How to Determine the Various Marketing Strategies

Track your marketing strategies to evaluate their effectiveness.

Choosing a marketing strategy for your company can be a challenging prospect because you are faced with a wide variety of campaigns and possibilities. Selecting an appropriate strategy can help your business grow, build a brand or increase your profits. By choosing marketing strategies that are suited to your company and business goals, you can focus your efforts and budget on activities that are likely to achieve results instead of using a scattered, arbitrary approach to marketing.

Instructions

1. Consult your strategic plan to find the top three goals for your business. Because marketing exists to support business growth, the strategic plan can give you a framework to narrow the range of marketing strategies. If you do not have a strategic plan, work with management to define two or three goals for the short term and long term.

2. List ways marketing supports your business objectives. Don't rule anything out at this point, because an idea that seems outlandish might turn out to be the creative marketing strategy that pushes your business to the next level. Consider such common marketing strategies as raising awareness, bringing in a new audience group, or increasing the number of qualified sales leads.

3. Brainstorm ideas for campaigns or activities that are part of each strategy. To target younger customers, for example, suggest a social media campaign or an educational session in partnership with local high schools. Involve as many team members as possible in the process to increase the range of ideas.

4. Compare your list against practical limitations. Marketing strategies are limited by budget, manpower and company buy-in. Go through your list and cross out items that you cannot afford, which require too many hours of work to complete or which your managers veto.

5. Choose the top two strategies and map their supporting events on a marketing calendar. Include important business dates and goals on your calendar, such as bringing in a certain number of new clients, to help you position different marketing campaigns. Prioritize by listing the top activities first and subtract the cost of each campaign from the budget as you place it on the calendar to ensure that you have enough money for the most important efforts.

References

• Inc.: Business-to-Business Marketing
• Entrepreneur: Building a Strategy Pyramid