Think marketing, think strategy
A good strategic marketing plan can help you reach your target audience, boost your customer base, and ultimately, increase your bottom line. It will help you position your products and services in a way that resonates with your target market, and help customers understand why your product or service is better than, or different from, the competition. Without a strategic plan in place, you are making decisions on the fly, which typically results in disjointed marketing efforts, a lack of focus, and wasted resources.
Strategy may not always be as fun as creating Facebook and Instagram posts, but marketing without it more often than not results in spending far too much time and money on activities that have no direct impact on the scaleability of your business. Rushing into tactics without adequate planning is the equivalent of a doctor starting surgery before knowing a patient’s history, studying their results, or making a diagnosis. Or in other words, firing shots before setting your sights on the target.
A parent-centric approach
As you might expect from a company called Institute of Mums, we take a holistic, customer-centric approach to marketing. We encourage our clients to look beyond the three-letter word that is used to describe the complex and varied group of women with kids. With emphasis on the individual and their behaviours, we look at what makes them ‘tick’, and investigate how this impacts their purchasing decisions and what we as marketeers need to do to earn their trust and secure their brand loyalty.
We don’t have a one size fits all approach to marketing. We understand different companies have different needs, and different products require different approaches. We focus on what is best for your company and your budget.
Some of the areas we typically cover include:
TARGET MARKET
Identifying the mums that will be most receptive to your product or service, and figuring out how best to reach them
BRANDING
Investigating what mums see, think and feel when they come into contact with your products or services
PR & COMMS
Generating press coverage and other word-of-mouth opportunities that have a positive impact on your business
POSITIONING
Articulating your competitive advantage and ensuring that your brand occupies a distinctive place in mums’ minds
PRICING & DISTRIBUTION
Devising a pricing and distribution strategy that works for both you and your customers, while maximising profitability
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Optimising social media channels and exploring ways to cut through the noise to reach the mums most relevant to you
How much does it cost?
The cost of a marketing plan will vary depending on the nature of your business. Creating a simple launch plan for a startup is very different from planning a rebrand for a large corporation, for example. Depending on the variables such as the size and complexity of your company and the deliverables required, a startup firm can expect to invest around £1500 to £3000 for a customised strategic marketing plan. For an established business requiring a more in-depth plan including competitor analysis, market sizing and product gap analysis, you will be looking at more. It should be noted, however, that these prices are just a guide, and the exact price will depend on the amount of detail you require, the amount of primary research involved, the complexity of your industry, and the mode of delivery. If you’re just looking for a written marketing plan that covers fundamentals such as message, market segments, ideal clients and a full year of tactics to support your overall objective, then this is going to be at the lower end of the range.
READ OUR FOUNDER'S BOOK
“This is a marketing bible for any new or existing business selling to mums. I only wish it had been around when our business started, as it would have saved us time, money and wasted energy.”
– Sally Dhillon, co-founder Career Mums