Companies use strategic marketing planning to meet the continuously changing markets and build on their competitive advantage. According to the Principles of Marketing, by Kotler and Armstrong (which I highly recommend everyone to read), strategic marketing planning describes how a company will adapt to take advantage of opportunities in its constantly changing environment. Practice varies among companies in terms of the structure and length of the marketing plan, but it is quite common to have a yearly plan in place for the strategic and planning activities.
Whether you’re revamping your website or looking to implement a fully integrated campaign, getting your marketing planning right can get you the results you’re after. So, why is strategic marketing planning so important?
From keeping projects on track to developing campaigns and measuring success, there can be many reasons why businesses need to consider strategic marketing planning. Read our top 3 reasons below:
1. A strategic marketing plan helps you evaluate the current environment
A marketing plan is a great tool to assess where the company is positioned and to complete a situation analysis. It’s important to understand what the available resources are, as well as how is the competitive environment developing. All the data which is collected during the marketing research stage is essential to gain a good understanding of where the business currently sits.
Moreover, understanding the market in which the company is operating will not only give you a better insight into your industry, but it will also be key for planning for your marketing activities going forward. This stage of planning will ensure that you are making marketing decisions for the right reasons. Without this strategy, your efforts will be greatly reduced in their effectiveness.
2. You can establish clear marketing goals
Defining your marketing plan is beneficial to your business because it helps you establish your marketing goals and objectives. The most common way to achieve this is to set SMART goals, these set a time frame for your goals and keep them specific and measurable. It is important to remember to keep these goals achievable: targets are built around the situation analysis you have previously performed in the first stage above. This ensures that your goals can be used to measure success and benchmark results against your initial plan.
3. Strategic marketing planning helps you identify actions needed to achieve your goals
This is where your day to day marketing activities and efforts come in place. Strategic marketing planning is a very useful activity to set your overall marketing goals, but furthermore, it helps you take a planned approach to your actions that need to be completed in order to achieve your goals.
In summary, taking a strategic approach to your marketing planning can have many benefits for your business, among which it ensures that your company is prepared for the constantly changing markets. SMART goals and a good plan for your marketing activities are key to build on your competitive advantage.
Your strategy is how you choose to introduce yourself to the world and how you continue to present yourself to your audience; building relationships, growing your business and increasing market share. Not only for your existing and potential customers but for your internal stakeholders. At Relative, we start by outlining the strategic marketing outcomes you’re looking to achieve. Next, we’ll identify who your customers are and the best way to reach them. Then, through a combination of effective, impactful creative work and the most appropriate mix of media channels we’ll make sure your audience is soon on board with your brand and message.
If you’d like to find out more about the benefits of strategic marketing planning and how can we help your business develop and implement its strategy, get in touch with our team of specialists.
