A standard marketing strategy outline
You were wondering how a basic marketing planning strategy looks like?
Wonder no more! And keep reading:
Premise
These are just guidelines: entrepreneurship is not a cookie cutter science – as a matter of fact: it’s quite various.
In this article there’s going to be the 2 main scenarios of marketing:
- Scenario 1: marketing of an already existing product
- Scenario 2: marketing of a new product
Let’s start:
Scenario 1: marketing of an already existing product
In this scenario, the marketer has to study how to market a product already available on the market.
Here’s, broadly speaking, the steps we follow:
- Analysis
Analyze and understand the entrepreneurial scenario.-
- Product analysis
- How does the product works?
- What are its advantages?
- What are its shortcomings?
- Why does the customer needs this product?
- How does the product works?
- Competitor analysis
- What does the product from other makers do?
- What are its advantages?
- What are its shortcomings?
- Why can’t we all work together?
- Evaluate possible partnerships
We’re all in this together: the more we can get to work together, the better.
- Evaluate possible partnerships
- What does the product from other makers do?
- Customer segmentation analysis
- Who is the customer for this product?
- What is he looking for?
- What does he need?
- Who is the customer for this product?
- Product analysis
- Planning
In this phase, we plot the strategy.-
- Prospecting
- Who are the best potential clients for the product? (Prospects)
- Creation of a prospect list
A list of potential customers for this product.
- Creation of a prospect list
- Who are the best potential clients for the product? (Prospects)
- Lead generation strategy
- How do we explain our product’s usefulness to the prospect?
- How do we make sure to sell only to people who actually need our product?
- Best to not sell than to sell to somebody who’s then going to find out this is not what he needs!!
- Account management strategy
- After we’ve closed the deal, how do we make sure the client has a service on par with what expected?
- Prospecting
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- Execution
This is where the party gets started.-
- Marcom assets creation
- We create everything needed to implement this strategy (e.g. Web pages, brochures, videos, music tracks, etc…)
- Lead generation outreaches
- We push our marcom materials into the world – be it so through outbound tactics (e.g. Sending an eMail) or inbound ones (e.g. Setting up the SEO for the landing pages).
- Marcom assets creation
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- Evaluation
This phase starts together with phase 3, and continuously keeps track of this strategy’s effectiveness. Here’s the main parameters kept into evaluation-
- Economic efficacy (ROAS)
- What’s the monetary return on this marketing investment?
- As a rule of thumb: anything beyond 5X (we gained 5 times the money invested for marketing) needs urgent revision. If things go beneath 2X, heads have to roll.
- What’s the monetary return on this marketing investment?
- Human sustainability
- Is the team fine with this workflow?
- If we have a strategy that creates a 10X ROAS, but it’s too much to bear humanly speaking, it’s obviously not feasible: what’s the point of making good money, if you’re going to lose your battle brothers in the process?
- Is the team fine with this workflow?
- Economic efficacy (ROAS)
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Scenario 2: marketing of a new product
AKA product development.
This scenario has the very same steps from scenario 1 – but with one crucial difference: phase 1, 2 and 3 are going to happen in a 2 way connection with product development. Meaning that the marketing and production team will give each other feedback about how to achieve success.
Here’s 2 examples of this:
- The marketing team finds out a new feature which would greatly help market the product, and advises the production team to evaluate and, eventually, modify the product accordingly.
- The production team finds out a new feature for the product, and asks the marketing team how that could affect the product’s marketability.
- The marketing team evaluates the product being made, so as to make sure it is marketable.
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