A lot of people, business owners and marketers included, miss the mark on the ‘what is strategic marketing?’ question.
It is not about ‘considering your options’ or ‘trying new approaches’ or ‘thinking outside the box’… it’s about your customer. Strategic marketing is the process of providing goods and services that meet customer needs. Strategic marketing is a systems approach based on proven best practices which is known to accelerate profits for organisations of all sizes.
Internal and external marketing research will help clarify your product and service portfolio, current and historic results by geography and customer type, your market share, and how these compare to those organisations you compete with. In short, we’re understanding the environment, and understanding what ‘now’ looks like.
Your multi-year business and financial plans set expectations regarding the investment available, the channels you expect to develop, and the business model you are seeking to create. We align our planning to your vision, so that proposals are affordable and target your key execution priorities.
Understanding who your customers are; where they are, their aims, pains, and gains allows us to meet them at the right place with the right message and the right price, so that they take action.
Understanding your objectives and expected results, we can generate strategies and action plans including high-level programs for advertising and promotion. We clarify sales forecasts and cost budgets, perform a gap analysis and write the plan which will accelerate what’s going well, create new opportunities, and limit the impact of unfavourable situations. During this phase we also define the control systems which will be applied, and how results will be measured and reviewed.
Pricing and promotion strategies are fundamental to the strategic marketing plan. We answer questions such as: How will you distribute? Can your advertising dollar be stretched further by targeting a specific niche? Can specific or new approaches to customer relationship management and key accounts unlock next-level results? What is the structure of the sales organisation, and who are the personnel that need tools from marketing to sell more effectively?
During this phase we plan which tools to ‘put in the box’ to help drive brand awareness, direct-sales, and distribution revenues. We plan your presence and which types of content will go on your own and external websites, how email will be used, as well as mobile, physical advertising and more if it’s appropriate.
After the plan is approved, then it is time for your marketing calendar to come to life. The marketing calendar will have been provided as part of your overall Arrow marketing dashboard; and now your advertising and media plan delivery will begin.
There will be nothing sporadic about your marketing activities – your Arrow strategic marketing plan is crafted from start to finish to make your vision a reality. Customers will find your brand more consistent, your message better targeted and more professional, and because of your reliable behaviour towards the chosen channels, you will quickly become familiar. Your brand will become your chosen customers’ natural choice. Meanwhile, your sales team will have clear goals and a roadmap to achieving them.
Strategic marketing with Arrow starts and finishes with facts. It is very difficult to improve if nobody measures what is different from one point in time to the next. With Arrow as your commercial marketing partner, you can expect to know your marketing reach per channel, your total marketing reach, the relationship between these trends and your pipeline as well as sales performance.
We actively split test and analyse emails, social campaigns, similar webpages, and value propositions in the constant pursuit for ‘better’. This behaviour, specific to Arrow and no other Newcastle marketing agency, is why we believe you will achieve your greatest return on marketing investment with us.
View our other strategic specialities here.
