In order to work as consultants, it is important to establish some conceptual bases and ideas about what we will later put into practice. Being very clear about what strategic marketing is, what its functions are, how to propose a strategic marketing plan, or even what kind of strategies we can consider, are some of the ideas that I have come to present to you in this post. I hope it will be of great help to you!
What is strategic marketing?
To address a complete definition of strategic marketing and determine its true meaning, it is important that we first see the concepts of which it is made up of different parts. We will not be able to know what strategic marketing is if we do not fully understand what the concepts refer to. “marketing” and “strategy”.
Marketing definition:
According to the RAE
- marketing. → marketing.
- marketing Graphic adaptation proposed for the English voice marketing, ‘a set of strategies used to market a product and to stimulate its demand’: «He is the great salesman in this Government suspended in marketing techniques» (Mundo 27.12.96). Although, due to its extension, the use of the adapted Anglicism is admitted, it is recommended to use the Spanish word mercadotecnia with preference: «Being a fundamental component of marketing, advertising is more than an auxiliary element» (Ferrer Información ). In many American countries, the word marketing is used in this sense: «The vice president of marketing and sales of the IBM printing division, Ralph Martino, was in Colombia» (Tiempo 9.1.96).
- marketing. Market and -technical. 1. f. econ. Set of principles and practices that seek to increase trade, especially demand. 2. f. econ. Marketing study.
According to some of the leading experts and scholars on the subject:
- “Marketing is a social and managerial process by which groups and individuals obtain what they need and want by creating, offering, and exchanging products of value with their peers” – Philip Kotler
- “Marketing is the performance of those activities that are intended to meet the goals of an organization, by anticipating the requirements of the consumer or client and by directing a flow of merchandise suitable for the needs and services that the producer provides to the consumer or customer” – Jerome McCarthy
- “Marketing is a total system of business activities designed to plan, price, promote, and distribute need-satisfying products to target markets in order to achieve organizational objectives” – Stanton, Etzel, and Walker
- “Marketing is the process of: 1) Identifying consumer needs, 2) conceptualizing those needs based on the company’s ability to produce, 3) communicating that conceptualization to those who have decision-making capacity in the company. 4) conceptualize the production obtained based on the previously identified needs of the consumer and 5) communicate said conceptualization to the consumer” – John A. Howard
- “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, partners, and society at large.” – American Marketing Association (AMA)
Strategy definition:
According to the RAE
strategy. From the lat. strategĭa ‘province under the command of a general’, and this from Gr. στρατηγία stratēgía ‘general’s trade’, der. from στρατηγός stratēgós ‘general’. 1. f. Art of directing military operations. 2. f. Art, plot to direct an affair. 3. f. Matt. In an adjustable process, a set of rules that ensure an optimal decision at all times.
Evolution of the concept of strategy:
- Chinese military general Sun Tzu writes The Art of War between the years 476-221 a. C., a masterpiece on strategy in the military field that has been applied to other subjects, including marketing.
- The game theory of Von Newman and Morgerstern introduced the concept of strategy in the academic and economic world in 1944. They defined the strategy as a series of acts that a company executes, which are selected according to a specific situation.
- Peter Drucker in his book The Practice of Management (1954) affirmed that the strategy requires that the agents analyze their present situation and that they change it if they consider it necessary.
- Alfred Chandler, in 1962 defined the concept of business strategy in his work Strategy and Structure as the element that determined the basic goals of a company, in the long term, as well as the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of the necessary resources to achieve these goals.
- During those same years, Kenneth Andrews offered a new definition, although very similar to the previous one: “The strategy represents a pattern of objectives, purposes or goals, as well as the main policies and plans to achieve these goals, presenting them in such a way that they allow to define the activity to which the company is dedicated, or to which it will be dedicated, as well as the type of company that it is or will be”.
- In 1965, Igor Ansoff made a new definition in which strategy was seen as the common thread that ran between the activities of the company and the products/markets. The strategy thus becomes a decision-making rule, a common thread with four components: product/market scope, growth vector, competitive advantage, and synergy.
- In 1975, Tabatorny and Jarniu defined it as: “A set of decisions that determine the coherence of the company’s initiatives and reactions to its environment”.
- In 1978, Charles Hoffer and Schendel define it as: “The basic characteristics of the match that an organization makes with its environment”.
- In 1987, KJ Halten defines it as “The process through which an organization formulates objectives, and consequently, is directed towards obtaining them”.
- In 1993, George Morrisey defined it as “The direction in which a company needs to move to fulfill its mission. In such a way, that the previous conceptualization observes the strategy as an intuitive process”.
- In 1995, Menguzzatto and Renal defined it as “Explicit the general objectives of the company and the fundamental courses of action, according to the current and potential means of the company, in order to achieve its insertion in the socio-economic environment” .
Now that we are clear about these concepts, I am going to present my own definition of strategic marketing:
“Art of analyzing the company and the market to identify weaknesses, strengths, threats and opportunities, as well as designing the necessary action plans in order to optimally achieve marketing objectives”.
What is a strategic marketing plan?
Starting from the previous definition, it will be much clearer for us to identify what a strategic marketing plan is. We could define it as the Compendium of decisions and actions that have to be implemented to achieve marketing objectives based on a complete analysis of the company and the market.
In this sense, when I refer to the analysis of the company I consider an internal analysis of everything related to marketing, that is, the so famous 4 P`s of marketing that there are authors who even extend to 7. The fundamental thing would be to analyze the product, price, promotion and distribution, although we can extend the analysis to people, processes and physical presence (you can see more in depth what I mean by each of these terms in the post What is necessary to study to be an online marketing consultant?). We will also have to analyze the marketconsidering both public (current, potential, new niches and segments, needs, etc.) as to the competence (positioning).
This analysis can then be organized into a SWOT matrix that allows us to identify the weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities that the organization has at the moment. From it, it will be much easier to make decisions and prioritize actions, determining how to eliminate weaknesses and threats, how to enhance strengths and how to take advantage of opportunities.
WEAKNESSES
- High production costs
- Lack of innovation and training
- Value for money not compensated
- obsolete products
- Brand positioning problems
THREATS
- Entry of new competitors
- Increase in sales of substitute products
- slow market growth
- Change in consumer needs and tastes
- New design trends
STRENGTHS
- Positioning in social networks
- Worker motivation
- flexible leadership style
- wide distribution
- Optimum customer service
OPPORTUNITIES
- Enter new markets or segments
- Serve additional customer groups
- Expansion of the product portfolio to meet new customer needs
- Diversification of related products
- Renewal of designs
Based on this analysis and the company’s marketing objectives, which must be aligned with those of the business, we will move on to Organize an action plan that allows us to achieve the goals in the most optimal way possible. If we limit ourselves to proposing a few steps to follow but we do not adequately assess their optimization, we will be talking about planning, but not about strategy. A strategy must have several possible paths to follow in order to later assess which is the most optimal. It deals with the guidelines to follow in order to make the best decisions.
Therefore, below I summarize a basic structure that you can take as an example for your strategic marketing plans:
- Analysis
- Internal analysis of the company
- Product
- Price
- Promotion
- Distribution
- People
- processes
- Physical presence
- External market analysis
- SWOT
- weaknesses
- threats
- Strengths
- Opportunities
- Internal analysis of the company
- Planning
- Strategy
- tactics
- Timing
- Equipment
- Organization
- Tools
- Measurement
What are the functions of strategic marketing?
As we titled this post, what is strategic marketing and what are its functions, having already solved the first question, we will go into solving the second regarding its functions. In this sense, the main function of strategic marketing is achieve marketing objectives in the most optimal way, that is, with the best relationship between investment made and results obtained. And for this, strategic marketing fulfills other important functions, such as:
- Analyze the company itself, its product, design, life cycle, distribution, promotion, communication, manufacturing process, people involved, etc.
- Analyze the current and potential target audience, market segments and potentially plausible children, consumer habits and trends…
- Analyze the competition, their products, their advantages…
- Observe the evolution of demand and the birth of new needs.
- Create a competitive advantage for…