Marketing is Like Chess

If you think that developing the moving pieces of a strategic marketing plan is something only big, fancy corporations need to do, think again.  You need one, too. It’ll help you better understand your business, your customers and your strategy for success. Most people fall into the trap of thinking that “marketing” just means advertising, PR or promotion.  But marketing and a marketing plan is so much more than that, and includes everything from understanding the market to which you’ll sell your products and services, to choosing specific tactics you’ll use to reach that market (which is actually where things like advertising come into play – they’re tactics).

Marketing strategy – your specific business revenue goals, as well as a strategy for tackling the market opportunities you identified in the situation analysis

Marketing tactics – your action plan for executing on the strategy you outlined in the previous section

Marketing budget and timeline – the projected costs and timeline related to your marketing tactics