Marketing strategy is far more important than marketing activity

Yet doing stuff – eShots, trade shows, ads etc – is what tends to happen first

Strategy and activity (tactics) need to work in harmony for a business to build true momentum. An effective strategy must be in place before any set of tactics will make sense and be effective.

Without a strategy, to provide the route, there is a real risk that any marketing activity is going to be wasteful.

There’s a great deal of confusion about what constitutes a strategy. Strategy is often confused with mission and objectives.

It might be useful the consider the differences in a future post, but for now simply note that to ‘dominate a market’ is not a strategy, it’s an objective.

You may find that to dominate a market, you’ll need to identify a specific niche, so your strategy would be to target that niche and dominate it.

Start with your perfect customer. Who are they and where are they. Because finding more like them should be a primary marketing objective.

We all find it hard to turn away business. It’s so much easier to try and service every customers needs, however disparate they may be.

The problem is it’s impossible to focus on any number of customers who require different things. It’s distracting and costly.

Most businesses thrive by serving clearly defined market segments. Refining and adding new segments over time.

With the market(s) clearly defined, attention can turn to establishing, or introducing, your product to meet customer need, more effectively than the existing competition.

Using different activity (tactics) and positioning you apart from the competition will help create a stronger match with the customer, moving away from price comparison.

STRATEGY

TARGET MARKET

TACTICS

SUCCESS

“Leaders establish the vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there.”
John P. Kotter