Strategy Season is not usually a fun time for B2B marketers. Every other team gets the resources they ask for with half the effort you put in - how? And those strategic plans you spend weeks working on go out the window after the first big client meeting of the new year - why?
Usually? Because marketers build plans but no strategy. The first step to eliminating those frustrations is to build both, and to do that you need to know the difference.
Marketing Strategy: "Why" and "What"
In short, a marketing strategy is the "why" and "what" for a defined time period.
Your marketing strategy defines what piece of the corporate vision you're responsible for, and what transformation is expected for that sphere of responsibility in the next year. You'll recommend markets to focus on, programs to leverage and core messaging to deliver in order to achieve that transformation; all of which you justify with high-level context on your buyers and how they buy.
You'll share key dates such as major launches or new market entry and quantify any anticipated resource pinches. You'll also include proposed policies to enable cross-program improvements in team efficiency and effectiveness, such as reducing the number of revisions to each piece of collateral or finding a less-expensive design vendor.
Connect these items to a definition of what success looks like and make budget requests based on all of the above, and you have a strategy.
Marketing Plan: "When" and "How"
A marketing plan outlines the "when" and "how" of implementing the marketing strategy. It includes specifics on campaigns, advertising, events, and other activities to achieve strategic goals. Plan metrics, often known as KPIs or leading indicators, track progress towards the overall goals set in the strategy. These KPI's should also include ongoing metrics of team efficiency and tactical effectiveness.
How Does Creating Both a Marketing Strategy and a Marketing Plan Help You?
The only way to get funding for or deflect challenges to your marketing PLAN is to have a marketing STRATEGY
Take a look at the graphic above. It illustrates the different tactics (plans) a marketing team puts in place when their strategies are different. If your goal as "Company A" is to open a new market, you should spend more time on new-customer awareness activities and less on upsell marketing, right? By walking your cross-functional team through your strategy and plan, you can not only keep yourselves on track, but logically deflect any other team's efforts to derail you with one-off requests. Leadership also finds it much easier to open the corporate wallet when they see the direct line from their corporate vision to why you're doing what you're doing every day.
It's true - having a plan AND a strategy is the only way for marketers to innovate on purpose.
About the Author
Diane Pierson is the Founder and Chief Market Strategist of Innovate on Purpose, a consultancy enabling successful product commercialization for B2B tech companies. Order her book, How to Innovate on Purpose or contact Diane at dpierson@innovateonpurpose.com.
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