Marketing strategy vs marketing plan [2023 guide]
Key takeaways
Marketing strategies and marketing plans are not the same thing.
The strategy should come first and underpin everything a business does in its bid to grow. The plan comes after this and details what, specifically, will be done to achieve certain targets.
They go hand in hand. Without a strategy, a plan isn’t likely to succeed. Without a plan, a strategy is just a concept.
“There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.”
Strategy and planning are about minimising input and maximising output.
What do you want to achieve and what’s the most resource-efficient way to get there?
Although the terms are often used in marketing interchangeably, they’re not the same thing. And whilst one should come before the other, that doesn’t always happen either.
So, what’s the difference? What goes into a marketing strategy vs a marketing plan, and do you really need both?
In this guide to marketing strategies vs plans:
An overview of the marketing strategy vs the marketing plan
Marketing strategies 101
Marketing plans 101
One last thing…
An overview of a marketing strategy vs marketing plan
A strategy and a plan are not the same thing.
They perform very different roles in any context, and that’s equally true for marketing.
Ideally, an overarching marketing strategy comes first and underpins the plans that follow.
Your marketing strategy is about identifying and leveraging your competitive advantage to reach your goals.
Your plan consists of the activities that will get you there. It’s where the rubber meets the road.
Marketing strategy examples with plans and tactics
Below are some examples of business growth strategies and how these lead into plans and tactics.
Now that we’ve covered how each element is connected, let’s dive into more detail about what’s involved in each.
Marketing strategy 101
“Strategy is not the consequence of planning but the opposite, it’s the starting point.”
Henry Mintzberg, The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning
Your marketing strategy comes first.
It should help you pinpoint your business’s position in the market and its target audience.
Only once you know who you’re talking to, and what other brands they’re hearing from, can you design a way to stand out.
Here are some of the key things that go into a marketing strategy.
Customer personas
The easiest way to identify your target audience is to build a customer persona.
This is an example profile of the type of person you’re trying to attract.
It should cover demographics (measurables like age, income, gender), and psychographics (values and belief systems).
Here’s a brief example for a B corp natural skincare brand:
Our target customer is Christina. She’s 32, earning around $30,000-$40,000/year, she cares about health and wellness, and it’s important to her that brands give back to the environment.
Learn more about building detailed buyer personas.
Competitor analysis
A great way to visualise your position in the market is to create a competitor matrix.
This is usually a diagram (such as an XY axis) that helps you to position your business among your competitors based on the differentiators that matter most to your ideal customers.
For example, there’s the classic SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
But there are lots of ways you can do this.
Here’s a guide to creating your own competitor matrix.
Your USP
Your unique selling proposition has probably already come up as part of creating your buyer persona and your competitor matrix.
It’s crucial because it articulates what sets you apart, why you’re the obvious choice for ideal customers, and what you should be capitalising on in every marketing activity.
You might have one or several.
Here’s some help with defining your USPs.
Marketing funnel
Now that you have a good idea of who your audience is and how they interact with brands, you can design a marketing/sales funnel to attract them to your business.
Marketing funnels break down the steps that your audience goes through to move from stranger to customer. Ideally, they’ll become a brand advocate and bring more leads to your brand over time.
Funnels help marketers design their communications based on the interaction level of each customer.
For example, it helps brands to avoid hard-selling to people that have never heard of them before.
Marketing funnels are loosely aligned the relationship building that you would do 1:1 in a physical setting, but online and at scale.
Typically, marketing activities are split into “top of funnel” (awareness), “middle of funnel” (consideration), and “bottom of funnel” (action) categories. Each stage has its own goals and KPIs.
Learn more about funnels in our guide to what content marketing specialists do.
Depending on your business type, there are other elements you might want to include in your marketing strategy.
But these are a strong baseline to start planning.
Marketing plan 101
Now that you have a good understanding of your target audience, the alternative options available to them, and how you plan to bring them on board, it’s time to put an action plan in place.
Here’s an overview of some of the key elements your plan should include:
Overview
A summary of the plan, why it exists and what it hopes to achieve as part of implementing your wider strategy.
You might wish to reference market research that backs up the activities included in the plan.
Campaign(s)
With this plan, you might have one or more campaigns in mind.
These campaigns may involve content, email, paid ads, social media, partnerships, or any number of other marketing mechanisms.
Find out more about campaign types with examples.
Tactics
How will you bring your campaign(s) to life?
This is where you’ll get specific about the activities in your campaign.
On social media, you might be posting, creating videos, interviewing people live, or running a giveaway.
With your website content, you might be creating a hub of educational resources that relate to the product or service you offer.
Perhaps you’re looking to partner with a complementary brand and write guest posts or run a larger giveaway together and leverage the audiences of both brands.
Here are a ton of ideas for marketing tactics.
Responsibilities
Who is going to be responsible for each activity and how often do they need to do it?
For example, you may want a few blogs published each month.
Be clear about who is responsible for that workflow.
KPIs
How will you track and measure the success of your campaigns and your overall plan?
There are numerous metrics you can choose from. The trick is picking the least number from which you can get enough data to make informed decisions.
This is where working with agencies can pay dividends.
Choose your metrics and set targets. It may be helpful to schedule check-in dates
Here’s a starting point for help with choosing metrics to track.
One last piece of advice…
As with your marketing strategy, there could be many other elements included in your marketing plans.
What’s important to remember is this:
The plan can change. The strategy can change.
Marketing is a behaviours game - and behaviours change.
Don’t be afraid to adjust and perfect your plan, and your strategy, if it makes sense to the meet the needs of the evolving market.
If you need help with your marketing strategy and planning, feel free to book a call to chat about your marketing needs.
