Practice 02 · Branding & communicationsMarketing strategy: align your offer, your audiences and your channels
Running campaigns without knowing how your customers decide means spending without being able to steer. You know what each action costs, but not what it brings in or at which point in the journey it plays a part. The marketing strategy Kopus develops establishes who you are targeting, what you offer them, how they decide, and which actions, in what order and with what budget, serve each objective.
A scoping conversation, confidential
Who it is for, and whenWhen to set a marketing strategy
The need usually shows when spending grows faster than your understanding of what it produces.
- You spend on advertising, trade shows and content without knowing what share of revenue depends on them.
- Your offer addresses several types of customer with different expectations, and your messages try to speak to all of them at once.
- You are launching a new product or service and must decide how to present it, to whom and through which means.
- Marketing and sales are out of step: the leads generated are not what the sales team is waiting for.
Sample decision journeyMapping the journey to know where to act
For each segment, the journey brings together the stages a client goes through, the question on their mind at each one and the touchpoints they actually encounter. The feeling curve reveals the moments of truth, where trust is won, and the friction points where prospects drop out without anyone noticing. That is where the plan focuses its resources first.
Discovery
Their question: Is this problem worth looking into?
- Search engine
- Professional network
- Word of mouth
Feeling: Curious
Consideration
Their question: Who can genuinely solve it?
- Website and case studies
- Downloadable guide
- Comparisons
Feeling: Hesitant
Friction to fixAn offer that is hard to compare
Decision
Their question: Can I defend this choice internally?
- First meeting
- Proposal
- References
Feeling: Reassured
Moment of truthThe first meeting
Retention
Their question: Is what was promised delivered?
- Project kick-off
- Regular follow-up
- Client newsletter
Feeling: Watchful
Referral
Their question: Who should I tell, and how?
- Reviews
- Testimonial
- Introductions
Feeling: Convinced
Moment of truthFriction to fix
The scopeWhat a Kopus marketing strategy contains
The first part of the work concerns segments: who your most profitable customers are, which problems they are trying to solve, how they inform themselves and who takes part in their decision. We reconstruct the decision journey for each segment, from first contact to signature, with the questions a prospect asks at every stage.
Next comes the value proposition: what you bring that is different for each segment, phrased in the customers’ words rather than the company’s, then set against the alternatives on the market.
The action plan follows: for each objective (awareness in a segment, inbound enquiries, reactivation of dormant customers, support for the sales team), the channels justified by the decision journey, the messages, the budget allocated and the success criteria. The plan also states what you will not do and why, so that approaches from media sellers, trade shows and platforms can be assessed quickly. You receive a strategy document, a quarterly action plan and a dashboard of the chosen indicators.
What you get
- Clear targets and messages shared across the company.
- A realistic annual plan with a controlled budget.
- Measured results and decisions based on facts.
The methodHow a marketing strategy engagement runs
Analysis of your customer portfolio and interviews with customers from each segment to understand their decision journey.
Formulation of the value proposition per segment and testing with a few representative contacts.
Setting objectives per segment and selecting the channels and messages that match each stage of the journey.
Building the action plan, the budget and the dashboard, in step with your sales team.
Quarterly review: reading the indicators, reallocating budget between actions, updating the assumptions.
Our positionThere is no miracle channel and no universal recipe
Every year a channel is presented as the one that changes everything. The channel that works for a company depends on its decision journey, its average order value, its sales cycle and its means. A sound marketing plan spreads effort across several complementary actions that cover the stages of the journey, and it provides for reallocating budget according to measured results. Copying a competitor’s plan or applying a recipe read elsewhere is a good way to invest in the wrong place.
Your questionsFrequently asked questions about this service
What should a marketing strategy contain?
Defined audiences with their decision journey, a value proposition per segment, channels justified by that journey, a budget split by objective and measurable success criteria. If any of these is missing, the plan cannot be steered.
What is the difference between marketing strategy and customer acquisition?
Marketing strategy sets the frame: segments, value proposition, objectives, channels and budget. Customer acquisition is its operational execution: campaigns, search optimisation, landing pages and conversion measurement.
We sell B2B with long cycles. Does the approach apply?
Yes, and that is where reconstructing the decision journey pays off most. Long cycles involve several decision-makers and several information stages, which the plan has to cover with distinct actions.
Can you manage advertising campaigns?
Yes. Strategy sets the objectives and messages; our search engine advertising and social media advertising services take over for execution, together with customer acquisition.
What is the difference between marketing strategy and communication?
Marketing strategy decides whom to target, with which offer and message; communication makes it known. The first guides the second, and we can handle both.
What marketing budget should we plan?
It depends on your market, your goals and your margin. We start from what you can invest and build a plan that focuses that budget on the most profitable actions.
Go furtherPages related to this service
Let’s bring your projects to lifeYour next project starts here.
Let’s talk about your market, your segments and the way your customers make decisions.
A scoping conversation, confidential