28 Mar
Strategic marketing allows the company to define its marketing objectives by studying and analyzing several factors. These analyzes can relate, for example, to consumer behavior, the market, the business environment, etc.
Unlike operational marketing, which aims for the short term, strategic marketing aims for the long term and is more long-term.
Strategic marketing also represents the vision and general orientations of the company’s overall strategy.
In this article, we will address several aspects related to strategic marketing by answering the following three questions:
- What is Strategic Marketing?
- What is the point of strategic marketing?
- How to set up a marketing strategy?
Strategic Marketing: Definition
Strategic marketing is considered as a phase of reflection, which ultimately results in an action plan to be carried out. These actions aim to achieve the company’s objectives in both the medium and long term.
- Overall, strategic marketing helps answer the following questions:
- What products or services should be marketed?
- Pour what target?
- How do I reach my target’s heart?
- What distribution channels should I use?
- What is the manufacturer’s price for my products/services?
- What are the market and environmental barriers to my offering?
To answer all these questions, the company must mobilize all the necessary means and tools that will allow it to achieve its strategic objectives.
Thus, the marketing strategy adopted must be aligned with the overall vision of the company and its business strategy.
The interest of strategic marketing:
Strategic marketing aims to ensure that the company can grow, compared to its competitors. In other words, it is:
1: Identify new opportunities and expand the potential of the business.
2: Define the positioning.
3: Improve the perceived value of products/services in order to encourage prospects to discover and buy the product/service.
4: Develop a marketing strategy adapted to the business environment, its target, its positioning and the value of its products/services.
What is meant by the implementation of a marketing strategy?
At Perf Unit, we advise you when developing your strategic marketing to follow the following three steps:
- Analysis:
In this first step of developing your marketing strategy, you need to identify and assess market needs, existing offers and the competitive capabilities of the competition. This analysis must be based on an internal study by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the structure. But also an analysis of the external environment by identifying the opportunities and threats of the company.
We can call a gait study complete when it involves five variables:
- The environment
- Consumers
- The company’s image
- competition
- Diffusion.
- Planning:
The second step in developing your marketing strategy is to carry out the marketing diagnosis of your company. This diagnosis allows the company to plan for the future. Of course, this projection must remain realistic. We advise you to determine your objectives based on the SMART tool.
A goal must be specific and defined through a numerical value and a deadline. It must also be measurable and quantifiable, as it must be achievable by being neither underestimated nor exaggerated.
It must be achievable and time-bound, that is, it must fall within a clearly defined period of achievement.
The company must not reach all consumers in the same way, it must adapt its message and its products/services according to its potential clientele. Hence the importance of segmentation in strategic marketing. It is a frequently used technique that allows the company to highlight the different groups of prospects that exist in its market.
After having identified the homogeneous groups, the company must determine the target of the actions, that is to say the most interesting customer segment(s) for it and towards which it will centralize all its efforts, strategies and actions. .Therefore, it is important to have the basics to choose selected segments.
Once the segmentation is complete, the marketing targeting has been completed, it will then be time to ensure that the company’s offer anchors itself in the mind of the target(s) in a distinct and significant way compared to the offers of the competition.
- Defining the operational means for your strategic marketing:
In this last part of strategic marketing, it is necessary to implement operational means to develop the activities of the company, according to the results of the analysis and the objectives fixed in advance.
These means are essentially represented by the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) which form the marketing mix and which must be monitored through performance indicators, such as the conversion rate, the CTR, the bounce rate, etc.
Product policy:
This policy can be considered as the starting point of every business strategy. It must examine all the characteristics of a product/service. All aspects must be taken into account, namely quality, content, functionality, after-sales service, warranty, etc. This will allow you to offer an attractive offer for your customers.
The pricing policy:
It must be implemented taking into account a set of internal constraints, but also the size of the current market shares and those that we want to achieve. The cost of production, positioning and external factors must also be taken into consideration. We can cite as an example of external factors:
The Competition
The purchasing power of consumers:
Transportation costs :
distribution fees
The place policy:
It defines the set of channels to choose to distribute its product. This set of channels called the distribution network allows the company to:
- Determine the means to approach the heart of our target.
- Choose the right distribution strategies
- Choose the means that will have an impact on boosting sales
- Determine the commercial logistics of the company
The promotion policy:
This is the most important policy to determine at the strategic marketing level, as it has a direct effect on how you present your products/services to your target audience. This policy should identify two main aspects:
On the one hand, it must be suitably chosen according to the characteristics of your core target. For example, if a product can be useful for different age groups then the appropriate advertising messages should be provided. The same message cannot be communicated to seniors and young couples in the same way.
On the other hand, the advertising message must release the added value of your offer compared to your competitors. If what you are offering saves time, solves problems, or offers superior quality then you should highlight these elements in your communication.
Do you need advice to help you develop your marketing strategy ?
Perf Unit supports SMEs and large structures to develop their marketing strategies, to be implemented at the level of digital communication, and offline.
- We help our clients develop marketing strategies so they can:
- Know their markets in detail.
- Choosing the positioning for their brands, products and services.
- Translate the strategy into an action plan to be implemented.
- Budget marketing expenses according to the chosen channels (Purchase of advertising space, social networks, press, events, SEO, etc.)
If you want to know moreØ contact us. We will be happy to discuss with youØ your needsØ goalsØ are what prevent you from achieving them.
