BT Tech's Marketing Strategy - Essay Example

?Strategic Marketing Strategic marketing is a vital component of an organization’s operations. In today’s highly competitive environment, organizations have to find ways through which they can penetrate the market and stay on top of the competition through unique marketing of their products (Reynolds and Lancaster, 2007). Strategic marketing is one of the tools that a company can use to achieve its long term and short term objectives. Being a technology firm, BT Tech marketing strategy is very important as it determines how the market receives the company’s products. The company has been involved in various marketing programs aimed at improving the accessibility of its products in the mass market. however, it seems that the company’s competitor’s have an upper hand in the market share mainly due to the fact that they have strong marketing strategies. To be at par with, or even at a better position than their competitors, the company needs to reevaluate their marketing strategy. Making use of strategic marketing practices such as strategic thinking will enable the organization to find out what their customers expect form them. Strategic Thinking BT has put in place a marketing plan for its technological products to the mass market. Although the products are doing quite well in the market place, there is room for improvement. Incorporating strategic thinking into the company’s marketing strategy will go a long way in improving the company’s competitive advantage. Strategic thinking can be defined as the process of thinking about transformations and how to prepare for them (Parvinen, Tikkanen, 2007). Strategic thinking will definitely help the company determine and understand the direction of the business and how to create a niche in the competitive marketplace. How can it help my company do a better job of ‘Marketing’? Strategic thinking will help the company be aware of industry changes that may affect its standing on the market and hence, its profitability (Alsem, 2006). The concept of strategic thinking in strategic marketing is very likely to increase the company’s profitability. Before placing products in the market, the company needs to know about the market operates. For instance, information regarding the consumers, pricing and competitors is very important in making a proper marketing plan. At BT Tech, the current marketing strategy can be greatly improved through the incorporation of strategic thinking in the whole marketing process. Strategic thinking will help the marketing team in the organization to know and understand the needs and expectations of the target market (Alsem, 2006). Successful marketing is not possible without the consideration of how to reach the consumers. Strategic thinking will help the marketing team to not only identify the target market, but also understand their wants, how they reason and even how and where to reach them (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2010). Knowing the target market well enough is essential if the company wants to reach them before their competitors do. Identifying and selecting a market niche is only the first step in marketing. The managers also need to strategically think about the best way of marketing the company’s products to its target market (Drummond, Ensor and Ashford, 2008). In this respect, the kind of products the company makes should be well designed to fit the needs and preferences of the market. There is no need of making a perfect strategic marketing plan when the product does not meet the needs of the customers (Parvinen, Tikkanen, 2007). Strategic thinking will therefore enable the company to produce products that will be well received in the market. In other words, the company will be able to produce and distribute products which will help it get ahead of the competition. Strategic thinking is also important when formulating promotional details for a specific product. In any marketing mix, promotion is a very important step as it is used to introduce products and their benefits to the audience (Drummond, Ensor and Ashford, 2008). The managers need to ensure that the marketing strategy being adopted by the company includes conclusive details on how product promotion is to be carried out. The promotion should be well thought out, unique and realistic (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2010). The aim of strategic thinking when formulating marketing strategies is to come up with marketing ideas that will set the company apart from the crowd. Promotional messages need to communicate the uniqueness of the product being marketed, but they should not copy what the competitors are doing. Through strategic thinking, the organization will be able to reduce the amount of time that it normally takes to select growth opportunities and tactics for competitive market practices (Drummond, Ensor and Ashford, 2008). Strategic thinking also will allow for innovation in terms of marketing ideas that are likely to propel the company’s products up the competition ladder. The managers in the organization will be able to understand the importance of value adding marketing strategies and functions for the organization if they make use of strategic thinking (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005). Strategic thinking also enables an organization to deal with the slightest details in a marketing campaign. This manner of thinking enables the company to look at all its available options so that it can make the best marketing decision (Bradley, 2003). Strategic thinking is a tool that BT Tech can make use of as a way of marketing its products in a highly competitive market. To penetrate and survive in such conditions, strategic marketing and thinking are essential as they will help the company to market itself and its products as being unique and reliable (Zahay and Griffin, 2010). Strategic thinking in the process of formulating a marketing strategy for an organization lays the foundation for a highly efficient outbound marketing structure that the company can utilize for all its products. How do I make it happen?” For any strategic plan to work in any organization, proper management is of essence (Webster, 2005). The Management at BT Tech needs to be at the forefront in encouraging strategic marketing practices for the organization’s products. To enhance the company’ marketing strategies, the managers need to practice the kind of leadership that will make it easy for the company to implement its marketing objectives. One of the ways of encouraging the implementation of strategic marketing practices in an organization is through encouraging team work (Fioravante, 2010). In the BT Tech scenario, the manager can create marketing teams from different parts or departments of the company. This means that the team will comprise of employees who have different skills and knowledge, and who can contribute greatly to a strategically thought out marketing strategy. Strategic thinking is easier when there are different people contributing and making suggestions about what should be done to make the marketing of the company’s products work (Webster, 2005). Since the manager is responsible for the organizational operations, he should ensure that the marketing strategy created by the marketing team is inline with the organization’s business objectives. He should encourage strategic thinking which predicts the future shape of the market as accurately as possible (Zahay and Griffin, 2010). The way the strategic marketing plan in formulated and later implemented should be interactive. It is the role of the manager to ensure that he responds to nay developing conditions during and after the creation and implementation of a strategic marketing plan (Proctor, 2000). The manager needs to be fully involved in the marketing plan development process so as to ensure that it is good enough for the organization. The manager needs to ensure that the strategic marketing plan addresses all the specific conditions in today’s tough and highly competitive market (Bradley, 2003). The plan also needs to address how the needs and interests of consumers or target audience are to be met. This means that strategic thinking while in the process of formulating a marketing plan needs to focus on the issues, challenges and concerns of consumers. The consumers, who already have a wide variety of similar products to choose from, need to be convinced that the company’s products are the best in the market (Reynolds and Lancaster, 2007). This way, it will be easy for the organization to popularize its products through a well though out marketing plan. Conclusion In the business world today, consumers of various products have a wide array of products to choose from. The consumers are so overwhelmed by the presence of so many choices that they sometimes get confused on which product to buy. When a company positions itself on the marketplace through strategic marketing, then it has a better chance of making it in the market. Planning marketing strategies through strategic thinking enables businesses to analyze the conditions of the market, which helps in product positioning. Consumers will always purchase the product that they know and trust. Strategic thinking in marketing helps in creating consumer trust and loyalty to products. through strategic marketing that is based on strategic thinking, BT Tech will no doubt be able to penetrate the market niche that proved elusive in the past. This kind of marketing will enable the company to enhance its competitive advantage since more people will actually have access to products from the company. Strategic thinking will enable the company pull its resources in its marketing strategy in a way that will help it realize maximum profits. Instead of thinking along the same lines with its competitors will not help the company in any way. However, by thinking strategically, BT Tech will device marketing programs that are different from its competitors’, thus making more and more people aware of the company’s products. References Alsem, K.J. (2006). Strategic Marketing: An Applied Perspective. New York: McGraw Hill Bradley, F. (2003). Strategic Marketing: In the Customer Driven Organization. Hoboken, NJ: J.Wiley Drummond, G., Ensor, J. and Ashford, R. (2008). Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann Fioravante, P.L. (2010). Corporate Philanthropy: A Strategic Marketing Consideration Journal of Applied Business and Economics. Vol. 11, Iss. 3, pp. 91-96 Parvinen, P. and Tikkanen, H. (2007). Corporate Strategic Marketing: A New Task for Top Management. Business Strategy Series, Vol. 8, Iss. 2., p.132 Proctor, T. (2000). Strategic Marketing: An Introduction. London: Routledge Reynolds, P.L. and Lancaster, G. (2007). Predictive Strategic Marketing Management Decisions in Small Firms. Management Decision. Vol. 45, Iss. 2, pp 173-188 Webster, F.E. (2005). A Perspective on the Evolution of Marketing Management. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. Vol. 24, Iss. 1, pp. 121-126 West, D., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E. (2010). Strategic Marketing: Creating Competitiv Advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press Wilson, R. and Gilligan, C. (2005). Strategic Marketing Management: Planning, Implementation and Control. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann Zahay, D. and Griffin, A. (2010). Marketing strategy selection, marketing metrics, and firm performance. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing. Vol. 25, Iss. 2, p.24 Read More