Company and Marketing Strategy
Strategic Planning
The process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organizations goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities The first step is to define the companys overall purpose and mission The mission is then turned into detailed supporting objectives What portfolio of businesses and products is best for the company? Marketing planning occurs at the business-unit, product, and market levels
Defining a Market-Oriented Mission
What is our business? Who is the customer? What do consumers value? What should our business be? A mission statement is a statement of the organizations purpose invisible hand to provide a global trading platform where practically anyone can trade practically anything Mission statements should be meaningful and specific yet motivating Should emphasize the companys strengths in the marketplace
Setting Company Objectives and Goals
The company needs to turn its mission into detailed supporting objectives for each level of management Each manager should have objectives and be responsible for reaching them BASF: build profitable customer relationships by developing better products leads to series of goals Marketing strategies and programs must be developed to support these marketing objectives
Business Portfolio
The collection of businesses and products that make up the company The company must analyze its current business portfolio and decide which businesses should receive more, less, or no investment It must shape the future portfolio by developing strategies for growth and downsizing
Analyzing the Current Business Portfolio
Identify the key businesses that make up the company (SBU) Assess the attractiveness of its various SBUs The purpose of strategic planning is find ways in which the company can best use its strengths to take advantage of attractive opportunities in the environment The attractiveness of the SBUs market The strength of the SBUs position in that market
BCG Approach
A company classifies all its SBUs according to the growth-share matrix Stars Cash cows Question marks Dogs
Strategies for Growth and Downsizing
The companys objective must be to manage profitable growth Marketing needs to identify, evaluate, and select market opportunities and lay down strategies for capturing them Product/market expansion grid Downsizing: Reducing the business portfolio by eliminating products of business units that are not profitable or that no longer fit the companys overall strategy
Partnering with other company departments
Value chain: The series of departments that carry out value-creating activities to design, produce, market, deliver, and support a firms products Wal-Marts goal is to create customer value and satisfaction by providing shoppers with the products at the lowest possible prices Suppliers, IT dept., operations people (effective, lowcost merchandise handling) are very important If you are not thinking customer, you are not thinking
Partnering with others in the marketing system
More companies today are concerned about the customer value delivery network Value delivery network: made up of the company, suppliers, distributors, and ultimately, customers who partner with each other to improve the performance of the entire system McDonalds captures over 40% of the burger market QSCV quality, service, cleanliness, and value Toyotas close relationships with its suppliers In todays marketplace, competition takes place between the entire value delivery networks created by the competitors
Marketing Strategy
The marketing logic by which the business unit hopes to create customer value and achieve profitable customer relationships Customer-driven marketing strategy Companies cannot profitably serve all customers in a given market Understand customers needs and wants
Market Segmentation
Based on geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors The process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different needs, characteristics, or behaviors, and who might require separate products or marketing programs A market segment consists of consumers who respond in a similar way to marketing efforts Companies focus their efforts on meeting the distinct needs of individual market segments Car market segmentation
Market Targeting
The process of evaluating each market segments attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter A company should target segments in which it can profitably generate the greatest customer value and sustain it over time Market niches; e.g. Ferrari Several related segments different kinds of customers but with the same basic wants GM says that it makes a car for every person, purse and personality.
Positioning and Differentiation
Positioning: arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers Positioning is why a shopper will pay a little more for your brand GMG: First Class All the Way
Positioning and Differentiation
Competitive advantages upon which to build the position Charge lower prices or offer greater benefits Differentiating the market offering to create superior customer value The companys entire marketing program should support the positioning strategy
Developing a Marketing Mix
The set of controllable tactical marketing tools product, price, place, and promotion (four Ps) that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market Buyers viewpoint: four Cs Customers buying value or solutions to their problems Marketers would do well to think through the four Cs first and then build the four Ps on that platform
Managing the Marketing Effort
Analysis: provides information and evaluation Planning: strategic plans, and then marketing plans for each division, product and brand Implementation: turns the plans into actions Control: measuring and evaluating the results of marketing activities and taking corrective actions if needed
Marketing Analysis
SWOT analysis Find attractive opportunities and identify environmental threats Match the companys strengths to attractive opportunities in the environment
Marketing Planning
Marketing planning involves deciding on marketing strategies that will help the company attain its overall strategic objectives
Contents of a Marketing Plan
Executive summary: brief summary of the main goals and recommendations of the plan Current marketing situation: describes the target market and companys position in it, including information about the market, product performance, competition, and distribution Threats and opportunities analysis Objectives and issues Marketing strategy: How will the company create value for customers in order to capture value from customers in return? Action programs: What? When? Who? How much will it cost? Budgets: projected profit-and-loss statement. Expected revenues and expected costs of production, distribution and marketing Controls: outlines the control that will be used to monitor progress and take corrective actions
Marketing Implementation
The process that turns marketing strategies and plans into marketing actions in order to accomplish strategic marketing objectives Whereas marketing planning addresses the what and why of marketing activities, implementation addresses the who, where, when, and how doing things right Faster and better execution
Marketing Control
Evaluating the results of marketing strategies and plans, and taking corrective actions Differences between expected and actual performance Operating control involves checking ongoing performance against the annual plan and taking corrective action when necessary Strategic control involves looking at whether the companys basic strategies are well matched to its opportunities Marketing strategies and programs should be reassessed periodically The marketing audit covers all major marketing areas of a business Normally conducted by an experienced outside party Sometimes the findings may come as a shock
Measuring and Managing ROI
ROI is the net return from a marketing investment divided by the costs of the marketing investment Marketing returns can be difficult to measure no consistent definition of marketing ROI Advertising impact arent easily put into dollar returns Marketing performance measures: brand awareness, sales, or marketing share Marketing dashboards: marketing performance measures in a single display Customer centered measures of marketing impact: customer acquisition, customer retention, customer lifetime value, and customer equity. More difficult to measure but capture both current and future performance.