The five strategic steps in marketing provide a streamlined approach to developing comprehensive campaigns that actually drive results. These steps focus on the core elements that determine whether your marketing efforts succeed or fail in today’s competitive marketplace.
Mission establishment comes first because without a clear mission, every other marketing decision becomes scattered and ineffective. Your mission defines why your business exists and what value you bring to customers. It’s not just about what you sell, but about the problem you solve and the difference you make in people’s lives.
Situation Analysis involves taking an honest, detailed look at your current market position. This includes analysing your competitors, understanding industry trends, evaluating your internal capabilities, and identifying opportunities and threats. Research suggests that businesses conducting thorough situation analyses are 40% more likely to achieve their strategic objectives.
Objectives setting transforms your mission into specific, measurable outcomes. Rather than saying “increase sales,” effective objectives specify “increase qualified leads by 25% within six months through targeted digital marketing campaigns.” This specificity makes your strategy actionable and trackable.
Strategy development is where you determine how you’ll achieve your objectives. This involves selecting the right mix of marketing channels, developing key messages, and creating detailed action plans. Whether you’re focusing on SEO optimisation, social media engagement, or content marketing, your strategy needs to align with your objectives and available resources.
Evaluation planning establishes how you’ll measure success and make necessary adjustments. This isn’t something you do after your campaign ends – it’s built into your strategy from the beginning. You need systems to track performance, analyse results, and pivot when things aren’t working as expected.
What we typically see at Ronin is that Australian business owners often skip the evaluation planning step, making it impossible to determine what’s actually driving results. The most successful businesses treat evaluation as an ongoing process rather than an afterthought.
