3 Ways of formulating your marketing strategy

1. These types of companies are pro-active as well as strategic in following the marketing process : discover , diagnose, design and deliver. Here the company proactively studies the market and comes to know not only the current status but even emerging trends. In most such companies it is the CEO who drives this exercise. The company sees far down the road and has time to prepare itself to face the situations that will come down the road. In such companies many executives are aware of what will the customers need in future, how the competitors will behave, how the situation is likely to unfold. This enables these companies to lead the market by being first movers or rapid followers.
2. There are some companies who make annual budgets - and sometimes even long term marketing plans -but they do it more as a mechanical routine. Mostly such exercises are driven by the accounts and finance departments and as such they are focused more on generating P&L numbers. In such situations the senior managers frequently leave such planning to middle and sometimes even junior levels. Such exercises have little value in the long run and mangers wonder why their forecasts of revenue and profit dont come out right. They do not realize that the forecasts are the result but the causes are in the external environment and, unless they focus on environmental analysis, they will not get it right.
3. The worst ways of formulating your marketing actions are two. First, purely based on internal office discussions without having much touch with the market, without hearing the voice of the customer. Second, almost as bad, is when you have been taken by surprise by a competitor and are put in a position to react (rather than act). The time is not on your side - you are in a hurry - valuable time is going by. In such a situation it is difficult to think coolly and take right decisions.