The Strategic Marketing Process

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1.4 PLANNING PHASE

The planning phase of the strategic marketing process consists of a market research and a situation analysis, goals setting and a development of a marketing plan. These features will be discussed in the next chapters.

1.4.1 Situation Analysis

A major factor in the success or failure of a marketing strategy at any level is whether it fits in the market environment and if the offering meets the requirements of potential customers. That is the reason why the marketing manager must first monitor and analyze the opportunities and threats caused by factors outside the company and secondly analyze the company itself – its strengths and weaknesses. An honest and detailed evaluation of external and internal factors is the key …show more content…

Key is to know to what extent the four P elements of marketing plan can be standardized. Standardization helps to create savings mainly on manufacturing and on marketing costs. It is not possible to standardize everything, of course there will be differences in pricing due to various parameters as: manufacturing, marketing costs, taxes, and the prices of competitive products. There will also be differences in advertising because of cultural and language differences that require adjustments. However, all the adjustments must be consistent and integrated in the marketing strategy. There are three options for a …show more content…

In the market-penetration strategy a company gains an important market share via low prices. Secondly, there is the market-skimming strategy. This strategy is used when a company is the first to enter the market, and therefore does not have any competition. To cash in on the actual market opportunities and to compensate for development costs, a high price will be set on the market. When competition enters the market and prices drop, the price setting will be adjusted. In the comparable pricing strategy, a company sets the prices on the similar level as the competition and competes using other features – not the price (for example benefits) Lastly, many companies will not only focus on one product, but will try to enter the market with a range of products - product lines- at different prices to reach different target segments. This strategy is called the flanking strategy. It creates a net that catches in its system as many customers as

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