Developing Your Marketing Strategy

by Dejuan J. Marketer

How to Develop a Marketing Strategy

Are you faced with the responsibility of developing a marketing strategy? If so, I must tell ya, this is not an easy process. It takes hard work, dedication and commitment. In other words, it's not simple by any means. However, you can always hire someone else to do the job for you.

If you're trying to grow your company, your timing could not be any better. Thousands of small business owners have found success in light of digital technology. The internet has opened the door for small businesses to compete. However, you’ll need to develop a plan to drive traffic to your business.

What is a marketing strategy? A marketing strategy is an organization's approach to influence customers. It’s a blueprint that focuses on gaining a sustainable competitive advantage by understanding what customers need, want and expect. It also helps businesses identify their perfect customer (target market).

Find a Expert to Develop Your Marketing Strategy

There are two types of experts that can tell you how to develop an effective strategy. On one hand, you have the new aged digital marketing guru. Whereas, you have the traditional marketing guru. Both of these individuals are marketing gurus; however, they have unique approaches. The traditional marketing guru has been around the block. Typically, the traditional guru has been in the marketing industry for years (prior to the dawn of digital marketing). These individuals possess a purported level of knowledge concerning traditional media advertising techniques. By the same token, some digital marketers also are skilled with traditional media advertising, but not as much as the traditional guru.

So how do you know who to choose? Well, it all depends on the nature of your business. If your finances are limited, it would be wise to choose to hire a digital marketer, simply because it’s much cheaper. You should also consider advertising and promoting your business yourself. However, if you're financially stable, a traditional marketing guru could push your business to the next level.

At the end of the day, strategic marketing is essential for business growth and development. It enables a company to identify business opportunities, increase competitiveness, and gain a competitive advantage. More importantly, it gives an organization the ability to move from rags to riches.

Include Key Elements

To develop an effective marketing strategy, you must include four vital elements;

Customer orientation — improving customer relations, understanding needs & wants.
Discovering deep insights— identifying internal and external business factors.
Flexible strategy formation — adaptable plans, schemes.
Measuring & evaluating— identifying results, i.e., key performance indicators, balanced scorecards, etc.

As mentioned, you have two options when it comes to developing the strategy. You can choose to do the work yourself, or hire a professional marketer to do the job for you. If you choose to hire help, you'll have to determine the perfect market to get the job done.