If your business doesn’t have a strategic marketing plan—and you don’t think you need one—think again.

Data from a Coschedule survey suggests: 

• Marketers who document their strategy are 4x more likely to report success vs their peers. 

• Those who set marketing goals are nearly 4x times more likely to succeed. 

• And those who develop proactive plans are 3x more likely to report success.

Despite these outcomes, many businesses can forgo the strategic marketing planning process or don’t give it the proper time and attention. By understanding how to approach strategic marketing planning effectively and avoid the most common pitfalls, you’ll generate a much better return on your marketing investment. 

Why Strategic Marketing Planning Has Never Been More Critical 

Economic instability and a volatile geopolitical environment are forcing businesses to control costs, optimize efficiencies, adjust pricing, and take other measures to stay competitive. While it might seem tough to plan with confidence in these uncertain times, a strategic marketing plan is one of your best defenses, because it enables you to align marketing with your business goals even as you stay nimble in the face of change. 

The fast pace of digital transformation also makes it makes it more challenging but more vital to engage in strategic marketing planning. The evolution of AI is a prime example: Most businesses are grappling with how to employ AI for measurable business impact across different functions, including marketing. Strategic marketing planning helps you identify opportunities to use AI and other technologies to drive marketing efficiencies, propel faster growth, and better integrate marketing with sales, service, and other functions that participate in generating revenue.  

Strategic marketing planning can even help you combat labor challenges. Incorporating employer branding and workforce development efforts into your marketing plan improves your ability to attract and retain the talent you need to thrive. 

The Challenges of Strategic Marketing Planning 

To ensure you develop a strategic marketing plan that achieves your goals, your planning process needs to start with discovery and due diligence. Be prepared to engage with your marketing partner as they take a deep dive into your company and your industry—interviewing your management team, talking with customers to understand their pain points and their buying journey, analyzing the market and the competitive landscape, conducting a SWOT analysis, and assessing your digital footprint. 

Then your partner will analyze the findings and develop a strategic marketing plan that outlines the strategies and approaches that will help you hit your targets. The plan serves as your roadmap, documenting your business and marketing objectives, ideal buyers and their personas, overarching marketing strategy, targeted marketing campaigns, execution timeline, technologies and other resources needed to support the plan, budget, and key performance indicators (KPIs). 

This methodical process is proven to optimize marketing results by ensuring the strategic marketing plan is research-based, data-driven, and grounded in strategy. Yet, businesses don’t always give the process its proper due for reasons like these: 

• Lack of patience. When you can get your Amazon order the next day, it’s only natural to expect immediate results from marketing. That mindset causes some companies to shortchange the strategic marketing planning process and jump straight to a laundry list of tactics they hope will generate results (but don’t). 

• Lack of alignment. The key decision-maker who launches a strategic marketing effort is likely to be on board with the process, but that’s not enough. Everyone who’ll participate needs to be aligned on the need for a strategic marketing plan, willing to do the work, and in agreement on the business objectives the plan ladders up to.  

• Lack of ownership. Effective marketing planning demands that everyone involved is clear on their responsibilities and willing to own their piece of the process. For example, every functional group needs to be open to sharing information during discovery.  

• Lack of collaboration. Working in silos is always counter-productive, and especially during the strategic marketing planning process. You can’t develop an effective plan unless the right stakeholders work together, focused on common goals and priorities.      

• Resistance. Some stakeholders resist the discovery process because they believe they already know enough about their market, customers, and competitors. But everything that impacts your marketing is in constant flux. And if you only view the world through your internal lens, you’re likely getting a skewed impression. Your strategic marketing plan will only be effective if it’s based on an up-to-date, reliable source of truth.   

Proven Ways to Improve Your Strategic Marketing Planning 

If you’re committed to engaging in marketing that yields strong results, tips like these can help you make the most of the strategic marketing planning process. 

• Start with measurable goals. “Building awareness” is important, but it’s complicated to measure and it’s not the top priority for most companies. Go beyond high-level metrics and establish specific KPIs that align with your business goals. That’s the best way to ensure a high ROI on the time and money you spend on marketing.  

• Use a consistent framework company-wide. Every functional group will want marketing support, but resist the temptation to let each group create their own, disconnected plans that don’t align and don’t ladder up to the corporate objectives. A common framework ensures your plan is cohesive, integrated, grounded in the same strategy, and focused on the right goals.   

• Build in scenario planning. Rather than wait and react to change, use the planning process to anticipate what could happen and plan accordingly. If the economy stabilizes, is it worth boosting your marketing investment in certain areas? If we don’t achieve a soft landing, or a new entrant disrupts your market, how will you respond? Thinking through the what-ifs positions you to pivot faster. 

• Define how you’ll track and report on success. Make sure your marketing partner has the data analytics capabilities to monitor and report on progress toward your KPIs. Marketing ROI is more measurable than ever, as long as it’s in the hands of experienced marketers using the right analytical tools.  

• Revisit the plan. Your strategic marketing plan should be a living document, not a once-and-done effort. Review the plan regularly and adapt it based on how your market or your customers are evolving and how your campaigns are performing.     

Running a middle market business can stretch you thin, especially in challenging times. But if you invest some time upfront on strategic marketing planning—and you commit to giving the process proper attention—you’ll reap the rewards many times over by truly moving the needle on your growth goals. 

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Schedule a call with Deb Andrews to learn how Marketri can develop a strategic marketing plan that drives predictable revenue for your B2B company.