Marketing strategy

• Marketing plan


  A detailed, fully researched written report on marketing objectives and the marketing strategy to be used to achieve them
• Purpose and mission


  The first part of the plan is to provide the reader with the necessary information to understand the purpose of it, including background information and the mission statement
• Situational analysis


  1. Analyse current product, target market, competitors, economic and political environment, SWOT analysis

  2. To take a business forward with new marketing strategies, it is important to know its current strengths, existing product range and market shares, existing and potential competitors, consumer tastes and trends, the state of the market the business operates in and the external problems and opportunities
• Marketing objectives


  Targets to focus attention and to direct effort, should be specific, measurable and time limited
• Marketing strategy


  1. Outlines how the company intends to achieve its marketing objectives, considering the overall approach to be taken by the business

  2. Decisions on mass-marketing vs niche marketing, selling more to same market vs finding new markets, developing new products for existing customers vs new customers
• Constraints on Marketing Strategy


  • Non-financial resources, business and marketing objectives, financial resources, market conditions including competitors' actions
• Marketing-mix tactics


  1. Product: Summarize existing products and outline planned changes or additions

  2. Price: Outline significant factors behind pricing decision based on marketing objectives and strategy for different markets

  3. Promotion: Explain decisions taken on advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling

  4. Place or distribution: Lay out the distribution plan for the product, including channels and outlets
• Marketing budget


  Outlines all the money a business intends to spend on marketing related projects over the quarter or year, including paid advertising, sponsored web content, etc.
• Benefits of a marketing plan


  • Essential part of an overall business plan, helps introduce new strategies, provides direction and purpose to future marketing decisions, integrates different departments
• Potential limitations of a marketing plan


  • Detailed plans are complex, costly, and time-consuming, especially for small businesses, marketing managers may become inflexible
• Internet marketing


  Websites are business necessities for the promotion and sale of products worldwide
• Email marketing


  Allows businesses to reach out to customers on opt-in email lists who are already interested in their products
• Mobile marketing


  Reaches customers on mobile phones or devices through text messaging and applications
• In-store digital marketing


  Digital signage allows businesses to grab the attention of customers and market specific products to them
• Potential AI applications in marketing


  • Monitor consumer behaviour to modify messages and make special offers, analyze consumer data to run effective digital advertising campaigns, create detailed consumer profiles to send the right message at the right time, influence purchase decisions based on trends
• Potential limitations of AI applications in marketing


  • Consumer resistance to data collection and its use, management supervision and control still required
• Optimal location decision


  Selects the best site for expansion or relocation, balancing factors like fixed costs, labor supply, quantitative and qualitative considerations, government grants
• Characteristics of location decisions


  • Strategic in nature, difficult to reverse, taken at highest management levels
• Potential drawbacks of poor location decisions


  • High fixed site costs, high variable costs, low/high unemployment rate, poor transport infrastructure
• Quantitative factors influencing location decisions


  • Labor costs, transport costs, sales revenue potential, government grants
• Techniques for location decisions


  Profit estimates, investment appraisal, break-even analysis
• Qualitative factors influencing location decisions


  • Safety, room for expansion, managers' preferences, ethical considerations, environmental concerns, infrastructure
• Multi-site location


  A business that operates from more than one location, advantages of convenience and lower transport costs, disadvantages of coordination problems and lack of control
• Offshoring


  The relocation of a business process done in one country to the same or another company in another country
• Multinational company


  A corporate organization that owns or controls the production of goods or services in at least one country other than its home country
• Reasons for international location decisions


  • Reduce costs, access global markets, avoid trade barriers, government support, educational standards, qualified staff, avoid exchange rate issues
• Issues with international location


  • Language and communication barriers, cultural differences, level-of-service concerns, supply-chain concerns, ethical considerations
• Scale of operation


  The maximum output that can be achieved using the available inputs, can only be increased in the long term by employing more of all inputs
• Factors influencing scale of operation


  • Owners' objectives, capital available, size of market, number of competitors, scope for scale economies
• Stages in the benchmarking process


  Identify aspects to be benchmarked, measure performance, identify best firms, use comparative data to establish weaknesses, set improvement standards, change processes, re-measure