What marketing
The budget is set. What must it change for the business? A marketing strategy defines the problem marketing has to solve, for whom, and with what budget.
01
Four decisions in a strategy
A marketing strategy turns a business goal into a job for marketing. It answers four questions: who we sell to, what we promise, how much we spend and how we will know it worked. The strategy builds on the Insight & Strategy step, and the media strategy then gives the channels their jobs.
You need one at the latest when the budget splits the same way every year and nobody can say why. We also write down what will not be done this year, so the same decisions are not reopened in every meeting.
02
What the strategy records
The strategy is a written document that management signs off. It records the audience and its size, the promise that sets the brand apart and the year's priorities in order of importance. It also sets the budget frame, the rhythm of the year and the metrics each goal is tracked by.
Once these are written down, every new campaign and proposal can be checked against the same document. Decisions are then easier to make and to justify.
03
Different jobs, different measures
Brand and sales need their own measures and their own timeframes. Weekly sales figures do not capture the longer-term effect of brand work. So before any comparison we agree the period each job is judged on and which costs the calculation includes.
We also agree the balance between brand building and sales activation. In the messages this shows as three levels: the hero builds the brand, the consideration level helps people choose and the tactical level invites them to buy. The Assets page explains how the levels are produced.
04
Budget frame and the rhythm of the year
We go through the objectives with leadership, define the audiences and lock the metrics before we talk about media. The budget split is not inherited from last year. The strategy sets the frame and the priorities, and the media strategy decides the channel shares from your own audience's figures.
The rhythm of the year shows when to build the brand, when to sell and when spend can be lower. Agreed budgets and results can be tracked in Business Dashboard in NØRR3 Marketing Engine. The strategy itself comes from specialist work.
Sources & further reading
The reference sources and tools this page's work rests on.
Examples of what we do
- A business goal turned into a marketing task
- Audiences and the promise
- The year's priorities
- The balance of brand and tactical advertising
- Budget frame and the rhythm of the year
- Metrics and how they are followed
- A written strategy for management sign-off
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