List 5 Marketing Strategy Advantages

Marketing strategies help you communicate important information to stakeholders.

A marketing strategy is a written document that identifies the various ways you will market and promote your products and services. Marketing strategies include several important components, such as a statement of goals, an analysis of your marketplace, and strategies and tactics. Developing a marketing strategy has several distinct advantages.

Communicate Your Goals

One of the most important advantages of creating a marketing strategy is that it helps you clearly identify your marketing goals. This is important because often businesses do not spend the necessary time to plan and articulate their business goals. Using a marketing strategy to develop your marketing goals gives you a reference document that all your employees and company stakeholders can refer to when developing other strategies for your business.

Understand Your Competition

Another advantage of a marketing strategy is that it helps you better understand your competitors. Marketing strategies commonly have a competitive analysis section, which lists each of your competitors, describes their strengths and weaknesses, identifies their market share and communicates their strategies and tactics. Understanding your competitors' strengths and weaknesses can help you focus on your own company's competitive advantages.

Understand Your Target Market

Another advantage of creating a market strategy is that you develop a deep understanding of the customers you are targeting. In your marketing strategy, you include profiles for each of your target customer segments. For example, one segment might be "Caucasian females between the ages of 40 and 60 who make the majority of health decisions for their family." Marketing strategies help you better understand the unique needs and preferences of your customers, which can lead to insights about what marketing strategies and tactics to use.

Develop Strategies

Marketing strategies also outline the specific strategies and tactics you will use to target your customers, which is an advantage because it helps you organize a plan based on your unique marketing goals. Some companies simply choose one or two marketing strategies and tactics to focus on without any rhyme or reason. With a marketing strategy, the tactics you choose are based on research and market insights, which can be a huge competitive advantage.

Develop an Implementation Plan

Finally, marketing strategies are advantageous to companies because they let you create a detailed plan for implementing your marketing tactics. Having a plan in place allows you to develop and organize key milestones, dates and budgets related to each tactic you choose. When you decide and plan your implementation schedule ahead of time, you can save time and money down the road.

References

• Philanthropy Journal; Marketing Strategy Made Simple; John Klein; February 2011
• Microsoft Office: Develop an Effective Marketing Strategy