Strategy & planning
Do you need assistance in developing your marketing strategy or plan? Do you know which market sectors you should be targeting over the next 5 years?
Successful companies are twice as likely to use strategic planning as unsuccessful ones. However, companies often get strategy and planning confused.
A useful way of separating a marketing strategy from a marketing plan is that, typically, a marketing strategy will only need revising every 3 - 4 years while a marketing plan should be revisited several times a year. The marketing plan is the tool to make sure the marketing strategy is implemented.
An effective strategy and plan helps companies focus on the priorities of the business, can save costs and increase effectiveness. Organisations need to continuously remain focused on what they are trying to achieve and to understand who their target audience is and how it is segmented.
Also, it is crucial to ensure that performance is regularly evaluated to ensure that the budget is used in the most effective way possible.
Strategy and planning - how to approach it
The typical stages in developing a marketing strategy include:
- Defining your marketing objectives
- Reviewing the market and your business
- Developing the marketing strategic options and agree on strategy
- Developing the marketing plan
- Reviewing strategy and plan
Part of making the strategic marketing process successful depends on asking the right questions when reviewing the business and marketing plan. Some of these might include:
- What are our company’s core strengths and are we focusing on these?
- What are our competitors doing and how will they react to our strategy and visa versa?
- What makes some market segments or products more attractive to our company than others and are we in the markets that are most profitable for us?
Some companies use a Directional Strategy matrix to evaluate the market overall and the sectors that they are strongest in. You can find out more about how the process works on our tools & CPD downloads page.
Key deliverables from a strategy and planning project
The key deliverables from a marketing strategy and planning project vary according to the needs of the client and may only include one or two of the items below. Typically we will deliver:
- An analysis of your market – current market size and trends, key market segments, the best routes to market, a competitor analysis, key products and service offerings
- A review / discussion session – here we will present the analysis explaining what the results mean and the options open to you
- Developing the marketing strategy – based on the initial analysis and discussions we will then help develop the marketing strategy, including the setting of the key objectives
- Developing the marketing plan – we can then work with you to ensure the marketing plan is set and then effectively implemented. This includes the setting of key activities, timings and budgets required to meet objectives.
We can also provide on-going support to ensure that the strategy & plan is properly embedded in the company and that our bank of experience & expertise is available for tactical decision-making.
The outcome of this process gives our clients the impetus to react to changing market conditions and ensures that the new plan will drive a sustainable revenue stream in the future.
Our experience in strategy and planning
We have helped a number of companies in the construction and construction products industry with various stages of their strategy and planning process. In addition, our consultants have strategic experience as senior directors working for several large companies in the construction and building materials products industry as well as strategic consulting experience with Price Waterhouse Coopers.
You can use our consultants’ experience to help develop a strategic marketing plan or work with you to identify the key marketing activities required to implement the strategy.
Our track record in strategy and planning
Find out more about our strategy & planning experience. This includes past clients, case studies and testimonials.
Marketing Manager, Castle CementI have been very pleased with their professionalism.