Why you need a marketing strategy in 2025

Whether your marketing budget is £5,000 or £500,000, you would not invest that amount of money anywhere else without considering what success looks like and planning carefully for that outcome. Your strategy is the starting point for making the most of your marketing investment, writes Lucy Lomas, director at Luma Marketing.

It should be painfully obvious that if you want marketing outputs to be effective, you need to have a strategy in place to guide them. Nevertheless, we’re frequently asked to jump straight into work without a strategy, which never works.

The benefits of a strong marketing strategy

We get it; none of you went into business to be marketers. You’ve got the thing that you do and you do it well. You want that to be what makes you stand out from the crowd. In a perfect world that would be all you need, and I’d be out of a job! But that’s not the way it works. Marketing is a vehicle that helps you tell your target audience how you’ll help change their life or business for the better. It simply cannot be an afterthought!

Solid, strategic marketing will help you and your business:

• Take control of your reputation
• Optimise resources
• Maximise return on investment.

On top of that, it’ll give your team direction, ensuring that every decision supports a larger business goal rather than reacting impulsively to the latest industry trend or idea hatched over lunch.

Strategic importance

Great, so now we know the benefits of marketing. Nothing ground-breaking there. Why are you harping on about strategies, Lucy? Isn’t it all just “marketing”?

Not quite.

A marketing strategy is the early planning work you do to ensure your marketing hits the mark and brings in results. In no other context would you start work without some evidence-based thinking and decision-making. Every planning application starts with a planning strategy, every architectural brief begins with a design strategy, and every development project kicks off with a strategy meeting. Marketing is an investment like any other and should be treated as such.

A well-defined strategy starts with clear decision-making. By investing in thinking upfront, you’ll know:

• Who your audience is
• What messages will resonate
• Which marketing channels will deliver the most impact

Here are a couple of examples to demonstrate how that might work in practice. If you’re launching a new residential development, a strategy ensures that all elements – from PR and social media to sales plans and community engagement – are aligned rather than working in silos. Likewise, if you’re planning an event, you’re not scrambling to decide who to invite or whether it’s worth the spend but instead making an informed decision about positioning and messaging that aligns with broader objectives.

Being visible and making the most of your resources

Another major benefit is visibility. Consistency is key when it comes to brand reputation, and a cohesive marketing strategy ensures that you’re communicating the right messages to the right people at the right time.

For example, a North West architecture practice that wants to attract clients looking for super homes and mansions won’t achieve this by sporadically posting on social media or running generic digital ads. Instead, they need a campaign that aligns with their brand values, engages potential clients through thought leadership, and positions their work as a prime opportunity for clients to securetheir dream homes.

Resource efficiency is another significant advantage. Without a strategy, you and your business can fall into the trap of investing in scattered activities — spending on digital ads, sponsorships,
and PR – without a clear understanding of what’s working. A strategy helps you direct funds and efforts to channels that actually deliver the results you’re after.

What makes a good strategy?

It’s pretty simple, really. A good marketing strategy will satisfy seven core criteria:

It’s specific in that it outlines specific activities to perform and audiences to target. For example, “Grow brand recognition with high-income clients (strategy) through targeting media outlets with a focus on luxury interiors (tactic)”.

It’s data-driven in that it doesn’t make its recommendations without reasoning and data to back it up. For example, by examining which types of content have historically driven the most meaningful interaction with your target market, you can tailor your strategy to prioritise the most effective.

It’s aligned with business objectives in that every piece of the strategy is tailored towards achieving the goals you’ve set for your business. For example, a business objective might be to work with four housing associations this year. Your marketing strategy might reflect this by targeting speaking opportunities at events where housing associations will have a vested interest.

Measurable goals just mean agreeing on concrete ways for you to measure whether your marketing efforts are having the impact you want them to. It’s through these measurable goals that you know whether your strategy is working. Have four housing associations signed a contract? Have you increased profitability? Have you grown your client base by a given number?

If it prioritises audience insights, it’s based on an understanding of what drives decision-making in the built environment. The strategy reflects buyer personas and the real concerns and motivations of the people and groups you’re targeting.

It’s an actionable plan. Your strategy isn’t just a high-level document that sits in a drawer. It’s a working roadmap that outlines which marketing channels will be used (these are your tactics), how success should be measured, and who’s responsible for delivery (this is your plan).

Finally, a good strategy isn’t static, it evolves based on data. Businesses that regularly review performance, adjust their messaging, and fine-tune their approach will always be ahead of those that stubbornly stick to an outdated plan.

Commit to strategic success in 2025

Remember, marketing should never be an afterthought — it’s a fundamental driver of your business’s success.
Contact Luma Marketing today and we’ll help you put together a strategy that will take you and your business into a prosperous future.

• Lucy Lomas is director at Luma Marketing