Marketing strategies serve as
the fundamental underpinning of marketing plans designed to fill market needs and reach marketing objectives. Plans and objectives are generally tested for measurable results. Commonly, marketing strategies are developed as multi-year plans, with a tactical plan detailing specific actions to be accomplished in the current year. Time horizons covered by the marketing plan vary by company, by industry, and by nation, however, time horizons are becoming shorter as the speed of change in the environment increases. Marketing strategies are dynamic and interactive. They are partially planned and partially unplanned.
Marketing strategy involves careful scanning of the internal and external environments. Internal environmental factors include the marketing mix, plus performance analysis and strategic constraints. External environmental factors include customer analysis, competitor analysis, target market analysis, as well as evaluation of any elements of the technological, economic, cultural or political/legal environment likely to impact success. A key component of marketing strategy is often to keep marketing in line with a company's overarching mission statement.Once a thorough environmental scan is complete, a strategic plan can be constructed to identify business alternatives, establish challenging goals, determine the optimal marketing mix to attain these goals, and detail implementation. A final step in developing a marketing strategy is to create a plan to monitor progress and a set of contingencies if problems arise in the implementation of the plan.
Marketing plans are not created in a vacuum. To develop successful strategies and action programs, marketers need up-to-date information about the environment, the competition, and the market segments to be served. Market research will provide specific market information that will permit the company to select the target market segment and optimally position the offering within that segment. The result is a value proposition to the target market.
The major sections of a typical product or brand plan. The plan begins with an executive summary, which quickly overviews major assessments, goals, and recommendations. The main section of the plan presents a detailed analysis of the current marketing situation as well as potential threats and opportunities. It next states major objectives for the brand and outlines the specifics of a marketing strategy for achieving them.
Executive Summary:
This section summarizes the main goal, recommendations, and points as an overview for senior manager who will read and approve the marketing plan. a table of contents usually follows this section, for management convenience.
Current Marketing Situation:In this section, marketing managers discuss the overall market, identify the market segments that they will target, and provide information about the company's current situation. This section includes:
- A market description that defines the market and major segments, then reviews customer needs and factors in the marketing environment that may affect customer purchasing.
- A product review that shows sales, prices, and gross margins of the major products in the product line.
- A review of competition, which identifies major competitors and assesses their market positions and strategies for product quality, pricing, distribution, and promotion.
- A review of distribution, which evaluates recent sales trends and other developments in major distribution channels.
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses,Opportunities & Threats Analysis):
In this section, Information about each of the major internal and external area is then analyzed in order to identify the most important Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats facing the company and brand. Once these are prioritized, they, along with organization's objectives, drive the actual marketing plan.
Objectives & Issues:
The company's Objectives should be defined in specific terms so management can measure progress and plan corrective action if needed to stay on track. This section describes any major issues that might affects the company's marketing strategy and implementation.
Marketing Strategy:
This section outlines the broad marketing logic by which the business unit hopes to achieve its marketing objectives and the specifics of target markets, positioning, and marketing expenditure levels. It outlines specific strategies for each marketing mix element and explains how each responds to the threats, opportunities, and critical issues spelled out earlier in the plan.
Action Programs:
This section spells out how marketing strategies will be turned into specific action programs that answer the following questions: What will be done? When will it be done? Who is responsible for doing it? How much will it cost?
Budget:
In this Section managers use budgets to project profitability and plan for each marketing program's expenditures, scheduling, and operations.
Control:
This section outlines the control that will be used to monitor progress and allow higher management to review implementation results and spot products that are not meeting their goals.
A marketing strategy is the marketing logic whereby the company hopes to achieve its marketing objectives. It consists of specific strategies for target markets, positioning, the marketing mix, and marketing expenditure levels. In this section, the planner explains how each strategy responds to the threats, opportunities, and critical issues spelled out earlier in the plan. Additional sections of the marketing plan lay out an action program for implementing the marketing strategy along with the details of a supporting marketing budget. The last section outlines the controls that will be used to monitor progress and take corrective action.
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