SOSTAC

SOSTAC - a perfect digital marketing plan

The SOSTAC model is an extension of the SWOT analysis and focuses on implementation and communication. It consists of the marketing fundamentals: Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, and Control. This is the ideal model because it clearly distinguishes between strategy and tactics. The challenge with strategic plans is that they often remain high-level, and organizations fail to translate them into concrete action plans. The SOSTAC model takes into account the necessary action plans that will bring success to your strategy.

Situation - Where are we now? 

The first step is often underestimated but is extremely important. You may want to jump straight into creating a concrete plan for the future, so why waste time on the current situation? However, without this step, you'll be in the dark. What exactly needs to be aligned in this step? 

• Organization - What does the organization look like? What are the different business units? Which stakeholders have influence in this process? 
• Product-Market Combinations - What products/services do we offer? What value do they add to our organization? 
• Performance - What strategies are we currently implementing to achieve our marketing objectives? How are we performing? 
• Brand Experience/Perception - What do customers think of us? 
• Customer Insights - What do we know about our customers? Who do we need to reach in order to achieve our goals? 
• SWOT Analysis (the classic) - What are our (internal) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? 
• Competitive Analysis - Who are our competitors? How do they compete with us? How can we map them to our SWOT components? 
• Internal Capabilities - What tools, resources, and stakeholders do we have at our disposal?

Objectives - Where do we want to go?

The second step is to outline the goals you want to achieve. What is our vision, and what are our business objectives? To make this as specific as possible, it is advisable to consider the following points:

• Acquisition - What metrics do we want/need to achieve (such as leads, orders, retention, etc.)?
  
• Customer Satisfaction - What do we want customers to think of us?
• Costs - How much do we think it will cost versus how much it should cost?
• Timing - How long will it take?/How much time do we have

Strategy - How do we get there?

Here we are, the strategy phase. In this stage, you use the information from the situation analysis to determine how you will achieve your goals.

• Summary of the situation analysis - Why are we doing this? What does our playing field look like? 
• Objectives - Where do we want to go? What do we want to achieve with this strategy? 
• Target Audience & Segmentation - How do we divide our market, and which target audiences do we want to reach? 
• Targeting - Which customer groups/segments are we focusing on? What relevant content themes and topics can we identify? 
• Channel Mix - How do we create a unified multi-channel customer experience? Which channels should we use, and how do they align with the key target audiences? 
• Messaging/Content - What is our story, and what message are we conveying? 
• Positioning - How do we position ourselves in relation to competitors?

Tactics - In what way do we get there?

Time for tactics, being strategic. Now you pragmatically determine what you will do to achieve your set goals. This phase is also the moment to indicate which elements still need to be addressed. For example, do you need to write whitepapers for lead generation or shoot a brand video? Time for action!

• Digital Roadmap - What steps do we need to take? Which channels do we activate and when?
  
• Methodology - Which methodologies will we use to realize our strategy? Consider, for example, the Always-on model.
  
• Digital Landscape - What tools/platforms do we need?
  
• Data - What data do we need? From ourselves, from customers?

Action - What is the plan?

• Channel Implementation - How do we deploy our channels over what period and with what frequency?
  
• Content Calendar - What content do we need to create to maintain this frequency? 
• Optimization & Development - How do we optimize our platform to achieve our objectives?
• Steps/Planning - Who do we need to involve (within or outside our organization), and how much time do we require from them?

Control - How do we monitor our performance?

• KPIs flow from the intended objectives. From here, determine how to monitor and steer these KPIs (ER, Conversions, MQL, SQL, etc.).
• Customer Experience - How do we measure, control, and optimize our customer experience?
• Reporting - Frequency of reporting & evaluation
• Process - How do we ensure all of the above in a process & guidelines?

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