Why is my marketing strategy not working?

That's a big topic. But when we support leadership and marketing teams, there are some common issues we see time and again.

The first thing we’ll request is to see your marketing strategy. This is very revealing in itself.

Sometimes, we’re pleasantly surprised. More often than not, we can see where things have gone wrong. And quite often, it’s because the marketing strategy isn’t a strategy at all.

So, before looking at channels, campaigns or performance, let’s look at what should a marketing strategy actually include?

What is a marketing strategy?

At its simplest, your marketing strategy is how you activate your business strategy in the market.

For example, your business strategy might state you want to grow revenue from an existing service in a new market by 15% in the next financial year. Your marketing strategy, aligned with your sales strategy, sets out how you’re going to get there.

And this is an important distinction. A strategy is about choices. It defines where you will focus, who you need to reach, why they should choose you and how you’re going to create an advantage.

The marketing plan then turns those strategic choices into actions.

If your ‘strategy’ is simply a calendar of campaigns, channels and things to do, you have a marketing plan. Not a marketing strategy.

Getting that distinction right matters for B2B businesses in particular, because buying decisions are often complex and involve multiple audiences.

What should a marketing strategy include?

At Transform, we use a simple 3 Ms framework when developing a marketing strategy: Market, Message and Media.

Market

Research your specific market – it's size, scale, scope and direction.

It is rare for one company to have a single market. Different sectors will have specific and overlapping needs, and these must be identified and understood.

You will also have different audiences within each market. A finance director has different requirements from a financial controller. A supply chain director has different needs from a transport manager.

And you will likely have different competitors in each market.

Competitor sets are changing quickly. There will be the established businesses you already know about, but across sectors we’re seeing challenger brands and new entrants disrupting traditional markets.

It’s very easy to get left behind if you’re only watching the competitors you’ve always watched.  

Message

Once you understand the market, define your proposition within it.

Who are you targeting? What matters to those audiences? What problem are you solving for them? Why should they choose you rather than one of the alternatives?

Only then can you define the messages you want those audiences to receive. Messaging should be from an audience perspective always. Not from what you want to promote but rather what matters to the people you want to reach.

Media

Finally, work out where those audiences are.

That might include exhibitions, industry events, social platforms, search, specialist media, forums or direct engagement.

Then plan how you are going to reach them.

Not the channels you happen to like using. Not the channels you used last year. The ones that make sense for the audiences and the objective.

So, why isn’t your marketing strategy working?

We’ve drawn the insights in this article from 20 years of developing marketing strategies and executing them across multiple industries and sectors.

If you’re questioning whether your marketing strategy has enough focus start by looking at the fundamentals.

• Is it connected directly to your business objectives?
• Is your market clear?
• Is your proposition relevant?
• And are you investing in the right places to reach the audiences that matter?

If you want an external perspective, get in touch. We can review where you are, challenge the assumptions and identify where the strategy, plan and delivery could work harder together.

We love a chat and a challenge.