Did you ever wonder why some marketing tactics work for some businesses but not others? The reason most marketing tactics fail is because they are not part of an overall marketing strategy. Comprehensive marketing strategy helps you to select the tactics will work for your business and keep the sales flowing in.

When you want sales you will try anything - whether it helps or not without a strategy and goals. Your marketing strategy should help you to decide whether you should try a particular tactic.

You need to choose which venues to focus your efforts. Not ever venue works for every business tactic. When your marketing strategy combines the best tactics you will see a winning trend begin to form.

Research is a necessity - in order to plan a comprehensive strategy. The more you know, the better your marketing strategy will be. Make sure you know your customer - age, income, education, marital status, religious preferences, comfort level with technology, where they live, where they work, what they drive. You almost cannot know enough about your customers.

Know your competitors - who are they? Why do some customers choose them? You may discover your competition is not another business after all. Consider the car wash business that discovered their biggest competitor was their own customer. Instead of focusing on war with the other car wash facilities, the chain began focusing their marketing efforts on educating their customers to the benefits of bringing their car in, instead of washing their cars at home. Sales increased significantly once this chain realized where to point their marketing strategy.

Wrestling With Market Forces,
Arthur Browning