“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory, however Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat” – A very famous and relevant quote from the epic work, ‘The Art of War’.

Put another way – the best plan in the world obviously wont achieve anything without direction and action… but much worse, action without any plan will sap time, energy and resources – and always end in failure! 

Thing is, we all know this right? We’ve all heard the phrase ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’.. and most companies in most areas of their business have a detailed strategy in place. However, within marketing it’s often missing. Even amongst a surprising number of the larger Automotive businesses we talk to, lots of whom focus purely on engagement. Discussions often jump straight to tactics and channels, often with no real plan beyond getting their brand in front of the biggest audience for the least outlay. 

The consequences of Marketing without a Strategy

Because digital marketing as a tool is within reach of the masses, it’s understandable that some SME sized businesses are tempted to do it themselves. However, the effectiveness of the output is nearly always limited by the breadth of skills and understanding of the employees that are doing it (usually alongside – and at the expense of – a multitude of other tasks within the business). Typically we might see people managing a couple of social channels, and maybe writing the odd blog article and sending out a newsletter. Content is often just news or product related – launches and promotions, for example. This is fine, but simply wont give cut-through in a very (very) noisy marketplace – even against any competitors who are essentially doing the same.

At the other end of the spectrum, larger businesses with bigger teams of dedicated marketers can still benefit from outside strategic support since their approach is often constrained by internal politics and established routine – here, an external agency can bring new ideas and fresh thinking to the table.

As marketing becomes ever more fragmented and specialised, it’s no longer viable for most businesses to try and do it themselves. Blind spots will quickly develop – areas  you are either unaware of, and / or marketing actions you are simply don’t have the skills to deliver.

Challenges Of Creating A Marketing Strategy

The most common challenge in creating an effective marketing plan is “where do I start?”. The short answer should almost always be “with your customer!” They are the reason your business exists, and from our perspective every effective marketing strategy should be built around your audience. Whilst the stages of building out the strategy can follow a structured formula – objectives, target audience, value proposition, product…promotions etc – the reality is that one of the most critical elements is creativity, especially when it comes to developing your messaging. On this point most client side marketers are either too close to their business to think outside of the box, or (most often in the case of businesses without a dedicated team) simply do not have the skills and experience to generate genuinely creative ideas.

Benefits of an effective Marketing Strategy

The ultimate goal of your marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over your competitors by understanding the needs and wants of your consumers. A good marketing strategy not only directly drives revenue returns, it will also generate consistencies and efficiencies, by helping you deploy a considered, coordinated and integrated marketing action. 

Is your marketing programme driven by a sound strategy?

Without a sound strategy in place, you risk wasting significant time and resources on tactics that don’t align with your overall business objectives.

WDA’s strategic expertise spans across Market Intelligence and Insight, Customer Journey Planning, top-level Marketing Plan development, Campaign Creation and Tactical Strategy. If your marketing is lacking strategic direction we are here to help – whether that’s providing the roadmap for your in-house marketing team to execute, or as part of WDA supporting you as a completely outsourced solution. Discover more here

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