Developing a Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy helps every company to make its business efficient and attract a targeted group of customers. It allows gaining a deep understanding of the people’s needs and how these needs may change with the lapse of time. Building long-last relationships is hard, but the results are worth it. A good marketing strategy should consist of several key elements.
The most important element is an acknowledgement that the customers fall into certain segments. Each segment represents particular needs and expectations. The focus of the marketing strategy should be identifying the segments and determining their characteristics through the market research.
The company scores big success if the management can match the customers’ needs and the company’s strengths. The SWOT-analysis is a helpful tool to get information about the strengths and weaknesses of the business. In case the high-quality production is the strength, it is reasonable to target the clients who consider the quality in the first place. Therefore, the marketing strategy should put an emphasis on quality characteristics of products and services.
A well thought-out strategy should include a step-by-step list of marketing activities that are designed to ensure the customers know about the proposition and understand that they can trust to the quality of products and services provided. Different kinds of advertising can be used, for instance commercials, outdoor and poster panel advertising, online banners, etc. However, it makes sense to limit the number of marketing activities and pick those that are considered the best option.
Evaluation and monitoring elements are underestimated and often overlooked. This is a vital control element. It helps to check if the marketing strategy is efficient and the costs are not too high comparing to the output. The easiest way to monitor the situation is to ask new customers about the way they heard about the company and compare the amount of profit and advertising costs to make sure that the costs are reasonable.
After developing the key elements of the marketing strategy, the time comes to create a marketing plan. It should have a list of separate activities designed to achieve the strategy’s objectives. The provided information should be specific. The listed activities should have criteria of evaluation. This is a working plan, so it is reasonable to review it and respond to the market changes.
The marketers advise to avoid the most common pitfalls, including making assumptions, forgetting about the competition, targeting too many customers and failing to innovate. Otherwise, the marketing strategy is an effective tool to reach new clients and increase sales.
