OTHM Level 5 Assignment - L-5.3 Strategic Marketing

1. L-5.3 Strategic Marketing
Task 1 of 3 – Group Presentation

2. The role of marketing to an organisation
The Marketing Department is in charge of doing research and designing the marketing strategy. The Plan lays
forth the present situation in terms of customers, competitors, and the external environment (opportunities
and dangers), as well as the organization's internal strengths and weaknesses. Although the Plan might have a
long term perspective, it should be evaluated on a frequent basis and is usually revised once a year in
connection with the establishment of yearly sales and financial budgets. A marketing plan establishes goals,
such as sales budgets, defines marketing strategies, contains demand projections, and defines resource needs
for existing and future products and services.
The Operations Management department must take measures for the physical creation, manufacturing, and
delivery of products and services in order for the plan to be implemented and carried out successfully. Internet
business is difficult and fraught with dangers. It is critical that Operations Strategy possess the necessary
information and capability to deliver in an international setting. Offers advertised by Marketing will not be
delivered on time or to specification if Inventory Management is unable to perform. Meeting specifications
may often be achieved with effort, but maintaining delivery deadlines (extended lead times and delivery
delays) will be a big concern for consumers.

3. Relationship between marketing strategy
and corporate strategy
Corporate Plan
The corporate plan is the overall strategy that analyzes, governs and steers the company. All
functional units -- including finance, operations, human resources and marketing -- fall under the
corporate plan. The plan answers two important and fundamental questions: what business are
we in? And what business should we be in? A corporate plan sets objectives so management may
make informed decisions, such as where to commit resources. It also creates benchmark goals to
help motivate management as well as employees and assess how the company is performing.

4. Cont.… Relationship between marketing strategy
and corporate strategy
Marketing Plan
Traditionally, marketing plans are based on the objectives detailed in the corporate plan and do
not encompass other nonrelated functional units, such as human resources. However, marketing
is so critical to a business that the marketing plan should be the start of any business plan. Most
marketing plans, though, serve to define the corporate plan in greater detail as it pertains to
marketing. For example, a marketing plan may include customer and marketplace analysis,
promotion, pricing, positioning and packaging strategies, as well as define expected results of
sales.

5. Cont.… Relationship between marketing strategy
and corporate strategy
Effective corporate plans are based on effective corporate planning processes. Yet three-quarters of managers
surveyed by Andrew Campbell in the “Harvard Business Review” article, "Tailored, Not Benchmarked: A Fresh
Look at Corporate Planning," said their company’s planning processes don’t work. As such, it’s important to
understand the ingredients that make for a good corporate plan. These include a clear vision to build
processes around, well-defined objectives and ways to encourage buy-in from the businesses, employees or
stakeholders affected by the plan.
According to Philip Kotler in “According to Kotler” most marketing plans are poorly done and lack a
meaningful strategy. To create a well-designed marketing plan, a business must have solid planning processes
in place. Kotler suggests using a six-step process that includes competitive and environmental analysis, setting
of objectives, defining a strategic direction, detailing marketing tactics, creating a budget and establishing
ways to measure and assess the marketing plan so that the plan may be revised if needed.

6. How a marketing strategy can lead to competitive advantages,
and the type of competitive positioning an organisation can
adopt
The notions of competitive advantage and marketing strategy are intrinsically linked. Competitive
advantage is the process of identifying a fundamental and sustainable basis from which to
compete. Ultimately, marketing strategy aims to deliver this advantage in the market place. Porter
(1980) identifies three generic strategies – fundamental sources of competitive advantage. These
are: cost leadership, differentiation and focus. Arguably, these provide a basis for all strategic
activity and underpin the large number of marketing strategies available to the organization.
Additionally, management needs to define the competitive scope of the business – targeting a
broad or narrow range of industries/customers (see Figure below),
essentially either operating industry-wide or targeting specific market segments. Each generic
strategy is examined in turn.

7. Cont.… How a marketing strategy can lead to competitive
advantages, and the type of competitive positioning an
organisation can adopt
Conventional models of product positioning strategies center on catching the eye of consumers.
While there is a wide range of options for brands to consider in product positioning, most can be
broken down into one of three categories.
Comparative: Comparative positioning strategies work by placing products right next to other
brands to highlight their competitive edge. A typical example of this occurs when stores place a
white label value brand next to a more expensive name brand product. Often, the label includes a
“compare to X brand” statement to show the consumers that the products are similar, but the
value brand offers a better price.

8. Cont.… How a marketing strategy can lead to competitive
advantages, and the type of competitive positioning an
organisation can adopt
Differentiation: Sometimes, the uniqueness of a product can’t be duplicated, making it ideal for a
differentiation strategy. An excellent example of a product easily differentiated is Barilla’s Pronto
pasta. While the pasta aisle is competitive, Pronto offers a unique selling point in that it requires
no draining. As such, this is the primary focal point that the brand highlights on its packaging to
gain consumer attention.
Segmentation: Sometimes, helping a product stand out requires focusing on multiple audiences
with different needs, but with the same product. Consider a simple product like Bayer aspirin. The
brand offers bottles of its tablets in the pharmacy aisle at the grocery store, but they also provide
smaller, on-the-go packs for purchase at the convenience store. Through this, they target
consumers buying bottles of medication for their households for use in the future, as well as
travelers or individuals dealing with an immediate ache or pain they want to take care of right
away.

9. How a marketing strategy is developed
The development of a marketing strategy involves the isolation of a target market segment, a set
of clear-cut goals, a fair amount of consumer research, and the implementation of initiatives
aimed at getting the word out.
Identify Target Markets
Target markets are those segments of the population that the small-business owner deems to be
potential customers. A variety of criteria ranging from income level, to age, to geographic
location can be used to determine these targets, depending on the product or services you sell.
Marketing strategy should be designed to address these markets first and foremost. For example,
Forbes suggests that if a company's goal is to reach millennial, digital messages should be
succinct, eye catching and engaging.

10. Cont.… How a marketing strategy is developed
Set Measurable Goals
Clear-cut goals are an essential part of marketing strategy development. Goals consist of distribution
and financial mile-markers that give gauge the success or failure of marketing strategy, and help to
know when we hit on the right strategy.
Goals and projections are based on customer and market research, starting with past performance, and
factoring in the changes that additional marketing efforts and promotions bring. If marketing strategy
fails to reach the goals, alterations to the plan and additional investment may require to right the ship.
Conduct Marketing Research
Sometimes surveying own clients is the best way to get a firm handle on who are marketing targets
should be. For example, if someone notice that 80 percent of his sales are made to members of the
legal profession, his number one target market should be lawyers and paralegals. Market research is
also a key part of marketing strategy development, even though it deals with larger generalities than
you may be used to.

11. Marketing’s role in the competitive positioning of the business
Developing marketing capabilities is one of the most effective ways an organization can
implement differentiation based strategies. A well developed set of marketing capabilities is
essential to performing basic marketing activities such as gathering information about market
needs, segmenting and selecting target markets, developing new services to meet the needs of
targeted segments (via product development activities), pricing the service and for
communicating the benefits of offered services to the target market, either through advertising
and pro- motional activities, or through personal selling activities. While these activities form the
core marketing activities for some firms, many firms find they need additional marketing
functions to be able to implement a successful program of target marketing. For example,
superior customer service is often needed to provide a means for differentiating the
product/service based on value provided to the customer. While this activity may not be
performed by the marketing group alone, it is a vital organizational function. Other activities fall
in this category as well.

12. Range of marketing strategies that can contribute to
organisation’s competitive advantage
There are an infinite number of strategies because they are very specific to each company in each
point in time.
However, there are three or four general strategies, or value disciplines, that result in competitive
advantage:
Operational excellence - can result in a cost efficiencies that allows a company to offer lower
prices while maintaining profits. Dell, McDonald’s and WalMart follow this model.
R&D Investments - can result in intellectual property and product design that allows a company
to offer a better product than the competition, selling at a higher price. Apple and Porsche follow
this model.
Customer intimacy - can result in better service, or customized offerings for each customer or
for small groups of customers (niches), this makes products and services more valuable for
certain customers. Ritz Carlton follows this model.