Simply put, customers are no longer a given—just because you make it, doesn’t mean anyone will buy it. In order to continue to thrive, companies must acquire and keep customers.

Because it is the only business function that deals directly with customers, marketing and sales has become an area of increasing focus for companies of all sizes. How should companies approach the process of marketing products and services? The process of marketing occurs in five steps:

• Step 1: Understanding the market climate and marketing strengths and weaknesses
• Step 2: Developing a marketing strategy
• Step 3: Building a marketing plan
• Step 4: Implementing the plan
• Step 5: Monitoring the success of the plan

Though this five-step-process may appear straightforward, many companies demonstrate a great deal of confusion about developing a marketing strategy.

In fact, many confuse solid marketing strategy with pure tactics, or what we like to call, "brand juice." Visual identity, clever tag lines, creative "essence" advertising, edgy names, well-designed Web sites, big ticket giveaway promotions, publicity buzz-making are all key ingredients in brand juice and elements of marketing, but they are supporting elements. To be effective, such supporting elements must be part of a more comprehensive plan.