Marketing Strategy
This article covers meaning, importance, steps, stages & example of Marketing Strategy from marketing perspective.
What is Marketing Strategy?
Marketing strategy is a set of business tactics which help companies grow in the market through effective research, marketing, promotion & advertising. Marketing strategy defines the company’s marketing & advertising strategies based on business goals. The development of a marketing strategy involves the identification of target market segment, setting of short-term and long-term goals, pre-requisite consumer research, and the implementation of ideas to get the attention of people.
An effective marketing strategy helps to increase sales, improve brand equity, bring new customers, increase customer loyalty, increase market share etc.
Importance of Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy is an important business concept for a company and its marketing management. A right marketing strategy is very important for a company. It helps the company to grow and gain industry dominance through competitive strategy. An effective marketing strategy is used to compete with your competitors and to increase the customer base.
It helps communicating the vision, culture, values and purpose of the company to the customers and have a strong brand strategy & brand management.
Be it a small business or a large business, the main aim of the companies is to sell their products or services for which they need effective promotion using a good advertising strategy, so that their product or service can reach out to large number of people. Every company has a different business strategy which is customized according to the needs of the company. An effective marketing strategy should offer a connection, need of the product and a real content in the advertisement to attract the right customers.
Marketing Strategy Theories
There are several market strategies which can be adopted by companies. However, some important marketing strategies as defined by
1. STP:
Market Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning are key marketing strategies to understand the correct target audience & target them effectively.
2. Marketing Mix:
The marketing mix strategy talks about 4Ps (Product Mix) and covers marketing strategies like product, price, place & promotion strategies. The 7Ps (Service Mix) marketing strategy defines process, people and physical evidence strategies.
3. Ansoff Matrix:
Ansoff Matrix highlights marketing strategies market type & product type.
Marketing Strategy Stages
An effective marketing strategy covers the following steps:
1. Analyze market
The first step in marketing strategy & marketing planning is to analyze, study, understand & evaluate the market for the product or service being considered. The market potential, target market, product need and the feasibility can be understood.
2. Analyze competition
The second step in marketing strategy is to analyze the existing competitors as well as potential competitors, and also any indirect competitors. Without competitive analysis, the marketing would remain incomplete. Understanding competition will give insights into the product and pricing strategies which are currently present in the market.
3. Marketing Research
The next step is to have a comprehensive marketing research to understand the demand, customer needs etc. This would include speaking with the end customers, surveys and analyzing the results to derive the customers needs and behavior.
4. Define marketing mix
The fourth step in marketing strategy involves defining strategies about product, price, place, promotion etc. This is a time tested framework which has helped formulate the marketing strategy.
5. Financial analysis
The next step is to evaluate and forecast the financials based on sales forecasting to the target market. Any marketing research or analysis is incomplete without understanding the financial impact and implications. It helps in understanding the revenue potential, profitability and viability of company and the market.
6. Review and revise
A continuous revision of marketing strategies is required as it is a continuous process. The strategy once devised has to be constantly revisited and improved or even changed to cater to changing customer behavior and market dynamics.
7. Understand customers
The most important step in any marketing strategy is to constantly understand customer needs & requirements and adapt business accordingly.
10 Steps to Build an Effective Marketing Strategy
In the modern day, there are several ways in an effective marketing strategy can be made. Companies use conventional as well as modern channels for devising a working strategy.
Some steps for an effective marketing strategy are:
1. Customer centric marketing
Your marketing strategy should directly cater to the needs of the customers.
2. Utilize big data
Use big data to gather information that can be used for proper marketing according to the trend and industry tactics.
3. Know your competition
Study your competitors marketing strategy carefully. Learn what doesn’t work for them and try to implement innovative ideas to make it work for your brand.
4. 360 Degree Communication
Companies should focus on 360 degree branding using integrated marketing communication (IMC) channels.
5. Brand Management
A good marketing strategy also involves having an effective brand management plan for its products & services.
6. Social media connect
Encouraging your audience to influence itself by sharing content, promotions and information about your company can be quite beneficial.
7. Mobile friendly everything
Internet is the largest platform where you can show your advertisements. As most of the people is assessing internet through their mobile phones, so your marketing strategy should include mobile devices.
8. Include virtual reality marketing tactics
Providing customers with augmented reality experience helps them to understand the working of a product or service, its benefits and it will add convenience to their lives.
9. E-Marketing
E-marketing and email marketing is an important element in marketing strategy through which company can directly reach to its customers, follow up and send them reminders. Use automation service to send individual mails for campaigns.
10. All elements
Marketing strategy is a key element in brand sustainability and profitability. So, each element in your strategy is very important for company’s success.
Advantages of Marketing Strategy
There are several advantages of a good marketing strategy. Some pros of marketing strategies are:
1. A right marketing strategy promotes the products or services to target audience.
2. It helps the company to understand its customers.
3. Marketing strategies ensures that a correct communication is delivered to its target customers.
4. An effective marketing strategy can help increase sales & business.
5. Enhances customer loyalty as well as brand loyalty.
6. A good marketing strategy increases market share and gives competitive advantage.
Disadvantages of Marketing Strategy
Despite several pros, there are disadvantages of marketing strategies, which are:
1. Cost of implementing any marketing strategy is high
2. It is time consuming and needs a lot of efforts but the output mayn’t be so great.
3. Marketing strategies can lead to identification of company’s weakness
4. A wrong marketing strategy can leads to loss of money as well as damage the brand.
Examples of Marketing Strategy
There are several real life examples of effective marketing strategies. Some are as mentioned below:
1. Apple’s marketing strategy involves design, simplicity, elegance and function. It focusses more on their product’s external features and technology as their products are always sleek, beautiful, and offer multiple functionalities. When people think of Apple, they think of a company whose products offers them physical attractiveness and cutting-edge of technology.
2. McDonalds marketing strategy and USP involves giving good quality fast food at affordable rates. Moreover, they have adopted a “glocalization” marketing strategy where they have food items in the country or region where they serve. This gives them a lot of local consumers.
3. Dominos Pizza’s marketing strategy involves offering a high-quality tasty pizza in less than 30 minutes. This involves tremendous preparation & planning, and despite all challenges, they deliver hot pizzas to its customers.
There can be several more examples of an effective marketing strategy being successful globally.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Marketing Strategy along with its overview.
Browse the definition and meaning of more similar terms. The Management Dictionary covers over 1800 business concepts from 5 categories.
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