Marketing Strategy

If Covid-19 has taught us anything it is to be prepared. No one predicted the impact of this pandemic, not even the mad scientists who claim they knew it was coming. If they did, surely they would have armed the world for what was to come.

Instead, we all sat back in disbelief as the facts started to become reality and the headlines became increasingly urgent. By now, there was not enough time to prepare and what unfolded were countless businesses making unsubstantiated impulse decisions. Luckily for some, these paid off but many are still paying the price.

As we begin to emerge from the latest lockdown, we need to be more prepared, more aware, more ready for anything. Perhaps it is time to start taking the hypotheticals more seriously and plan even for the eventualities that may never happen … but could.

So many people approach plans by generating what becomes a dressed up to do list. What they often lack is the how, and the detail behind the action. The focus is generally very much on plan ‘A’ but what about plan ‘B’ and even ‘C’ to address any curveballs?

Looking specifically at a marketing plan, a text book approach of utilising a SWOT, PESTLE and the four P’s (product, price, place and promotion) should help to cover most of the fundamentals. What is more important is how and when these basic principles are adopted. It is not necessary to model these diagrammatically, though this can help to give visual clarity. Their purpose is to set the foundations for the real nitty gritty. 

The layers of a marketing plan can seem complex and are essentially made up of lots of mini strategies, which often include: