Marketing strategy

A
marketing strategy
i s a p r o c e s s t h at c an a l l o w an
o r g a ni z a t i o n t o c o nc e nt r at e i t s limited
resources on the greatest opportunities to
increase sales and achieve a
sustainablecompetitive advantage.
A marketing strategy should
be centered around the key conceptthat
customer satisfaction is the main goal.

TYPES OF MARKETING STRATEGY

O n e o f t he mo s t i mp o r t a nt c on c e pt s
o f t h e ma r k e t i ng pl a n n i ng p r o c e ss i s
t h e ne e d t o develop a cohesive
marketing strategy that guides tactical
programs for the marketingdecision areas.
In marketing there are two levels to strategy
formulation:
•
General Marketing Strategies
•
Decision Area Strategie

These set the direction for all

marketing efforts by describing, in
general terms,
howmarketing will achieve its objective
s. There are many different General Ma
r k e t i n g Strategies, though most can be viewed as
falling into one of the following categories:
•
Market Expansion
•
Market Share Growth
•
Niche Market
•
Status Quo
•
Market Exi
DECISION AREA STRATEGIES
These are used to achieve the
General Marketing Strategies by
guiding the
decisionswithin important marketi
ng areas (product, pricing, distribu
tion, promotion, target marketing).
For example, a General Marketing
Strategy that centres on entering a
newmarket with new products may be
supported by Decision Area Strategies that
include:
•
Target Market Strategy – employ
segmenting techniques
•
Product Strategy – develop new product
line
•
Pricing Strategy –
create price programs that offe
r l o w e r p r i c i n g v e r s u s competitors
•
Distribution Strategy – use
methods to gain access to
important distribution partners that
service the target market
•
Promotion Strategy – create a plan
that can quickly build awareness
of te product

MARKETING STRATEGY OBJECTIVES

Increase product awareness among the target

audience by 30 percent inone year.
•
Inform target audience about features and
benefits of our product and itscompetitive
advantage, leading to a 10 percent increase
in sales in oneyear.
•
Decrease or remove potential customers' resistance
to buying our product,leading to a 20 percent
increase in sales that are closed in six
months or less

If you have multiple objectives, make sure

they are consistent and not in conflict
witheach other. Also, be sure that the
remainder of your marketing plan
components - them a r k e t i n g s t r a t e g y ,
budget, action programs, controls and
m e a s u r e s - s u p p o r t s y o u r marketing
objectives
S e t t i n g y o u r ma r k e t i n g o b j e c t i v e s
a n d f i na l i z i n g t he r e ma i n i n g
c o mp o n e n t s o f y o ur ma r k e t i ng p l an
ma y s e r v e a s a r e al i t y c he c k: D o y o u
h a v e t h e r e s o ur c es n e c es s ar y
t o accomplish your objectives?Th e
ma r k e t i ng s t r a t e g y s e ct i on o f y o u r
p l a n o u t l i n e s y ou r g a me p l a n t o
a c hi e v e yo u r marketing objectives. It
is, essentially, the heart of the marketing
plan. The marketingstrategy section should
include information about:
•
Product - your product(s)and services
•
Price - what you will charge customers for
products and services
•
Promotion - how you will promote or
create awareness of your product in
themarketplace
•
P l a c e ( d i s t r i b ut i on ) - h o w y ou w i l l
b r i ng y o ur p r o d u ct ( s ) t o g et h er w i t h
y o u r customers
 S e t t i n g y o u r ma r k e t i n g ob j e c t i ve s

a n d f i na l i z i n g t he r e ma i n i n g
c o mp o n e n t s o f y o ur ma r k e t i ng p l an
ma y s e r v e a s a r e al i t y c he c k: D o y o u
h a v e t h e r e s o ur c es n e c es s ar y
t o accomplish your objectives?Th e
ma r k e t i ng s t r a t e g y s e ct i on o f y o u r
p l a n o u t l i n e s y ou r g a me p l a n t o
a c hi e v e yo u r marketing objectives. It
is, essentially, the heart of the marketing
plan. The marketingstrategy section should
include information about:
•
Product - your product(s)and services
•
Price - what you will charge customers for
products and services
•
Promotion - how you will promote or
create awareness of your product in
themarketplace
•
P l a c e ( d i s t r i b ut i on ) - h o w y ou w i l l
b r i ng y o ur p r o d u ct ( s ) t o g et h er w i t h
y o u r customers.
LIMITATION OF MARKETING
STRATGY
•
leads to faulty marketing decisions based on
improperly analyzed data
•
creates unrealistic financial projections if
information is interpreted incorrectly

PRICING STRATEGY
Having defined the overall offering objective
and selecting the generic strategy one
mustdecide on a variety of closely related
operational strategies. One of these is how one
will price the offering. A pricing strategy is m
ostly influenced by the net income. There aret
hree basic strategies one can consider
A SKIMMING STRATEGY

Where the offering has enough

differentiation to justify a high price and
one desirequick cash and have minimal
desires for significant market
penetration and control,then one sets the
prices very high

A MARKET PENETRATION
STRATEGY
Where near term income is not so
critical and rapid market penetration for
eventualmarket control is desired, then one

must set the prices very low .

PROMOTION
To sell an offering one must effectively
promote and advertise it. There are two
basic promotional strategies, PUSH and
PULL

THE PUSH STRATEGY :

It maximizes the use of all available
channels of distribution to "push" the
offeringi n t o t h e m a r k e t p l a c e . T h i s
usually requires generous discoun
t s t o a c h i e v e t h e objective of giving
the channels incentive to promote the
offering, thus minimizingthe need for
advertising.
 THE PULL STRATEGY :
I t r e qu i r e s d i r e c t i nt er f a c e wi t h t h e
e n d u s e r o f t h e o f f e r i n g . U se o f
c h a n ne l s
of d i s t r i b u t i o n i s m i n i m i z e d d u
ring the first stages of promoti
o n a n d a m a j o r commitment to
advertising is required. The objective is
to "pull" the prospects intothe various
channel outlets creating a demand the
channels cannot ignore