Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan: Exploring the Differences

While many often refer to marketing strategy and marketing plan interchangeably, they are quite different. Knowing what separates them can help organizations reach business goals more effectively and aid with running efficient marketing campaigns. Learn the difference between marketing strategy vs marketing plan and why they are essential.

What Is a Marketing Strategy?

The best way to explain a marketing strategy is to think of it as the “why.” It is based on company goals and is the reason behind their marketing efforts.

It examines factors such as business objectives, company competitors and why it can solve a client’s challenges. In other words, it is the reason why the organization’s marketing objectives will help them achieve their business goals.

It showcases their target customer, what they will do to solve the prospect’s problem and how they will deliver the message. In addition, it also highlights who the organization’s biggest competitors are and what makes them different.

A strong marketing strategy will underline the company’s unique selling point, brand, the message communicated to prospects and the business goals the organization wants to achieve.

What Is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is similar to a marketing strategy but is the “how” instead of the “why.” It looks at how the company would achieve its marketing goals. In other words, the steps implemented to reach marketing objectives.

It is a roadmap outlining all the actions they want to take. A marketing plan highlights what they will do, how they will do it, where they will do it, when and how they will measure it.

It is the laid out measures of what they will create, where they will market it and how they plan to analyze and track its success. Essentially, a marketing plan is the execution. Meaning how the company would implement its marketing campaign.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan: A Combined Effort

A marketing strategy and a marketing plan work hand in hand together. They complement each other and aid the company in reaching its business objectives. The plan should address all the factors identified in the strategy.

Without one of them, the organization misses the key information needed behind its marketing tactics. For example, if a company does not have a strategy, they don’t know how their marketing efforts will bring them closer to their goals.

In other words, they are simply working in the dark and hoping for the best. On the other hand, if they don’t have a plan, they don’t know the vital steps needed to support their marketing strategy. As stated, both a strategy and a plan complement each other while working towards the same objective.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan: The Benefits

Here are several benefits of utilizing both a marketing strategy and a plan:

• Identifies business goals: A marketing strategy helps to identify business goals and campaign objectives. This allows the team to accurately plan how they will reach them. This provides them with a detailed roadmap of the implemented steps they will require.
• Provides a competitive advantage: With a company understanding its target audience and competitors, they can better identify opportunities. These opportunities allow them to best solve their prospects’ problems and showcase what factors separate them from their competitors.
• Improves teamwork and collaboration: To create a marketing strategy and plan effectively requires constant clear communication. This, in return, makes for better collaboration and helps teams work together towards a common goal.
• Understand the company’s target audience: Knowing who a company’s target audience is allows them to create marketing materials that resonate directly with them. It enables the organization to identify the challenges those prospects face and how the business can rectify them. They can also better align their offering — products and services — to match the needs of their prospects.
• Efficient resource allocation and increasing ROI: Due to companies knowing who their potential clients are and what business goals they want to reach, they can effectively allocate resources. This helps them to focus on the key areas that will provide the most results and increase their return on investment (ROI).

How To Create a Marketing Strategy

• Examine business goals and identify marketing objectives: The first step is to identify business and marketing objectives. Clearly identifying goals will also make it easier to measure the success of the company’s marketing efforts.
• Identify target customers: Next, they will need to figure out who their target customers are. This will allow them to create campaigns that clearly market to those prospects.
• Pinpoint the company’s competitors and establish USP: Knowing who an organization’s competitors are allows the company to see how they can better themselves. In other words, how they can separate themselves from their competition. This will enable them to create a unique selling point to showcase to clients.
• Create prospects message: Lastly, the company would need to create the message they want to showcase to customers. They need to think about the tone of voice they want to use, how they want to portray their brand and how they want prospects to feel after the message.

How To Create a Marketing Plan

• How the business plans to reach prospects: First, the company would need to figure out how they want to reach customers. For example, the business might want to use email marketing to acquire more leads. Remember, a marketing plan supports a marketing strategy, so keep your business goals in mind at this stage.
• Timeline: Create a timeline for the marketing campaigns.
• The team’s responsibilities: The company will need to identify what team members will do what. This will allow people to work together towards the same objective.
• What marketing channels they will utilize: The company would need to consider what marketing channels they want to use. The platforms the business chooses should match the ones where their target customer likes to spend their time.
• Measure the success: The last step is how the company plans to track and measure the marketing campaign’s success. For example, they could create a list of key performance indicators (KPIs) they want to track.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan: A Path To Success

A marketing strategy and a marketing plan work together to reach goals. Only utilizing one can create several challenges down the road. With an organization implementing both, they can pave a clear path to success with their marketing efforts.