Marketing strategy - Assignment Example

Introduction Marketing strategy is a of action that an organization or business entity uses or applies toallow for the concentration of its scarce resources of maximum opportunity to expand sales and reach a level of sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategy is a primary foundation in marketing plans and allow for reaching of marketing objectives and expectations. The strategies determined should be in a position to last for long. The duration of strategy differs from one organization to the other and from one state to the next. Their duration is majorly dictated by the changes in technology. Those seriously undergoing technology changes would their strategies affected more frequently and therefore need to update their strategy. Strategy for marketing should be dynamic and interactive. Must be in a position to cope with the changes in technology and include almost all aspect of marketing. Before implementing the strategy, careful scanning of the business environment; both internal and external is required. The business environment entail; performance analysis, marketing mix, marketing competition, technology change, legal and economic status. Some of the generic marketing strategies include; Market dominance; this is the portion of the market served by the organization. It is healthier for a business entity to know the size of the market and the percentage it serves. This will enable them determine the quantity of production. Market dominance is grouped into four. These are; leader, challenger, follower and niche. To avoid serious impact, businesses should try to be the market leaders. This can be achieved through direct marketing, publicity and other promotional methods. Growth strategy; this is a strategy aimed at the area of operation, quality of operation and quantity of production. Businesses should spread out their branches over as large region as possible. This may take place in the following directions; horizontal (the operation is expanded geographically), vertical (improvement done on the quality of production and quantity of the produce), diversification and intensification (changes made to include variety of other related commodities for example if previously organization was producing beverages it can incorporate refreshments). Innovation strategy; this strategy aids the invention of new products, new production methods, new markets and new branding. It enhances the sales of the products and results in average increase of sales. Businesses should always try to be the inventors of an idea; the pioneers and not the followers or the late followers. Pioneers are likely to dominate the market if their followers are not innovative enough to come up with a more advanced service or quantity. An example is the coca cola company who has remained the sole producers of refreshments in the larger East and Central Africa. They therefore dominate this market. They as the leader keep all the secrets of production to themselves. They have succeeded in operations through practices like branding of their commodities. Also the services like software services where companies like Microsoft were close followers but are now coming up steadily due to their innovative nature. Innovation strategy should cut across the technological changes and the business innovations and the inventions. Porter generic strategy; these are steps put forth to ensure that the organization gets deep into the market and has a proper and sustainable completion advantage. Organizations are able to achieve this through market segmentation; dividing market into portions of same need and which serviced in a similar way and cost leadership; making the prices of the commodities be fairly lower compared to that of the competitors. Product differentiation can be used make clear distinction between the vendors. Marketing warfare strategies; these deal with marketing and war, dictate what is to be done at such times. Product strategy document Product strategy is the procedure which an organization uses to determine quantity of produce, quality of the products. Proper product strategy will result into a reduced cost of production, increased output, increased sales, good customer relation, and production or provision of services that meet the expectations of their customers. By meeting the needs of clients, the business therefore require ways to avoid provision of sub-standard services, low quality goods and shortages. These can be achieved through product definition, customer research, target customer, customer value, new markets and segmentation (Thompson, p.152). Market investigation; market investigation opens the doors to learning the needs of the customers. Through market research, business knows the expected number or quantity of services to be produced or provided. It reduces the risks of over production on the perishable products, shortages which result from under production. Through investigating the market trends, organization is able to know the loopholes in the market and therefore is able to attack opponents from their lines of weakness. For example service providers like the software vendors are able to know what amount of off-the-shelf services should they produce and how many of their customers require the customized software. Customer segmentation; this entails the grouping of the customers as per their needs and solution to those needs. It becomes easier to settle the need of a group than to settle the need of each individual. A common expectation may be used to classify the needs of the customers. When undertaking market research, a group of people whose demand are not taken into consideration in the current business situation. This group automatically forms a market segment. Like when producing computer software, they must be in different types to take care of the different groups; customized software users and off-the-shelf software users. Product definition; a well defined product wins the users; most customers would like to use the products which they clearly understand. Under product definition, vendor should clearly indicate the usage, importance, constituents and cautions where applicable. Customer value; on production, the interest of the customer should be given the first priority as everything is made for them. Giving them priority will mean winning their trust. With the consumers’ trust, you are assured of sale the commodity. Customer value entails customer research which is the observation of the customer needs, expectation and interest. Qualitative customer research; this is a research aimed at the identification of the customers. It includes determination of the target groups, their needs and their expected solution to the needs and the extent to which the solution can be provided. This information is important to the producer as it dictates how and what to produce. The information on the quantity of production and quality of products determines the operation process of the organization. Works cited Thompson, Harold Underwood. Product strategy. London: Business Publications, 1962. Print Read More