A Progressive Marketing Strategy

The benefits cannot be stressed enough. If time is taken by small business owners, marketing executives and entrepreneurs to formally develop a marketing strategy and marketing mix, a company’s likelihood to succeed will double. In 90% of small businesses, owners rely on intuition when making critical marketing decisions. This method does not allow the opportunity to think through all the aspects of the business; including critical elements such as products, placement and distribution. A well thought out marketing strategy allows management to define goals and provides a clear path to achievement.
The following represents a very brief overview of the steps needed to put together an effective marketing strategy. Keep in mind that although the business may require more or less elements, these are the basic essentials that need to be addressed in every successful marketing plan.

Identify and Detail the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of Products or Services:

• The unique selling proposition is a marketing term that aims to identify unique attributes to products and services that convinces a customer to buy or switch.
• The proposition must be unique to the company’s product or service.
• The proposition must be powerful to attract customers to purchase the product or service.
• A company’s USP does not have to be a verbal message. It can be communicated to customers in a visual manner.

Clearly Define the Target Market

• Who the company will sell to and why that group?
• Is it necessary to segment the market into smaller, more focused segments, due to financial restraints?

Document all the Benefits of the Business

• Benefits of products and services are what will convince consumers to buy. A successful business owner or marketing executive knows all critical product features and benefits and use these to market the business
• Try and isolate benefits with the broadest consumer interest. This will help in marketing efforts.

Use the 4’s of the Marketing Mix to Determine How to Position Products or Services in the Market

1. Product – Define product in terms of packaging, features, benefits and offering
2. Price – Determine how to price products on the market. Will the company take a market approach to be a low cost alternative, or a higher price point by marketing quality and benefits?
3. Place – How will the product get to the consumer? Determine methods of distribution which may include retail channels, wholesale, warehouse issues and global distribution.
4. Promotion – How will the company promote products and/or services? What forms of advertising will be utilized to get the business in front of the customer?

A few things to remember when creating a new marketing strategy:
Always have a firm budget in place. Everything within the marketing plan depends upon the company’s financial ability to carry out a plan. Be realistic and plan within a budget. Never create a formal marketing plan until there is a complete understanding of the company’s unique selling propositions - this is a crucial first step before developing the rest of the marketing strategy.

A marketing strategy should be revised often; at least once each quarter. However, if results are not as expected, the management team must sit down, brainstorm and rethink the marketing strategy again.