What, then, is that the key to an identical proactive marketing strategy?
First and foremost it’s a philosophy that dedicates resources of the firm to making sure that the needs, needs, and demands of the customer are the firm’s focus. This customer-focused mentality is that the foundation of the strategy that produces up the whole marketing process.
Second, it’s a thought, supported by the firm’s philosophy. Once the philosophy is in situ, an inspiration can give direction, guidance, and a structure for proactive strategies which will increase sales and improve business relationships. Often firms find themselves dedicating resources to marketing activities—from trade shows to flyers—and spending money on marketing that’s not targeted to the proper audience at the proper time. this can be reactive marketing with a shotgun, rather than a rifle. Conversely, a proactive, focused marketing plan can provide guidance for targeting the proper audience at the correct place and at the proper time, which successively maximizes the return on investment and increases revenues.
Third, marketing may be a process of making value for the customer. It is a collection of activities to teach, communicate with, and motivate the targeted consumer about the firm’s services or the company’s product and services.
Traditionally, this set of activities, the “marketing mix,” is represented by four parts, the well-known “4 P’s of Marketing”: price, product, placement, and promotion. But to form a marketing strategy and plan that touch on all areas necessary to position a product within the market to maximize sales revenues, there are multiple areas to be tackled.
An effective marketing strategy/plan is an ongoing value-creating process composed of several elements:
✔ Marketing segmentation.
✔ Marketing strategy.
✔ research.
✔ Pricing.
✔ Placement.
✔ Value chain.
Market Segmentation
One of the primary steps in developing an overall marketing strategy is to perform a market segmentation analysis, as the simplest way to manage the strategy development process and ensure its effectiveness and success. The concept behind market segmentation is intuitive and comparatively simple.
Market segmentation is solely taking a glance at the marketplace for your product and repair and thinking of it in terms of smaller, more manageable pieces.
Think of market segmentation as what Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street sing about once they suggest “One of those things isn’t like the other . . . one in every of this stuff doesn’t belong.” in a very sense, that’s what we do once we segment a market—we are viewing the whole and trying to see how we are able to group the mass market into smaller groups that, while different from one another, within the groups are more alike.
Once we’ve got identified these subgroupings, we are able to target which of these market segments are likely to be the foremost productive and be the best fit with our company’s strengths and competitive advantages.
A well-used example of market segmentation is that the way the players in the hospitality industry take a look at the marketplace for hotel/motel rooms. instead of take a “one size fits all” approach to the current market, a company like Marriott looks at the general market and segments it into several smaller, but more focused market segments. For the “travel and leisure” segment of the hotel/motel market, Marriott’s Fairfield Inn is found near major tourist attractions, is budget priced, and appeals to families. For the middle-level manager who travels lots and needs some comforts of home while on the road, the Courtyard by Marriott is found near businesses and includes a residential “feels like home” atmosphere. For CEOs and top-level executives, Marriott’s Ritz- Carlton has all the upscale amenities and top-level customer service that presidents and CEOs of business and industry are wont to and expect when they travel. Note in these examples how Marriott has broken this overall mass market into more manageable, more focused segments, and, importantly, how its marketing strategy for every segment is tailored to it segment.
By applying the principles of market segmentation, marketers can make better use of their marketing budgets and more efficiently manage their overall marketing strategy.
Marketing Strategy
To build a robust and sturdy house, it’s necessary to make blueprints. Likewise, to make a robust and profitable business, it’s necessary to develop a method. Essentially, marketing strategy may be a plan that allows a business owner to direct activities that are in keeping with the goals of the business owner and organization and spend money wisely in order to form the best amount of return on investment.
Market Research and Competitive Intelligence
To thoroughly understand what’s happening within the industry during which you operate, it’s invaluable to grasp what the trends within the industry are yet as what the firm’s competitors do to create money, to improve their businesses, and to enhance their own market shares.
Market research is important to form better firmwide decisions. With marketing being a philosophy where the resources and activities of the firm or company are focused on satisfying the needs and desires of the customer, research is that the way a firm with a marketing philosophy determines what those wants and wishes could also be, and further, how to communicate the associated benefits most effectively and efficiently.
Additionally, marketing research is employed to watch and modify, if needed, the weather of the marketing strategy. research includes: defining the matter and research objectives, developing a groundwork plan, presenting the plan, implementing the plan (collecting and analyzing data), and interpreting and reporting the findings. This is the area of selling where we start to determine science yet as art.
This chapter focuses thoroughly on the way to research a market, how to know the competition, and the way to leverage that knowledge to boost your business.
Pricing
To sell a product for a selected price, value must be created. Value is the consumer’s estimate of the product’s overall capacity to satisfy his/her needs. When the worth placed on a product or service is high, then satisfaction is achieved. Consumers are savvy and can choose based on the extent of satisfaction that corresponds with the value. If a bottle of Coca-Cola were priced at $5 while a liter of Pepsi-Cola was priced at $1, it’s likely that the sales of Coke would decrease. If these were the sole two options at the supermarket, the likelihood of Pepsi sales increasing is high. Pricing is what your customer is willing to trade in return for a product—that is, the worth they place on a product or service. Generally, a “price/quality” relationship exists, where the higher the value, the upper the quality; especially within the case of non-public services, consumers will expect the next level of service if the fee associated with that service is higher relative to other providers of comparable services.
Marketers may elect to skim the market with a comparatively high price initially, and then, as demand wanes at this relatively high price, gradually lower the worth. New, innovative products often use this pricing strategy because their newness and uniqueness may enable a higher price initially. As copycats and competitors enter the market, prices will fall to satisfy the market value.
Some marketers, though, may use a penetration strategy, where the product or service is obtainable at a really low price, so as to quickly grab market share and be considered the low price provider. Wal-Mart is an example of an organization employing a penetration pricing strategy.
Pricing may be a powerful tool in developing a marketing strategy with a strong connection to the status of the organization.
Pricing too low may end in economic consequences if costs don’t seem to be covered, and pricing too high may stunt demand and sales of the merchandise or service, also leading to adverse economic consequences.
Placement
A customer won’t likely purchase a service or product unless it can be relatively easily accessed. Placement are often anything from a magazine or candy sitting next to the checkout at the supermarket—a spontaneous purchase—to gas stations situated on the right-hand corner of the exit from a highway or to the situation of a orthodontics office within the same complex as a pediatrician’s office.
Placement helps make the purchasing process for a customer easier and more convenient. Often the term distribution is employed interchangeably for the location component of a marketing strategy and includes the selections a corporation or firm must make to ensure the reference to the customer or client. Placement is how the marketer connects the products or services with the customer— the easier, more convenient, more accessible the merchandise or service could also be, the more likely the customer will purchase the merchandise or service.
Value Chain
All of the aforementioned parts of the marketing plan can not be carried out to the total level of effectiveness without all areas—a value chain—working together. Generally, the worth chain includes the subsequent activities:
✔ Inbound logistics—bringing raw materials into the business.
✔ Operations—management of processes to make the merchandise or service for the customer.
✔ Outbound logistics—the means for getting the merchandise or service to the customer (for example, distribution systems and shippers to induce products into retail stores).
✔ Marketing and sales—creating value.
✔ Service—aligning customer expectations and therefore the performance of the merchandise or service.
✔ Firm infrastructure—the organization of the firm to maximise service to the customer.
✔ Human resources management—creating a structure for the people within the firm, which has recruitment, training, retention, and compensation of employees.
✔ Technology—using technology to maximise service, thereby enhancing customer value.
