THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS (STEP 3 – CUSTOMER ACQUISITION)

The last step in strategic management process is Customer Acquisition. Customer Acquisition is the marketing mediums and tactics that use to execute strategies to achieve company goals. There are 3 main aspects that will explain, contain Sales Process, Campaign Planning, and Marketing Plan. The following is the brief explanation of these 3 aspects:

1. Sales Process

A sales process is a defined series of steps you follow as a prospect from initial contact of purchase. A documented sales process is a flowchart that explain each distinct step a prospect takes, knowledge the prospect needs, literature and tools that provide to help the prospect, the length of time, and conversation rates. With a documented sales process, you have powerful tool that enables to; Sell more efficiently, generate more accurate sales and revenue reports, estimate the revenue and ROI of marketing campaign, create the better sales tools and literature, and minimize the amount of time reps spend on estimates and forecasts. Sales Process are also influenced by positioning, brand strategy, and pricing. The following is the steps:

• Determine how prospect buy
• Create the process
• Integrate process into CRM
• Project campaign results and revenue
• Improve process to maximize revenue

2. Campaign Planning

Marketing campaign is the main method for both communicating with their market to reinforce their positioning and for customer acquisition. Many marketing campaign contain an overarching theme, which can be leveraged over extended periods of time with many multiple variations, or different elements, to tell an entire story. True marketing campaign are more than just advertisements, use a sequence of message over an extended timeframe, support positioning, define a brand experience, and handle the campaign fulfillment and selling. This following is the steps:

• Quantify the goals
• Generate campaign ideas and strategies
• Target the audience
• Deliver one or two key message and call-to-action
• Create budget and estimate ROI
• Plan the fulfillment
• Plan to measure
• Continually test and improve

3. Marketing Plan

Marketing plan is a detailed roadmap that outlines all of marketing strategies, tactics, costs and projected results over a period of time. A good marketing plan typically include, positioning strategy, brand strategy, product or service overview, sales plan, marketing campaigns, detailed budget, date to review progress, and detailed goals by product, distribution channel, and/or customer segment. If company creating an annual marketing plan properly, it will force them to think through the positioning and brand strategy, along with pricing, distribution, sales and customer retention strategies. This following is the steps:

• Set an annual goal
• Emphasize positioning in the marketplace
• Outline any plans for product or service improvements
• Develop tactical sales plan
• Outline major marketing campaigns
• Develop a budget
• Revisit plan regularly

SOURCE:

Moderandi Inc., 2013. The Strategic Marketing Process. 2nd ed. s.l.:Marketing MO.