Once the business has clearly defined its goals, the next step is to devise a marketing strategy.
A marketing strategy is a process or model that allows a business to focus limited resources on the best opportunities to increase sales, and thereby achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. It is used to identify the target audience and find out what has meaning for them. The marketing strategy is the way to ensure getting the maximum impact from a limited marketing budget and time.
A marketing strategy is important as it allows the business to use pathways and footholds that apply a limited marketing budget more effectively. Marketing strategy facilitates a business’s ability to apply marketing money to the correct areas (Domegan & Fleming, 2007).
Here are some simple steps to follow that can help in developing a successful marketing strategy;
❖Research the business’s target market: Understand the market – current trends, size etc.
❖Assess the competition: It is important to identify and analyse the business’s competitors.
❖Get to know the target audience: Who/what type of customers will bring long-term business value?
❖Define the business’s Unique Selling Point: What is different or special about the business?
❖Define marketing objectives: What are the goals of marketing?
❖Identify marketing strategies: Based on the answers given to these questions, there should be a clearer picture of what strategies would work best for the business.