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Updated Apr 19, 2019
What Is Marketing Strategy?
A marketing strategy is a business's overall game plan for reaching people and
turning them into customers of the product or service that the business provides.
The marketing strategy of a company contains the company’s value proposition,
key marketing messages, information on the target customer and other high-level
elements.

The marketing strategy informs the marketing plan, which is a document that lays
out the types and timing of marketing activities. A company’s marketing strategy
should have a longer lifespan than any individual marketing plan as the strategy
is where the value proposition and the key elements of a company’s brand
reside. These things ideally do not shift very much over time.

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Understanding Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategies are often confused with marketing plans. Because they do
feed off one another, it is not unusual to find the marketing strategy and the
marketing plan baked together into a single document. Although the transition
between the two is blurry, a marketing strategy covers the big picture of what the
business offers: the value proposition and related brand messaging. The
marketing plan is how the business will get across the key message: the
platforms, the creative, the timing and so on. The marketing strategy may also be
absorbed upwards into the corporate value statements and other strategy
documents.

Academics continue to debate the precise meaning of marketing strategy.

Consequently, different definitions abound. On close examination, however,
these varied definitions at least partially appear to emphasize the notion that
marketing strategy refers to a broad statement of what is to be achieved under
the umbrella of "marketing."

Here are a few quotes from marketing trade literature, which help crystallize the
nuances of marketing strategy:

 "The marketing strategy lays out target markets and the value proposition
that will be offered based on an analysis of the best market opportunities."
(Philip Kotler & Kevin Keller, Marketing Management, Pearson, 14th
Edition)
 “An over-riding directional concept that sets out the planned path.” (David
Aaker and Michael K. Mills, Strategic Market Management, 2001, p. 11)
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 "Essentially, a formula for how a business is going to compete, what its
goals should be and what policies will be needed to carry out these goals."
(Michael Porter, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries
and Competitors, NY, Free Press, 1980)
 "The pattern of major objectives, purposes and goals and essential policies
and plans for achieving those goals, stated in such a way as to define what
business the company is in or is to be in." (S. Jain, Marketing Planning and
Strategy, 1993)
 "An explicit guide to future behavior.” (Henry Mintzberg, “ Crafting
Strategy,” Harvard Business Review, July–August, 1987 pp. 66–74)

 Strategy is "reserved for actions aimed directly at altering the strengths of

the enterprise relative to that of its competitors... Perfect strategies are not
called for. What counts is... performance relative to competitors.” (Kenichi
Ohmae, The Mind of the Strategist, 1982, p. 37)
 Strategy formulation is built on "the match between organisational
resources and skills and environmental opportunities and risks it faces and
 the purposes it wishes to accomplish." (Dan Schendel and Charles W.
Hofer, Strategy Formulation: Analytical Concepts, South-Western, 1978, p.
11)

The Creation of Marketing Strategy

Contrary to popular practice, marketing strategy is not pulled out of thin air. At
least it shouldn't be. A marketing strategy should grow out of a company’s value
proposition. The value proposition summarizes the competitive advantage a
company has in its market. The value proposition usually provides the key
message for all marketing.

Walmart, for example, is a discount retailer with “everyday low prices,” and its
business operations and marketing revolve around that. A company should never
create a marketing strategy from scratch. The correct recipe is to start with the
value proposition and distill the key marketing message(s) from that.

Once the value proposition is succinctly stated, the hard work is done. Any
marketing asset, from a print ad design to a social media campaign, can be
judged by how well it communicates the value proposition. To further the
efficiency of marketing efforts, market research can be added to the marketing
strategy for the purpose of identifying untapped audiences or refining the target
consumer. Finally, an overall goal for the marketing strategy can be set, with all
the subsequent marketing plans inheriting the responsibility for delivering on it.
These can be concrete, bottom-line goals such as increasing sales or something
less direct like climbing the ranking of trusted providers within the industry.