Marketing Strategy Chapters

Section 1: The Strategic Marketing Process-Chapters 1-6

Chapter 1: Overview of Marketing Strategy and the Strategic Marketing Process.

A marketing strategy is based on the big picture view a firm or product has, and is concerned with whether that firm or product is moving in the right direction, setting appropriate objectives, competing for the right customers, and developing the right skills, resources, and capabilities for success. Marketing strategy involves the process of formulating, maintaining, and implementing the strategy, and the outcome of that process. A good marketing strategy answers the questions relating to the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the business. Furthermore these six questions can be divided into three high level decisions groups, first the target segments, consisting of the who, when, where and what, second the competitive advantages, consisting of the how and why, and lastly the singularity, which consists of all the elements being different then the competition. Customers needs should be the primary strategy of a business. Generic marketing strategies can be broken down into competitive advantage and competitive scope. Competitive advantage involves either differentiation in the products characteristic, quality, or attributes, or achieving cost leadership by developing the lowest cost structure. Competitive scope involves the range of customers and customers needs served. A value map organizes all possible strategies and is expressed in formula value= (relative performance)/(relative price), meaning what the customer gets, adjusted for what the customer gives. A strategic decision is a decision made today that will affect your ability to compete in the future, such decisions can be made knowingly or only recognizable as strategic later on. There are four stages to the strategic marketing analysis and planning process, first situation assessment, second strategy formation, third implementation, by positioning and the...