What is Market Strategy?

It's important to formulate a market strategy and align your tactical marketing (advertising, PR, brochures, etc.) with it. Numerous firms claim to provide market strategy services, yet many of them fail to actually deliver strategy. But what is market strategy?

Market strategy comprises many of the deliverables from product management, including:

Positioning and messaging. What differentiates your product from the competition? What are the key themes and messages to use in advertising and PR?
Prospect problems. What are the main problems your product will solve that prospective customers face?
Branding recommendations. What principles should govern the selection of a name or logo?
Market segmentation. Who is in your target market?
Communications analysis. What media should you use to reach your target market?

Some of these deliverables actually extend slightly beyond what some product manager may provide. For example, some product managers profile prospective customers and shed light on the type of media that will reach them, but do not actually recommend a media strategy. Regardless, strategy defines the high-level policies, enabling marcom to wage an effective campaign that implements the policies.

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