MARKETING MANAGEMENT

WEEK 3 - MARKETING STRATEGIES AND PLANS (1)

Nature of Strategic Implementation

Strategic implementation bridges the gap between company strategy ideation and execution,
making it a critical stage in its evolution. So, the technique entails translating the organization’s
long-term vision into actionable steps for allocating resources and assigning duties. The
inherent complexities of executing plans frequently necessitate the need for skilled project
management talents. Moreover, treat every strategic effort as a separate project, complete with
its own set of objectives, timeline, and available resources. Check out these nature of strategic
implementation to broaden your horizons.

On the other hand, the primary goal of strategy implementation is the execution of strategic
decisions. To complete this role effectively, one needs have a thorough understanding of the
organization’s internal workings, the external environment, and the intricate relationship
between the various components that may impact the outcome of the executed strategy. A
culture that greatly values the accumulation of knowledge from previous attempts, whether
successful or unsuccessful, is required for the successful implementation of any strategic
strategy. Organizations that foster a “growth mindset” among their employees are more likely to
see steady improvements in strategic operations.
Although, a strategy’s successful implementation necessitates the coordination and
synchronization of various teams and departments across the whole business. To serve your
research and educational needs, here is a list of nature of strategic implementation.

The Dedication of Leaders

The commitment of the leadership is required for a smooth implementation. Moreover, Satya
Nadella’s devotion as CEO of Microsoft was critical to the company’s successful move to cloud
services.

Participation of Workers
Employees who are enthusiastic about their jobs are more likely to contribute to the
implementation’s success. Google motivates 20% of its employees to devote to creative
activities in order to cultivate a culture of active involvement among its employees.

Interdepartmental Cooperation
Additionally, collaboration between divisions is essential for the successful execution of a
project. Amazon’s e-commerce, logistics, and customer support departments must work
together to improve the entire consumer experience.

Managing Transformation
The implementation of fresh tactics frequently necessitates course corrections. Change
management solutions are required by Procter & Gamble in order to enable the move from a
traditional hierarchical organizational structure to one that is more adaptive.

Evolving and Bettering

The ability to improve later implementations by gaining knowledge from previously successful
ones. As a result of earlier market upheavals, the company opted to move its focus from
hardware to services.

Express yourself Clearly

Throughout the implementation phase, communication must be effective. Besides, Apple’s
original marketing campaign to sell the iPhone was successful in alerting consumers about the
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device’s revolutionary features.

Constantly Checking
You can perform modifications as needed through consistent monitoring. When making
changes to the Airbnb platform and services, the company takes into account consumer ratings
and comments.

Adapting for Change

To account for unpredictable variables, changes may be required throughout the
implementation phase. By shifting the company’s emphasis from DVD rentals to streaming,
Netflix’s strategic planning has exhibited adaptability in response to changing consumer
demands.

Allocation of Resources
The implementation of a strategy demands the wise allocation of resources. Although, a retail
corporation that wants to enter a new market needs budget for promotion, store openings, and
hiring local workers, among other things.

History and Major Events

Creating a checkpoint-equipped timeline can help with progress tracking. In addition, SpaceX
achieved numerous key milestones in its effort to reduce the costs of space travel, one of which
was the successful touchdown of reusable rockets.

Quantifying Results
Measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) can help determine the effectiveness of an
implementation. Walmart is emphasizing key performance indicators (KPIs) such as energy
efficiency and carbon emission reduction as critical components in its efforts to improve
sustainability.

Managing Dangers
Identifying and mitigating possible hazards during the early phases of any deployment process
is critical. Tesla’s attempt to disrupt the car industry is fraught with dangers related to battery
technology, manufacturing issues, and regulatory oversight.

Cultural Assimilation
To guarantee a successful deployment, organizational culture must be considered. Moreover,
the organization’s customer-centric culture is critical to achieving Zappos’ goal of offering great
service and unforgettable purchasing experiences.

Purpose Statement
The facilitation of clearly defined roles and duties guarantees that all persons are aware of their
respective contributions to the strategy’s execution. Within a software corporation, for example,
the roles of evaluators, designers, and developers are distinct yet interdependent.

Aligning with Long-Term Goals

By comparing proposed efforts to industry norms, strategic implementation guarantees that a
business consistently moves in the right path. If one of a company’s goals is to become the
market leader in environmentally responsible products, investing in greener product R&D could
be part of its strategy.
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What is a corporate strategy?

A corporate strategy is a long-term plan that outlines clear goals for a company. While the
objective of each goal may differ, the ultimate purpose of a corporate strategy is to improve the
company. A company's corporate strategy may be to focus on sales, growth or leadership. For
example, a business might implement a corporate strategy to expand its sales to different
markets or consumers. It may also use corporate strategy to prioritize resources. Another
purpose of corporate strategy is to create company value and to motivate employees to work
toward that value or set of goals.

Types of corporate strategies

Here are some types of corporate strategies you can implement into your business:

Growth
A growth strategy is a plan or goal for the company to create considerable growth in different
areas. It could refer to overall growth, but it could also encompass only specific areas, such as
sales, revenue, following or company size. Companies can accomplish growth strategies
through concentration or diversification. Concentration refers to a company developing the core
of its business, such as a bookstore investing in selling more books. Diversification is when a
company enters new markets to expand its business.

Stability
Stability strategies refer to a company staying within its current industry or market because it's
already succeeding in its current situation. This strategy maintains the company's success by
continuing practices that work for the company. To do this, the company might invest in areas in
which they're doing well, such as customer satisfaction. For example, the marketing team might
create advertisements with coupons on them to send to customers to further improve customer
appraisal.

Retrenchment
The retrenchment strategy encourages the company to change paths to improve the business.
This might mean switching business models or changing markets. The goal of this is to reduce
or manage parts of the business that don't work for the company. A company might achieve this
by either switching the business's pathway or by removing parts of the business. For example, if
a product line is decreasing company sales, the product management team might remove the
line to save profit.

Reinvention
Reinvention strategies are when a company reinvents, or redesigns, an aspect of the business
that may be old or irrelevant. The company might update it with new designs, technologies or
products. To accomplish this strategy, a project manager could reinvent a function by
significantly changing a good or service. An example of this could be converting a physical store
into an online store.

Here Are Effective Marketing Strategies For Business Growth:

[Link] Media
Yes, it’s an obvious one, but it can’t be ignored considering the majority of people are on social
media - 60.6% to be exact. Social media marketing presents an opportunity for businesses to
get their product or service in front of their target audience and find new customers. Your
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existing customers will also expect a social presence, whether it’s to answer their questions or
show them who you are as a brand. And now more than ever, people use social media like a
search engine, so it’s imperative you don’t get left behind.

2. Get The Most Out of Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for nurturing and converting leads and still remains one of the
most effective ways to reach customers and generate revenue. In order to make the most of
email marketing, you need to ensure you have a list of prospects to email in the first place.

3. Take Advantage of Co-branding, Affinity, and Cause Marketing

What is co-branding?
Co-branding is a marketing strategy in which two or more companies collaborate to promote
and sell a new product or service. The result is that consumers are often prepared to spend
extra because the brands give their collective credibility to raise the impression of the product or
service's value.

4. Start Blogging For Your Business

Anyone can start a blog, but If you're going to blog (especially as a business), be sure you're
doing it effectively. Similar to what we said about social media, you should consider how you
can add value for your customers. The goal with business blogs isn’t selling, it’s providing useful
content that will position you as a thought leader. This is one of the most effective marketing
methods for any company and comes with a heap of benefits.

5. Use Videos as Marketing Tools

Video is a quick and effective way to get your message through to your audience. 86% of
marketing professionals reported that they used video as a marketing tool, and 78% of those
say that video has directly increased sales for their business. 86% said videos helped to boost
traffic to their website. Video is a great way to demonstrate to your customers exactly how you
can solve their problems. It is also extremely effective for brands with complex ideas, concepts
or product features - the adage is "show, don’t tell" for a reason However, not every video needs
to be pushing your product. Think outside the box and make entertaining videos that both inform
and entertain i.e. how-to videos, customer reviews, behind-the-scenes, tutorial-style videos or
even animated videos.

6. Start Creating Podcasts

Podcasts are an excellent marketing tool as they are generally a low-cost way to reach new
audiences, engage with customers and build brand authority. They can be used to position your
company as a thought leader while disseminating information about your products.

7. Understand the Power of SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) might be intimidating, but it can also be extremely effective.
And when you know how to master SEO properly or you have the help of an SEO agency, the
sky truly is the limit.

8. Use AI
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will know that AI seems to be more popular than
ever, and for good reason as when used effectively, it can help businesses grow substantially.
While integrating AI into your strategy might seem daunting, it can offer several advantages to
help grow your business. Here are just some ways AI can improve various processes in a
business, freeing up valuable time and resources to be able to focus your efforts on growing
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your company.

10. Referral marketing

If a friend recommended a brand to you, chances are you are much more likely to purchase
from them, rather than if you just saw an ad for that brand, right? That’s what referral marketing
assumes anyway. The concept of referral marketing is that existing, satisfied customers
recommend your company to their friends and family, with the aim of generating new customers
for the business. You can’t rely alone on the good intentions of your existing customers,
however, so you need to actively encourage the referrals, usually by incentivisation. This could
be by rewarding them with cash back, discount codes, vouchers or service upgrades. For
example, online cloud storage company Dropbox rewards customers who have referred
someone else with 1 GB of extra storage space.

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