All business should have a marketing strategy.
With a good strategy the company can focus on where it is most likely to be successful and avoid wasting time, money and resource in going in the wrong direction.
This applies even to the very smallest business.
The strategy will result in a marketing pla. This is usually written down, but doesn't have to be, as long as it is understood.
It can be very short, or quite extensive.
We help companies through the strategy and planning stages to result in a dynamic plan that is appropriate for their business, and is not just a generic plan produced from a template, which is often useless.
The strategic and planning process
You can only plan a journey when you know where you are and where you want to go.
The marketing planning process would normally go through an analysis of:
where the company is?
what it is actually selling?
where it wants to go to?
why customers buy from it?
who the competitors are?
The level of detail can vary hugely depending on the company and its requirements.
However these steps then enable structured and measurable marketing campaigns to be put in place to achieve the company objectives such as increasing sales, increasing margins etc.
Finding new business
New business can be found from two main sources:
Getting current customers to buy more frequently or buy a wider range of services
Finding new customers
The focus on finding new customers can often detract from the opportunities of getting more business from existing customers, so it is important that existing customers are included as part of the mix.
