WHAT IS MARKETING STRATEGY?
Let’s have 30 seconds of silence.
30 seconds of silence is what people effectively get out of communication if the message does not directly address their needs. People see or hear only what interests them. The rest is, well, nothing.
We are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of marketing messages every day. Why would we be receptive to all of them? That would be mental chaos. So, in response, we tune out all but the most relevant ones. Our brain is actually very good at tuning out stuff that it does not want or need. We do this automatically. This prevents us from going insane.
In marketing, there is strategy and there are tactics. A lot of marketing, in practice, is preoccupied with what I call tactical experimentation. This is the act of throwing all kinds of things out at the world or at broad demographic targets to see what works. As you do this you are spending money, potentially lots of it. The idea in this method is to do this until you find some marketing actions that work, and when you find them you can then do more of those.
Marketing strategy is sorting out who your audience actually is, and then finding out what has meaning for them. Marketing strategy saves you money. It allows you to use pathways and footholds to apply your limited marketing budget more effectively.
What do they care about, and how does this relate to your offer? What message can you deliver that is both true and meets your consumer squarely at the level of their needs? Marketing strategy is the process of uncovering messages that can be heard. Marketing strategy allows you to answer the crucial question your offer must address:
“Why should I care?”
Because Consumers do not buy what you sell. They buy what has value to them.
