Marketing strategies

1. Week 15: Lesson Slide
By Eric Lee
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2. Recap of Week
13
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3. Lesson Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, you will be able to:
1. explain the importance of marketing mix to an organisation’s
marketing strategy; and
2. apply appropriate marketing mix to different type of businesses
based on a competitive business environment.
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4. Marketing’s Role in Strategic Planning
• Marketing plays a key role in the company’s strategic planning in
several ways/
1. Marketing provides a guiding philosophy - company strategy should revolve
around serving the needs of important customer groups.
2. Marketing provides inputs to strategic planner by helping to identify
attractive market opportunities and by assessing the firm’s potential to take
advantage of them.
3. Marketing designs strategies for reaching the unit’s objectives.
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5. Marketing Strategy
• The marketing strategy lays out target markets and the value
proposition that will be offered based on an analysis of the best
market opportunities (Kotler & Keller, 2011).
• It is the comprehensive plan formulated particularly for achieving the
marketing objectives of the origanisation.
• The marketing strategy is designed by:
1. Choosing the target market: to whom the company wants to sell its
products
2. Gathering the marketing mix: how the company proposes to sell its product
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6. Importance of Marketing Strategy
• Provides a company an edge over its competitors.
• Helps in developing products and services with best profit making potential.
• Helps in discovering the areas affected by organizational growth and thereby helps in
creating an organizational plan to cater to the customer needs.
• Helps in fixing the right price for company’s products and services based on information
collected by marketing research.
• Ensures effective departmental co-ordination.
• Helps a company to make optimum utilization of its resources so as to provide a sales
message to its target market.
• Helps to fix the advertising budget in advance, and it also develops a method which
determines the scope of the plan, i.e., it determines the revenue generated by the
advertising plan.
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7. How the
elements of
the marketing
mix work
together to
achieve the
marketing
strategy plan?
Each element of the marketing mix
influences the other, so the messages
across all elements needs to be
consistent. For example, a business
selling luxury cruises to people who are
retired would be unlikely to do well by
advertising them at very low prices, in
magazines aimed at teenagers
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8. Element
How it influences
product
How it influences price How it influences place How it influence promotion
Product
If the product is expensive to
produce, the price will have to
be higher
If the product has to be
tried on, it may be most
successful if sold from a
shop
A new product may need more
promotion than a mature
product
Price
If the price needs to be
low, the quality of the
product may be
affected
It would not be advisable
to sell expensive products
through discount retailers
Expensive products may be
best suited to being promoted
with a free gift
Place
A product sold in
luxury outlets needs to
be high quality
A product that is sold cheaply
may be sold in discount shops
A product that is only sold
online may need a different
approach from one sold in
shops,
Promotion
A buy-one-get-one-
free offer would not
be suitable for an
expensive product
Promotions can be used to
reduce the cost of products
that have a high price
A promotional campaign
that used national media
would require the
product to be available
nationally
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9. Using the marketing mix to implement
business decisions
• Marketing strategy is a plan for how to identify, anticipate and satisfy
customers’ needs in the most profitable way possible. Considering the
four elements of the marketing mix – product, price, place and
promotion – helps business to implement their marketing strategy
effectively.
Finance Department
• Prices are set at the level
that will make the most
profit
Sales Department
• Promotions are effective
• Prices allow them to
maximise sales
• Distribution channels
(place) are able to operate
effectively
Operations
Department
• Company produces
products that will enable it
to maximise sales and profit
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10. Activity 1
Refer to previous slide (P. 9), explain how the other 3Ps
of marketing mix help a company to implement their
marketing strategy effectively.
1. Form a group, not more than 4 persons.
2. You have 5 minutes to discuss.
3. You are required to use 2 minutes to present your
findings.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
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11. Balancing the
marketing mix
based on the
competitive
environment
• Competitive environment refers to
the pressure placed on a business by
its competitors.
• Companies that operate in a mass
market have a tough competitive
environment as there are many other
companies offering very similar
products and services. This means
that if a business charges too much
then its customers will go elsewhere.
An example of a business that
operates in a mass market is the fast-
food industry.
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12. Businesses adapt
their marketing mix to
try to convince
customers that their
product is better than
the products of their
competition. The aim of
these adaptations is to
gain a competitive
advantage.
They can do this by:
• offering a product or service that
fills a gap in the market
• offering better sales promotions,
such as buy one get one free
(BOGOFF), online discount codes
or cashback
• creating a unique selling point (USP)
• developing relationships with
existing customers to make them
more likely to buy again
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13. Impact of changing
customer needs on
the marketing mix
• Consumer needs change over time – this can be the
result of technological improvements or of changes
in people’s knowledge and priorities, such as new
information about eating healthily. This means a
business must adapt its marketing mix to continue
to be effective at meeting its customers’ needs. For
example, companies may announce they are
reducing the amount of plastic in their packaging to
show they are thinking about their impact on the
planet. Another example is the increase in
popularity of vegan diets and cruelty-free products.
• One common trend is the need for convenience.
Businesses have had to alter their marketing mix by
developing or adapting new or existing products to
suit this consumer need. An example of
convenience is a restaurant chain offering ready-
made versions of its meals in supermarkets,
allowing consumers to eat the food they enjoy, but
at home.
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14. Some ways
businesses adapt
to changing
consumer needs
are:
• introducing new products, eg
releasing smoothies to replace the
need for people to eat individual
pieces of fruit
• by changing the selling price of
products or bringing out budget
products to match the state of the
economy - eg during a recession,
customers will spend less money and
businesses may need to reduce their
prices or develop a budget range to
encourage customers to continue to
purchase
• opening new retail outlets to provide
greater convenience to customers
• introducing m-commerce and e-
commerce to the business to meet
customer expectations
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15. Impact of technology
on the marketing mix
Technological advances create many opportunities
for businesses. This means that a
business’ promotional mix may need to change to
enable it to interact with its customers through
increasingly popular technologies (such as online
messaging and digital advertising).
The use of social media has changed how much many
businesses spend on traditional promotional
activities (eg TV advertising) and on advertising in
other media types (eg
newspapers). Sponsorship and influencers on social
media are commonly used as a means of promoting
products and services.
Examples of ways businesses may adapt to
advances and trends in technology include:
• increasing use of e-commerce and m-
commerce in businesses
• use of digital media to promote products
and maintain consumer interest
• changes to a product’s design to
incorporate new technologies
• reduction of prices because of more
efficient production methods
• introduction of more competitive pricing
because of easy access to price
comparisons across retailers
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16. Activity 2
How marketing mix differs
from small business and large
busines?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
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17. Conclusion
Effective marketing mix consistently adapt to the ever-changing business
environment. The elements of marketing mix work together to achieve the
marketing strategic plan. Over time, a company may adapt its marketing mix to suit
the business climate and trend to suit changing customer needs and wants.
• Changes to products
• a new version, software update, developing new products, etc.
• Changes to prices
• demand increase or decrease, inflation, etc.
• Changes to place
• opening a new outlet, online store, door-to-door delivery, etc.
• Changes to promotion
• Social media, marketing campaigns
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18. Reference
• Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2020). Principles of Marketing, Global
Edition, 18th Edition. Pearson.
• Chartered Institute of Marketing. (2015). Marketing and the 7Ps: A
brief summary of marketing and how it work. UK: CIM.
• PwC. (2013). The future of software pricing excellence: The new state
of the art [Electronic version]. Technology Institute. PwC.
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