WTF is a Marketing Strategy and Why Do You Keep Banging On About It?

Does the mere mention of 'marketing strategy' make you want to dive under your desk? Do you break out in a cold sweat whenever someone utters the word 'strategy'? Is your first thought that here comes another 100-page report nobody will read?

You are not alone; that’s exactly how I felt. Marketing strategy always felt like it was the fluffy justification for all the wonderful tactics that were being deployed by the marketing team. Filled with SWOT and PESTLE analysis, VRIO frameworks, and all the jargon I had picked up from Chapter Two of Marketing for Dummies.

These mighty tomes looked impressive filled with graphs and big words, a classic case of ‘bullshit baffles brains’. I knew these documents were never really going to be read by the powers that be. I rarely even consulted them again after sign-off, but I was required to produce them. It was a tick box exercise that we had to do before we could get on to the sexy part of creating fantastic campaigns.

Over the years, these ‘marketing strategies’ got more concise, with fewer pages, less fluff, and less pretty graphs and charts. Eventually, these strategy documents came down to just four or five pages of relevant information that everyone could digest. A document that was created in direct response to the business’ objectives, something that made sense.

At its core, a marketing strategy should simply be a roadmap to achieve your business goals—not the mind-boggling puzzle it's often made out to be. A marketing strategy is the blueprint that details how a company intends to achieve its objectives, encompassing elements such as target audience, positioning, and core messages.

Strategy First, Tactics Second

However, many businesses leapfrog the strategy part and dive straight into tactics (the marketing activities), as they often feel they should be doing something—frantically posting on social media, cobbling together adverts, and running promotions without a proper plan. It's a bit like trying to build a house without the architect’s drawings.
As the often-quoted Sun Tzu wisely put it in The Art of War:

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."

In plain English: your strategy is your primary plan, and your tactics are the tools to make it happen. Without a logical strategy, you're essentially throwing spaghetti at the wall and crossing your fingers. Not exactly a recipe for success, is it?

What your market strategy doesn’t need.

Creating a solid marketing strategy doesn't require fancy jargon or the latest buzzwords. Many people respect Marketing Professor Mark Ritson for his clear, no-nonsense approach to marketing principles. He wrote an article for Marketing Week titled The horror of marketers’ strategic bankruptcy is about to be laid bare, in which he said:

“Most marketers end up managing brands and campaigns almost entirely devoid of any strategic thinking. Sure, they have SWOT – the most inane and pointless invention in management history. And Maslow’s hierarchy – a concept so nonsensical even Maslow did not believe in it. And there is PEST, Boston Matrix and vague references to early adopters … But these concepts aren’t indicative of the presence of strategy, they are the harbingers of its absence.”

“And that’s a shame because marketing strategy is not just essential, [it’s] also very simple. So simple you can explain it in a paragraph.”

In essence, you don’t need your marketing strategy to be filled with heaps of marketing fluff.

Four Steps to Strategy

Google ‘components of a marketing strategy’ and you’ll get a myriad of answers, but I recommend that you follow this straightforward process and cover just four steps:

Step 1: Discover - Know Your Basics
Start by getting properly acquainted with your customers, market, and brand. Ask yourself:

- Who are my ideal customers? (And no, ‘everyone’ is not the answer!)
- What keeps them up at night? What are the pain points?
- How is my business uniquely positioned to help? (‘Uniquely’ being the key word here).

Trying to appeal to everyone will mean you marketing will not resonate. Instead, zero in on your most valuable customer segments and target your messaging to them

Step 2. Research – Keep Digging
Once you've identified your audience, dig deeper:

- How do your competitors position themselves? (Are they all shouting about the same thing?)
- What problems do customers describe in their own words? (Not your marketing-speak!)
- How are they currently finding your business?

Many businesses skip research, thinking it's just for the big boys with deep pockets. Nonsense! Most valuable research costs nothing but time.

As Seth Godin (author and marketing guru) cleverly puts it: "Don't find customers for your products, find products for your customers."

Step 3. Create - Bring Your Brand to Life
With your audience insights in hand, plan your approach:

-Craft messages that don't sound like they were written by a marketing robot.
- Map the customer journey (where are the bumps in the road?).
- Choose marketing channels that actually reach your audience (not just the ones you fancy using).

Don't try to be everywhere at once - you'll end up doing a mediocre job, spreading your efforts too thinly. Instead, focus on a few channels and do them brilliantly.

Also don't feel pressured to be on every social media platform. One channel done properly beats five done poorly.

Step 4. Optimise - Measure, Tweak, Repeat
Keep your strategy as fresh as cut grass.

A strategy collecting dust on your shelf is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Track important metrics—lead conversions, engagement, and customer satisfaction—and refine your approach accordingly.

Your strategy should be flexible, not set in stone. If something doesn’t yield results, prepare to tweak it until it does. You need to measure everything, so include in your strategy what these measurements are. Be prepared to pivot and try something different; don’t keep throwing budget at something that isn’t delivering.

It’s Alive!

If you have followed these four steps, then you should have at least a couple of pages of useful information that is the basis of a half-decent strategy. This probably puts you in the top 10% of all businesses and, more importantly, your competitors.

Use this strategy to influence your marketing activities and how and where you spend your marketing budgets.

Refer back to your strategy regularly; it should be organic and alive to the needs of the business. It’s not fixed. You made it, so you can change it at any time.

Marketing Strategy Myths Debunked
Let's clear up some proper nonsense, shall we?

Myth 1: "Strategy is for big businesses with marketing departments."
Reality: If you only have £1000 to spend on marketing, you need a strategy even more than a big business. Big companies can absorb wasted marketing pounds; you can't.

Myth 2: "I need to use all the latest marketing channels."
Reality: Rubbish! Many businesses can generate new business using primarily email newsletters and local networking. No TikTok dance routines are required.

Myth 3: "Once I have a marketing strategy, I'm sorted."
Reality: Having a strategy is just the starting point. Your strategy needs regular reviews as your business and market change. Get a fresh pair of eyes on it at regular intervals and make sure it is as robust as it can be.

Your 5-Minute Strategy Starter
Want to begin right now? Good idea. Grab yourself a cuppa and answer these questions:
1. Who are your three most profitable types of customers?
2. What problem do you solve better than anyone else locally?
3. Where do these customers look for solutions like yours?
4. What's one marketing activity you should stop doing tomorrow?

The Bottom Line

Marketing strategy isn't rocket science—it's about clarity and good execution. Follow these four steps - Discover, Research, Create, Optimise - to develop a plan that delivers proper results.

Next time someone asks about your marketing strategy, instead of breaking out in hives, you'll confidently share your logical plan for success. Because effective marketing isn't about impressing people with fancy terminology—it's about getting the job done while keeping your sanity (and budget) intact.

If you want some help to develop a strategy or would like an impartial marketing strategy audit, get in touch.

Remember ‘strategy before tactics’; getting the strategy right will save you thousands in wasted marketing spend.