Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

So you’ve tried every marketing tip in the book, and you still aren’t seeing results. You’ve started a blog, engaged on social media, made videos, and done everything else you’ve been recommended. Despite your extensive efforts, you haven’t seen any increase in your business. So what’s the problem?

The problem probably isn’t what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it.

Even if you have a plan of what type of content you want to produce and when you want to release it, it’s not going to help you if the plan wasn’t preceded and informed by a strategy.

Although “plan” and “strategy” are often used interchangeably, they mean two different things in the world of marketing, and they’re both equally important to your success. How is a marketing strategy different from a marketing plan? For starters, you probably already have a marketing plan, but you might not have a strategy.

Marketing Strategy

A good marketing strategy is more than a timeline. It begins with knowing your audience: what do they need from you, and why? You use your marketing strategy to determine your goals, what the consumer’s goals are, and how you can make sure to reach both objectives. It’s a broad look at who you need to market to and what you hope to achieve.

Your marketing strategy should include:

• The service you provide
• The long-term goals of your marketing plan
• An analysis of your consumers, including demographics and buying patterns
• A look at your most popular content thus far, with an analysis of what need it fulfills

The purpose of documenting the broader goals and objectives of your marketing strategy is so you to have something to review regularly to make sure the plans you are implementing continue to further these goals.

Marketing Plan

Your next step is marketing plan. This is where you use the goals and objectives you determined in the marketing strategy to plan out exactly what type of content you will produce and when you will release it.

Your marketing plan should include:

• The type of content you plan to produce (i.e. blog posts, videos, infographics, etc.)
• The topics you want to cover
• A timeline that details what content will be uploaded when
• Who is responsible for your content
• Any seminars, webinars, conventions, conferences, or other in-person events your company wants to host, plus the timeline of content marketing for that
• Which social media platforms you want to utilize and how active you want to be

I encourage you to get as detailed as possible in your marketing plan and include as much information as possible. Make sure it’s organized and easy to read and access. I recommend a calendar, but it can also be a list or spreadsheet.

Don’t underestimate the power of a great strategy if you’re trying to up your marketing efforts, and don’t forget that the basis of of any great strategy is knowing your audience.

Feel like you need some help with strategy? Learn more about our research and strategic planning services.