“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”
—Benjamin Franklin
Careful planning is a cornerstone of business success. This includes developing a comprehensive marketing strategy and a tactical marketing plan. An effective strategy provides a solid foundation for a flexible and adaptive marketing plan, crucial for navigating ongoing market shifts.
While planning is key to success, it is actually the second stage of a four-part strategic marketing plan process.
1. Discovery
The core first step is discovery—gathering, evaluating, and interpreting market information to inform strategic direction.
Depending on the business, the research data could be about target markets, customers, competitors, or the industry as a whole. Research informs all kinds of strategies and objectives, from developing Unique Value Propositions (UVPs), to launching new offerings, identifying new markets, developing positioning statements, targeting prospects, elevating brands, creating break-through creative content, and selecting the right mix of channels to engage with various audiences.
Conducting thorough research helps reduce risk by enabling informed decisions on resource allocation. An immersive discovery stage can also shorten sales cycles and increase revenue velocity. This involves identifying strategic target accounts based on Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs), clearly identifying audience pain points, uncovering influencers within target companies, and optimizing marketing activities based on data.
2. Planning
Marketing Strategy:
This is a company’s North Star. The marketing strategy outlines the long-term goals and overall approach. It aligns teams to specific objectives and ensures all marketing activities are tied to business priorities such as brand buiding or lead generation. A well-defined marketing strategy maximizes ROI by helping to identify the most effective marketing channels and tactics to invest in.
The B2B landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Now, more than ever, businesses need to adapt to navigate constant change. This will enable firms to make better decisions, stay ahead of the competition, reduce risk, understand the evolving needs of their customers and drive business growth.
A comprehensive marketing strategy typically includes:
- Business summary and key initiatives
- Macro-economic observations
- An honest marketing audit/assessment
- A list of specific marketing goals and objectives
- Competitive analysis
- Customer insights, including changing needs and behaviors
- Industry trends and drivers
- Segmentation, targeting and positioning
- Brand direction
- Observations on evolving marketing trends, technology, tools and tactics
Marketing Plan:
This is the detailed tactical roadmap that outlines the specific marketing activities designed to deliver the desired results as outlined in the marketing strategy. The marketing plan leverages learnings and direction from both the discovery stage and the marketing strategy to guide the creative development of content to be deployed in select outbound and inbound marketing programs such as email campaigns, Account-Based Marketing (ABM), PPC, SEO, social media marketing, webinars, and industry events to name just a few.
Here are a few examples of what a detailed marketing plan includes:
- Marketing tactics/approach recommendations
- Visual and verbal messaging concepts
- Content strategy
- Channel selections
- 12 month marketing calendar
- A detailed budget
- KPI selection/reporting schedule
3. Activation
This stage is all about putting the detailed marketing plan into action. It focuses on the creation, timing, placement and management of the resources and workflows required to implement the specific activities contained in the marketing plan.
Below are select activities that might occur during a company’s activation stage:
- Project planning and management
- Workflow/process oversight
- Monitor/track progress
- Ongoing status updates/reports
- Creative development
- Channel placement of content
- Coordination of teams
- Budget tracking
- Vendor management
- Brand and messaging consistency
- Sales alignment/communication
- Lead tracking/sales hand-offs
4. Optimization
This critical stage focuses on continuous improvement through the analysis of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) selected in the marketing plan. Interpretation of the KPI data provides insights that allow for adjustments in the marketing plan. KPIs are used to measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns, optimize our strategies, allocate resources wisely, and ultimately drive business growth and success.
Each business is unique and should select their own KPIs based on their specific marketing strategy and plan. Below are examples of KPIs used to optimize various marketing programs:
- Conversion Rate: Measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action.
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Calculates the cost of acquiring a new customer.
- Return on Investment (ROI): Evaluates the profitability of marketing campaigns.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): Monitors the percentage of clicks on an ad compared to its impressions.
- Lead Generation Metrics: Tracks the number and quality of leads generated.
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Assesses the total value a customer brings over their entire relationship with the business.
- Website Traffic: Analyzes the volume and sources of website visitors.
- Social Media Engagement: Measures likes, shares, comments, and overall engagement on social platforms.
- Email Open and Click Rates: Evaluates the performance of email campaigns.
- Brand Awareness: Assesses the reach and recognition of the brand in the target market.
- Churn Rate: Monitors the rate at which customers stop using a product or service.
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Gauges customer satisfaction with products or services.
- Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs): Identifies leads at different stages of the sales funnel.
- Customer Retention Rate: Measures the percentage of customers retained over a specific period.
- Search Engine Rankings: Evaluates the position of the business in search engine results.
Summary:
In the dynamic B2B landscape, a well-crafted marketing strategy and plan, coupled with continuous optimization using relevant KPIs, are crucial for sustained growth. Adaptability, informed decision-making, and strategic alignment will empower your business to thrive amidst constant change.
Ready to optimize your marketing strategy? Reach out to us and unlock the full potential of your business growth!
