How long should a marketing strategy take?

There have been many hours spent writing SWOT analysis, market analysis, competitor analysis - basically, a bunch of analysis, that is largely from gut instinct, Google, and the odd research report, as well as some feedback and survey's along the way.

Marketing Objectives

That is before you even get to the good part: Marketing objectives, brand, unique value proposition, promotions, social media, direct marketing, advertising, public relations, influencer marketing, events, podcasts, webinars, customer relationship management, marketing automation, website, search engine optimisation and the list goes on. It's a new world out there and marketers are required to 'know it all' and 'measure results'.

If you are anything like me, as the gun fires to start, you have a lot of enthusiasm and thirst for putting down all the information inside your head, searching through competitors and information on the market. You power through hour after hour like time hasn't passed at all, until... you hit writers block. Then you might put it down, do something more interesting or check your emails. Anything to not have to try and write your marketing strategy in which you have two weeks to complete.

All of a sudden your day job takes over and the discipline that you were determined to show in the first instance, has dwindled. 

Marketing Tactics

The first week has passed and you haven't gone much past marketing objectives, let alone getting into the thick of marketing tactics.

The last 5 days before your strategy is due to be presented to management, you realise that time is in fact, running out. You burn the midnight oil pondering over past campaigns, results, new ways in which to market, economic factors and so on. 

Finally, D-Day has arrived, and you feel under-prepared and like a failure. You could have done better, if only you had more time. There are things that you have missed that you should have included. It just isn't your best job. 

Sound familiar? 

I've personally written more than 400 marketing strategies in my career and this was the norm. The strategies coming out of Marketing Eye are highly regarded. Our clients love them and believe it is one of our biggest strengths and we have been professionally recognised in the top 10 marketing consulting firms in the US alongside very expensive firms Deloitte, McKinsey and Bain & Co.

In my 20 years of being responsible for marketing strategies for clients, marketing as a whole has changed significantly. It is hard for any marketer to keep up. I have made it my fulltime job to continually be abreast of the latest in marketing and communications, and this has been very important for teaching new hires and our team on a regular basis. However, those who do not have the luxury of education and development as a full time gig are left largely in the dark, making it impossible to be across all areas of marketing.

We realised this and developed a solution. Robotic Marketer. Check it out. Forget 2 to 4 weeks of writing a marketing strategy and replace it with a couple of hours. Thank goodness for technology!