Developing a Marketing Strategy

As a marketing professional, you will likely be involved in the development of both marketing strategies and marketing plans. It is important to have an understanding of what differentiates these terms.

A marketing strategy is an explanation of the goals you need to achieve through your marketing, which is shaped by your business goals. By contrast, a marketing plan is how you are going to achieve your marketing goals. Your marketing strategy serves as a road map that will guide you from one point to another within your marketing plan. In other words, the strategy is the thinking (the “what”) and the plan is the doing (the “how”).

The purpose of your marketing strategy should be to identify and communicate the benefits of your business offering to your target market.

For example, if your business objective is to gain broader market adoption, your marketing strategy might be to introduce into new market segments, and your marketing plan might be to develop a marketing campaign that reaches out, identifies with, and focuses on a specific segment.