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Lisa Shepherd

There are times when a company needs to undertake a
comprehensive strategic review that involves thorough
research to clarify industry trends, customer needs, and
competitive offerings, as well as internal sessions to
clarify strengths and opportunities. If your company is
facing significant industry change or has not confirmed its
business strategy for a number of years, you will first need to
complete this process. Setting a marketing strategy before
setting a business strategy is simply putting the cart before
the horse.
The next three chapters explain how to gather company,
customer, and competitor facts and insights that will serve as
the platform for your marketing strategy.
Most books talk about marketing strategy as the four P’s:

- Product—what will we offer?
- Price—how much will we charge?
- Place—where will we sell it?
- Promotion—how will we get the word out?
Most companies need to move their marketing beyond the
four P’s. They need to understand how to get from high level
strategy to the tactical level. This book focuses on the more
tactical and operational (i.e. practical) elements of B2B
marketing.

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© 2012 Lisa Shepherd