5 steps to strategic marketing planning for your company
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 10:35 am
We are already aware that marketing is essential for all companies, regardless of their size. And good strategic planning is also essential for the success of any company.
Defining a strategic plan involves much more than just thinking about social media, paid media and content generation. The foundation of any marketing strategy is based on 5 steps.
5 steps to strategic planning
1. Defining the audience
If you don't know who your audience is, how will you know where to find them? A pertinent question, isn't it?
For a good audience analysis, you need to answer some questions about manufacturing email list who your main persona is. What solution does your product provide for your customer? For example, a gym solves sedentary lifestyle and improves health, right? But this question is very broad. You will have to focus on a very generic audience to reach your target.
Narrow down your audience further by analyzing their age range. There may be different age ranges, but divide them into different groups. In a gym, you see several people of different ages and, most importantly, with different goals. And to reach each age group, you will use different language within your strategic planning.
Knowing details about the personality of your target audience will also help you create a more defined and assertive strategic plan than simply sending ads to everyone. You need to discover the habits, needs, concerns and, most importantly, the needs of those who will be impacted by your digital actions.
2. Choosing channels
Where does my company need to be?
There are several allies to digital marketing strategic planning, some of them are:
Corporate blog
Social media
Email Marketing
Paid Media
Videos
Podcasts
Webinars
If you’ve done your homework to create your ideal persona, here’s where you’ll find the answer to where to start. Just think, where does my persona spend the most time?
If your business’s target audience is young, focus on social media, videos, and podcasts. That doesn’t mean they won’t be on your email list or reading your blog. But knowing where to find your target audience is important so that your company can invest more in one action than another.
Doing everything, being everywhere and not doing anything right is pointless, right? If you have analyzed your persona in depth, start where they are and gradually add other tools. Especially if your team is small.
3. Market knowledge
Do you know your competitors? Do you know what actions they are promoting that are working? No? Don't be afraid to stalk (it's a slang term in Portuguese, based on the English word stalker, which literally means “pursuer”) your competition.
To help create new horizons in strategic planning, use a table in a spreadsheet with all the differences that other companies are applying that could work for your company and attach it to the strategic marketing plan.
4. Goals and objectives of strategic marketing planning
At this stage, you must outline the goals and objectives to be achieved.
In general, strategic marketing planning does not have a specific and exact duration period; it always varies according to the business and the purpose that the company requires. There are quarterly, half-yearly, annual and even monthly plans. The key is to establish what the period will be in your business to measure the results.
The marketing department's objectives need to be aligned with those of the sales department, so that strategic planning will have clear objectives that can be achieved together, with everyone speaking the same language.
Defining a strategic plan involves much more than just thinking about social media, paid media and content generation. The foundation of any marketing strategy is based on 5 steps.
5 steps to strategic planning
1. Defining the audience
If you don't know who your audience is, how will you know where to find them? A pertinent question, isn't it?
For a good audience analysis, you need to answer some questions about manufacturing email list who your main persona is. What solution does your product provide for your customer? For example, a gym solves sedentary lifestyle and improves health, right? But this question is very broad. You will have to focus on a very generic audience to reach your target.
Narrow down your audience further by analyzing their age range. There may be different age ranges, but divide them into different groups. In a gym, you see several people of different ages and, most importantly, with different goals. And to reach each age group, you will use different language within your strategic planning.
Knowing details about the personality of your target audience will also help you create a more defined and assertive strategic plan than simply sending ads to everyone. You need to discover the habits, needs, concerns and, most importantly, the needs of those who will be impacted by your digital actions.
2. Choosing channels
Where does my company need to be?
There are several allies to digital marketing strategic planning, some of them are:
Corporate blog
Social media
Email Marketing
Paid Media
Videos
Podcasts
Webinars
If you’ve done your homework to create your ideal persona, here’s where you’ll find the answer to where to start. Just think, where does my persona spend the most time?
If your business’s target audience is young, focus on social media, videos, and podcasts. That doesn’t mean they won’t be on your email list or reading your blog. But knowing where to find your target audience is important so that your company can invest more in one action than another.
Doing everything, being everywhere and not doing anything right is pointless, right? If you have analyzed your persona in depth, start where they are and gradually add other tools. Especially if your team is small.
3. Market knowledge
Do you know your competitors? Do you know what actions they are promoting that are working? No? Don't be afraid to stalk (it's a slang term in Portuguese, based on the English word stalker, which literally means “pursuer”) your competition.
To help create new horizons in strategic planning, use a table in a spreadsheet with all the differences that other companies are applying that could work for your company and attach it to the strategic marketing plan.
4. Goals and objectives of strategic marketing planning
At this stage, you must outline the goals and objectives to be achieved.
In general, strategic marketing planning does not have a specific and exact duration period; it always varies according to the business and the purpose that the company requires. There are quarterly, half-yearly, annual and even monthly plans. The key is to establish what the period will be in your business to measure the results.
The marketing department's objectives need to be aligned with those of the sales department, so that strategic planning will have clear objectives that can be achieved together, with everyone speaking the same language.