I don’t have a clear marketing strategy in place #ABC

You have a great idea and you want to capitalize on it. Without a marketing strategy you’d be lost in no time, confused and burnt out. Before you know it you’ll have lost sense of your big vision. Day 4 of #ABC – April Blogging Challenge, I’ve been blogging about one small business challenge everyday in April. 

I used to know this dude who came up with a fantastic idea of becoming a fitness coach. He got thousands of flyers printed, advertised on community boards of grocery stores and sat in the gym twiddling his thumbs waiting for the first customer to call. It didn’t happen.

A lot of people confuse marketing with advertising, and marketing strategy with marketing plan. Starting a business with no marketing strategy or plan is like driving cross country to another city without a map. Or without sufficient gas in your car or food in your belly. Which means you have lots of enthusiasm and a sense of starting off very well but eventually you will realize nothing is going to be accomplished and the drive is not feasible. You cannot get to that city.

Marketing strategy is mainly defined to support the achievement of business goals and the business strategy. So, it goes without saying that if you haven’t defined your business strategy yet, you won’t find the clarity to define your marketing strategies. If you are starting a home based business, this article might be a good starter.

I’ve helped quite a few micro businesses get started and worked through the overwhelm. Most people know that when they start a business, they should be doing marketing but they just don’t know where to start. A strong strategy is very necessary at this point. Once you have a strategy you can draw a plan.

So, what is the difference between marketing strategy and a marketing plan? Your strategy is what you need to achieve with your efforts and that achievement reflects your business goals. Your marketing plan is the steps you take to achieve these goals, by practically implementing your marketing strategy.

In simpler words, Strategy is your “what?” and Plan is your “how”. You need both strategy and plan, they both work hand-in-hand to promote and grow your business. Here’s how we can make it clear.

Your Goal:

Get several millennials to download your video game.

Marketing strategy:

Approach millennials and show them how unique your video game is and entice them to be a part of your cool community.

Marketing plan:

Deliver an emotional experience via TV commercials and social media campaigns portraying your graphic rich interface, to target millennials.

How to implement this plan:

Create a series of commercials, then air them during TV time slots with a high percentage of millennial viewers. Run social media contests with free winner for a few copies of your game.

Once you know your ‘what’, the how is easy. Create a SMART marketing plan, be specific when deciding what, how, and why you will communicate with your customers. The more specific you are in your planning, the easier it will be to measure your actions with effective implementation.

If you still haven’t put your thoughts into defining your business strategy or your marketing strategy, or if you’ve worked with a weak marketing strategy that didn’t deliver results, if you haven’t created the total vision or gained internal clarity of your big picture, get in touch! You’re only an email away from success!