SOSTAC - Framework for digital marketing strategy development

SOSTAC, developed by PRSmith, is one of the best frameworks to develop a marketing strategy. It is pretty straight forward and helps to look at the big picture and at the same not lose track of the detail for successful implementation.

 

(source: http://www.davechaffey.com/images/Internet-marketing-strategy.png)

BSA Marketing put together a useful catalog of questions for each step which is very helpful to get started with the own analysis (Source: http://www.bsamarketing.com/downloads/sostac.pdf)

Situation Where are we now?

    How are we performing?
    What are our distinctive competitive (marketing) advantages?
    Are we focusing on the best segments with the right type of customer?
    Are we using the most appropriate channels for communication and distribution?
   What uncontrollable event(s) or trend(s) can impact my business?
Objectives Where do we want to get to?

    Business Mission?
    Business Objectives?
    Marketing Objectives - Business Development?
    Marketing Communication Objectives?

Strategy How are we going to get there? – The Big Picture

    Segmentation - How do we want to divide up the market(s)?
    Targeting - Which segments of the market do we wish to focus upon?
    Positioning - How do we want to be perceived in each different target segment? 

Tactics How are we going to get there? – The Detail
    Which Communication Tools are we going to use?
    How are we going to use them?
    What message(s) do we wish to communicate?
    Are we being consistent across different tools and messages?
    Do we have the necessary resources/budgets?

 Actions Who is going to do what and when?
    Who is going to do what?
    When are they going to do it?
    What is the resource allocation for the action?
    What are the key performance measurements?
    How is performance going to be recorded?

Control How can we control, measure and develop the process?

    Do action performance measurements relate to objectives?
    Responsibility for measurement?
    Frequency of measurement?
    Resources for measurement?
    Review of measurements?
    Actions on variance?