Terms

Marketing Play

A marketing play is a specific, strategic set of actions a company uses to achieve a business objective, such as capturing market share or generating leads. These frameworks provide a repeatable approach to competition and are chosen based on factors like market conditions, the competitive landscape, and a company's own strengths.

Key Components of a Marketing Play

While the specific actions can vary, most marketing plays are built from a few core building blocks. These components provide the structure for a focused, measurable campaign designed to achieve a specific outcome. A successful play integrates these elements into a cohesive strategy.

  • Objective: A clearly defined goal, such as lead generation or increasing brand awareness.
  • Audience: A specific target segment, including ideal customer profiles and buyer personas.
  • Strategy: The chosen approach, from direct competition to exploiting a market niche.
  • Execution: The specific tactics and channels used, like email campaigns or social media outreach.
  • Measurement: Key performance indicators (KPIs) to track success and optimize future efforts.

Examples of Successful Marketing Plays

Marketing plays can take many forms, from direct competitive assaults to creating entirely new market categories. Companies often become legendary for the specific plays they run to outmaneuver rivals or redefine an industry. Here are a few classic examples:

  • Microsoft: Trapped a competitor by launching both high-end and low-end products, squeezing them out of the market's middle ground.
  • Salesforce: Challenged an industry giant head-on by offering a simpler, cloud-based alternative and making it easy for customers to switch.
  • Lexus: Combined two distinct market segments—luxury and reliability—to create a new "best of both worlds" category.
  • Enterprise: Grew by avoiding direct competition, instead focusing on the niche market of insurance replacement rentals.

Marketing Play vs. Marketing Strategy

While often used interchangeably, marketing plays and strategies serve distinct functions within a business's growth plan.

  • Play: A play is a specific, tactical action designed for quick execution and short-term results, like generating leads within a few weeks. While highly focused, plays can be less effective if not aligned with a broader vision. They are ideal for time-sensitive situations, such as an end-of-quarter revenue push, where immediate impact is critical for mid-market and enterprise teams.
  • Strategy: A strategy is a comprehensive, long-term plan that guides all marketing activities and aligns them with business goals. It supports sustainable growth but can be slower to adapt to urgent needs. Strategies are essential for building a brand, coordinating multiple campaigns, and ensuring long-term pipeline development for larger organizations.

Strategies for Implementing a Marketing Play

This is how you can build and launch a marketing play.

  1. Define your ideal customer profile and buyer personas to identify your target audience.
  2. Build a list of target accounts and segment them based on relevant factors like industry or size.
  3. Develop personalized messaging and content that addresses the specific pain points of each segment.
  4. Launch your campaign across chosen channels, such as email, social media, or paid ads.
  5. Align with your sales team for follow-up and track key metrics to measure performance.

Measuring the Impact of a Marketing Play

Measuring a play’s impact requires tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) tied to its objective. This includes monitoring campaign metrics like open and conversion rates, as well as business outcomes such as lead generation and pipeline growth. Analyzing these results helps teams understand what worked and allows them to optimize future efforts for better performance.

Frequently Asked Questions about Marketing Play

How is a marketing play different from a campaign?

A play is the strategic framework, while a campaign is the execution. For example, a "competitive displacement" play could be executed through an email campaign, a social media campaign, or both, all working toward the same strategic goal.

How many marketing plays can a team run at once?

It depends on team size and resources. Startups might focus on one or two plays, while larger enterprises can run multiple plays simultaneously across different market segments. The key is ensuring each play is well-resourced and doesn't dilute focus.

How often should we create new marketing plays?

Plays should be reviewed quarterly or whenever market conditions shift. While successful plays can be repeated, it's crucial to stay agile and develop new ones to address emerging opportunities, competitive threats, or changes in your ideal customer profile.

Other terms

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Solution Selling

Solution selling is a sales approach focused on understanding a customer's pain points to offer a comprehensive solution, not just a product.

Solution Selling

Sales Demonstration

A sales demonstration is a presentation showing a prospect how a product or service works and how it can solve their specific problems.

Sales Demonstration

Buying Cycle

The buying cycle is the journey a customer takes from first realizing they have a need to making the final purchase decision.

Buying Cycle

Buying Process

The buying process is the journey a customer takes from first realizing a need to making a final purchase decision and evaluating it afterward.

Buying Process

Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation is dividing customers into groups based on shared traits. This allows for more targeted and effective marketing efforts.

Customer Segmentation

Incident Response

Incident response is an organization's systematic approach to managing and mitigating the aftermath of a security breach or cyberattack.

Incident Response

Mobile Compatibility

Mobile compatibility ensures your site or app works flawlessly on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, for a seamless user experience.

Mobile Compatibility

User Testing

User testing involves observing real users interact with a product to identify usability issues and improve the overall user experience.

User Testing

Platform as a Service

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud model where a provider delivers a platform for users to develop, run, and manage applications online.

Platform as a Service

Loss Aversion

Loss aversion is our tendency to feel the sting of a loss more acutely than the pleasure of an equivalent gain.

Loss Aversion

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance (QA) is the systematic process of ensuring a product or service meets specified quality standards from development to delivery.

Quality Assurance

Application Programming Interface Security

API security is the practice of protecting application programming interfaces from attacks, preventing data breaches and unauthorized access.

Application Programming Interface Security

Personalization

Personalization is the practice of using data to tailor products, services, or content to an individual's specific needs and preferences.

Personalization

B2B Sales Process

Learn about B2B sales process, including key components of B2B sales processes, & crafting an effective B2B sales strategy.

B2B Sales Process

Compounded Annual Growth Rate

Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) measures the mean annual growth of an investment over a specified period of time longer than one year.

Compounded Annual Growth Rate

Inbound leads

Inbound leads are potential customers who proactively reach out after finding your business through content, social media, or search.

Inbound leads

Firewall

A firewall is a digital barrier that protects a network by monitoring and controlling traffic, blocking unauthorized access and malicious content.

Firewall

Payment Gateways

A payment gateway is a service that authorizes and processes payments for businesses, acting as a secure link between the customer and the merchant.

Payment Gateways

Kanban

Kanban is a visual project management method that uses a board to visualize workflow, limit work-in-progress, and maximize team efficiency.

Kanban

LPI

LPI, or Lead Per Inquiry, is a key metric that measures how many leads are generated from each inquiry in a marketing campaign.

LPI

Competitive Advantage

A competitive advantage is a unique edge that allows a business to produce goods or services better or more cheaply than its rivals.

Competitive Advantage

Product-Market Fit

Product-market fit is when a product meets the needs of a strong market, leading to high demand, customer satisfaction, and organic growth.

Product-Market Fit

Time on Site

Time on site, or session duration, is a key web metric that tracks the total time a visitor spends on your website during a single visit.

Time on Site

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Territory Management

Territory management is the process of segmenting customers into groups by geography or other factors to optimize sales efforts and resources.

Territory Management

Brand Loyalty

Learn about brand loyalty, including how to build brand loyalty, benefits of brand loyalty, measuring brand loyalty, & strategies for increasing loyalty.

Brand Loyalty

Demand

Demand is the economic principle describing a consumer's desire and willingness to purchase a specific good or service at a particular price.

Demand

Lead Scrape

Lead scraping is the process of automatically extracting contact information and other relevant data about potential customers from online sources.

Lead Scrape

Channel Partners

Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.

Channel Partners

Social Selling

Social selling is the art of using social media to find, connect with, build relationships with, and nurture sales prospects.

Social Selling

Sales Operations Key Performance Indicators

Sales Operations KPIs are measurable metrics that track the efficiency and effectiveness of a sales team's operational processes.

Sales Operations Key Performance Indicators

Version Control Systems

A version control system (VCS) tracks changes to files over time, allowing you to recall specific versions and collaborate without conflicts.

Version Control Systems

Low-Hanging Fruit

Low-hanging fruit are the most obvious and easy-to-tackle tasks or goals that provide a quick, valuable return for minimal effort.

Low-Hanging Fruit

Sales Quota

A sales quota is a time-bound sales goal for a rep or team, measured in revenue or units sold, to be met within a specific period.

Sales Quota

Weighted Sales Pipeline

A weighted sales pipeline forecasts revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal, giving a more accurate picture of potential income.

Weighted Sales Pipeline

Data-Driven Lead Generation

Data-driven lead generation is the process of using data insights to identify, attract, and convert high-quality leads into customers.

Data-Driven Lead Generation

Buyer Journey

The buyer journey maps the path a potential customer takes, from first learning about a product to the final decision to buy.

Buyer Journey

Branded Keywords

Learn about branded keywords, including identifying your branded keywords, & strategies for optimizing branded keywords.

Branded Keywords

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.

Digital Advertising

Serviceable Obtainable Market

Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) is the portion of the market you can realistically capture with your current resources, sales, and marketing.

Serviceable Obtainable Market

Warm Email

A warm email is a message sent to a prospect with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact or a prior interaction.

Warm Email

Firmographic Data

Firmographic data is information used to classify firms. It includes attributes like industry, employee count, location, and annual revenue.

Firmographic Data

Commission

A commission is a service charge paid to an agent for a transaction. It's typically a percentage of the sale, rewarding performance directly.

Commission

Digital Sales Room

A Digital Sales Room is a private online space where sellers share all relevant content with buyers to streamline the sales cycle.

Digital Sales Room

Firmographics

Firmographics are descriptive attributes of organizations, used to segment companies by characteristics like industry, size, and location.

Firmographics

Upsell

Upselling is a sales tactic encouraging customers to purchase a higher-end version of a product or related add-ons to boost revenue.

Upsell

Business Continuity

Learn about business continuity, including understanding key components, steps to ensure continuity, common challenges, & best practices.

Business Continuity

Account Management

Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.

Account Management

Single Page Applications

A Single Page Application (SPA) is a web app that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current page rather than loading new pages.

Single Page Applications

SPIN Selling

SPIN selling is a sales technique using a sequence of questions—Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-Payoff—to uncover a buyer's needs.

SPIN Selling

Customer Success

Customer Success is a business strategy focused on proactively helping customers achieve their goals with your product or service.

Customer Success

Lead Conversion

Lead conversion is the process of turning a prospect into a customer by getting them to complete a desired action, such as making a purchase.

Lead Conversion

Jobs to Be Done Framework

The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework focuses on understanding customer needs by identifying the specific 'job' they are trying to accomplish.

Jobs to Be Done Framework

Bounce Rate

Learn about bounce rate, including understanding bounce rate implications, key factors affecting bounce rate, & reducing your bounce rate effectively.

Bounce Rate

Account Executive

An Account Executive (AE) is a sales professional responsible for closing new business deals and managing existing client relationships to drive revenue.

Account Executive

B2B Leads

Learn about B2B leads, including identifying quality B2B leads, generating B2B leads effectively, & B2B leads vs. B2C leads: understanding the differences.

B2B Leads

Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel marketing creates a seamless, unified customer experience by integrating a company's various communication and sales channels.

Omnichannel Marketing

B2B Data Erosion

Learn about B2B data erosion, including causes of B2B data decay, strategies to combat data erosion, & measuring the impact of data erosion.

B2B Data Erosion

Lead Routing

Lead routing is the automated process of distributing incoming leads to the right sales reps based on predefined criteria.

Lead Routing

AI Data Enrichment

AI data enrichment uses artificial intelligence to automatically enhance and update raw data, making it more complete, accurate, and valuable.

AI Data Enrichment

Opportunity Management

Opportunity management is the process of tracking potential sales from first contact to a closed deal, helping teams prioritize and win more.

Opportunity Management

Outbound Sales

Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.

Outbound Sales

Lightning Components

Lightning Components is a UI framework for building dynamic web apps for mobile and desktop devices on the Salesforce Lightning Platform.

Lightning Components

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a prospect who has shown interest based on marketing efforts but isn't yet ready for a sales conversation.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Channel Marketing

Channel marketing is a strategy where a company sells its products or services through third-party partners, like resellers or affiliates.

Channel Marketing

Regression Testing

Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.

Regression Testing

Data Encryption

Data encryption translates data into another form, or code, so that only people with access to a secret key or password can read it.

Data Encryption

Hybrid Sales Model

A hybrid sales model blends traditional and digital sales methods to engage customers across multiple channels and buying preferences.

Hybrid Sales Model

Lead Scoring Models

Lead scoring models rank prospects by assigning points for their behaviors and demographics, helping sales teams prioritize their outreach.

Lead Scoring Models

Sales Funnel Metrics

Sales funnel metrics are key data points that track how effectively you're moving potential customers from awareness to a final purchase.

Sales Funnel Metrics

Sales Pitch

A sales pitch is a persuasive presentation of a product or service, aimed at convincing a potential customer to make a purchase.

Sales Pitch

Data Cleansing

Data cleansing, or data scrubbing, is the process of detecting and correcting inaccurate records from a dataset to improve data quality.

Data Cleansing

Request for Proposal

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a formal document that outlines a project's needs and invites qualified vendors to submit bids to complete it.

Request for Proposal

Lead Generation Funnel

A lead generation funnel is a systematic process that guides potential customers from initial awareness of your brand to becoming qualified leads.

Lead Generation Funnel

Fulfillment Logistics

Fulfillment logistics is the entire process of getting an order to a customer, from storing inventory to picking, packing, and final shipment.

Fulfillment Logistics

Adobe Analytics

Adobe Analytics is a leading web analytics solution for gaining real-time insights into user activity across websites and mobile applications.

Adobe Analytics

Email Deliverability

Email deliverability is the ability for your emails to successfully land in your recipients' inboxes instead of their spam folders.

Email Deliverability

Hard Sell

A hard sell is an aggressive sales technique that uses high-pressure tactics to push a customer into making an immediate purchase decision.

Hard Sell

Application Programming Interface

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of rules that lets different software applications talk to each other and share information.

Application Programming Interface

Awareness Buying Stage

The awareness stage is the first step in the buyer's journey, where a potential customer realizes they have a problem or an opportunity to explore.

Awareness Buying Stage

Account Match Rate

Account match rate is the percentage of target accounts successfully identified and matched against a specific database or data provider.

Account Match Rate

Dark Social

Dark social is the sharing of content through private channels like messaging apps or email. This traffic is hard to track as it lacks referral data.

Dark Social

Closed Opportunities

Closed opportunities are potential deals that have concluded. They are categorized as either 'closed-won' (a sale was made) or 'closed-lost'.

Closed Opportunities

Functional Testing

Functional testing verifies that software performs its intended functions as specified in the requirements, ensuring it works as users expect.

Functional Testing

Account-Based Everything

Account-Based Everything (ABE) is a strategy aligning sales, marketing, and success teams to focus on a specific set of high-value accounts.

Account-Based Everything

Multi-touch Attribution

Multi-touch attribution is a marketing analytics method that credits multiple touchpoints on the customer journey for a conversion.

Multi-touch Attribution

Performance Plan

A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.

Performance Plan

Business Intelligence In Marketing

Learn about business intelligence in marketing, including the role of data in marketing BI, key components of marketing BI, & marketing BI vs. market research.

Business Intelligence In Marketing

Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel.

Lead Nurturing

Account

An account is a company or organization that you're targeting for sales. It can be a prospective, current, or even a past customer.

Account

Buyer Intent

Learn about buyer intent, including understanding buyer intent signals, strategies to capture buyer intent, & buyer intent vs. customer interest.

Buyer Intent

Data Privacy

Data privacy is an individual's right to control their personal information, including how it's collected, processed, stored, and shared.

Data Privacy

Target Buying Stage

The Target Buying Stage identifies a prospect's position in the buying journey, from initial awareness to the final decision to purchase.

Target Buying Stage

Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.

Dynamic Pricing

Trusted Advisor

A trusted advisor is an expert who builds a deep client relationship by consistently prioritizing their best interests over any single transaction.

Trusted Advisor

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.

Accounts Payable

Marketing Budget Breakdown

A marketing budget breakdown is a detailed plan that allocates your total marketing funds across various channels, campaigns, and activities.

Marketing Budget Breakdown

Analytical CRM

Analytical CRM analyzes customer data to uncover actionable insights, helping businesses make smarter decisions and improve customer interactions.

Analytical CRM

Marketing Analytics

Marketing analytics involves measuring and analyzing marketing data to understand campaign performance and improve return on investment (ROI).

Marketing Analytics

Buying Criteria

Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.

Buying Criteria