What Should a Marketing Strategy Include?

A marketing strategy makes sure everyone on your team is working toward the same goal.

It tells you who you want to reach and why they should pick you. It also tells them what you want marketing to do for the business, and how to use the time and money you have.It should help you decide what deserves your attention before you plan a content calendar or choose any campaign ideas.

READ MORE: What Is Cold Open Lab? Brand, Marketing and Communications

Start with who you’re talking to

“Women between 25 and 45” describes a group, but it says nothing about what those women need or why they would look at your product.

So go a little further. Think about what brings someone to your business, and the problem they want solved. Then think about the other places they could go, and what might make them wait before choosing you.

This is where positioning comes in. It is simply what you want your customer to know about you that makes you different from the others.

A good strategy starts with knowing exactly who your customer is and giving them a clear reason to pick you. Write down the problem your customers bring to you, then follow Cold Open Lab for practical guidance on audience insight, positioning and marketing strategy.

Give each channel a job

POV: A shop in Lagos that sells things for the home. It’s almost Christmas, and this shop wants orders from companies that give gifts to their workers.

“Post more on social media” sounds like a plan, but it’s only a task. The shop needs a clear goal first. A good goal could be getting more companies to ask about gifts for their workers.

What makes this shop different could be its gift sets. They are made locally, and each one can be made to suit the company. They can also be delivered in the numbers the company needs.

Next, the shop can think about where to find these companies.

LinkedIn is where it can meet the people who decide what the workers will get.

Email can remind companies that have bought before.

Instagram can still show off the beautiful things, but it doesn’t have to do everything. Each channel gets a job, based on where your audience looks for information and what they need to do next.

Channels work better when each one has a clear job. Give every channel in your plan one job, then book Cold Open Lab’s Independent Marketing Breakdown to build a marketing framework around the realities shaping your customers’ decisions.

Plan around what you actually have

Be honest about who creates the work, who approves it, how much you can spend and how fast your team can reply to enquiries.

The homeware brand may want weekly videos, daily posts, email campaigns and paid ads. A two-person team can’t do all of that well. So the strategy should cut the work down to what the team can keep up, and point out where outside help is needed.

A marketing plan is what turns strategy into action, covering the target market, goals, action plan and budget. Its planning guide also recommends measuring and updating the plan.

Decide how you’ll know it’s working

The numbers you watch should match your goal. For the gift shop, that could be how many companies asked about gifts, and how many of them went on to buy.

Likes and reach tell you people saw the content, but they can’t answer every business question. Pick measures that show whether your audience is taking the action your strategy wants.

Before you approve your marketing strategy, make sure you can say who you’re trying to reach and what you want them to understand about you. You should also know which business objective you’re supporting and which channels have a clear job. Then think about how much time and money you can spend, and how you will know it is working.

A list of marketing activities can’t tell your team what to prioritise. Make sure you can answer all of this before you build your next campaign, then book a discovery call with Cold Open Lab to shape your strategy and carry it into execution.