sostac model assignment

• Marketing Strategy
• Small Business

6 Easy Steps of Marketing Planning Using PR Smith SOSTAC Model

I will explain the 6 easy steps of Marketing planning from PR Smith’s SOSTAC® Plan with examples. In the end, I will also share some important info-graphics explaining how the model can be used in digital marketing.

Table of Content

What does sostac ® stand for.

• Why Use PR Smith SOSTAC ® Marketing Planning Model ?
• The 6 Easy Steps of the SOSTAC ® Model 

Benefits of Paul R Smith SOSTAC ® Marketing Planning Model

Using SOSTAC ® Planning Model in Digital Marketing

PR Smith SOSTAC ® Marketing Planning Model  is a management tool designed to help managers create effective marketing strategies and campaigns. It can be a good planning companion and provides a solid road map to help you achieve business objectives. I am going to focus more on marketing planning using SOSTAC planning framework.

However, the model might be too simplistic in its approach as every entrepreneur or marketing manager faces a unique business situation. To overcome this challenge, one can customize the model and can create a SOSTAC ® plan as per the business requirements.

SOSTAC stands for Situation, Objective, Strategy, Tactics, Actions, and Control. These six concepts make up the SOSTAC ® model and this article would explain them as 6 easy steps in the next section. Most managers are familiar with management concepts used in the model but they often struggle to increase the productivity of their team. Often, bad planning and execution lead to missing targets and that is why we need to utilize the model.

SOSTAC ® is a practical tool that facilitates a manager in the planning room. It is supposed to make your life easy as a manager and give you a solid direction. After all, it is a paid tool, it must deliver on its promise.

Here are the 6 easy steps one by one explained in light of management concepts.

6 Easy Steps of the SOSTAC ® Model  (with examples)

 If you are a manager or an entrepreneur, you know very well that situation analysis is a complex and demanding process. Often there are no clear answers, and you might have to rely on your guts as a last resort.

When a firm is faced with uncertainty and it is hard to choose from available options. You’ll have to do a complete situation analysis. The process of Situation analysis involves external and internal environment analysis.  It is often a troika: the organization’s resources(strength), the opportunity outside, and the market situation.

Due to the changing business environment, you might be losing a lot of business. You need to figure out the appropriate but timely response. As a manager/entrepreneur, your task is to find the right fit based on the firm’s capacity and resources to gain the desired market share. Sometimes, you might find an opportunity but you don’t have the team (resources/skills) to take advantage of.

That’s what you need to figure out in a situation analysis- a strategic fit-out of the troika. Thus, the situation analysis makes up an important step in marketing or business planning.

Example: You would like to build a website. Here is what the situation looks like.

The current online market is tough and competitive. Growing a website is a challenge. Giants like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, etc own most of the traffic online. Some people might even claim that websites are dead now or they argue that at least it is the case mostly with the new ones.

They argue that there are a few big websites ranking high in search engines for every popular or profitable keyword. How can you rank your websites against the giant internet companies or authority websites with deep pockets? In other words, you will make a website but no one will find it.

There are always naysayers. Don’t worry about it. Yes, it is true that building a website is difficult but it is still working. However, in order to build a profitable website, You need to ask yourself some important questions( the situation analysis):

How much do you want to spend? Do you have a team to compete with big websites on the topic of your interest? Are you going for a niche?

If you can find the fit, go and build your website. By the way, websites are not dead but the way you have to do grow them now has changed. You see when the going gets tough, most people would exit the website market, and it is good news for those who would like to stay the course.

Depending on the industry & your business, you can begin with situation analysis as part of business or marketing planning.

(Note: PESTLE and SWOT can also be useful to execute a situation analysis.)

2. Objectives

Once you do a good situation analysis you are in a better position to decide on the objectives. These objectives(goals) should be both short and long-term. To make the objectives clear to your team and somewhat inspirational, it is recommended that you use the SMART approach.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time-related . If you make your objectives according to the SMART framework of management, your team is likely to have optimal performance. For a quick start on SMART, you can also take a look at SMART criteria and George T. Doran

Example: The website in 12 months: 30,000 monthly visitors, Revenue: $1000/Month. You can also specify traffic by region.

3. Strategy

Strategy  is a plan that would tell your team how they would get to their goals or objectives.  Simply put, Strategy is your personal or team’s answer to the question “How”.

However, a strategy should be based on differentiation, otherwise, you would have no competitive advantage. Hence strategy is a different and better approach.

In other words, we can say the strategy is a different but better answer to the question of “How is it done? How do we create the customer value? How do we create the customer experience?” etc.

Example: For the website, strategy can be based on content marketing to create a brand in a niche with WordPress CMS.

These are specific or detailed actions that your company needs to take to execute the strategy. Tactics are the details of a strategy. The situation analysis above should also inform you which tactic to select.

The use of tactics also depends on the nature of a business and its leadership style. An ambitious entrepreneur/leader would go more for a frontal attack requiring aggressive tactics. It means a lot more spending on the promotion of a business.

Examples: To build the website, the business can opt for Email marketing, Google Ad Campaigns (PPC), and sales funnel as tactics.

This step of  SOSTAC ® requires you to align and deploy your team efficiently to implement the tactics.

Simply ask:

Who  is going to do  What  and  When ?

Example : You can assign the tasks to an in-house team or can hire someone from the market to help you execute your email marketing plan or PPC for the website. Sometimes, it is just better to find a highly specialized agency to run the email marketing or online ads campaign for you.

How can you control and measure the processes? This is where you can assign KPIs and create a system of accountability at the individual and team levels. It is an internal management issue. Your objective is to monitor the performance of your team and get timely feedback to correct it.

It is a lot easier to measure an online marketing campaign. For example, in the case of a website you have many measurement tools available at your disposal. Such as google analytics, Hubspot’s tools, etc. However, traditional marketing communication programs are difficult to measure. You can always get a research firm to help you out with an audit survey if you can afford to do so.

The model provides a clear and easy  method of marketing planning . It is easy to implement and apply to the marketing processes. If applied the right way, you should be able to get a positive marketing or business outcome with SOSTAC ® Planning . However, you’ve to pay for the tool to get it.

Please, take a look at the images from PR Smith’s SOSTAC ®   below and I hope you find them useful.

Main Reference

SOSTAC ® is a registered trademark of PR Smith. For more information on SOSTAC ® Planning & becoming a SOSTAC ® Certified Planner visit www.SOSTAC.org .

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Chapter 10 – SOSTAC Framework: Developing Marketing Plan

Developed by PR Smith in the 1990s, the SOSTAC framework will help you develop a digital marketing plan. This framework will also aid you in tracking your progress. It will be a useful tool for you to analyse and predict whether the desired marketing goals can be achieved or not.

You have covered the 7P's of marketing mix in the previous chapter. Now, let's focus on SOSTAC framework here which will help you implement a marketing plan for any product.

Let us start by understanding what is SOSTAC planning model and what are the stages of SOSTAC framework. We will also look at a SOSTAC framework example and how relevant is SOSTAC framework in digital marketing.

What is SOSTAC planning model?

The SOSTAC framework in digital marketing is considered as one the most effective and advanced models that help a systematic implementation of strategies. Let us now see what SOSTAC stands for and what are the stages of SOSTAC framework.

What are the stages of SOSTAC framework?

Each letter of the term 'SOSTAC' denotes a stage of an organisation's marketing plan, as shown in the picture below. Each stage in this model is equally critical. With each stage of the SOSTAC framework, you have to question and analyse several essential questions that will help you achieve your final objectives.

SOSTAC Framework Example

Let us understand this further by taking the example of Monzo, a pioneer in digital banking in the United States.

Situation Analysis

Source: 15writers

• Sell: The initial expansion should aim for 10,000+ debit cards delivered by March 2020, with $100,000 in transactions completed by the end of the year (15writers).
• Serve: In terms of quality, the firm must receive 100+ favourable evaluations from customers in the United States who are happy with the promptness and convenience of the financial services provided during the first six months of its arrival (15writers).
• Sizzle: The firm should get 5,000 new Facebook followers from the United States and 5,000 new Instagram followers from the United States (15writers).
• Speak: Within the first 6 months after market debut, new articles placed on the aforementioned social media pages must be liked or reposted by 100+ persons from the United States on average (15writers).
• Save: The choice for online promotion also results in significant advertising expense reductions (15writers).
• Bold and straightforward positioning
• Unique Value Proposition of online bank in contrast to traditional banks

• Social Media Marketing
• Contests and Engagement Campaigns
• Live Events
• Social Medi Engagement
• Consumer feedback and proactivity
• Number of leads generated

The SOSTAC model will help you strategise your marketing actions and help you to track the progress to come up with a feasible plan. As a budding marketing professional, this plan will help you analyse the existing marketing plans and develop new strategies for any brand or organisation. With a fair bit of understanding about formulating a marketing plan, we will focus on brand management frameworks in the next two chapters.

SOSTAC: The guide to the perfect digital marketing plan

• Published: 23 December 2014
• Volume 16 , pages 146–147, ( 2014 )

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• David Reed FIDM  

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PR Smith, self-published e-book available via http://prsmith.org/books/

Digital marketers may already be familiar with Paul Smith from previous books such as eMarketing eXcellence or Marketing Communications. With his latest e-book, Smith discusses in some depth the trademarked communications framework he has developed, called SOSTAC.

This comprises six stages: Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Actions and Control. Developed over a decade, the framework grew out of a meta-analysis of other marketing planning tools, identifying their common elements and synthesizing them into a new, more accessible and flexible approach. Recognizing the current high profile of digital marketing, Smith has written this book to provide channel-specific guidance for both experienced and new practitioners, while ensuring that the framework aligns with the master marketing plan since, as he notes, ‘eventually we won’t have digital marketing plans, it’ll just be integrated marketing plans’.

Putting situational analysis at the start of the SOSTAC process actually leverages key strengths of digital marketing, since ‘listening tools’ (social media, etc) now allow marketers to gain unprecedented insight into their customers. Smith argues the importance of understanding the who, why and how before embarking on any plan, making a case for building ‘personas’ for target segments to help bring the data to life in a way marketers can readily grasp.

Out of this can emerge scenario plans, taking into account the ways in which customers are choosing to interact or where they talk about the brand. There is a significant nod to competitor analysis, while big data also rears its head. Smith provides useful templates for developing key performance indicators based on this first stage analysis and also for each of the other stages in SOSTAC, giving this the sense of a workbook, which is welcome among the welter of more theoretical titles on this subject.

Objectives are then considered, with the business setting its goals against what it understands about the market and customer base. Strategy translates these goals into positioning and propositions. The book offers nine components for this under the acronym TOPPP SITE. Throughout, Smith demonstrates a fondness for numbered lists and strings of rhetorical questions that are either a useful way of breaking down a big subject into manageable bite sizes or a hyper-active response to the accelerating pace of digital marketing (see ‘Content Marketing is Hot’ on p. 87 as an example), depending on your taste. The book provides some useful sample strategy excerpts from a variety of brands (eg Twitter, Facebook, RABO Direct) to illustrate key points.

More numbered lists and questions follow for Tactics (including a surprise nod to direct mail), while Action considers the challenges of deploying constrained budgets into unlimited media channels, the need for consistency and understanding customers’ ‘digital body language’, and the crucial role played by marketing automation technology in holding all of this together. Smith also offers guidelines on social media policy, an often overlooked dimension for any brand venturing into this space — aligning what gets said in these forums with the brand guidelines is vital, but has to be expressed in ways everyone in the business can understand. Smith offers a ten-point policy to support this. Finally, Controls are looked at, ranging from usability testing to sales KPIs. A suite of appendices provide some additional references and lists for further consideration.

Taking on digital marketing within the framework of even an e-book is no easy task, and Smith is to be applauded for trying to throw his arms around the Internet (as well as mobile and social) in this way. There are ample anecdotes and short examples to help convince the reader that SOSTAC will deliver more consistency and better results. While the sheer number of external links can get distracting (it would be very time-consuming to follow all of them), they also demonstrate why digital marketing is such a challenge to plan and manage. If you can’t find some actionable guidance among everything Smith has to offer, you really are lost.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

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Reed FIDM, D. SOSTAC: The guide to the perfect digital marketing plan. J Direct Data Digit Mark Pract 16 , 146–147 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/dddmp.2014.79

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/dddmp.2014.79

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SOSTAC® Plan: How to Develop a Killer Digital Marketing Plan

Are you looking to create a killer digital marketing plan?

Look no further than the SOSTAC® marketing planning framework . This guide will teach you everything you need to know about this simple yet effective approach

What is the SOSTAC® marketing planning framework?

The SOSTAC® marketing planning framework is a popular digital marketing planning tool that helps businesses create effective marketing plans. The framework consists of six key stages: situation analysis, objectives, strategy, tactics, actions, and control.

PR Smith developed SOSTAC® , and it was named one of the top business planning frameworks by the Chartered Institute of Marketing. KPMG, RBS, and LinkedIn are just a few businesses that use it in their planning.

Creating the perfect digital marketing plan with SOSTAC®

SOSTAC® is a great way to create a digital marketing plan that is effective and efficient. By using this planning tool, you will be able to set your priorities and organise all of your digital marketing activities to create the perfect plan

Situation analysis informs your marketing plan

Situation analysis is a critical component of any marketing plan. By understanding the current environment, you can better assess your strengths and weaknesses and identify potential opportunities and threats. Situation analysis underpins your SOSTAC® plan and will make up a significant amount of the work that goes into producing your plan.

The typical components of a situation analysis include competitor analysis , internal capabilities analysis, PESTLE analysis, customer analysis , results analysis, and a partner/intermediaries analysis. Using a SOSTAC® situation analysis template can be a convenient way to manage your research.

SWOT Analysis

Having conducted various analyses, you can create a comprehensive SWOT analysis . SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This framework, also known as a "scenario planning" approach, helps you consider all possible scenarios and prepare for them.

Strengths and weaknesses relate to internal factors in your organisation. Opportunities and threats are external.

Use the TOWS model with a SWOT analysis

The TOWS Analysis is a great way to examine further your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Using the TOWS matrix, you match your organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to develop strategies designed to capitalise on opportunities or minimise threats.

The four TOWS strategies are:

Strength/Opportunity (SO)

Weakness/Opportunity (WO)

Strength/Threat (ST)

Weakness/Threat (WT)

Setting objectives in SOSTAC®

Setting objectives in SOSTAC® is a vital part of the digital marketing process. By setting clear objectives, you can ensure that your campaigns are effective and achieve your desired results. To set objectives, you first need to identify your business goals and break these down into the steps required to achieve them, which will provide you with marketing goals.

Align marketing objectives with the primary business goals

By starting with your primary business goals and cascading these down into your marketing objectives, you will ensure that your marketing plan perfectly aligns with your organisation's priorities. If the business's strategic goals are not guiding the marketing objectives, you are unlikely to create a successful marketing plan.

What are marketing objectives?

A business objective is a company's goal, such as increasing profits or market share. When creating objectives, it is important to distinguish between the following:

Strategic business goals: These are overarching company goals such as increasing profits, brand awareness, improving customer service, etc.

Marketing goals: These are specific, quantifiable goals that pertain to the marketing department and how it will achieve its objectives.

Frameworks for setting marketing objectives

Frameworks for setting marketing objectives can help you clarify your thinking and structure your objectives so that they are more useful for your team.

SMART objectives

A SMART objective is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. In layman's terms, this means that a SMART objective is clear in that it sets out exactly what is wanted.

If the business needs to grow sales via online channels, a marketing objective could be to increase web traffic by 20% in the next six months. This would be a SMART objective. It is specific (increase website traffic), measurable (via Google Analytics), achievable (not unrealistic), relevant (more website traffic is likely to result in more online sales) and time-bound (six months).

PR Smith's 5S Objectives

PR Smith's 5S Objective Setting Framework is used to create digital strategies. The 5S objective framework comprises five different types of objectives: Sell Goals, Serve Goals, Speak Goals, Sizzle Goals, and Save Goals.

The Sell Goals objective is to increase sales and profits. The Serve Goals objective is to improve customer service. The Speak Goals objective is to improve communication. The Sizzle Goals objective is to create excitement or extend the brand. And Save Goals are about reducing costs using digital marketing

RACE Planning Framework

The RACE planning framework is a tool that can help businesses reach new customers and convert them into engaged customers. The framework consists of four steps: reach, act, convert and engage. The first step, reach, is all about getting your message in front of as many people as possible. The second step, act, is about getting those people to take action. The third step is about converting to sales, and the fourth step relates to creating brand advocates and repeat customers.

While it isn't strictly an objective setting framework, it can be beneficial to align your objectives with the different stages of the RACE planning framework to give your marketing objectives a structure that aligns with the other goals your organisation may have.

Your marketing strategy

Your strategy is the plan of action that outlines how a company will achieve its marketing goals. Once you have your SMART objectives defined, you can turn to your SWOT and TOWS analysis to inform the strategy to get you to your goals.

What does strategy mean in the context of SOSTAC® planning?

The strategy stage of your SOSTAC® marketing plan is the broad strokes summary of how you will achieve your objectives. It outlines the steps necessary to achieve those goals, including how the company will reach its target market, differentiate its products or services from its competitors, and generate demand for its products or services.

Basics of marketing strategy development

You can keep your strategy quite simple, but you must include three elements: segmentation, targeting and positions (STP).

Segmentation is defining your target market. This could be by geography, demographic, sector, or any number of other criteria.

Targeting is how you plan to reach your defined target market (e.g. online adverting, channel partners, affiliates, etc.)

Positioning is where you say that the product or service you offer will meet a customer need or want. It would help if you had a clear value proposition.

Create a complete SOSTAC® marketing strategy

PR Smith created a strategy template for SOSTAC® marketing plans that use TOPPP SEED to guide what you need to include in a complete strategy document.

TOPPP SEED stands for:

Target markets

Partnerships

Sequences/Stages

Experience/CX

A complete marketing strategy will address each of the points of TOPPP SEED, providing everyone who reads the document with a complete understanding of what the organisation is aiming to achieve and how it plans to do so.

Tactics in your marketing plan

Tactics are an essential part of any marketing plan. They can help you reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals. However, it is vital to choose the right tactics for your business and your target market.

Establishing the right marketing mix

A company's marketing mix combines marketing tools that it uses to achieve its desired results. A clear positioning statement makes it easier to determine which marketing channels and tools are most appropriate.

Use the 7Ps model to articulate your marketing mix completely.

7Ps of the marketing mix

The 7Ps of the marketing mix are product, price, place, promotion, process, people, and physical evidence.

The product is what the company offers for sale.

The price is how much the customer pays.

The place is where the customer can buy the product.

The promotion is how the company tells the customer about the product.

The process is how the company makes the product.

The people are the people who work for the company.

The physical evidence is the products, materials, and information that support the company's marketing.

Create a great plan with strategic marketing communication

Successful strategic marketing communication planning is all about creating a great plan that uses the proper channels and tools to get your key messages across to your target audience. The key is to establish a solid plan with several channels to get your message out and then stick to that plan.

Actions and project management

Creating an action plan for marketing is a critical step in successfully executing your SOSTAC® plan. Determining who does what and when is essential to ensuring that the project is completed on time and within budget.

Marketing plan: who does what and when

The marketing action plan should identify who will do what and when tasks must be completed. For example, the person managing all paid advertising may be responsible for reviewing each created ad. They also need to make sure that each ad is scheduled appropriately and stays on top of their list of planned campaigns.

Gantt charts and project management

One way to stay on top of your action plan is to create a Gantt chart. Gantt charts can be a valuable tool for project management. They help allocate tasks and resources and track the progress of a project.

A marketing team can use a Gantt chart to plan and track the progress of a marketing campaign. The chart would show the campaign's start and end dates, the tasks that need to be completed, and the corresponding deadlines.

Resourcing your marketing plan

When resourcing your marketing plan, you need to consider your marketing budgets, software and tools, skills, and whether you use an external agency. It is crucial to have a realistic understanding of what resources are available to you and what is needed to achieve your marketing goals.

Your SWOT analysis will help to inform your resourcing requirements. Through your SWOT analysis, you should be able to identify your internal strengths and weaknesses, which will inform whether you need to outsource work, upskill your internal team, and what your marketing budget allows you do to (e.g. small budgets require more creative thinking or deliberate spending.)

How to control your SOSTAC® plan

The control stage of your plan defines your performance management processes. Your performance management process will determine whether your marketing plan is working to achieve your strategic and tactical objectives and help identify ways to improve results even further.

Use key performance indicators (KPIs)

A KPI is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company achieves key business objectives. Marketing KPIs can include website visits, social media followers, email opens and click-through rates, and leads generated.

The frequency with which you choose to report on your KPIs will vary according to each KPI. Some KPIs will be measured and monitored daily, whereas others will be reported monthly or quarterly.

KPIs should be a leading indicator of your marketing strategy's success. They give you an indication of how your content and campaigns are performing.

For example, KPIs like the number of website visits can determine whether the type of content is attracting the right audience.

Here are some examples of digital marketing KPIs

Unique website visitors

Customer acquisition cost

Number of leads generated

Click-through rate

Email delivery rate

Social media impressions

Creating a perfect plan for performance management

Part of your marketing performance management plan should include specific details about who is gathering performance data, the frequency with which they are reporting, and how the data is presented. You'll also need to be clear about who is analysing the data and actioning the conclusions if that is different from the person/team responsible for gathering the data.

One easy way to measure and monitor your marketing KPIs is to set up dashboards that automatically update. Tools like Oviond allow you to integrate many data sources, such as Google Analytics and Facebook Advertising, to track performance in near real-time.

PR Smith's SOSTAC®  Guide to Your Perfect Digital Marketing Plan 2022  is regularly updated and available online. To learn more, visit  www.SOSTAC.com

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Using the SOSTAC Model to Build an Efficient Marketing Plan

by Ivan Hruška | Nov 18, 2021 | Blog

This article will clarify the SOSTAC model created by PR Smith, a well-known and widely used model for any marketing or business planning . This six-step model is popular due to its simple structure while ensuring your marketing planning remains elaborated and logical . It’s a perfect way to scale any business, from start-ups to corporates. 

Easy to Remember, Demanding to Execute

At first glance, this model might seem shallow and superficial. Once you look through it, however, you realise the value of its ingenuity. Covering six key areas, the abbreviation SOSTAC stands for:

• Situation Analysis : Where are we now ?
• Objectives : Where do we want to be ?
• Strategy : How do we get there?
• Tactics : How exactly do we get there, 
• Action : What is our plan ?
• Control : Did we get there ?

1. Situation Analysis

The vital step for anyone designing any kind of strategy. Despite having a perfect business idea, you never succeed without knowing your organisation’s capabilities , customers’ needs / habits / expectations , overall business , and competitors’ environment . So, always focus on your 5Cs → company, customers, competitors, collaborators, and climate . 

There are several tools to draw up an in-depth analysis of your current state. You can try different business model canvases , SWOT analysis , PEST or PESTEL analysis , RBV approach , or the VRIO framework . Situation analysis requires enormous effort and amount of work. However, it gives you an overall understanding and a base for any future business accomplishments. 

Painting a picture of your current state, focus on the following areas:

• Customers/Consumers: Who are my customers, and how do they interact? How do they differentiate? What is the segment I want to target?  What do they believe is my positioning strategy?  What do my marketing personas resemble?  What channels are they using? What are the touchpoints I reach them through? What are the challenges they are facing?
• Product: Does the product address key issues of my target audience? What is the positioning of my product? What are the key differences between my product and my competitors’ product? What is the value proposition? 
• Competitors: Who are my direct and indirect competitors? How do they have a competitive advantage over my product regarding price, features, service, or similar things? What is my competitive advantage? What strategies do they carry out in their communications channels? 
• Market Environment: What is the market potential? Are there any indicators that the market will grow? What are the biggest challenges facing the market? What are the external factors that can have a possible impact on my business? Are there any niche markets? 

2. Objectives

First of all, objectives need to be unified , linked cross-departments , clearly defined , and of course, defined using the SMART methodology (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). To know our business direction, being clear about short- and long-term objectives is like a GPS coordinate for future growth. 

Setting the vision and mission of a company is a top C-level responsibility. However, everyone in the company needs to be involved in making it alive . Everyone needs to know where we are heading and what we stand for. Thus, departmental objectives always have to be linked to organisational goals ! 

PR Smith also created a concept helping you stay on track. The 5 Ss goals apply primarily for digital marketing and refer to: 

• Sell: Grow sales and market share. Selling online and e-marketing can enhance sales volume and customer experience, reduce cost, gain better brand loyalty, and generate more revenue. 
• Serve: Add value . Give your customer extra benefits online, additional customer services such as perfect responsiveness, quick assistance, or open dialogue and feedback. 
• Speak: Get closer to customers . Create a two-way dialogue. Draw your audience in through relevant and personalised content. Such appealing content helps you to raise brand awareness and loyalty and have high-quality lead generation. 
• Save: Save costs . Online processes are very cost-effective. They help save time and money, reduce staff, print and postage costs, and operational charges. 
• Sizzle: Extend the brand online . The online environment enables you to constantly improve the customer/user experience and establish your brand presence in the market.

3. Strategy

The big idea of how you plan to achieve the established goals is strategy. Now you have a driver and the GPS, so creating a strategy is drawing a road map to the path you will follow. 

The best way to come up with propositions that makes it possible to communicate a brand’s position in an original, attention-getting, and targeted way, is to follow the S-T-P Model . Firstly, you identify the segment base of your customers. This step may include demographics or lifestyle attributes. Then, after identifying market segments, you need to choose one or two most relevant and valuable and develop actions to position your product for each target segment individually. 

The strategy stage involves designing your value proposition and establishing your product on the market. By positioning your product, you create a base for overall communication and media mix. 

The proposition can root in rational and functional attributes → Unique Selling Proposition USP or emotional benefits that resonate with your audience → Emotional Selling Proposition ESP .

“Marketing Strategy is where we play and how we win the market. Tactics are how we then deliver on the strategy and execute for success.”  Mark Ritson

Tactics represent more details about the message and creative strategy in line with the brand positioning. Here you can define specific tools of the media mix you want to use and set the exact direction of your marketing plan. 

• What data do I have about my customers? 
• What tools and techniques will I use to reach my audience?
• How do my customers consume media? 
• What tactics will I use in each step of the customer journey? 

The fifth step of the SOSTAC model covers details step by step marketing plan and answers on how to bring the plan to life . At this point, it’s essential to decide on whether you have enough human and financial resources to execute the communication plan in-house or if you need to outsource some of the activities. The action stage also involves elaborating a schedule so you know precisely when each communication tactic rolls out.  

For further information on the communication mix , look at our previous articles and learn more about communication channels and customer journey . 

The action stage answers five basic questions: 

• WHAT? 
• WHEN? 

Look at the table below to explore the most common marketing tactics and related measures , including KPIs. The table follows the AIDA model , and the list of measures and KPIs is not exhaustive. As with all things in marketing, be creative and tweak it to your own needs . No one knows your business vision better than you. 

In the final step, you ensure that your plan was efficient and supported the growth goals you’ve set up. You monitor the plan and report back against KPIs based on objectives set at stage 2 and the type of launched campaign. Tracking your performance provides you with perfect visibility and control over each of the chosen tactics. The whole process of strategy evaluation must be assessed periodically , in predetermined periods. Ideas and campaigns which prove their hypothesis must keep running, while those that are only cost-generating must be shut down immediately. 

Speaking of reporting in online marketing, people tend to analyse their data mainly using web analytics. However, business intelligence focusing not only on individual channels but on the overall business performance is coming to the fore. Business intelligence covers metrics such as revenue, costs, sales, margin, customers, and the like. Those are metrics that matter the most since they determine the future direction of your business . 

Thus, the successful business direction is rooted in the combination of web analytics and business intelligence so the partial view of tracking data won’t mislead you . Using both tracking methods provides you with a comprehensive overview of your customers, sales, or current state, answering questions such as:

• What is my customer’s shopping behaviour? What is the retention rate, and how many of them buy regularly? 
• How long does it take between their purchases, and what is the best time to reach them with a proper communication message? 
• How are my sales affected by seasonality?
• How do my product/service sales vary by country, region, channel, or customer type?

To create more structure, apply marketing funnels in reporting just as in overall strategy development. If you want to know more about designing profitable funnels that involve employing various marketing tactics, read our previous articles here ! 

One of the most significant advantages of digital marketing is flexibility and adaptability to changing circumstances . Thanks to several analytics tools online, you can succeed even faster and more effectively when executing digital campaigns. However, don’t look at metrics alone, but in the broader context . Compare metrics, look for connections between them, monitor if one’s metric growth causes an increase in other related measures. 

Further reading:

• https://prsmith.org/sostac/

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SOSTAC: The guide to the perfect digital marketing plan

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PR Smith, self-published e-book available via http://prsmith.org/books/

Digital marketers may already be familiar with Paul Smith from previous books such as eMarketing eXcellence or Marketing Communications. With his latest e-book, Smith discusses in some depth the trademarked communications framework he has developed, called SOSTAC.

This comprises six stages: Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Actions and Control. Developed over a decade, the framework grew out of a meta-analysis of other marketing planning tools, identifying their common elements and synthesizing them into a new, more accessible and flexible approach. Recognizing the current high profile of digital marketing, Smith has written this book to provide channel-specific guidance for both experienced and new practitioners, while ensuring that the framework aligns with the master marketing plan since, as he notes, 'eventually we won't have digital marketing plans, it'll just be integrated marketing plans'.

Putting situational analysis at the start of the SOSTAC process actually leverages key strengths of digital marketing, since 'listening tools' (social media, etc) now allow marketers to gain unprecedented insight into their...

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Guides and Templates

Example marketing plans (SOSTAC®)

Easy to follow marketing plan examples based around pr smith's sostac® framework, how will these examples help me and my business.

In our digital marketing toolkit we created a series of short templates in Powerpoint and Word to help create and communicate digital marketing plans. This is one of our most used series of templates.

Some (agencies and consultants working with small and medium businesses) asked us for even shorter summaries AND an example. We, therefore, produced a one-page summary so everything is one page and a separate example of a fictitious company.

Who is the template for?

We’ve designed these example marketing plans to be as flexible as possible, so it can be applied for different types of businesses and roles including:

• Company directors and marketing managers
• Digital marketing managers
• Agencies and consultants

How are these example plans structured?

These example plans are based around PR Smith’s  SOSTAC ® framework relating to the areas of Smart Insights RACE planning. There are two samples both available for members to amend for their own organisation or their clients:

• Sample 1. A long example plan in Microsoft Word for a B2B company : “TechChester” is a software design and IT support business which uses the same structure as that recommended in our Business marketing plan guide.
• Sample 2. A short example plan in Microsoft Word for a B2C company : “Perfect Lawn” where their main communications and distribution are via their website. The Word document contains one blank plan in landscape format and one example plan.

Resource Details

• Author :  Annmarie Hanlon
• Format : Word documents for you to modify and create plans for your organisation or your clients
• Related guides : PR Smith’s guide to Creating the Perfect Digital Plan using SOSTAC(R) . Accompanies the  Business marketing plan guide . See also our longer  RACE Digital Marketing Plan example (A more detailed example, also to amend in Word).

About the author

Annmarie Hanlon

Annmarie Hanlon is the Smart Insights expert commentator on online and offline marketing strategies for business. Annmarie is the MD of  Evonomie  and author of  Quick Win Marketing , and co-author of  Quick Win Digital Marketing . She runs social media workshops in the UK and Ireland and shares marketing tips and news in her blog. You can follow Annmarie on  Twitter  or connect on  LinkedIn.

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How To Apply The SOSTAC Strategic Planning Model To Your Own Business

• Author Trevor Anderson
• Published November 10, 2019

The  SOSTAC  Approach is a marketing success model developed in the 1990s by strategic marketing communications expert  PR Smith . It is an extension of the SWOT analysis involving 5 key components. Each component interrelates with all the others to deliver a cohesive roadmap to success. In each step, the goal is to answer the following questions:

1) Situational Analysis:   Where Are We Now? -Analyze opportunities -Benchmark competition -Document current performance -Audit current customers

2) Objectives:   Where Do We Want To Be? -Define vision -Set weekly/monthly expectations -Align goals -Set SMART objectives -Key performance indicators -Define a reporting plan

3) Strategy:   How Are We Getting There? -Define consumer segments -Establish target demographics -Positioning statement -Marketing Mix -Define multi-channel experience -Build engagement & content strategy

4) Tactics & Action:   What Are We Doing To Get There? -Build a digital roadmap -Media schedule -Set allocation of budget and marketing resources

5) Control:   How Do We Monitor Our Progress To Our Goal? -Engage with our customers -Review aggregation plan -Qualitative feedback (surveys, etc.) -Review progress -Have we met our goals? -If we haven’t met goals, how do we pivot?

There is no magic bullet for achieving success with marketing. It is a methodical well thought out process. The SOSTAC method involves clear strategic planning, goal setting, and optimization efforts to build a winning marketing strategy.

Through this exercise we are able to learn all of the necessary information about a client to achieve success. Anderson Collaborative applies this model to the projects we take on so we are measuring the progress made towards our goals.

If you would like to apply this to your own business but feel like you don’t know how to best proceed or are struggling to answer some of these questions, schedule a free consultation with us! We’ll work with you to see how our agency can best help your business.

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Apple’s Digital Marketing plan using the SOSTAC® Model

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Introduction

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Situation Analysis

.           Apple customers are segmented into groups based on geographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics. The company also has several stores worldwide that facilities connection between Apple and its consumers. Secondly, the company sells directly from their stores, but a customer can also purchase a product through a retailer (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). The reason for involving the retailers is because they facilitate the linking of producers to their consumers. Apple key competencies encompass superior, innovative skills, high standard marketing quality, reliable financial power, and stable brand quality.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Customer Loyalty

Strong Brand Image

High profits margins

Highly innovative

Apple boasts one of the most influential brands across the globe. The company is able to manufacture and sell a product at a higher price compared to its competitor owing to its strength in the brand image. Besides both the intensive growth strategies and competitive strategies require high innovation techniques, thus helping the business to established competitive advantage (Apple, 2015). The company also hires the best personnel, and one of the requirements for the recruits is creativity and team culture. These efforts ensure that the co mpany can keep with the latest technology. Due to skillful innovation, many consumers prefer Apple to uniqueness, simplicity, and differentiation (Apple, 2015). Weighing these aspects on a SWOT matrix, Apple stre ngths are challenging to compete with. It, therefore, posses an upper hand to its rivals and are disserved, market leaders.

Few distribution networks

Exaggerated selling prices

Overdependence on iPhone sales for profits

The company policy to integrate exclusivity has ensured that it posses very few distribution networks. For instance, the company is always choosy when selecting sellers for its products. The SWOT matrix considers the aspect of exclusivity as a hindrance for market outreach. Selling at higher prices similarly attracts high-income earners and the middle class, therefore, making it difficult for individuals with low income to purchase their products (Apple, 2015). Recently, many consumers are shifting to other substitutes because of limited updated to iPhones. The effect should raise the alarm for Apple because as it seems, it is the iPhone sales that are earning the company more profits. Based on SWOT analysis, Apple premium pricing strategy and medium of product distributions impose limitation and severe weaknesses to the company.

Opportunities

Distribution network expansion

Rising demands triggering high sales volume

New product line development

Apple has significant opportunity for growth as it can quickly expand its distribution channel. The process will require the company to change its distribution strategy. The widened distribution channel will assist Apple in reaching more consumers (Apple, 2015). Besides, the company is also suited to increase product sales through efficient and aggressive marketing strategies, especially for its mobile tech components. The opportunity is intertwined to the continual rise of mobile access as also highlighted by PESTEL analysis. Lastly, the company has a chance to venture into new products. The rationale for this is that the already established products are very successful. Developing new products like the manufacture of Apple watches can help the business to expand and facilitate growth internationally (Zheng et al., 2015). Therefore, weighing the company’s opportunities in the SWOT matrix indicates that the company has several opportunities for growth despite the continued threats posed by the competitors.

Intense competition

Product imitation

Rising costs of labor

Of the three intense competitions from rivals is threatening Apple’s survival and therefore, the organization will need to shake up some of its strategies to compete favorably in the market. Companies like Dell, Google, Lenovo, and Samsung have shown a glimpse of aggression in innovation. Besides these competitors and especially Google has gone a notch higher as they carry out digital marketing on Facebook and have chatbots for relaying information on Twitter. That is a sharp contrast to Apple since it has a limited presence on both sites and the competitors are exploiting this opportunity a great deal. These factors in a SWOT matrix are a challenge for Apple since they limit Apple completive advantage (Zheng et al., 2015). A strong fundamental should thus be established to maintain and sustain a competitive advantage. Moreover, the company is faced with a challenge of product imitation. There are currently many native and international firms that have tried to copy the design and specific feature of Apple products. Lastly, high labor cost trend minimizes the profits accrued on timely bases, and the company should find a formidable method of addressing this problem (Zheng et al., 2015). As a result of eternal strategic components in the SWOT model, Apple performance could subside since the ongoing trends of imitation, and aggressive completion has become prevalent.

Figure 1.0 Representing Apple brief SWOT Analysis summary (Umar, 2018)

PESTEL analysis

PESTEL analysis usually incorporates political, environmental, socio-cultural, technological, economic, and legal factors. However, for this plan, three distinct units were found very instrumental.

Economic factors

Economic determines the capability and willingness to buy a product. It also depends on the financial strength of a locality or social classes of the segmented individuals. Apple immense resources and capability should utilize this approach as an opportunity. Many consumers, especially the low-income earners, have shown concern on highly-priced Apple products (Umar, 2018). The company can rectify this by carrying out a marketing strategy on the products that suits such consumers. They can also fulfill this opportunity by product diversification by developing a new product line (Umar, 2018). As part of the market research, the company should also look at the promising areas where political temperatures are favorable. Some countries in Africa and Asia have a high affinity for Apple products. They can seize this opportunity by building their stores in those localities to allow the quick and convenient purchase of Apple products.

Social-cultural factors

Social-cultural factors are closely related to interpersonal factors. The company should focus on a mechanism to bring closer consumers to its franchise. The perfect approach to do this is to advertise through Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Telegram platforms. Apple lacks a strong social media presence like Samsung, Amazon, or Google, and this is playing to their disadvantage. It will be better if the company start an influential page on Facebook that allows the consumers to access the recent changes and relay feedback. Besides, they could obtain more traffic on their pages by streaming videos and showing quality pictures highlighting the level of the customer’s satisfaction by their brand (Weill, & Woerner, 2018). Additionally the company could adopt social media advertising to market little known product components like Apple watches and the Apple TVs. Since the company is founded on IT infrastructure through operational and active social media websites, it can also show the tutorials and modalities through which iCloud computing works. Lastly, social-cultural factors focus on humanistic approach treatment for the consumers (Weill, & Woerner, 2018). It would be vital if the company adopts inclusivity and diversity to provide a fair opportunity for every individual to work at the company.

Modern technology has simplified the mode of operation and has also made work very easier. Tremendous and unparalleled innovative skills should serve as an opportunity for Apple. They should use this approach to appropriately educate its employees of the market trends and marketing segmentation (Weill, & Woerner, 2018). Imparting proper skills to the employees allow them to adapt quickly to the changes and propose a solution in case of a hitch. Similarly, through technological integration and iCloud computing efforts, the company can connect to many businesses across the globe and strike a formidable relationship. The bond created between companies could be of great value to the customers since they can join hands to come up with a solution that affects the consumers on a daily basis (Weill, & Woerner, 2018).

Figure 2.0 showing Apple PESTEL analysis of critical components (Apple, 2015)

5 ‘S’ Digital Marketing Framework, Objectives and Measurements

The fundamental and underlying approach to incorporate 5 ’s’ digital marketing is to enable the increase of the sales volume. The method could be only facilitated if a company opts for selling products online (Weill, & Woerner, 2018). In this approach, Apple could utilize this as an opportunity through offering incentives, for example, free delivery of products. Besides, speak is a vital approach that bridges the distance between the consumer and the seller (Weill & Woerner, 2018). It involves an open dialogue about the aspect of the product that needs improvement. Serve is the third approach and determines how well a website is composed and associated customer services. Save on the hand, integrates the savings that are realized through digital marketing. Sizzle is the last step and connotes how a company has built its brand online to compete favorably.

Speculation on the future market prospect

Primarily, I would want Apple to maintain its competitive advantage. Apple should, therefore, exploit a different product line and diverse in several fields. Already it has succeeded in the manufacture of quality products which are adored by its consumers, it, therefore, indicates that even future ventures will succeed (Urban, Gosline & Lee, 2017).

Short-term digital marketing strategies

Reducing costly promotions

Price reduction helps the consumers to act quickly. Primarily it can be achieved through lowering price, therefore, working as an incentive to the customers and encouraging them to purchase.

Group offers

Is a valuable incentive strategy geared towards gaining exposure, especially when bonding with new customers? To achieve this objective, the offers could be tailored to facilitate the discount provision to influential and essential groups (Urban, Gosline & Lee, 2017). In respect to Apple, the company can provide a society for human resource chapters to act as a special offer to them.

Medium marketing strategies

Appropriate segmentation

Marketing crisis is a significant problem for most marketers. The best and effective way to solve this problem is to provide data is extrinsic and extrinsic. Apple should, therefore, incorporate both external and internal focus group to validate the success of a digital campaign (Urban, Gosline & Lee, 2017). The approach is significant in helping the team to segment messaging.

Authenticity

Authenticity involves the process of connecting to potential buyers. To fulfill this objective, Apple will need to hire employees whose credentials blends with the profile of the possible audience. The company’s overall messaging and campaign modes should be very straightforward as they aim to connect with real individuals (Urban, Gosline & Lee, 2017).

Long-term marketing strategies

Search Engine Optimization is a vital ingredient for success in online marketing. For sustained benefits, Apple should generate critical words of its brand product, and actively optimize its contents for easy and convenient search. The main objective of this approach is to enhance the site visibility and in turn, increase traffic.

Social Media

Competition is a common thing in digital marketing. Many companies want to make sales and have to be distinctly innovative to stay on top of their game. The best way Apple could fulfill these needs to run adverts s on Facebook under the sponsorship and informative marketing on Twitter. Advertising in Social Media helps in creating immense traffic and potential leads (Urban, Gosline & Lee, 2017). Social media are platforms where the possible audience is, and therefore, Apple should be right there with them and develop the best content for them.

Various Marketing Techniques

Social Media marketing is one of the fundamental ways through which business could access its potential consumers. It is a vital strategy since it helps a company to have a glimpse of what customers need in the market (Malhotra  & See, 2013). For instance, Apple could reach thousands of its customers on platforms such as Face book, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Exceptional skills in marketing could result in immense success to the company by ensuring that the brand product has sales ambassadors who act for the benefit of the business franchise (Malhotra  & See, 2013). Positive interaction with customers could be achieved through the sharing of contents like videos, images, and tutorials.

Pay-per-click

Pay-per-click is a typical method of marketing that incorporates the use of search engines to drive traffic to a site. They include the sponsored ads that are usually pop in the Google search and most cases; they integrate a yellow label. Apple could use this approach as a perfect opportunity to market its product and promote its brand in general (Malhotra  & See, 2013). Primarily, it offers the company with an ideal means on how they can appropriately compose a message and customize it in a way that will result in more sales. It is also convenient in that the company will be in a position to measure or adapt the traffic quality that is generated from the search engine clicks (Malhotra  & See, 2013). From the survey previously conducted, consumers prefer paid searches compared to other methods of digital advertisements. In most cases, therefore, consumers do not need to be advised on what to do. So long provided that the services and products advertised perfectly fits their needs.

Press releases

Press releases are vital ingredients in strategic, marketing. Through a press release, it makes it quite easier to make the target audience of the new product in the market. Generally, consumers tend to buy a product they have heard about and one that has accumulated more positive reviews. For Apple to perfect this approach the company will need to provide crucial information of the product brand, attach necessary quotes, and segment the customers they would like to contact (Malhotra  & See, 2013).  Apple could also make the press release to be part of its email campaigns. It is very cheap and requires very little time to put together.

How to build sales funnel

Developing an excellent and convenient website landing page

A good business takes time to build its website with the consumers in mind appropriately. It will be appropriate, therefore if Apple will take time and makes the site have a great user experience (Maecker, Barrot & Becker, 2016). The website also will be able to attract more traffic since different people will want to sign-up or subscribe for that matter.

Presenting an opportunity for the consumers to procure service

The primary purpose of creating a front-end offer is to be able to attract more consumers and increase the sales volume (Maecker, Barrot & Becker, 2016). For Apple, the company could attract more consumers by engineering the conventional mindset with the constructed front-end products that are specially connected to the upsell offers.

Offering a downsize option

In most cases, individuals tend to think that a downsize option represents a failure while in reality, it does not. Just the same way business tends to encourage its customers to upgrade the service offered in the upsell approach is the same way the downsize option work (Maecker, Barrot & Becker, 2016). For this option, Apple will be forced to offer a downgrade option to a specific customer. It could be a viable approach as it helps in reaching potential consumers and consequentially retaining them, especially in localities where economies are not stable.

Project Plan for Execution of Each Tactic

• Process audit of the current social media presence. The process involves identification of the network the entity is active on. It is also essential in the identification of a network with higher value
• Documentation of the ideal consumer. The process involves segmenting the potential audience and articulating what precisely they need from a product
• Creating a social media mission statement. The mission statement highlights the future activities, and it also represents the brand identity
• Identification of vital metrics. These metrics include sentiments, total shares a conversation rates
• Creation of engaging content. Depends on how well a business knows its consumers. It integrates storytelling, infographics, and sharing of touching videos and images.
• Tracking, analyzing, and optimizing. Primarily, it involves evaluation and routine monitoring. A perfect social media strategy is usually a work in progress, and appropriate changes are, therefore, necessary.

Pay-Per-Click

• Goal setting and strategy formulation. Setting clear goal sets a precedence of focus and allow the business to anticipate the likely results from its ventures.
• Ad Placement.PPC advertisement is mostly integrated on websites or generated in search engines. The search engines are, therefore, instrumental in the validation of bidding for the keyword targeted.
• Keyword formulation. The practical and engaging method to involve the consumers is briefly communicating what the company is about and highlighting its brand line. For Apple to maximize on this approach, the company could incorporate iSpionage tool that could be instrumental in the discovery of keyword.
• Process management. Process management determines the longevity of the brand. Apple could initiate this by enhancing the PPC campaign periodically, process refinery, and replacing underperforming keywords.
• ROI focus. The success or failure of the PPC advertising depends on the numbers of clicks generated and also the potential leas Apple could, therefore, focus on a convenient approach to make the leads.

Press release

• Using an attention-grabbing and a snappy headline. Consumers want something that triggers their mind when they read the content. It is instrumental in keeping the headline short, informative, but accurate.
• Summary of the main focus. The process involves detailing what is happening, outlining when and why in the first paragraph. The brief, should, therefore, grab the attention of the editor
• Short, informative, well-written, and factual. Ideally, the details presented should be logical, and if possible, the business should avoid jargon and words that might be difficult to understand.
• Shortening paragraphs and using simple sentences. Lengthy paragraphs and words are strenuous to read and thus should be avoided.
• Integrate a story from quoting from a well-known influence. For security purposes, adopt pseudonyms if maybe the company does not want its name to appear on paper.

Metrics to Monitor Tactics

Tracking Likes and Reactions for the developed post

The high influx of likes or reactions shows excellent customer satisfaction to the content posted.

Facebook proves a perfect opportunity and in-depth reaction systems. Through the reaction, the platform will highlight if the content shared is liked by the consumers or is disliked. To access this information, the advertising company will have to access the insights page and click the post option button, which is on the left of the navigation window. The advertiser also has an opportunity to access all the associated, reactions, and shares.

Twitter incorporates almost a similar approach to Facebook with very few alterations. For Twitter, all the tweets are displayed for a selected timeframe which allows the consumers to react. Besides, it allows for more engagement through the engagement columns hence allowing to get extra pieces of information (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).

Mentions Monitor

Business customers should be the number one fans. Their role is instrumental in that they help in the product purchase, which translates to profit for the business. For Apple, to integrate this approach, it will need to find the customer inputs and insights about the brand. For this purpose, it is instrumental in tracking the mention. A high number of mentions, for example, highlights great pleasure and contentedness with a service (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). The customers might decide to tag the business entity and appreciate the excellent work the company is dong. In such a case, it accumulates more traffic for your sites, and a wider audience could be reached through social media sharing.

Comment and replies reviews

It is not easy to judge how a product or an interactive site is unless customers provide an informative analysis of your posts.

To find this critical information, it is viable to access the insights tab and then click the post options, which is in the left of the navigation panel. A PR assistant or an expert could then scroll down to access the comments, individual’s reactions, and the number of shares of the content. The same approach could be used for Twitter though it might be very straightforward.

Press Release

Conversions and Reads

Conversions highlight the initiative by the customer to purchase after reading your content. The perfect metric for monitoring the progress is by utilizing Google analytic tool to help in tracking the traffic sources. (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). High conversation rates highlight that a potential customer is gradually moving towards the sales funnel. Similarly, through reads, it is possible to quantify the number of audiences who have accessed the content.

Clicks are necessary for evaluating the success of the marketing strategy. Through the periodical clicks, the account managers could take time and weed out ads that are not performing. For the performing ads, the managers might decide to increase the number of bids to accumulate more traffic. Clicks typically measure the number of the individuals who access the ad and therefore, is vital in generating influx rates and retention capacities (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).

Digital marketing, as an integrative approach, has helped many business entities to grow in profits accumulated and access to a broader audience. Platforms like Facebook have helped in marketing process since many individuals are found on those platforms. Besides, it is the role of the entity to look for the audience and not the other way round. Therefore to get traffic and better reviews, a company must decide on a viable strategy to communicate to its market. It should this by articulating relevant information on its website and the social media forums. The information disseminated should be simple, clear, sincere, and objective.

Apple Inc. (2015, October). https://pestleanalysis.com/apple-pestle-analysis/

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015).  Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement.   Psychology and Marketing ,  32 (1), 15–27

Maecker, O., Barrot, C., & Becker, J. U. (2016).  The effect of social media interactions on customer relationship management.   Business Research, 9 (1), 133–155.

Malhotra, A., Malhotra, C. K., & See, A. (2013).  How to create brand engagement on Facebook.   MIT Sloan Management Review, 54 (2), 18–20.

Smart Insights. (n.d.).  Your complete digital marketing library.  Retrieved from  https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-advice/

Umar, F. (2018, October). Apple SWOT Analysis. https://www.google.com/search?q=Apple+SWOT+Analysis+figures&sxsrf=ACYBGNS7Ld4hstafJJbfzOyUrLjbx8qPQQ:1568620175479&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=P90YFLRlAwyRoM%253A%252CPYF39uwvm_s8oM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTYwwSlU8Tf2fw9g9JAZJb7QlmXLA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiN9eLC7dTkAhUxAWMBHWOIDA0Q9QEwDXoECAMQDA&biw=1280&bih=689#imgrc=nGnWmIAIUZWabM:&vet=1

Urban, G. L., Gosline, R., & Lee, J. (2017). The power of consumer stories in digital marketing.  MIT Sloan Management Review ,  58 (4), 9–13.

Weill, P., & Woerner, S. (2018).  Surviving in an increasingly digital ecosystem.   MIT Sloan Management Review ,  59 (2), 26–28.

Zheng, X., Cheung, C. M. K., Lee, M. K. O., & Liang, L. (2015).  Building brand loyalty through user engagement in online brand communities in social networking sites.   Information Technology and People ,  28 (1), 90–106.

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SOSTAC® marketing plan model

I have featured PR Smith’s SOSTAC® Planning framework (explained more fully at Paul’s site: www.sostac.org ) in all of my books on digital marketing strategy since it provides a simple, process-based structure for creating any form of marketing plan that can be readily communicated to others. Thanks to its simplicity and effectiveness for planning it has been widely adopted in organisations of all sizes as a method of structuring marketing and other plans. It was rated as one of the most popular marketing models in a poll of marketers organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

The SOSTAC®  framework was originally created by UK-based marketer PR Smith in the 1990s and was applied to digital marketing our book Digital Marketing Excellence from the early 2000s when businesses were first working out how to develop digital marketing strategies.

I created this wheel infographic of SOSTAC® to summarize common activities for creating a multichannel / digital marketing communications plan in 2017, it’s based on a more generic marketing growth wheel developed by Dan Bosomworth and I in 2012.

What is SOSTAC® planning?

SOSTAC® has six steps; it stands for Situation, Objectives and Strategy, Tactics, Action and Control. Here I relate it to the chapters of my Digital Marketing: Strategy and Implementation book (authored with Fiona Ellis-Chadwick).

1. Situation analysis means ‘where are we now?’

Planning activities involved at this stage include performing an digital-specific SWOT analysis, and reviewing the different aspects of the micro-environment (Chapter 2) including customers, competitors and intermediaries. Situation analysis also involves review of the macro-environment (Chapter 3).

2. Objectives means ‘where do we want to be?’

This can include a vision for digital channels, and also specific numerical objectives for the digital channels such as projections of sales volumes and cost savings (see Chapter 9).

3. Strategy means ‘how do we get there?’

Strategy summarises how to achieve the objectives for the different decision points explained in this chapter, including segmentation, targeting, proposition development (including the elements of the marketing mix described in more detail in Chapter 5 and CRM described in Chapter 6).

4.  Tactics define the usage of tactical digital and traditional communications tools?

This includes specific details of the marketing mix (Chapter 5), CRM (Chapter 6), experience (Chapter 7) and digital communications (Chapters 8 and 9).

5.  Actions refers to action plans, change management and project management skills?

We refer to some of the issues of modifications to organisational roles and structures in chapter 4.

6.  Control looks at the use of management information including web analytics to assess whether strategic and tactical objectives are achieved and how improvements can be made to enhance results further.

This is closely related to goal setting as described in this chapter and in Chapter 8, and also the coverage of web analytics and tracking in Chapter 10.

Note that each stage is not discrete; rather there is some overlap during each stage of planning – previous stages may be revisited and refined, as indicated by the reverse arrows

Why use SOSTAC® planning?

I recommend SOSTAC® because it provides a clear structure, that is simple to remember and to explain to others that covers all the stages needed to create AND implement any type of business or marketing plan.

The framework:

• Is based on what’s happening in a company’s marketplace, i.e. it’s customer-centred and reviews the importance of potential partners, influencers and competitors (in situation).
• Has clear objectives to achieve a vision for the future – particularly important for digital marketing (in Objectives).
• Gives clear strategic direction and focus to achieve your objectives (in Strategy).
• It summarizes the marketing techniques to be used to achieve your Strategy (in Tactics).
• Has a method of tracking and review to keep the strategy on track when you’re implementing it (in Actions and Control).

Integrating SOSTAC® and RACE

This is a common question that this video explainer answers.

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