You might have frequently heard people use "marketing strategy" and "marketing plan" synonymously. Yes, generally speaking, both might sound just the same, but guess what?

They are not.

And if you wish for your marketing efforts to be precise and effective, you should know the difference between the two. 

Having clarity on what constitutes a marketing strategy versus a marketing plan is key to enhancing the impact of your marketing initiatives. Enabling you to plan effectively and ensuring that your marketing approaches are tailored to the specific objectives of the business, maximizing their effectiveness.

For starters, think of a marketing strategy like your big mission. It's the main thing you want to achieve to move your company forward. Now, a marketing plan is like a step-by-step guide to make that mission happen. It's all about figuring out the specific actions and tactics you'll use to reach your goals. So, the strategy is the "what" you want to achieve, and the plan is the "how" you'll make it happen.

Now, let's take a look at both in a little more depth.

Marketing Strategy

The ultimate goal of your marketing strategy has to be to attract leads and guide them through the buyer's journey or marketing funnel, it is the first step towards any marketing effort. Meaning that it lays the foundational blocks of your marketing campaign and extends up to the end of the customer journey. 

A well-researched and carefully crafted marketing strategy is like laying the groundwork for success. It steers the development and execution of your marketing plan. This strategic approach ensures you have a clear direction before delving into the nitty-gritty details of how you'll bring your plans to life.

You see, marketing strategy is the very soul of the marketing function of the organization, which makes it crucial that it matches the vision of the company. It has to be centered on the business's value proposition, catered to the preference of the ideal customer profile delivering the key message that touches their pain point, all within the available resources. 

Marketing Plan

While marketing strategy is the big picture, marketing plans are the details making it up; meaning that it takes a step further, providing those nitty-gritty details we mentioned earlier. It has to be comprehensive and clear, reflecting on all the What's and the How's. 

The strength of the plan depends on the specificities it provides. What are the major objectives of your strategies, what actions are you going to take, which medium works best for the particular objective, what metrics do you plan to use to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the actions that you intend to take, what would be your follow up activities? 

Needless to say, the key to a good marketing plan is the details, the more details it lays out the better.

Strategy is based on a fixed agenda, moving around it could be difficult, but flexibility is the key to a good marketing plan. You can go freestyle on it, it can be long or short, one at a time or all at once, all that you need to keep an eye on is that it has to align with the strategy being pursued. 

Also, because it is an iterative process, you begin with a plan, implement it, monitor it, give feedback, analyze it, and plan again, you have to be comfortable with moving things around as required.

Putting the two together

It all begins with strategic marketing, the process of setting goals to differentiate your products and services from those of your competitors. Once it is done, you've got to align your marketing approach to the ultimate goal, this is achieved through your marketing strategy. 

Moving a step further, you get to the marketing plan, which provides a step-by-step guide to implementing the strategy. 

All of them are integrated, with one the other is ineffective. Remember to work through them all, time and again. Agile companies that embrace buyer changes thrive, while those relying on rigid year-long strategies struggle.