A marketing strategy combines all elements of the marketing mix to formulate a plan to design, produce, price, distribute and promote the product.
To first develop a marketing strategy, marketing objectives must be determined. These objectives could be;
To increase the sales of existing products.
To develop and market a new product
To grow overall market share of products or specific product offered by the firm
Access a new market or develop a niche market
Maintain awareness on brand
Exit a market
But before marketing objectives can be determined, the firm must first identify their strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) using market research. What are they?
Strength
Strength refers to the advantage the firm has over their competitors, such as being able to access exclusive materials or a good reputation. These advantages can be leveraged to build consumer's confidence especially on new product launch. Apple Inc. has built a large following from their reputation for good customer service and quality product. This enables Apple to price their product at premium with high pre-order sales.
Weakness
Every firm has their weakness. These weaknesses make the company vulnerable to competition. As such, it would be good for the firm to identify and take action to overcome these weaknesses or conceal it from competitors. Example, if the product has a PED that is elastic, the firm must prepare for a significant loss of revenue due to reduced demand should there be price changes by competitors and market changes.
Opportunities
Some products can be developed to offer different services using their existing product. For example, Uber started off as a ride-hailing service, that has now included food delivery (UberEats). This strategy was similarly adopted by their competitor Grab, who subsequently introduced GrabFood and even expanded to offer Motorcycle hailing services (Grab Rider) in traffic congested cities like Jakarta. All these services are available in a single "Super App". By leveraging on opportunities, firms are able to diversity and widen their product portfolio, further reducing business risk failure.
Threats
To your competitor, threats to your firm creates opportunities for them. Tax breaks offered to your competitor is a threat to your firm, as your competitor may use the excess profits to launch a new product or increase promotion of their product, causing your firm to lose market share.
After conducting a SWOT analysis, the firm can then determine it's marketing objective and include the analysis outcome into the four marketing mix element to formulate a marketing strategy.
RELATED CONCEPT
Market Research
Marketing Mix
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