A marketing strategy lays down the general principles of how you're going to promote and sell your products or services. You then draw up a detailed marketing plan that sets out the specific actions to put that strategy into practice.
Some questions to ask are:

• What are my potential customers looking for - what are their needs?
• How can I find them?
• What's the best way of communicating with them?
• Which customers will be the most profitable?
• Will putting my prices up increase profits or drive customers away?
• What are they interested in apart from price - quality, reliability, efficiency or value for money?

This guide helps you to identify which customers to focus on, and your key objectives in reaching them and selling to them. It explains what to include in your marketing strategy and how it can be used as the basis for effective action set out in your marketing plan.

Think through the consequences of your marketing strategy to make sure it's realistic. For example, there is no point in a strategy based on rapid growth if you won't be able to produce enough goods. The best strategy will reflect your own strengths and weaknesses.
Some questions to ask are:

• How will you target the right people? You could start by looking for new customers similar to existing ones.
• Could changing your products or services increase sales and profitability? Most products need to be continuously updated to maintain their competitiveness.
• How will you price your product or service? Although prices need to be competitive, most businesses find that trying to compete on price alone is a poor strategy.
• How can you promote your products? Options might include advertising, direct marketing, exhibiting at trade fairs, PR or marketing on the web.
• What is the best way of distributing and selling your products? For example, you might aim to sell directly to a few key business customers, or to sell to the general public through retailers.
• Could you improve customer service? Better customer service can be a low-cost way of keeping customers, boosting sales and building a good reputation.
• How will you tell if your marketing is effective? A small-scale trial can be a good way of testing a marketing strategy without committing yourself to excessive costs.

And don't forget that your marketing strategy document needs to be constantly reviewed and updated or replaced when necessary - just like your own products or services.

Your strategy must take account of how your business' strengths and weaknesses will affect your marketing.
Begin your marketing strategy document with an honest and rigorous SWOT analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
First make a list of:
Strengths such as:

• personal and flexible customer service
• special features or benefits that your product offers
• specialist skills in what you do

Weaknesses such as:

• limited financial resources
• lack of an established reputation
• inefficient accounting systems

Opportunities such as:

• increased demand from a successful customer
• using the Internet to reach new markets
• new technologies that allow you to improve product quality

Threats such as:

• the emergence of a new competitor
• more sophisticated, attractive or cheaper versions of your product or service
• new legislation increasing your costs
• a downturn in the economy - reducing overall demand

For example: if new regulations will increase the cost of competing in a market where you're already weak, you might want to look for other opportunities. On the other hand, if you have a good reputation and your key competitor is struggling, the regulations might present the opportunity to push aggressively for new customers.

Before looking at new markets, think about how you can get the most out of your existing customer base - it's usually more economical and quicker than finding new customers.
Your marketing strategy document should have a section on how you plan to:

• retain existing customers
• sell more to existing customers
• sell new products to existing customers
• look for new customers who are similar to existing customers

Focus on the market
The strategy document will also:

• analyse your understanding of the different needs of different groups of customers
• focus on a market niche where you can be the best
• aim to put most of your efforts into the 20 per cent of customers who provide 80 per cent of profits

Don't forget the follow-up

• Put your marketing strategy into effect with a marketing plan that sets out actions, dates, costs, resources and effective selling programmes.
• Measure the effectiveness of what you do and change things that aren't working.

Watch out for these pitfalls

Don't:

• make assumptions about what customers want
• ignore the competition
• try to compete on price alone
• rely on too few customers
• try to grow too quickly
• become complacent about what you offer and fail to innovate

Two years ago, human resources consultancy Wickland Westcott reviewed the marketing strategy for its assessment and development services. A new focus and a more structured approach have already paid dividends. The last financial year was Wickland Westcott's best ever. Co-owner and director of assessment and development, Colin Mercer, describes the process.
What I did
Identify strengths and weaknesses
In 2002 the company was doing well, but our approach to marketing was hit-and-miss. We went through the business from top to bottom and pinpointed our strengths and weaknesses. 
On the plus side, customer research showed that we had a great reputation for quality service. On the minus side, brand awareness was low and some of our systems weren't working well. We also used published academic research to find out more about our target customers' mindset and why they buy. We used all the information to create a marketing strategy with clear objectives. These included developing our network of partnerships, raising brand awareness, positioning ourselves as strategic thinkers in our market, and getting more business through referrals.
Work to a plan
With clear objectives in mind, writing and implementing a marketing plan was easier. We changed our marketing mix and our approach:

• Our printed newsletter, our main direct marketing method, was made more customer-focused by including market briefings. Feedback has improved and we've had several approaches from new clients who've received it.
• Instead of cold calling, we stepped up marketing via our network of partners. We provided them with clear information so that they could promote all our services to their clients. Now, about 20 per cent of what we bill is to partners rather than end users.
• To establish ourselves as strategic thinkers in our markets we began getting articles published in relevant trade journals. This raised brand awareness and enhanced our reputation. We also use re-prints of the articles as a direct marketing tool. 
• We also re-designed our website and launched an Interview Guide on CD-rom to show the flexibility of our services.

We now review our marketing strategy and update the plan every six months. As a result of one review, we decided to attend a big trade conference, which worked extremely well for us and generated a lot of new leads.
Clean up the database
Marketing to existing customers is easier and cheaper than starting from scratch with new ones, because existing customers are aware of our quality. However, to market effectively to this group required a better customer database than we had. As a result we decided to update our customer database. It's just as well we did, because as we updated it we found that approximately 40 per cent of the entries contained errors, duplications or were completely irrelevant. If we'd marketed to our original database we'd have wasted a lot of time and money.
We now have a proper database management strategy. We nominated one person internally to take responsibility and now it's kept up to date meticulously. We also use bought-in contact databases to help us target new customers.
What I'd do differently
Repackage content
We were slow to realise that the content we had on our website and in other marketing literature was a gold mine. It can be repackaged in lots of different ways. For example, a case study written for the website can be used as a mail shot, as the basis for a trade magazine article and as a handout for meetings as well. We're much better at it now, and we use all our content, including survey results, across all our marketing channels. However, we could have made use of what we had much sooner.

Colin Mercer
Wickland Westcott

Colin's top tips:

• Use research to get inside the mind of your customers and understand why they buy
• Have a marketing strategy and plan, but don't be afraid to modify them if circumstances change
• Consult frequently with staff and communicate the marketing strategy internally - managing internal PR is as important as external PR