious on its own, it’s nothing when compared to its use as part of an overall plan that makes the best use possible of all the parts involved.
A Marketing Strategy is the businesses overall game plan in reaching its target audience and converting those customers to purchase the product or service the organisations provides.
It is the ‘WHAT’ and provides the ‘Big picture’.
It contains the businesses value proposition, information on the markets it’s operating in and the target customer as well as related brand messaging and other ‘high level’ elements.
The Marketing plan is informed by the marketing strategy.
It is the ‘HOW’ and provides the ‘Road Map’ to achieving your strategic objectives.
It provides the means through which medium the business will get across the key messages; the platforms, the creative, the marketing activity timings and so on.