It’s no surprise we’re big fans of having a marketing strategy here at Sherpa Digital. But, they’re often seen as a ‘nice to have’ and something thats often not given a second thought.

No matter what the size of your business, whether you’re a sole trader, operating from the kitchen table through to employing hundreds of people, a marketing strategy will honestly save you wasted time and money.

Here’s our top 10 reasons you should seriously consider getting a marketing strategy in 2019.

1. Your marketing strategy will provide you with direction and focus, ensuring you concentrate your efforts on only activities that will drive sales and brand awareness.
2. It will give you a picture of whats currently happening in your sector as the strategy will contain a SWOT analysis.
3. Most of your competition won’t have one! It will give you a much needed edge over your competitors.
4. It will bring together your mission statement, objectives and vision into effective marketing initiatives.
5. It will focus your mind on WHO you should be targeting and WHERE you can find them.
6.  It will help you to increase sales and profits by focusing on reducing acquisition costs.
7. It will uncover new marketing channels you hadn’t considered.
8.  You can’t have a plan without a strategy, the strategy powers the marketing plan
9. You can budget your finances better inline with the business objectives.
10. You know whether you’re being successful. The strategy will outline key objectives and KPIs and ways you can measure success.

A marketing strategy should be an enjoyable process with lots of lightbulb moments along the way. It doesn’t need to be a 50 page diatribe, but should be a lean, agile document that’s alive in your business to help guide your marketing planning.