A great mystery is made up of a thousand questions. And a good detective knows exactly which questions to ask and where to look for answers. Building the right marketing strategy can feel a lot like solving a mystery, and clues are often hard to come by. But, knowing the right questions to ask makes it much easier to solve the mystery of your marketing strategy.
Before you set out hunting for clues, be sure you know what you’re looking for. For the marketer, that means clearly defining your objectives. Begin by asking yourself the following:
- What must the organization accomplish?
- How will we know if we’ve succeeded?
- What benchmarks have we measured and what metrics will we measure along the way?
Now that you know your purpose, the trail begins with the basic facts. It’s time to ask yourself another simple question:
- Who is your audience and how do you reach them with as little “waste” as possible?
To organize your thoughts, it might help to structure your search using this simple formulaic definition of marketing strategy:
- Marketing Strategy = Target Audience + Product, Price, Place, Promotion
Every good detective knows that the big questions can only be answered by asking and answering many smaller questions along the way. Breaking down the question further, the right answers can be found by asking the following sets of more detailed questions:
Product:
- What product are we trying get them to purchase?
- Can or should we adjust/repackage/bundle the product to be more attractive to the audience or more lucrative for the company?
Price:
- What is the price of the product?
- Can/should we raise, reduce, bundle, discount, or otherwise adjust the price to make it more attractive or more lucrative for the company?
Place:
- How will the product be delivered, distributed, and received?
- Is the point of purchase found online or at a physical premise?
- Can we adjust the point of purchase to make it more attractive or more lucrative for the company?
Promotion:
- What message will speak to the audience while effectively selling them on the product?
- What media should be used to bring our message to our audience?
- Where does the audience consume media and what are the relative costs?
When building a marketing strategy, it helps to investigate the facts in an organized, methodical fashion. Play the role of detective and ask a series of simple questions to uncover clues that will put you on the trail of paying customers and profitable campaigns.