Fear and discomfort are an essential part of strategy making. It is often said that if your are comfortable with your strategy, there’s a strong chance that it isn’t very good.
Good strategy is the result of a simple and considered process of thinking through what it takes to achieve what you want and then assessing whether it’s realistic to action.

The strategy making process and it’s success ultimately centres on two decisions/choices : the where-to -play ( which specific customers to target) and the how-to-win decision ( how to develop a sustainable and compelling value proposition for your customers) .

In relation to considering what strategies are going to fuel growth start with a re-examination of your past history and consider trends and opportunities ahead.

Consider key questions such as:
Where do you offer the best value and enjoy the most success? What new growth areas might we pursue? What segment of the market will be easiest to grow? Where does your current growth come from?
Who is your target customer?What is your offer?
What is you stated position ( what do you intend to be or stand for )? 
What is your point of difference in the market?

These questions may sound relatively straight forward but can often be hard to answer and articulate without taking the time to drill down and examine in the finer issues that underlie them before producing something simple. 

Formulating strategy effectively requires a lot of hard thinking and testing in the market.

Strategy is validated by diagnosis and research which in turn then clears the path for the development of your go to market tactics.

Research, Strategy and Tactics are all interelated and need to be aligned to avoid expensive mistakes.

N0 1: A clearly defined target market. Be careful not to fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all men and spreading yourself too wide and shallow. Determine what piece of the market to tackle and target it precisely and relentlessly and only once you have achieved a dominant position in that segment , expand from there into the next, and so on. Focusing on too big a market inevitably also encourages sloppy strategy making.

No 2: Key differentators. What sets you apart from the rest?Why should we buy from you?
Make sure they are genuine, provable and resonate with what your audience wants and needs.

No 3: Positioning . How are you positioned in relation to your competitors? Your position is built from your differentiators.

No 4: Core Messages. What does your target audience  need to hear from your business?

By strategy, we mean the high-level planning and ideas that set the direction for your overall marketing, such as how your firm is positioned in the marketplace and the key messages you deliver to your audiences.

Tactics, on the other hand, are the specific techniques you use to deliver those messages and engage your audiences. They are much more fluid and can change quickly.
Avoid the common mistake of rolling out tactics without having done your research and strategy first.

The strategy should change little, if at all, in the course of a year.

Make sure you keep tactical issues and thinking seperate from your strategy development process until ready and then develop a plan with a few measurable key objectives and stick to it.

A company’s brand is your customers entire experience with your company and the promise you make.  The brand is not the product , it is not the logo , packaging , or company name, it is how the company’s customers view the company and it details how the company makes the consumer feel.
It communicates truths about an organisation and is used to influence purchasing decisions.
Branding is the pulling in of a message. It is the listening to the consumer , and using that information to build a brand strategy and build customer loyalty.

A company’s brand strategy must be based on the goals of the company. Brand strategy is the blue print that explains the who, how, what and when of how a company plans on communicating their product.

The goal of branding is to figure out what makes one company ‘s product better tha another, and using the information to build brand strategy.

Marketing is the act of promoting a product in order to earn revenue , the pushing out of a message
to your target audience.

Once you have understood your business situation, target market and audiences and formulated your strategy, you are then well placed to progress towards selecting the appropriate channels to market and tactics needed to realise the strategies.

It is our belief that due to the increased complexity and rate of technology change in the marketing landscape most small to medium size businesses simply do not have the horsepower or knowledge insights to execute efficiently or effectively.

Accordingly at Marketing Search we recommend you seek assistance in your selection and execution of tactics from proven outsource specialists to attain the best possible outcomes.

We recommend you always adopt a balance approach to building your offline and online marketing presence and avoid an over reliance on any one channel to market.

A marketing strategy is a long-term approach to selling your products or services. The goal of a marketing strategy is to create a sustainable, successful business that connects with customers and continues to grow.

How to Write a Marketing Strategy

Building a marketing strategy requires a deep understanding of your business, competitors, customers, and market.

1. 1. Define your customer. What target market are you trying to reach? What demographics do they have in common? What problems are they facing, and what values impact their purchasing decisions? Understanding who you are speaking to and what they need is key to creating an effective marketing message.
   2. Know your products. Spend time articulating the benefits of your products in addition to the features. How will they make a difference in someone’s life? Why does that matter to your customers? The most effective marketing speaks to the emotions of consumers, and that connection is created when you can articulate the benefit your business provides.

1. 1. Research the competition. If you want customers to become loyal to your business, you need to stand out in your market. Take time to learn about your competition and decide how you will differentiate yourself. Consider price, quality, location, service, accessibility, values, and lifestyle. What will be most important to your target customers?
   2. Write your USP. Use the information you’ve gathered about your customers, products, and competition to create a unique selling proposition. This is a compelling sentence that describes the essence of your business, focusing on who you serve, what benefit you provide, and why you are the best business to provide that benefit. Your USP, also known as your value proposition, will guide all of your messaging, branding, and other marketing efforts.

1. 1. Outline your resources. A budget will ensure that your team follows through on the market roadmap to reach important goals, and having a clear idea of your available budget will ensure that your marketing doesn’t send you into debt. But money isn’t your only resource. The skills your team has (such as writing or public speaking) and personal connections (such as contacts in the media) can all be put towards building a marketing strategy.
   2. Define your marketing methods. Once you understand your customers, market, and resources, choose the marketing mix that will most effectively promote your business and share your USP. How can you show customers the value of your products or services and persuade them to make a purchase? Will direct mail, online advertising, SEO, TV ads, or trade shows be an effective way to reach customers? What strategies are your competitors using? Will any of those work for you, or do you need different marketing tools?

Once you have defined your marketing strategy, you can use that information to create an effective marketing plan that will attract the right kind of customers, differentiate you from competitors, position your business as an ideal solution, and allow you to grow within your market.

How to Update Your Marketing Strategy

A good marketing strategy needs to grow and evolve over time, keeping up with changes in both your market and your business.

Plan to revisit your marketing strategy at least once every quarter to find out if you are achieving your goals within your available resources. Ask yourself:

1. Do you have the same leads and business opportunities as when you launched your products or services? You may need to create new systems that will allow you to attract more customers with less effort or take advantage of new connections within your industry.
2. Is your market changing? Has it expanded or receded, and how is that impacting your business and clients? You may need to reevaluate either your ideal customer or your competition to see if you are still effectively positioned within your market.
3. Are any of your marketing activities working well? Can you trace any new clients or sales to them? Identify which strategies are and are not working. If any of them are not working, which new strategies do you want to try?
4. Are your products or services making the expected revenue? Are they costing more to produce or provide than what they bring in? You may need to adapt your budget or price to create a sustainable business model.
5. Do you need to adapt or change your sales tactics? And what is the best timeframe to take action? Now? Next quarter? The following year? Sales tactics are part of your marketing plan and should always reflect the same USP and customer values as your other messaging.

As your customers, market, and competitors change over time, your marketing plans should change and evolve too. When you regularly examine and update your marketing strategy to meet both the needs of your company and your customers, your business can continue to grow.

A business or organisational strategy details a firm’s vision, mission and long-term objectives. The organisational objectives form the heart of the strategy. However, a complete strategy also prioritises those objectives and describes specifically how the firm plans to achieve them – while competing successfully in the market and optimising financial performance. The strategy should also cover the resources that will be needed to deliver it.

Business strategy considers many things, including market structure and competitors, entry and exit barriers, market segmentation, market trends, organisational scale, spread and structure, organisational agility, organisational culture, product/service portfolio, branding and differentiation, IP, business model, distribution channels, supply and demand, sources of revenue, cost structure, cash flow, technology, strategic partnerships and the keys to success.

The strategies proposed should reflect the organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, as well as its competitors and the market.

Brand strategy

The brand strategy and brand exists to enable, express and bring to life the business strategy. Therefore, branding is the expression of the essence of an organisation, product, or service – its reason for being. Branding communicates the characteristics, values and attributes that the organisation or product stands for, how it is positioned differently to competitors, and why a customer would buy it.

A brand strategy clearly outlines a brand’s unique characteristics, values and attributes. It is comprised of the brand positioning – the unique, relevant, credible and sustainable position in the market that it owns – along with the brand story, values, personality and brand tone of voice. It should also include the employee value proposition (EVP), which is closely linked to your brand. If there are multiple brands, it may include a brand architecture framework and brand portfolio strategy. And if there are multiple brand audiences, the brand strategy may also include customer value propositions (CVPs).

Marketing Strategy

Once an organisation has signed off its brand strategy, it will need to create a marketing strategy and a marketing plan. Marketing strategy is shaped both by business strategy and brand strategy.

Whereas branding is strategic, marketing is more tactical. Marketing is actively promoting and selling a product or service. It’s about putting the right product/service in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. It unearths and activates buyers. Marketing is a push tactic. All marketing initiatives and campaigns should reinforce and support the brand essence.

A marketing strategy typically answers the following questions for a product or service:

• Who are its customers?
• Who are its competitors?
• What makes it stand out in the market?
• Which market trends can be taken advantage of?
• What are its strengths and weaknesses and what are the opportunities and threats?
• What initiatives and programs can be used to promote it and take advantage of its strengths and the available opportunities, mitigate its weaknesses and minimise the threats?

The intersection of business, brand and marketing

As you can see, there are several points of intersection between business strategy, brand strategy and marketing strategy. Here are a few examples:

• Mission, vision and values are closely related to brand positioning.
• Organisational culture also aligns strongly to brand.
• The competitive environment, market structure, market segments and target customers are fundamentally important to all of these strategies.
• Competitive strategy links business strategy to brand strategy.
• Business model strategy, brand strategy and marketing strategy must all consider pricing strategy.
• All three strategies must consider market trends to be viable in the long run.
• Branding precedes and underlies marketing efforts. It’s a pull tactic – brand creates customers predisposed to buying a product or service and supports marketing.
• All marketing initiatives and campaigns should reinforce and support the brand positioning.

How do we ensure these three strategies integrate and align?

To create effective integration between business, brand and marketing strategy, consider:

• The sequencing of these strategic plans. Business strategy comes first, closely followed by brand strategy, and then marketing strategy.

           Business strategy → brand strategy → marketing strategy and plan

• Brand can be used to rally an organisation around its high-level strategies, so it can be helpful for brand positioning and strategy work to closely follow the creation of the business strategy. 
• Brand strategy should be created at a senior level within the organisation, so that it is created by those who understand the business, business model and competitive strategy and the rationale behind them very well. 
• Ensure the marketing team has the following qualities: strategic thinking, creativity, analytical ability and strong program management/execution discipline. These qualities are all important for creating a marketing strategy that links to business and brand strategy, for implementing marketing strategy, and for ongoing brand management.

At BrandMatters we consider these connection points and associated conundrums as part of our daily fare. If you’d like a point of view on how to resolve or reconcile any of the above we’d love to hear from you – please contact us.