Strategic Marketing Planning

Strategic Marketing Planning Definition

Strategic marketing planning is one of the main functions of marketing management. It is the process in which the company develops marketing strategies to meet its strategic goals and objectives. The main steps include identifying the company's current situation, analysing its opportunities and threats, and mapping out marketing action plans for implementation.

Marketing plans are developed based on the scope of the strategic plan. Once the plan is concluded, it is implemented to achieve the company's objectives. (Figure 1)

Importance of Strategic Planning in Marketing

Strategic planning in marketing is vital as it comes with many benefits. Let's take a closer look at some of them.

Understand the company's current situation

A significant part of strategic planning is developing a SWOT analysis that considers the internal and external environment's influence on business performance. This analysis will likely include the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This information helps managers understand the company's situation and develop appropriate marketing strategies.

Accomplish marketing goals

Marketing plans include marketing strategies and specific goals and deadlines for achieving them. Thus, by developing a plan, marketers can ensure marketing activities are carried out within the set timeframe and meet the overall objectives.

Specify actions to be taken

While goals are vital to business success, they are rather vague for implementation. A company can set a goal to increase its sales by 10% within two years, but without an action plan with clear steps on what to do, this is unlikely to happen. That's where strategic marketing planning comes into play. Along with marketing goals, the plan outlines specific steps to take to reach the set goal.

Process of Strategic Marketing Planning

Now that we've learned what strategic marketing planning is and why it is essential, let's take a look at how to create one:

Sections of a strategic marketing plan

While strategic marketing plans vary from one company to another, they tend to include the following sections:

Table 1. Sections of a strategic marketing plan, StudySmarter Originals

1. Executive summary

The executive summary is the shortened version of the entire marketing plan. It outlines high-level objectives, marketing goals, and activities of the company. The summary must be clear, concise, and easy to understand.

2. Market analysis

The next part of the strategic marketing plan is market analysis or SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis considers the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and how it can exploit or tackle them.

3. Marketing plan

This is the central part of the strategy that specifies:

• Marketing goals: Goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound).

• Marketing strategy: Details on how to engage customers, create customer value, build customer relationships, etc. The company should develop strategies for each marketing mix element.

• Marketing budget: Estimate the costs for carrying out marketing activities.

4. Implementations and controls

This section outlines the specific steps for the marketing campaign to be carried out. It should also include measures for progress and returns on marketing investment.

Steps to planning a marketing strategy

Strategic marketing planning includes five main steps:

1. Build buyer personas

The buyer persona is the fictional representation of a company's target customers. It may include their age, income, location, job, challenges, hobbies, dreams, and goals.

2. Identify marketing goals

Marketers should create marketing goals based on the strategic objectives of the business. For example, if the company aims to increase its sales by 10%, a marketing goal can be to generate 50% more leads from organic search (SEO).

3. Survey existing marketing assets

The development of a new marketing campaign may require the adoption of new tools and marketing channels. However, it doesn't mean the company should dismiss its existing marketing platforms and assets. Marketers should look at the company's owned, earned, or paid media to audit the existing marketing resources.

4. Audit previous campaigns and plan new ones

Before developing new marketing plans, the company should audit its previous marketing campaigns to identify future gaps, opportunities, or issues to prevent. Once done, it can plan new strategies for the upcoming marketing campaign.

5. Monitor and modify

After implementing the new marketing strategies, marketers need to measure their progress and make changes when something is not working as planned.

Digital Marketing Strategic Planning

With the advent of the Internet and digital technology, traditional marketing via offline channels such as TVs or newspapers are no longer enough for brands to make themselves known. To succeed in the digital age, companies must incorporate digital marketing - marketing via digital channels - in their strategic planning.

The main goals of the digital marketing strategy are the same as for traditional ones - to increase brand awareness and attract new customers. Thus, the steps are also similar.

Strategic Marketing Planning Example

To see how strategic marketing planning works out in real life, let's consider some examples from Starbucks' mission statement, SWOT analysis, and marketing strategy:

Mission statement example

The mission statement showcases human connection as the core value Starbucks offers its customer.

SWOT analysis example

Table 2. Starbucks SWOT Analysis, StudySmarter Originals

Marketing strategy example

Starbucks' Marketing Mix 4Ps:

• Product - premium coffee, adaptive menus based on regions, and a wide selection of food and beverages.

• Price - value-based prices, targeting middle and high-income individuals.

• Place - coffeehouses, mobile apps, retailers.

• Promotion - spend a huge amount of money on advertising, develop a highly efficient loyalty program, and exert corporate social responsibility.