The Marketing Strategy Gimmick
What is Marketing Strategy?
Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered on the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal.
Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organization's energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche.
A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm's marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe.
Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall firm strategy, defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in the market arena.
A key component of marketing strategy is often to keep marketing in line with a company's overarching mission statement.
Real-life marketing
Real-life marketing primarily revolves around the application of a great deal of common-sense; dealing with a limited number of factors, in an environment of imperfect information and limited resources complicated by uncertainty and tight timescales. Use of classical marketing techniques, in these circumstances, is inevitably partial and uneven.
For most of their time, marketing managers use intuition and experience to analyze and handle the complex, and unique, situations being faced; without easy reference to theory
This will often be 'flying by the seat of the pants', or 'gut-reaction'; where the overall strategy, coupled with the knowledge of the customer which has been absorbed almost by a process of osmosis, will determine the quality of the marketing employed.
This, almost instinctive management, is what is sometimes called 'coarse marketing'; to distinguish it from the refined, aesthetically pleasing, form favored by the theorists.
While there are different approaches to setting objectives, my preference is to develop a single objective for a site that may encompass more than one approach to business building.
Another approach is to address the customer stages separately, in a summary or write-up. With either approach, you should view your marketing plan as evolving over time. As the business environment and situations change, your focus should change as well.
Once you get past the launch stage of a new site, for example, you are in a better position to evaluate site traffic, so your plan may shift from focusing on awareness and interest to building trial and loyalty. Similarly, a better understanding of site visitors may lead you to adjust your business model to more closely address your company’s and Web customers’ needs.
All objectives should be SMART i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed.
Specific - Be precise about what you are going to achieve.
Measurable - Quantify your objectives.
Achievable - Are you attempting too much?
Realistic - Do you have the resources to make the objective happen
Timed - State when you will achieve the objective
Some examples of SMART objectives follow:[/b][/b]
1. Profitability Objectives
To achieve a 20% return on capital employed by August 2019.
2. Market Share Objectives
To gain 25% of the market for sports shoes by September 2018
3. Promotional Objectives
To increase awareness of the dangers of AIDS in France from 12% to 25% by June 2017.
To increase trail of X washing powder from 2% to 5% of our target group by January 2019.
4. Objectives for Survival
To survive the current double-dip recession.
5. Objectives for Growth
To increase the size of our Brazilian operation from $200,000 in 2017 to $400,000 in 2018.
The marketing strategy section of your plan outlines your game plan to achieve your marketing objectives. It is, essentially, the heart of the marketing plan. The marketing strategy 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 the marketplace
Place (distribution) - how you will bring your product(s) together with your customers
Marketing Strategy Functions including:[/b][/b]
Forcing marketing personnel to look internally in order to fully understand the results of past marketing decisions
Forcing marketing personnel to look externally in order to fully understand the market in which they operate.
Setting future goals and providing direction for future marketing efforts that everyone within the organization should understand and support.
Serving as a key component in obtaining funding to pursue new initiatives
What is Marketing Strategy?
Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered on the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal.
Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organization's energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche.
A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm's marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe.
Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall firm strategy, defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in the market arena.
A key component of marketing strategy is often to keep marketing in line with a company's overarching mission statement.
Real-life marketing
Real-life marketing primarily revolves around the application of a great deal of common-sense; dealing with a limited number of factors, in an environment of imperfect information and limited resources complicated by uncertainty and tight timescales. Use of classical marketing techniques, in these circumstances, is inevitably partial and uneven.
For most of their time, marketing managers use intuition and experience to analyze and handle the complex, and unique, situations being faced; without easy reference to theory
This will often be 'flying by the seat of the pants', or 'gut-reaction'; where the overall strategy, coupled with the knowledge of the customer which has been absorbed almost by a process of osmosis, will determine the quality of the marketing employed.
This, almost instinctive management, is what is sometimes called 'coarse marketing'; to distinguish it from the refined, aesthetically pleasing, form favored by the theorists.
While there are different approaches to setting objectives, my preference is to develop a single objective for a site that may encompass more than one approach to business building.
Another approach is to address the customer stages separately, in a summary or write-up. With either approach, you should view your marketing plan as evolving over time. As the business environment and situations change, your focus should change as well.
Once you get past the launch stage of a new site, for example, you are in a better position to evaluate site traffic, so your plan may shift from focusing on awareness and interest to building trial and loyalty. Similarly, a better understanding of site visitors may lead you to adjust your business model to more closely address your company’s and Web customers’ needs.
All objectives should be SMART i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed.
Specific - Be precise about what you are going to achieve.
Measurable - Quantify your objectives.
Achievable - Are you attempting too much?
Realistic - Do you have the resources to make the objective happen
Timed - State when you will achieve the objective
Some examples of SMART objectives follow:[/b][/b]
1. Profitability Objectives
To achieve a 20% return on capital employed by August 2019.
2. Market Share Objectives
To gain 25% of the market for sports shoes by September 2018
3. Promotional Objectives
To increase awareness of the dangers of AIDS in France from 12% to 25% by June 2017.
To increase trail of X washing powder from 2% to 5% of our target group by January 2019.
4. Objectives for Survival
To survive the current double-dip recession.
5. Objectives for Growth
To increase the size of our Brazilian operation from $200,000 in 2017 to $400,000 in 2018.
The marketing strategy section of your plan outlines your game plan to achieve your marketing objectives. It is, essentially, the heart of the marketing plan. The marketing strategy 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 the marketplace
Place (distribution) - how you will bring your product(s) together with your customers
Marketing Strategy Functions including:[/b][/b]
Forcing marketing personnel to look internally in order to fully understand the results of past marketing decisions
Forcing marketing personnel to look externally in order to fully understand the market in which they operate.
Setting future goals and providing direction for future marketing efforts that everyone within the organization should understand and support.
Serving as a key component in obtaining funding to pursue new initiatives