The Ultimate Strategic Marketing Management (Document Bundle)

The Ultimate Strategic Marketing Management

Strategic Marketing is the way a firm effectively differentiates itself from its competitors by capitalising on its strengths (both current and potential) to provide consistently better value to customers than its competitors. In principle it's that simple, but it means a lot more than getting creative with the marketing mix.

Strategic marketing is a method through which an organisation differentiates itself from its competition by focusing on its strengths to provide better service and value to its customers. In a nutshell, the goal of strategic marketing is to make the most of an organisation's positive differentiation over its competition through the consumers' perspective.

The Role of Strategic Marketing is to decide:
1. Which markets to compete in (where to compete).
2. What the basis of the firm's competitive advantage is going to be (how to compete), and
3. When and how the firm will enter each market (when to compete)

It's only when these three questions have been answered can the marketing planning begin.

Phases involved in the strategic marketing planning process:
Planning phase: In this phase, the various aspects of an organisation, such as its strenghts, weaknesses and technology are assessed. The overall state of the organisation is also presented to the management. This phase comprises of four components, which include:

1. SWOT analysis: This method analyses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the organisation. The results of this analysis help in developing a strategic marketing proposal for the organisation.

2. Marketing mix strategy: Once the SWOT analysis has been conducted, a proper marketing mix strategy is then prepared. Marketing mix strategy consists of combining and analysing a variety of components that help in strengthening a company's brand and in selling its products or services.

The importance of strategic marketing in an organisation:

1. Helps in evaluating the current environment: Strategic marketing helps in assessing the positioning and performance of an organisation. It is important to know what resources are at the disposal of an organisation at any given time. The data that is collected helps in understanding how well an organisation is performing within the overall competitive environment. This will also help the organisation in planning for future strategic marketing activities or plans.

2. Helps in establishing clear marketing objectives: Having a strategic marketing plan in place helps in establishing achievable marketing objectives. The objectives should have a specific time-frame and should be measurable.

3. Streamlines product development: Strategic marketing helps in creating products and services that provide the organisation with high profits. This is because strategic marketing starts off by conducting a SWOT analysis of the organisation, a market analysis of the consumers and the existing trends in the market. This information is then used to create the optimal products and services for the consumers.

Regards,

UJ Consulting