Role of Strategic Marketing

Question: Describe about the process which comprises of analyzing the environmental, competition and other business factors which directly or indirectly impacts the business. Answer: Activity 1 Introduction Strategic marketing is defined as a process which comprises of analyzing the environmental, competition and other business factors which directly or indirectly impacts the business. The process includes identification of market opportunities as well as threats which is utilized for forecasting the future trends of the business and its strategies. To select market target strategies for a product market for each business unit and establish the marketing objectives comprising of development, implementation and managing marketing program positioning strategies for meeting the market needs. Marketing strategy of any company comprises of an integrated but a well-focused set of choices for the organization in an international context (Marketing MO 2013). Strategic marketing in the present business scenario means having a holistic view over the portfolio of products and services offered by the company within different markets and managing it for achieving the overall goals of the company. Role of strategic marketing in an organization Strategic Marketing has its relevance and plays an important role in various areas for the operations of an organization. Some of them are: Profitability: It is the primary motive of any organization and is governed by strategic analysis techniques. Profitability is the purpose of a company which appears in a systematic manner in most of the definitions. From the perspective of strategic management, profitability is not only to be kept in mind but has to include other factors like market share, company, strategies, coherence of its products, etc. Profitability shows the extent to which strategic plans for marketing gets aligned with financial policies of a company (KU 2011). Research and analysis: Analyzing any activity is very important and is regarded as a vital step for reading, evaluating, gathering and generating systems of information regarding marketing intelligence. It allows the managers for deciding the markets as well as the most attractive products which the company could offer in the future. By not having a good analysis approach for a marketing plan there isnt a possibility of having a well-defined strategic marketing plan and then its very difficult to build on it. It is the robustness of strategic marketing plans which determines different aspects that includes opportunity, validity, feasibility, coherence, vulnerability, flexibility, and profitability. Catering to markets and offering products: Strategic analysis of marketing refers to future situation for products and markets which tries to offer a guide to a companys path and the place a company should expect to be in the coming future. Its very important that there is a clear definition of what needs to be interpreted for product and the markets collectively clubbed with the marketing strategies which are open to interpretations. Resource allocation: Strategic marketing also explores as well as offers relevance to importance of negotiation different types of resources. It includes financial, production, human, marketing budgets, etc. These factors like launch of new products, divestment, diversification, etc. are related in a direct manner with the term strategic marketing. For all the marketing managers, it would be a very important aspect to know as well as manage the economic flows as well as financial statements (NTPU 2010). Relationship between the corporate strategy and marketing strategy Corporate strategy of a company is created in order to meet its goals and objectives while the marketing strategy offers the path to achieve them. Future, path, goal, intentions, and evolution are different kind of adjectives which are being used for defining the corporate strategies of an organization. The strategic marketing strategy includes a high interest of knowing the future while leaving the base of logical uncertainty behind. Its impossible for controlling the elements as well as variables which influence the discipline. It is very important that the executive management of any business stays in close contact with the marketing department for determining if the corporate strategies which they wish to go ahead with aligns with the companys marketing strategies. For example, the company has a cost containment strategy which comprise of usage of cheaper materials for making the product of the company may lead to a damage to the upscale brand of the business which relies of the pricing, distribution and brand strategies of the company. In case the upscale womens dress company buys another bargain brand for the same products, the marketing department might suggest that the two identities are separated and not merged into one. Development of a marketing strategy Planning process is the critical stage for developing any kind of marketing strategy. As per a general role planning is the process which lays the roadmap for a set of activities which need to be implemented in order to achieve predefined objectives. By integrating the strategic management process, the companies evaluate the current threats and opportunities which the product or the market has on offer. Based on their analysis, the company prepares a defined approach or a marketing strategy which leverages upon the positives and overpowers the negative aspects of the entire process. Total Marketing solution is one of the emerging areas which is acts as a strategic management for a company and undertakes the process of helping the business owners as well as managers for achieving marketing as well as business development objectives (Hewelett 2012). The approach helps the clients in achieving their objectives which intends to grow the revenues as well as the profitability to improve the stakeholder communication and engagement. The team usually is the drivers to success and adds value to the clients when it comes to provision of real clarity for thinking across the targets as well as the go-to market proposition should look like. The approach to prepare a marketing strategy is for enabling the customers in building their sales as well as profitability being based on the marketing strategy which focusses around development of a sustainable relationship among the customers. It is done by rigorous application of the results which is market led as well as customer centric approach which helps the company in achieving significant improvements in terms of sales and profitability. Activity 2 Total Marketing Solution is an information based approach which tries to integrate the strategic management processes of an organization with the end goals or the corporate strategy of the company. The entire process tries to evaluate the external as well as internal analysis of the environment in which the business operations of the organization is being carried out. The following is recommended training session for utilizing the total marketing solutions to benefit the organization: Approaches for internal environmental analysis Internal analysis of the business environment begins from the process of identification as well as evaluation of the organizations specific characteristics. It would include the resources, capabilities, core competencies, etc. The Total Marketing Solution based on internal analysis comprise of the following: Define the current vision of the organization Define its mission Define the strategic objectives Define the strategies Resources would be the assets which the organization would carry out for each and every work activities as well as processes in relation to the business definition, mission, goals as well as objectives. The evaluation would look comprehensively into the financial resources, physical assets, intangible resources, human resources, and the structural cultural resources. The tools which could be used for internal evaluation would include SWOT analysis and Porters 5 force analysis. Evaluation of the approaches to external environments External environment includes the factors which affect the company from outside its core operations. It includes the markets, demand and supply, customer taste and preferences, political conditions, and much more. The approach adopted for analyzing the organization and its external environment includes the following layers: Macro-environment Industry or Sector Competitors Organization For analyzing the above factors it is important to have different sets of approaches which would include: Macro-environment: It includes trends which are shaping up both at national and international levels. I would include the factors like political, sociological, technological, etc. Micro-environment: It includes analyzing the operating environment or the industry sector where the firm is presently competing in. Competitor Analysis: This would seek to understand the rival offers which is present from other firms of the same industry. Market Analysis: It would include analyzing the current needs of the customers in the present market as well as the emerging needs of the future customers (Evaluation Canada 1993). Integrating the external and internal analysis of an organization In order to integrate the external and internal analysis of the above it would need an organization to carry out the following steps: Prepare the current market profile emphasizing on the organization, customer interactions and states the products or services which an organization is selling and where it is selling. Clearly identify different sources which offer competitive advantage or disadvantage in product market segments. It is a step which determines the reasons as why customers choose the products by the organization instead of the other competitors. It would include information regarding the costs, products, service attributes, etc. Clearly define the different capabilities and competencies of the organization by using the results derived from the analysis of resources, skills, abilities and different divisions that determine the elements that leads towards the core competitive advantages. Classify the different capabilities as well as competencies which are for strategic importance. Here one needs to judge the strategically important areas as per the availability of the organizations capabilities, the tangible benefits, and the level of difficulties (Cornell 2005). Lastly the organization needs to identify as well as agree over the key capabilities as well as competencies. These key capabilities and competencies offer the basis for resource allocation. It can use different criteria which could determine if resources and capabilities which the firm possess are its weakness or strength. Activity 3 Ways in which marketing strategies could be used to offer greater competitive advantage to an organizaiton The following report offers an insight to how greater competitive advantage could be achieved by an organizaiton by utilising the TMS at the organization. Strategies which could contribute towards additing business comeptitive advantage Have experienced and skilled managers in the top management Keep up the same energy levels, persistance and resourcefullness throughout Offer products which is as per the market demands and better than its competitors. Have the ability of creating buzz across product categories with aggressive and strategic marketing systems. Ability of converting deals and selling the products at best possible prices in a particular market. Have the ability of keep developing new products for retaining and building the customer base. Ability of convering deals for working with the resource supliers and keep the costs lower Having the maturity for treating the suppliers, employees, and partners. Create a connection in between products and the places it could be obtained (Sonia Sepbastiao 2009). Create a steady source for the business during good exonomic times as well as downturns. Range of marketing communicaiton strategies for business to add competitive advantage As a part of a comprehensive marketing communicaiton strategy the business for making it a compeittive advantage needs to include: The ability for increasing the need of transparency in the corporate communications for having closer scrutiny by media and public. Increase the use of social media and the business implications. Consider the demographics outside the workplace and the way in which it could affect the external communicaitons. Implementing marketing strategies and the approaches for implemeting them in an organization In order to implement marketing strategies which add to the competitive advantage to an organization it would need an integration of the factors discussed above. An organization would need to know the market through the external analysis and evaluate the capacities it has by conducting an internal analysis. Once both the results are presented, an organization can build upon the strategies by integrating different channels of communication which facilitates the operations of a business across different markets and departments. The marketing strategy needs to be build in a manner which compliments and initiates to achieve the core corporate objectives of the organizaiton (MU 2014). References 1. Marketing MO 2013, The Strategic Marketing Process, accessed on 19th June 2015, https://www.marketingmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/The-Strategic-Marketing-Process-eBook.pdf 2. KU 2011, Strategic Marketing, accessed on 19th June 2015, https://library.ku.ac.ke/wp-content/downloads/2011/08/Bookboon/Strategy/strategic-marketing.pdf 3. NTPU 2010, Marketing strategy and planning, accessed on 19th June 2015, https://web.ntpu.edu.tw/~jason/120%20MM/reference%201/Marketing%20strategy%20and%20planning_PDF_.pdf 4. EDIS, Strategic Marketing Management: Building a Foundation for Your Future, accessed on 19th June 2015, https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FE/FE29900.pdf 5. JBPUB, Strategic Marketing Management: Building a Foundation for Your Future, accessed on 19th June 2015, https://samples.jbpub.com/9780763783334/83334_CH02_5713.pdf 6. Hewelett 2012, Evaluation principles and practices 2012, accessed 19th June 2015, https://www.hewlett.org/uploads/documents/EvaluationPrinciples-FINAL.pdf 7. Evaluation Canada 1993, Internal Evaluation: An essential tool for human services organizations, 19th June 2015, accessed on https://www.evaluationcanada.ca/secure/08-2-001.pdf 8. Cornell 2005, A fundamental choice: internal or external evaluation?, accessed on 19th June 2015, www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit/toolkit/steps/effects/resource-folder/Internal%20or%20External%20Evaluation.pdf 9. Sonia Sepbastiao 2009, Strategic Integrated Marketing Communication, accessed on 19th June 2015, https://soniapsebastiao.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/3/9/20393123/ebook_strategi_imc.pdf 10. MU 2014, Strategic Marketing and Communications Three-Year Plan, accessed on 19th June 2015, https://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1358430500.6075strategic%20marketing16.pdf