A clear and concrete marketing strategy placed in time, should be possessed by every company, which is focused on continuous growth and further development. It should summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the company, define communication with the recipients, define the objectives of marketing and sales activities and characterize the target group and person of the ideal customer. The rule of marketing says that a good marketing strategy is half of future success. Therefore, it must be done logically and have all the information to have a positive impact even with unfavorable results.
 
What is a marketing strategy? 
 
It is a document in which the person responsible for marketing and promotion of the company defines issues related to the most important marketing objectives and their implementation, the target customer group, the person of the ideal customer, the form of reaching and channels of communication with customers, cost estimate of marketing activities and analysis of competition and competitive advantages over current solutions operating on the market. It is worth emphasizing that marketing professionals often build the communication message based on competitive advantages by building the so-called unfair advantage. It is not uncommon to find issues related to internal and external analysis of the company's situation in marketing strategy.
 
The direct aim of creating a good marketing strategy is high effectiveness of promotion and marketing activities of the company. The basic task at the beginning of creating a marketing strategy is to determine the tools for advertising. Definitely different communication channels will be used in case of digital products, others in case of businesses based on services. Marketing strategy will help to unify the plan and organize marketing activities on different levels of contact with a potential customer. A part of the marketing strategy is an action plan located in time which allows for chronological realization of tasks, based on specific assumptions and creating in the recipient's consciousness the image of communication we want.
 
What activities should we carry out at the beginning of creating a marketing strategy?
 
The first step is to identify a few key points that will later allow us to adapt marketing activities to the market and potential customers. The priority is to characterize the size of the market on which we want to operate, its filling with other entities, as well as repetitive activities. It is also important to check and verify the demand of our potential target group and to characterize the staff of the ideal customer. It will also be important to define the communication, basing it on the advantages developed on other entities operating in our market segment. 
 
The key activity in the course of creating a marketing strategy is defining the target group. Precise formulation of customer segmentation protects the entrepreneur, among other things, from unnecessary marketing activities aimed at the wrong group of recipients - which may result in low conversion to sales. 

Consumer activities can be divided into five stages of the relationship concluded with the customer. 

1. At the beginning of communication with the recipient there is a stage of development of product awareness at the customer. Promotional activities should be directed in such a way as to attract the customer to the product.
2. In the second stage of the relationship the customer should be interested in the properties or functionalities of the product.
3. The next step is to convince the customer that he needs our product and provide him with real value.
4. The fourth stage is the purchase. At this point, through promotional activities you should convince the customer to buy the product. This is the most difficult stage of marketing activities, as it is the stage where a transaction with a strategic customer takes place.
5. The last stage is loyalty and after-sales activities. At this point, through effective customer support, efficient and properly functioning product and further promotion, the customer should be persuaded to buy the good again.

What are the goals of creating a marketing strategy?

It indicates exactly what tools to use to achieve the goals you want to reach your target group. Thanks to the marketing strategy marketers can focus on opportunities that can be used successively and also on threats that can be avoided. 

Another issue is saving time and money by indicating effective promotion methods and investing capital only in efficient communication channels. Marketing strategy helps in effective, correct and efficient communication between the company and its clients (often based on competitive advantages). 

To summarize: the aim of the marketing strategy is to increase sales. A detailed marketing strategy is a key element of any business plan, which proves the entrepreneur's awareness of marketing and sales knowledge. This is important because without well-planned marketing activities, a company can struggle with financial problems resulting from low sales.