Do you leave your marketing to luck? How research and strategy will move the odds in your favour.

When do you think it is ‘ok’ to gamble? Would you have a flutter with a few quid on the annual Grand National race at Aintree? Buy a charity raffle ticket? Fair enough. No judgement here.

But would you gamble your entire marketing budget for the next year? Of course not. Yet, in practice, this is what many businesses do. Every. Year.

Each year, businesses of all shapes and sizes across the globe rush to dispense marketing tactics without putting the building blocks in place to maximise their chance of success and minimise the risk of failure.

Around 2500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote:“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”. His words still ring true.

Business owners are usually very aware of the need for great marketing, but often, if you ask them about their marketing strategy for 2023-24, there’s a nervous silence - or worse: a dismissal of the need for “all that strategic thinking”.

I have had similar responses when I have asked members of the C-suite to summarise their marketing objectives for the next 12 months. Sometimes, there is vague talk of a need to “raise awareness” or to “increase sales”.?

Ask for precision around who they are targeting, the current market share, how they plan to maintain or grow it… and again… an awkward hush descends upon the room.

I have worked with clients (who before I have joined them) are half way through development and manufacture of a new physical product, but have not undertaken any market research to establish the demand for their product, or got clarity around the price customers would be willing to pay for it.?

I’m sure we would all agree that is a huge gamble. Any good marketer would insist that research is done to validate any hypothesis ahead of launching into a project. And any good business would too.

If marketing helps to remove risk - where does marketing begin?

Too often people believe that marketing is simply deciding on the marketing tactics and then delivering them. It’s easy to see why: these tactics are the visceral, (hopefully) memorable output of a marketing department. But you can start earlier in the cycle.

Sometimes businesses think that marketing starts with the products they make or services they provide.?

Good marketing begins with market orientation, and thorough market research. Your market research informs your strategic thinking and planning. This in turn enables you to choose the best messaging and marketing tactics needed to reach your targets.?

There’s a strict order to the sequence of events. It is universally recognised that marketing can be divided into 3 stages:

1. Research
2. Strategy
3. Tactics

Start with tactics, and there’s a huge risk that your tactics may be entirely misinformed and head in completely the wrong direction.

How can you avoid spinning ‘the roulette wheel’ of marketing? Simple. Be diligent and apply the marketing processes that minimise risk.

Book a Zoom chat and we’ll de-risk your business growth plan using my ‘10 pillars of marketing’ framework?and pinpoint where you can focus for maximum Return On Investment.

Let’s remove the element of luck, and use marketing strategically to minimise risk and maximise reward to get the ROI that your business deserves.