There’s no successful consumer promotion without a well-thought-out marketing strategy, but what’s the difference between the two? And how does each benefit your customers?
Those are the questions we set out to answer when we reached out to Dr. Paul Burke, a marketing professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Australia. We discussed the defining elements of each concept, the benefits and more.
Here are the major takeaways from our conversation:
What is a marketing strategy?
If you work within marketing, chances are very high that you already have strategy in place. But sometimes, it's helpful to go back to basics and start there. So here's how Burke defines the term:
“Essentially, a marketing strategy is a company’s plan to create products and services that better meet the needs of customers."
Burke went on to explain that this includes a broad range of considerations, such as decisions made about your actual product design and attributes of the product to be promoted to consumers, or decisions about how to best deliver the product to consumers in terms of partners to retail with.
What is a promotional strategy?
A promotional strategy is just one component within a marketing strategy.
“A promotional strategy is a plan that encompasses how best to communicate information to the target market, including decisions about the right mix of promotional mediums and message elements to do so. Mediums range from activities relating to all forms of online, print and digital advertising; personal selling; publicity; and sales promotions,” said Burke.
This strategy may include discounts or additional offerings. It also may reinforce the positioning of a brand.
While Burke says marketing strategies entail all activities relating to the development, design, distribution, pricing and promotion of a product, promotional strategies only entail activities relating to managing marketing communications with the target market(s).
What are the benefits of each?
According to Burke, one key benefits of a marketing strategy include organizing a company more efficiently to deliver value to potential consumers.
“A good strategy ensures all stakeholders — including those outside the marketing department — are aware of the resources required to do so, goals relating to the positioning of the product to aid other activities in the company including sales teams. A good strategy also allows budgets to be fixed to aid in managing and monitoring the execution of the strategy,” said Burke.
Like its sister strategy, consumer promotions are also meant to provide structure to brands.
“The benefits of a suitable promotional strategy are to maintain consistency across the communication elements, sometimes referred to as integrated marketing communications. Similarly, a promotional strategy helps the organization manage its resources in terms of time and budgeting,” said Burke.
Knowing the difference between marketing and promotional strategies may be a basic distinction. This blog post is here to remind you of these fundamental concepts and guide you toward the best decisions for your brand.
