How to Build a Marketing Strategy: From 3C and STP to a 90-Day Plan
March 29, 2026
Author: Shusaku Yosa
A marketing strategy defines whose problem you will solve, what value you will offer, how you will deliver it and how that contributes to a business goal. Before choosing ads or social platforms, align the customer, reason to buy, available resources and outcome.
Use 3C analysis to understand the situation, STP to select a market and position, and a 90-day plan to test the choices. The example below concerns a fictional business-software company, Company A. It does not describe NeX-Ray’s features or results.
1. Use 3C to separate facts from assumptions
Company A proposes software supporting monthly reporting for finance teams in manufacturing businesses.
Perspective | Assumption or constraint | Evidence to collect |
|---|---|---|
Customer | Manufacturers with 20–100 employees struggle with spreadsheet reporting | Interviews and actual work sequences |
Competitor | Alternatives include other software, outsourcing and continuing with spreadsheets | Comparison criteria and lost-deal reasons |
Company | Two salespeople and limited onboarding capacity | Staff time and verified delivery capabilities |
Do not assume customers want automation in the abstract. Investigate deadlines, review work, adoption effort and budget decisions. Label unknowns as hypotheses and give each an owner and a validation date.
2. Use STP to make a choice
Segmentation divides the market by relevant differences such as industry, size, problem or implementation requirements. Targeting chooses a group the business can serve. Positioning defines the reason to choose your offer over alternatives.
Company A selects smaller manufacturers that have a specific monthly-reporting problem and want a gradual replacement for spreadsheets. Its proposed position is guided adoption, starting with a limited reporting task. It excludes large enterprise-wide transformation projects for now, keeping demand within delivery capacity.
3. Translate the choice into the marketing mix
Element | Illustrative decision | Question to test |
|---|---|---|
Product | Focused implementation around monthly reporting | Does it solve the costly part of the work? |
Price | Quote with a defined service scope | Does value support delivery cost and ongoing charges? |
Place | Online consultation followed by a tailored demo | Is this a convenient buying route? |
Promotion | Problem-led articles, a checklist and specific search ads | Do they generate relevant conversations? |
Keep the promise consistent across content, ads, landing pages and sales. Verify that delivery teams can provide the support described in marketing material.
4. Work backward from the goal
Assume a fictional 90-day target of ten contracts at JPY 1 million of sales per contract: JPY 10 million in total. This Japanese-currency example is a sales target, not profit or recurring revenue. At an assumed 25% opportunity win rate and 20% lead-to-opportunity rate, the plan requires 40 opportunities and 200 leads.
10 ÷ 25% = 40 opportunities; 40 ÷ 20% = 200 leads. Without historical evidence, these rates remain hypotheses. Check whether deals can close within 90 days and whether two salespeople can handle the volume. Otherwise, change the target, audience or delivery model.
5. Build the 90-day schedule
Period | Work | Output or decision |
|---|---|---|
Days 1–30 | Validate the problem, define metrics and prepare the message and tracking | Strategy sheet, inquiry journey and baseline |
Days 31–60 | Test content, one resource and ads for one audience | Lead quality, qualification criteria and sales feedback |
Days 61–90 | Improve promising combinations and follow opportunities | Continue, change or stop; set the next budget |
Assign owners, time and spending limits before expanding the channel list. Broadening the audience merely to fill a lead target can increase workload without improving sales.
A reusable strategy worksheet
- Customer: organization, role and situation.
- Problem and evidence: observation, interviews and existing data.
- Alternatives and reason to choose: comparison and deliverable value.
- Exclusions: audiences and tactics outside this test.
- Goal and deadline: clearly defined sales, contracts or gross profit.
- Required activity: leads, opportunities, wins and stage rates.
- Resources: owner, budget cap and delivery capacity.
- Review rules: when, what evidence and who decides.
Decide when to revise the strategy
Fix measurement problems before interpreting results. Repeated irrelevant inquiries suggest an audience or message problem. Opportunities without wins require investigation of price, scope and alternatives. Budget or capacity pressure requires a resource decision. Avoid declaring success or failure from a handful of outcomes; update the distinction between what you assumed and what the evidence supports.
Related guides
- Connect goals to operational KPIs
- Plan lead generation and sales handoffs
- Research customer perspectives
- Document weekly decisions
Keep marketing reporting consistent
Use consistent metric definitions and reporting periods when reviewing results. See NeX-Ray’s supported integrations and reporting features, or start for free.
