Despite their best efforts, small businesses and professional services companies sometimes find that they just do not achieve the results intended or their business marketing plans cannot be fully implemented. Marketing plans can fail or miss the mark for a variety of reasons. One of the most common reasons, however, can be found in the business marketing strategy and not in the action plans.

There are five measures of a business marketing strategy that must be present if your marketing plan and your tactics are to succeed.

1. Shared trajectory with business strategy. It is crucial that you align your business marketing strategy on the same trajectory with your business strategy. For example, if your plan is to grow your business by focusing on services you can provide to residents of independent living communities, it would likely be a waste of money to place expensive ads on MTV.

2. Budget Sensitivity. The budget establishes the boundaries for your business marketing strategy. No matter how great an idea seems, if you have spent half of your budget and you need the rest to meet your goals, you simply cannot pursue the new idea without additional funds.

3. Inclusive. Your business marketing strategy should state all of your marketing goals, as well as how you plan to accomplish them. It needs to include all of your marketing activities – traditional, internet, mobile, point-of-sale, etc. But it also needs to permit you to make modifications in order to take advantage of new opportunities with a very high chance of success.

4. Balanced. It is unlikely that you will be reaching out to a single, narrowly defined demographic within your target audience or that you will use a single marketing tactic. A successful business marketing strategy will include ways to reach several segments of your target audience and will speak to those people through more than one medium.

5. Audience grounded. A good strategy will result from deep knowledge of your target market. It will use the tactics likely to speak clearly to that audience. It will reflect your understanding of the message they need to hear and the method of communication they prefer.

If your business marketing strategy can pass these five tests, you will be well on your way to crafting a winning marketing strategy that will achieve your goals and grow your business in the strategic direction you want the business to go.

If you own a small business and want to learn more about lead generation, view the free video, “How Article Promotion Can Drive 25,000 – 50,000 New Prospects to Your Web Site Each Month – For Free.”