When talking to most CEOs and business owners you could be forgiven for believing that their Business Strategy and Marketing Strategy are one and the same thing.
Wrong. Strategy applies to a single unit as a whole. Marketing is a component part of that unit and should help to achieve the unit’s goals (follow the unit’s strategy).
For example, you might be focused on Growth as your primary business driver. When confronted with two conflicting options for the same action, which one do you choose? The final decision usually rests with the overall business strategy. So, if Option 1 gives bettercost benefits, whereas Option 2 provides for better growth opportunities, then Option 2 is more favoured.
Let’s say you have to choose between two suppliers of key hardware for your production line. Option 1 cost 10% less for the same components than Option 2, but Option 2 includes extra sales channels for your premium growth product. With a bottom line focus, you would go for Option 1. With a growth focus, you would choose option 2.
When confronted with two different marketing opportunities, the same thing applies. If you cannot do both, you must do the one that supports your business strategy. To spend resources in developing a marketplace that does not support your strategy is silly and career limiting!
Marketing Strategy, however, is more or less a misnomer. When you break it down, a strategy is What are we trying to achieve? What results are we after? What do we want to have?? Which are all different ways of saying the same thing?
What is the purpose of marketing? The purpose of marketing is to attract the right type of people to your business so that sales people can turn them into customers.
Who exactly are the right type of people?
The ones that support your business strategy of course, including:
The right types of customers. This has its own set of marketing tactics.
The right types of employees. This also has a separate set of marketing tactics.
The right types of suppliers. So does this.
So, a much better term is a Marketing Plan, which needs to contain these basic elements:
• Business Strategy as an overriding influence. Identification of market segments that support your strategy (Target Markets)
• Identification of the right buyers within those target markets.
• Knowledge of emotional motivators of those buyers.
• Knowledge of the key communications media to use to trigger those motivators.
• Cost effective plans to use those communications media.
• Sales, Production and Delivery channels ready and willing to support the influx.
Plus one hundred other things to make sure these elements get executed and the results achieved.
So, please make sure you can differentiate between Business Strategy and Marketing Plans. If you must call it a Marketing Strategy, please make sure you have an implementation plan as described above to actually make it happen. | 
