In today's fast-paced and hyperconnected world, having a well-crafted marketing strategy is essential for businesses to achieve their objectives. Consumers are more switched on and alive to trends than ever before, so much so that even the most subtle of messages and perceptions have the potential to make or break a brand’s image. 

Securing a good template for marketing strategy is vital. If planned and executed well, marketing strategies can deliver serious returns that will make the rest of the boardroom take notice.  

But what exactly is a marketing strategy? 

A Marketing Strategy

At its core, a marketing strategy provides a game plan to help your business reach its objectives while centering around its unique value proposition. It involves some good old planning, including setting marketing objectives, defining key performance indicators (KPIs), identifying target audiences, selecting appropriate channels, and allocating budgets. A well-designed marketing strategy serves to communicate your brand's competitive advantage and distinguishes you from rival companies targeting similar audiences.

Now let's delve into the three stages that every effective marketing strategy should include.

The Three Stages of a Marketing Strategy

Data and Insight: The foundation of any successful marketing strategy lies in understanding your business, marketing objectives, market landscape, and target audience. Gaining this understanding can including anything from benchmarking your current position, market mapping and competitor analysis to gathering product and service insights and creating buyer personas. This stage ensures that you have a solid grasp of your business's position and the needs and preferences of your target audience.

Communicating your strategy: The second phase is all about taking this acquired knowledge and building meaningful relationships though your content. Here, you'll define your brand's purpose, key values, and tone of voice, and develop a compelling brand narrative. 

The popular beer brand, Heineken, knows its core market is millennial males, so it targets men who are keen followers of sport by sponsoring competitions such as the UEFA Champions League and Formula E. Heineken also knows its target consumer group is hesitant to advertising, and therefore prioritises spend on event marketing, backing large festivals such as Coachella in the US. 

Delivery and Measurement: Today, the average customer journey is fragmented across many channels and devices, so ongoing measurement and analysis is critical to any effective marketing strategy. By leveraging analytical tools, you can track each touchpoint in a user's journey and utilise this data to inform future decisions, ensuring better results. This data-driven approach allows you to showcase the impact of your campaigns, providing tangible evidence of success to advance your career.

Never waste a good crisis 

We believe that crises present opportunities for marketers to demonstrate their value and turn challenges into triumphs. Just like KFC, which faced a supply chain glitch, you can pivot your strategies to overcome obstacles and achieve commercial success. By implementing creative solutions and delivering powerful messages, you can reach vast and varied audiences. KFC's response, featuring the thought-provoking campaign "FCK" accompanied by a non-corporate apology, resonated with millions worldwide, enhancing their brand impression score.

Following the campaign, which won a string of awards, KFC’s brand impression score with YouGov BrandIndex actually improved on its pre-crisis position. 

Download your free marketing strategy toolkit and start putting your learnings into action, download yours here.

At Fabric, we offer a 12-week online Master Strategy Programme that guides marketers through each stage of the process, providing dedicated templates for every component. Don't miss the chance to boost your career and become a more strategic marketer. Download our brochure here or book a call with the team here.