WHEN IS A MARKETING STRATEGY DEVELOPED?

The marketing strategy is created before you start your business you cant effectively market with out understanding how your business fits into the market place.
Your competition, how you will compete and what you need to achieve. i.e sales numbers to reach your financial goals. Then you use what you have learned to create your marketing plan.
     Like a business plan, marketing strategy can be fluid, changing as needed to improve your results. once your business is operational, you will need to assess and adjust your marketing strategy from time to time to account for changing market conditions.


Shifts in demands and other factors that impact your sales, as a result of your market research activities and performance of your business.
 

         
 HOW TO CREATE A MARKETING STRATEGY


--Before writing your marketing strategy, you need to know how your products or services benefits others and how its unique to other businesses in the market place. Further you need to do market research to understand your competition, your target market and other factors that will impact your ability to reach  and entice people to your business.


--PRODUCT: What  are you selling? What are the physical attributes of your product or uniqueness of your services? How is what you offer different from your competitors and what benefit does it provide your customers? 


--PRICE: What will it cost to get your products or services? How does it compare to your competition? what will your profit margin be by selling at that price? 


--PLACE: Where will your products and services be available for purchase? This is beyond having a home office, and instead should be where consumers are able to buy. If you are in multiple places, you should work to calculate the percentage of sale from each place. for example, What will your internet marketing  strategy be? What is your sale strategy? How will the transaction take place, what is the cost of getting your  products or services to the consumers/ clients, and what will your refund/return policy?


--PROMOTION: How are you going to let the market know about your products or  services? How will you tell them about the features and benefits you provide to entice them to check out what you offer? What marketing will you use and what do you anticipate will be  the result of each method? 


-- PEOPLE: This is a newly added p to the marketing mix, and is important if other people are involved in helping you create or deliver your products or services.
        

When writing your plan, be specific using detailed steps, visuals and budgets projections. keep your brand (your promise  to the customer) in mind so that your marketing strategy fits what you want the customer to experience when doing business with you.  Be sure to refer to your marketing strategy as you develop, assess, or change your marketing plan.