SOSTAC ® – A Structured Approach To Marketing

See the WHOLE marketing picture

If you ever feel that marketing is a business discipline that seems to cover more than you first thought, you’re right. Too often, even highly experienced business people, think marketing is just about the stuff we see every day – the promotional marketing designed to get your attention.

But there’s more to it. And when you understand the big picture for your marketing, it allows you to plan and execute marketing more effectively.

Created by PR Smith, SOSTAC is a simple yet powerful framework used by thousands of businesses, from startups to global brands.

It helps you structure and create your marketing strategy so you always know why you’re doing marketing, what you need to do, and how you’ll measure success.

In this video, I break down what each part of the SOSTAC model means and what it means for your business and how to start thinking about each part.

Why is this important to you?

The SOS of this framework is all about Marketing Strategy – that needs to be done by a strategic marketer or marketer with strategic planning experience.

Businesses run into problems when they use ‘tactical’ marketers to create strategy. It’s like getting a junior Chef to design the whole Menu – they’ll give it a good go but without that strategic understanding and knowledge, it’s going to be full of holes and will eventually fall down.

The second part ‘Tactics and Action’ are what people always think of as marketing – the cracking on and getting it done. This is crucial stuff. It has to feed into achieving the strategy. And each marketing tactic has to be executed by someone who can get it right (eg SEO, Advertising, Copywriting, Social Media Management).

Finallly, the C of Control is all about measuring the right thing – checking you’re on the right lines but also that you have achieved the right result.

SOSTAC

S – Situation Analysis: Where are we now?

O – Objectives: Where do we want to go?

S – Strategy: How do we get there?

T – Tactics: What tools and actions will we use?

A – Action: Who’s doing what, and when?

C – Control: How will we measure performance?

Watch this video

Whatever your business or marketing experience, this video gives you a clear and practical overview of the SOSTAC model. You’ll walk away with a structured way to think about your marketing and more confidence in your marketing understanding.

💡 Bonus: You’ll also hear how SOSTAC can be adapted for small to medium businesses—so it’s not just theory, it’s totally doable.

👉 Watch the video now and start building your strategy with purpose.