What section of the marketing plan includes brand awareness target and sales revenue objectives?

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Strategic Marketing Planning

Success is the residue of planning."

- Benjamin Franklin

Planning is vital to marketing. It provides a roadmap to the final marketing goal and unifies the team's efforts to achieve common objectives. In today's explanation, let's look at strategic marketing planning and how it works.

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.

Strategic marketing planning is the development of marketing strategies based on the overall business strategy.

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.

The media through which companies market their products or services can be owned, earned, or paid:1

• Owned media include what's owned by the company, e.g. the company's blog and social media pages.
• Earned media comes from word-of-mouth marketing who are happy about the products or services. Examples of owned media can be seen in testimonials on a company's websites.
• Paid media refers to platforms at which you have to pay to market your products. Examples include Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

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 incorporatedigital marketing - marketing via digital channels - in their strategic planning.

Digital marketing strategic planning includes creating a plan for establishing a brand presence on the Internet through digital channels such as social media, organic search, or paid ads.

The main goals of the digital marketing strategy are the same as for traditional ones - toincrease brand awarenessandattract new customers.Thus, the steps are also similar.

Some examples of digital marketing campaigns include:

• Creating a blog,
• Running social media advertising campaigns,
• Giving out digital products, e.g. ebooks, templates, etc.,
• Running an email marketing campaign.

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

To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time. 2

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.

Strategic Marketing Planning - Key takeaways

• Strategic marketing planning is the development of marketing strategies based on the overall business strategy.
• Strategic marketing planning helps marketers understand the current situation of the business and develop matching strategies.
• The main sections of a strategic marketing plan include an executive summary, SWOT analysis, marketing objectives and strategies, action plans, budgets, and controls.
• Steps to developing a marketing plan include creating buyer personas, defining marketing goals, surveying existing marketing assets, auditing past marketing campaigns and creating new ones.
• Digital marketing planning is the development of marketing strategies for online channels.

References

1. Small Business Trends, What Is “Owned, Earned and Paid Media”?, 2013
2. Starbucks, Starbucks Mission and Value, 2022.

Frequently Asked Questions about Strategic Marketing Planning

Strategic planning in marketing management is the development of marketing strategies to meet the overall business objectives. 

The five steps in the strategic planning process are: 

1. Create a buyer persona
2. Define marketing goals
3. Review existing marketing assets
4. Audit past marketing campaigns
5. Create new campaign

The 4 marketing strategies are Product, Price, Price, and Promotion.

Strategic marketing planning is important as it helps marketers understand the business's current situation and develop suitable marketing strategies. 

An example of marketing planning: Based on the SWOT analysis (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat), a company recognises a gap in customers' needs and plans a new marketing campaign to fill that need.  

Final Strategic Marketing Planning Quiz

Question

The executive summary is the last section of the strategic marketing plan. 

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The buyer persona is the fictional representation of _________.

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Answer

Company's target customer

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Marketing goals do not have to align with business strategic goals. 

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Name a few types of digital marketing campaigns you know. 

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Answer

Blogging

Social media marketing

Email marketing

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Question

Marketing growth strategies make up part of marketing _______.

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Question

_____________ is the process managers use to ensure that the company's goals are aligned with its marketing activities.

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Answer

Strategic marketing planning

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Question

Businesses implement marketing __________ to expand their market presence and reach a broader range of customers.

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Question

For strategic marketing planning to be successful, the company has to define its mission and objectives.

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Question

A business rarely needs to review its portfolio.

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Question

During _________ the company decides which brands and products require further investment and which ones should no longer receive investment. 

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Question

What is the first step of portfolio analysis?

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Answer

The first step of portfolio analysis includes determining strategic business units (SBUs). 

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Question

A widespread portfolio analysis method includes using the ______.

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Question

______ have high market growth and market share.

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______ have a high market share but present lower levels of growth.

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Companies can use ____ strategies to increase market share through investment or ____ strategies to keep the SBU at current levels.

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Question

Market penetration can be used by companies that want to increase the market share of one of their ______ products in _____ markets.

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Question

When using a ________ strategy, the business attempts to find new markets for its existing products.

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The business will develop new products to sell in existing markets when pursuing a _________ strategy. 

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A diversification strategy involves low levels of risk.

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Question

The _________ is the total amount of money a business allocates to marketing activities.

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Question

What aspects should decision-makers assess to create an overall marketing budget?

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Answer

1. The external environment,

2. The competitive environment,

3. The internal environment and capabilities,

4. Internal performance,

5. The marketing audit.

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Question

At times, the total marketing budget is not decided by marketers, but by the directors and executives of the company. 

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The ______ method involves determining the budget based on how much the company can afford to spend.

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What is the process for setting the budget using the affordable method?

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Answer

1. Calculate total revenues, 

2. Deduct the costs associated with production, distribution, and other operating expenses, 

3. Decide how much profit to retain, 

4. Determine the remaining value – this sum can be spent on the marketing budget.

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The affordable method is often used by startups or small businesses that cannot afford to spend much on communications. 

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The __________ method allocates a percentage of current or forecasted sales to the promotional budget.

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Using the percentage-of-sales method, the budget is set at a predetermined level of ____, ______, or ______, sales. 

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Question

The budget may vary significantly year-to-year if the company's sales are unstable. This is a characteristic of the _______.

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Answer

percentag-of-sales method

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The _________ method sets the marketing budget at a level where marginal revenues are equal to the marginal costs of a campaign.

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This method works on the basis of calculating how much additional revenue is created from a unit increase in advertising expenditure.

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The inertia method for setting marketing budgets can lead to innovative results.

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The ________ method involves setting the promotional budget at the same level as competitors. 

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To use the ________ approach, companies closely examine other companies' spending and set their budget based on the industry's average.

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Define the objective-task method.

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Answer

The objective-task method sets a budget based on the campaign's objectives and the resources required to achieve them.

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What are the three steps for using the objective-task method?

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Answer

1. Determine the campaign's objectives, 
2. Define the tasks needed to complete the objectives, 
3. Set the budget based on the costs of completing each task.

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What companies include in their marketing budgets can vary significantly based on the industry they operate and the types of customers they serve. 

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Name two of the elements included in a marketing budget.

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Answer

Any of: 

• The communications mix/campaigns – advertising, promotion, public relations, etc.

• In-house tools – software, programs, etc.

• Agencies and consultants, 

• Employee salaries, 

• Events, 

• Training and development.

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Question

The effective functioning of marketing operations enables a company to plan, execute, and evaluate marketing activities.  

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Define marketing operations. 

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Answer

Marketing operations means the people, processes, and technologies required to execute a company's marketing strategies and perform at an optimum level. 

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Marketing operations provide a _______ through which firms can execute marketing strategies to deliver value to customers.

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Marketing operations provide a basis for companies to design the right infrastructure, and processes, and hire expert marketers to implement the marketing strategies effectively. 

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What is the difference between marketing and marketing operations? 

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Answer

Marketing operations have a wider focus than marketing. It involves marketing planning, technology development, performance measurement, and reporting.
Whereas, marketing deals with communicating and delivering value to customers. It does not concern itself with the issues of marketing infrastructure and processes. 

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Marketing operations have a wider focus than marketing. 

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The marketing operations plan is a comprehensive plan of action that includes designing the right marketing infrastructure, optimizing the processes, and hiring skilled marketers to effectively execute the marketing activities

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What are the key components of a marketing operations plan? 

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Answer

Identify the purpose, find resources, set KPIs, implement and evaluate 

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Question

What are the types of marketing operations? 

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Answer

Project planning, Technology management, Data management, Content development 

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Question

In ______, the focus is on ensuring all aspects of the project are running optimally. 

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_________  is used to manage technological tools such as Search Engine Marketing etc. Managers also search for new technologies to optimize marketing operations. 

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Question

Marketers use data to provide tailored solutions to their customers. 

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Question

Content development ensures that the company can attract customers and communicate consistent marketing messages. 

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