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What is a Marketing Strategy?

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A Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.  - Wikipedia

A Marketing Strategy is a strategy that integrates an organization's marketing goals into a cohesive whole. Ideally drawn from market research, it focuses on the ideal product mix to achieve maximum profit potential. The marketing strategy is set out in a marketing plan. - BusinessDictionary.com

A Marketing Strategy is the result of decisions being made about how a particular product or service will be promoted to its target customers. Marketing strategies are used to increase sales, launch new products and generally provide profit for a company. Strategies involve the construction and implementation of the marketing mix. The marketing mix, which is also known as the five Ps, refers to the product, price, packaging, promotion and place or distribution. - WiseGeek

Your Marketing Strategy is shaped by your overall business goals. It includes a definition of your business, a description of your products or services, a profile of your target users or clients, and defines your company's role in relationship to the competition. The marketing strategy is essentially a document that you use to judge the appropriateness and effectiveness of your specific marketing plans. - About.com

A Marketing Strategy is nothing more than planning out how you intend to use marketing to achieve your business goals. You start by identifying the overall goals for your business. Then you break it down into marketing activities to support the business goals. - Anita Cambell

A Marketing Strategy defines objectives and describes the way you're going to satisfy customers in your chosen markets. It does not have to be written down but it is easier to communicate to outsiders, like your bank manager or other investors, when it is.

A set of strategies found quite commonly in smaller businesses are growth strategies. One way to look at strategies to grow your business is through the way you will use products and markets or customers.  -  is4Profit.com

A Marketing Strategy allows an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and its competitive advantage. Often companies will spend a ton of money on promotional activities that don't get results.  Instead take a closer look at your product, packaging and pricing; your customer; and what makes your company stand out. When you are clear and confident on your offerings, you can spend less on your marketing strategy and achieve better results. - Business Exchange

A Marketing Strategy is composed of several interrelated components called the marketing mix: The Marketing mix consists of answers to a series of product and customer related questions. - Stanford University

Creating an effective Marketing Strategy is based on a five-step process:

  • Step 1: Understanding the market climate and marketing strengths and weaknesses
  • Step 2: Developing a marketing strategy
  • Step 3: Building a marketing plan
  • Step 4: Implementing the plan
  • Step 5: Monitoring the success of the plan

Real marketing strategy provides a roadmap to creating and delivering true value to distinct groups of customers. All successful marketing strategies must begin and end with the customer—they cannot be an afterthought or taken as a given—so marketers must test their assumptions about their customers constantly. - American Marketing Association

Four Principles of Marketing Strategy by Brian Tracy

In the video, a marketing strategy includes:

marketing strategy

  1. Interview your current customers.
  2. Look at the people who you believe would be competitors.
  3. Look at the world market that are in a similar business for clues.

Fennec Consulting helps you to think more about Marketing StrategyStrategic Planning - The Orphan of Your Management Culture:  David Dallaire shares examples of what business owners say when referring to their strategy and planning:

  • "Looks like great experience, but can she execute?"
  • "In this company, everyone is very strategic, so we look for people who can execute."
  • "What's the point of 'strategy' if you can't execute?"
  • "Our strategy is to send an e-mail to the customer list to let them know about the change."
  • "Strategy doesn't pay the bills around here, execution does."
  • "Execution! Execution! Execution!"
  • These comments should be inspiring.  It shouldn't be too difficult to differentiate yourself and excel if these comments came from your competition.

You are now ready to think more strategically.  If not, your happy customers know why your company is awesome and how you stand out.  They will offer you a clue about your marketing strategy.  They will help you to understand what to focus on.

When you get the marketing strategy in place, think about your marketing plan. 

Here is a 7 sentence guerrilla marketing plan to get you started.

Topics: Marketing Plan Definition Marketing Strategy