Strategic marketing plan: from loose actions to choices you can measure

An advert because the sales rep called, a fair because a competitor went last year, a burst of social posts in a quiet month. Each choice looks sensible alone; together they rarely add up. A strategic marketing plan replaces that string of purchases with a few choices that support each other: who you want to win, what you promise them, which channels you use, what it may cost and how you will know it works.

Below are the six parts, a budget method and a one-page example for a skincare maker. The example uses euros; the logic works in any currency.

Why a strategic marketing plan pays before you spend

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as the activity, institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society. That covers what you make, charge and sell, and how you keep customers. Without a plan, those decisions are taken at different moments and pull against each other. A premium price with discount codes: customers notice the contradiction before you do.

A plan also protects your budget. Every new advertising offer meets one question: does it reach our target group and move an objective? Most fail, and saying no costs nothing.

Marketing disciplines your plan chooses from

• Research: facts about customers, competitors and demand.
• Positioning and brand: what you want to be known for, and the look and tone that carry it.
• Range and pricing: what you offer, in which versions, at which price.
• Distribution: own shop or webshop, marketplaces, resellers and partners.
• Sales and advertising: personal selling and paid messages online, in print or outdoor.
• Content and search: a website and articles people find when they look for a solution.
• Loyalty and reputation: email to existing customers, reviews, referrals.

What goes into a strategic marketing plan?

1. 01

   Situation analysis

   Customers, competitors, market developments and your own figures, summarised in a SWOT.

2. 02

   Objectives

   What must change in the market, by when, measured how.

3. 03

   Target groups and positioning

   Who you want to win, and why they should choose you over the alternatives.

4. 04

   Marketing mix

   Product, price, place and promotion, set to fit the positioning.

5. 05

   Budget and action plan

   Which actions, by whom, when and at what cost.

6. 06

   KPIs and review

   The few numbers you check every month, and the moments you adjust.

PR Smith's SOSTAC model, explained by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, uses a similar order: situation, objectives, strategy, tactics, actions and control. First establish where you are, then where you want to go, and only then how.

Situation analysis: where does your business stand?

• Customers: who buys, why, and who stopped? See market and customer analysis.
• Competitors: who do customers compare you with, and on what? See competitor analysis.
• Market: is demand growing, shrinking or moving to other channels?
• Own figures: which products, customers and channels bring the margin? Compare your costs with the industry figures for your sector.

Summarise the results in a SWOT analysis and keep the findings that matter most: they justify your objectives.

Marketing objectives you can measure

A marketing objective sits between the business objective and the activity. "Grow profit" is a business objective; "post three times a week" is an activity. The marketing objective in between says what has to change in the market: more customers in a segment, a higher repeat rate, a larger average order.

Many planners use the SMART test: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. The wording varies between authors; the purpose does not. At the end of the period you must be able to say whether you made it. "More salon customers" fails that test; "25 new salon accounts by year end, each with at least one reorder" passes it.

Target groups and positioning

Divide the market into groups that need different things, choose the ones you serve best, then decide how you want them to see you. A target group you cannot afford to reach is a wish, not a choice. More in value proposition and jobs to be done.

Test it by putting a competitor's name in place of yours. If the sentence still reads true, it is not yet a positioning.

The marketing mix in your plan

The positioning says what you promise; the marketing mix makes it real. E. Jerome McCarthy grouped the decisions as product, price, place and promotion in Basic Marketing (1960); service businesses often add people, process and physical evidence. Check every element against the positioning, as explained in marketing models.

How to set a marketing budget

Build the budget objective by objective, then check the total as a share of revenue and against your cash flow forecast. Two formulas tell you whether winning customers pays off:

KPIs: how you know the marketing plan works

Choose a handful of KPIs (key performance indicators) that follow from your objectives. Mix lagging indicators, such as revenue or new accounts, with leading ones, such as quotes sent or trial orders, that move earlier and leave time to adjust. Give each KPI an owner and a review day, as in KPI dashboard.

Strategic marketing plan example on one page

Amara Okafor runs Saltmarsh Skincare, which makes fragrance-free skincare in a small workshop. Last year's revenue was €480,000: €216,000 from the webshop, €168,000 from beauty salons and €96,000 from independent shops and pharmacies. Her plan for the next twelve months fits on one page.

The weakest assumption is the 25 salons. With 18, the acquisition cost rises to €1,167 and the payback to 10.6 months, still within Amara's ceiling of one year's gross margin. Below ten salons by month six, she cuts the representative's hours.

Fictitious Firmfocus example. All names and figures are invented to show the method.

Marketing plan in a small business and a larger organisation

Marketing plan pitfalls

• Too many objectives: the money spreads thin and nothing moves visibly.
• Actions without an objective: if you cannot name the objective an action serves, drop it.
• A positioning that fits any competitor: customers then choose on price.
• A plan written once: update it when customer behaviour, prices or channels change.

The plan is one stage of a cycle that repeats every year, described in marketing step by step. For the strategy behind it, see the one-page strategic plan; the marketing section of your business plan builds on the same choices. Every other topic is in Marketing and, for new businesses, in Start a business.