SOSTAC - 6 Steps to a Successful Marketing Plan

Dear Marketers, 

glad you’re back. 

If you want to implement a digital marketing plan you should have heard about the SOSTAC Model. 

The multichannel marketing growth wheel

What’s SOSTAC?

SOSTAC consists of six core components which must be taken into account when you create a marketing plan: 

1.  (S)    Situation - Where are we now?

2.  (O)   Objectives - Where we want to be?

3.  (S)    Strategy - How we get there?

4.  (T)    Tactics - What we need to get there?

5.  (A)    Action - What we need to get there? (Details of tactics)

6.  (C)    Control - How we monitor performance?

Please note that every stage of the SOSTAC model is equally important to a successful marketing plan and its implementation and review (Chaffey & Smith, 2013). 

My opinion:

In my opinion, the SOSTAC model is a quite simple approach for large companies to coordinate and structure processes in a logical order (Chaffey, 2019). 

Cowley-Cunninghams report is a great example about Jellies and Jaffas marketing strategy and how it satisfies customer needs. As described in the report, it is always important to execute the SOSTAC model from the beginning to the end – otherwise it won’t work probably. In addition, the model is more suitable for large companies with sufficient labour, software and time (Cowley-Cunningham, 2016). Unfortunately, this limits the usability for the general public. 

Concluding, the SOSTAC model is a good tool to accompany managers throughout the process of a marketing plan. Even if the model has its restrictions, it is quite easy to understand and if used correctly, it brings a lot of added value.

But now it’s your turn…

How did you develop your marketing strategy? Did you use a suitable model or did you just go for it without a theoretical background?

I’m really curios about that! 

xoxo

Jay

References: 

Chaffey, D. (2019) ‘SOSTAC marketing planning model guide’, SmartInsights. Available at: 

https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/sostac-model/ (Accessed 25th October 2019).

Chaffey, D. & Smith, P. R. (2013). Emarketing Excellence: Planning and Optimizing your Digital Marketing. Routledge: London.

Cowley-Cunningham, M. B. (2016) ‘Jellies & Jaffas: Applying PR Smith’s SOSTAC Marketing Model to an Confectionery Start-up', ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315488492_'Jellies_Jaffas'_Applying_PR_Smith's_SOSTAC_Marketing_Model_to_an_Online_Confectionery_Start-Up (Accessed 25th October 2019).

Images:

Chaffey, D. (2019) 'SOSTAC marketing planning model guide', SmartInsights. Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/sostac-model/ (Accessed 26th October 2019).