Strategic marketing: features and useful tips.
From this article, you will learn:
What is strategic marketing?
The differences between tactical and strategic marketing.
The seven key principles of strategic marketing.
Tasks of strategic marketing.
Strategic marketing strikes a balance between achieving company goals and meeting customer needs. Today, many people are familiar with the concept of marketing and actively implement its tools in their activities. However, not everyone is able to actually increase customer loyalty and create a loyal customer base.
You will learn what strategic marketing is, the peculiarities of its implementation, how to use marketing tools correctly, and how to build the entire enterprise workflow from today's article.
What is strategic marketing?
Many businesses rely on strategic marketing to help them build solid economic foundations. The idea first surfaced in the 1980s and 1990s. Opinions of experts with regard to the tasks of this concept differ. Someone relies on the views and actions of professionals from various fields, from philologists to management specialists. Thus, their point of view is shaped by a broad understanding of the term.
Others see it more narrowly as the sum of a set of marketing tools, ignoring issues like keeping customers happy and keeping relationships with people along the path of distribution. And for some, the development of marketing strategies is the basis of strategic marketing.
The founder of modern marketing, Philip Kotler, is of the opinion that it is a process that has two sides, the first of which is strategic marketing. The statement he made, the essence of which lies in the formula, is widely known: "Segmentation, targeting, and positioning". The scientist believes that the main lever in building a successful business is understanding the needs, desires, and problems of its potential customers. An absolute lack of understanding of his target audience prophesies a company's downfall.
The popular marketing theorist JJ Lambin wrote a book in which he shared his opinion. In this work, the scholar goes beyond the usual explanation of the concept, but relying on his reasoning, we can conclude that the main task of strategic marketing is to analyze the changing interests of customers and produce products that will meet their demand.
Lambin singles out important elements of marketing strategy: assessment of consumer demands and determination of the fundamental market, macro- and micro-segmentation of the market, assessment of competitiveness, assessment of attractiveness, and determination of the long-term strategy of the organization.
The scientist noted that competitiveness is the main characteristic that determines the success of the business. The primary goal of strategic marketing is to develop a plan of action aimed at achieving the specified goals of product sales in a specified period of time, which can be accomplished in a variety of ways, including increasing the business's profitability, bringing in outside funds, responding sensitively to market changes, and changing the enterprise's internal environment.
Strategic marketing has several functions:
evaluating changing consumer demands;
analysis of market types, selection of defining segments;
quality control of goods;
assessment of competitors' actions and analysis of their ratings.
Differences between tactical and strategic marketing.
Strategic marketing is an active method of marketing that aims to build a big project for the company. The main goal is to control the marketing activities of the business as a whole from a strategic point of view. Tactical marketing is intended to be used in the short term. The primary responsibility is to find and interest new customers, generate demand based on the varied interests of the consumer, determine the best method of sales, and sell the company's products in order to increase profit growth.
The goal of operational marketing is to increase sales, reduce costs by using new sales techniques, find and attract new customers, and improve the quality of the product. It is also aimed at bringing the company closer to the indicators of the operational plan (set level of sales, guarantee of profitability of various products, territories, markets, and sales channels).
The basics of tactical marketing:
Active recruitment of commercial representatives and sales promotion of finished products.
Analysis of the assortment of distributors and retailers.
Attractive and customer-friendly merchandising at points of sale.
Creation of effective advertising.
Competent price calculation.
Now let us elaborate on the significant differences between strategic marketing and tactical marketing.
1. A global and narrowly focused approach.
Strategic marketing studies the broad concept of the market as a whole and develops the optimal marketing concept, taking into account the possible means of the enterprise and the demand in the market. It takes care of competent advertising campaigns and product branding and analyzes and takes advantage of every opportunity that can bring the business to a high level of sales.
Tactical marketing deals with the turnover of resources within the company. It targets existing markets and opportunities. Through the use of narrowly focused tactics, progress is made within the boundaries of the global plan.
2. Different action period.
Tactical marketing is used to take action in the short term. The strategy can be influenced by: changes in the economic market; fluctuations in customers' interests; an increase or decrease in their income; and the work of third-party companies. Tactical marketing needs to be sensitive to changes in order for the company to react quickly to the changing aspects and skillfully make adjustments in its work.
3. Responsibility levels.
Every worker in a business is responsible for how well his or her work gets done. The enterprise's executive staff is in charge of coming up with marketing strategies. Their main tasks are the profitable and successful existence of the company, development, high competitiveness, stable work of specialists, and retention of leading positions in the market.
When it comes to responsibilities and tasks, employees who work on developing tactics have less to do. The results of their work are sent for processing to those who create strategies. Tactical employees are those who, step by step, implement the plans of strategists.
7 key principles of strategic marketing.
The principles of strategic marketing:
1. Analysis of the structure and growth rate of the market (the company must grow in parallel with the market, ensuring competitiveness, and the sales volume must be maintained at such a level that income fully covers expenses).
2. Taking into account the levers of product demand retention (to adjust to the changing interests of consumers, analyze product demand, improve or maintain quality, competently build one's own brand positioning in the market, provide customer support after the sale of the product, etc.).
3. Studying the motivations and behavior of the consumer (assessment of the level of demand, policy of increasing demand, analysis of the desires, goals, and opportunities of their potential customers).
4. Timely response to economic developments (monitoring the market situation in order to notice changes; creating strategies based on the identified trends and extrapolating them for the future).
5. Selecting the appropriate response method in response to market transformations (revision of pricing policy, increase or decrease in production, change in price list, change of distributor).
6. Rebranding products that have already been made (making new products, focusing on what customers want, and looking at what competitors are doing).
7. Maintaining the uniqueness of the company (following the peculiarities of the brand of the enterprise).
This list can be supplemented. When building strategic marketing, it is better to combine different techniques and principles.
Strategic marketing objectives.
The main objectives of strategic marketing are:
to direct the strong resources of the company to meet the needs of the customer;
to reveal the essence of the company and its mission;
to provide the top manager with a competent explanation of the marketing goal.
The main task of the organization is to produce the goods the consumer needs, which will cover his needs.
Strategic marketing is an integral part of the market economy, solving the following problems:
1. Study of the sales market in order to design further actions for the development of the company.
2. Control of changes in the market in order to minimize critical manifestations.
3. Analysis of competitors, removal of unscrupulous ones from the market, maintenance of business competitiveness.
4. Control of production in order to produce quality products that meet customer demand.
5. Justification, development, and implementation of technological innovations capable of improving the processes of production and distribution of goods and services of the company Determination of the most effective way to optimise production processes, the mechanism for the sale of goods.
6. Increasing the attractiveness of the products in view of changing consumer demand. Monitoring the productivity of advertising campaigns.
The tasks and functions of strategic marketing depend on the idea on which the work of the enterprise is based. Each company has individual marketing goals and objectives.
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