As marketers and businessmen we very often land on the wrong areas while planning and try to correct ourselves later. Because when it comes to marketing, planning is very crucial and it should be built on a proper strategy focussing on the key areas of significance. A well-designed strategic and sustainable plan will help you grow your business in a more development-oriented direction.
We simplify your process of strategic planning by guiding you on the four key areas of focus which you shouldn’t miss no matter what. We analysed that these four focus points together make the starting point of your strategic planning.
Four Focus Points
Let’s get started with the four focus points that will lay the foundation for your planning strategy. The four focus points are your brand, your customer, your competitors and the trends. These sound very simple however they constitute the significant elements of the strategic market planning that we are up to devise and also they are the major factors in a business.
Focus point 1: Your brand
Focus point one is your ‘brand’. You have to concentrate on making it innovative so that it has different from your competitors. However, also maintain that element of undifferentiation footfirming in your niche. You should not be lazy towards lifting your brand’s popularity through promotions and never miss any chance of getting into the customers by being punctual in sending every new update and launching into your customer’s mail or contact numbers. We do have to connect planning and ideas to commercial goals and align them with your brand values.
Focus point 2: Your Customer
Your customer is the catalyst for your business growth. All you have to do is consider where their problems, unmet requirements, motivations or outcomes cross paths with those of your brand. If you pass through that juncture, you’re headed in the right direction. We’ve termed this an immediate opportunity. There are no alternatives here, though. It’s a significant task to deal with the problems, hopes, fears and aspirations of your customer – but it’s doable. Focus on this point and make use of our tip – curate strategies that help in the service of your customers. This ultimately benefits you and scales your product/service-based thinking eventually helping grow your business.
Focus point 3: Competitors
Being competitive is not meant to be a copycat and this tendency and execution of doing everything your competitors do as part of promotions, campaigns and business tactics reach you to pitfall. Yes, it’s good to have a proper understanding of what’s driving competitor success within your market domain, which is essential to learn what we can do within our domain for success. But, it’s of no use when you just copy that. When you don’t, it becomes “undifferentiation”. We often see the similarity of websites and campaigns within most sectors. Don’t you think it is a road to getting lost in the noise? Hence, learn what you can do from your competitors and design something different from what they do but which aligns with the shared goals.
Focus point 4: Trends
Trends are the fourth area where you have to focus. For accomplishing a progressive business, you should understand what the future might hold. Our understanding throws light on what kind of innovations might be possible for our brand. This analysis also enlightens us about the crucial factors that are very unlikely to change, which helps much in planning strategically. In-depth customer research also derives new insights from your customers which can be done by asking them the right questions and also monitoring consumer behaviour in various possible ways. It’s also a good idea to analyse the available models to explore customer trends in detail. Hence, trends are important for the present and future of your business and also in understanding why it did or didn’t work well in your past trajectory.
Having discussed all four focus points, we advise you to design a strategic and sustainable plan for your business rather than just jumping into anything. Focus well on all these four areas- your brand, your customer, competitors and the trends. A well-laid-out plan will help you foresee the troubles and hence you will also have a readymade solution for them. Happy marketing!
