5.1 Marketing- A Perspective

‘Marketing’ – though most talked about in commercial environment, is still less understood in its meaning and the least in its spirit & objectives. A great number of people mistakenly understand Advertising, Sales Promotion Tactics, and Product Display etc. as marketing. Though these are important components of marketing they do not reflect the core essence of marketing. It would therefore be worthwhile to revisit some of classical approaches before discussing Strategic Marketing.

Though ‘Marketing’ is being taught at universities worldwide for nearly a century now, the definition of marketing remains debated to an extent for its multifaceted approaches as follows:

 

5.1.1 An economics approach:

With an economics approach the emphasis is on products (usually referred to as goods) and services, sources of supply, the most commonly used channels of distribution and the functions performed during the marketing process [Cooke et al. 1992]

Following definitions can be provided on the basis of the economics approach:

“Marketing is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user.” [AMA-American Management Association 1960]

Marketing embraces all the business activities involved in getting commodities of all kinds, including services, from the hands of producers and manufacturers into the hands of the final consumers. All the business steps through which goods progress on their way to final consumption, are the concern of marketing. This is especially true of the points in those stages at which change of ownership takes place. [McNair et al. 1975]

5.1.2 A consumer’s (or buyer’s) approach:

This perspective arises out of consumers’ dissatisfaction with products, services and the organizations that provide them. Linked to this is the subsequent need for governments to protect individual consumer rights through legislation. The dissatisfaction emanated from various views such as unresponsive marketing system, unscrupulous marketing practices, misleading advertisement, exaggerated claims on product benefits and customer services etc.

Following definition provides an insight into the consumer perspective:

“Marketing is the process through which a business enterprise, institution, or organization 1. Selects target customers or constituents, 2. Assesses the needs or wants of such target customers, and 3. Manages its resources to satisfy those customer needs or wants.” [Star et al. 1977]

5.1.3 The societal approach:

This can be considered as a needs-fulfilling exchange or relationship activity that is present, to a greater or lesser degree, within all cultures. [Cooke et al. 1992] suggest that it is the ‘process of exchange in society and this process must occur in society so that the consumption of values can occur’.

5.1.4 The managerial or systems approach:

This is the approach of management within individual companies or organizations (including not-for-profit and public sector organizations) to marketing. The emphasis is on how the individual organization processes marketing and develops the strategic dimensions of marketing activities.

Hughes [1978] suggests that marketing managers focus on market analysis and the selection of target market segments, strategy development and the creation of a profit plan. Of course, a profit plan does not exist within a not-for-profit organization, such as a charity. Nevertheless these organizations need to generate revenues to both develop the organization and to deliver products/services to its clients: for example, the distribution of food and medical supplies in famine-stricken areas.

The managerial approach can be described as follows:

“Marketing is the combination of activities designed to produce profit through ascertaining, creating, stimulating, and satisfying the needs and/or wants of a selected segment of the market.” [Eldridge 1970]

5.1.5 A contemporary approach:

While some definitions fit relatively close to one of the four categories above, not all definitions do. Perhaps marketing is not as easy to define as we might think.

In the early 1990s Kotler defined marketing as: A social and managerial process by which individuals and groups get what they need and want through creating and exchanging products of value with others. [Kotler 1991]

By 2000 he had slightly modified this to: A societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and freely exchanging products and services of value with others. [Kotler 2000]

Although both the definitions of Kotler sound more or less similar, the difference lies  in  replacing ‘managerial’ process by ‘societal’ process , emphasis on ‘free’(meaning minimally  restricted) exchange and inclusion of ‘service’ as tradable element. This gives a broader meaning to Marketing.

Having discussed the classical approach to refresh our understanding, it would now be imperative to browse through the significance of Strategic Marketing in its pragmatic application.

5.2 Significance

 

We are living in an era of globalization with a highly competitive technology driven business environment. There is a need to continuously examine and understand trends in behavior of consumers of different products & services. Being more creative & customer centric is perhaps as important (or if I may say more important) today as cost leadership and product differentiation for business organizations to attain sustainable competitive advantage.

Marketing is the core of all business. To outperform the competition, it requires sound marketing knowledge & precision in marketing decision making. Organization’s positioning and positioning of its products and services depends on the formulation & implementation of intelligent and aggressive strategic marketing plans.

The customers across the borders implicitly or explicitly express very much loud and clear – “Just the product is not sufficient…….”.

 

This makes it imperative for marketers to respond by providing strategic tools and programs that will help sales fight these competitive battles.

Strategic Marketing therefore must endeavor to capture the dynamics of ever changing business environment and relevant issues.

5.3 Scope of Strategic Marketing

 

Marketing is a philosophy that leads to the process by which organizations, groups and individuals obtain what they need and want by identifying value, providing it, communicating it and delivering it to others.

The core concepts of marketing are customers’ needs, wants and values; products, exchange, communications and relationships. Marketing is strategically concerned with the direction and scope of the long-term activities performed by the organization to obtain a competitive advantage. Implied in this view of strategic marketing is the requirement to develop a strategy to cope with competitors, identify market opportunities, develop and commercialize new products and services, allocate resources among marketing activities and design an appropriate organizational structure to ensure the desired performance is achieved.

There is no unique strategy that succeeds for all organizations in all situations. In thinking strategically about marketing many factors must be considered: the extent of product diversity and geographic coverage in the organization; the number of market segments served, marketing channels used, the role of branding, the level of marketing effort, and the role of quality. It is also necessary to consider the organization’s approach to new product development, in particular, its position as a technology leader or follower, the extent of innovation, the organization’s cost position and pricing policy, and its relationship to customers, competitors, suppliers and partners.

Strategic Marketing aims at providing solutions to problems in marketing. It helps considerably in identifying new markets, finding new products for existing customers, finding new markets, finding new products for existing customers, finding new customers for existing products and, most importantly, discovering potential and possibly unsuspected competition.

The challenge of strategic marketing is, therefore, to manage marketing complexity, customer and stakeholder expectations and to reconcile the influences of a changing environment in the context of a set of resource capabilities. It is also necessary to create strategic opportunities and to manage the concomitant changes required within the organization. In this world of marketing, organizations seek to maximize returns to shareholders by creating a competitive advantage in identifying, providing, communicating and delivering value to customers, broadly defined, and in the process developing long-term mutually satisfying relationships with those customers.

5.4   The Role of a Strategic Marketing Consultant:

Predominantly, both organizations and consultants view ‘Role of Strategic Marketing Consultant’   with reference to Strategic Marketing Processes and ask where and how does a consultant “fit into” the marketing process?

While it is important to clarify the role of a consultant in process element at both ends, it is rather more important for a consultant to understand the orientation of client organization while initiating the consulting process.

 

 5.5 Our Experiences

5.5.1 Understanding Client Orientation:

Nothing can be described better than as written by Milan Kubr “A  useful  starting-point  is  to  classify  the  client’s  orientation  towards  the  market. Three classifications are recognized:

1. Product-oriented: In a product-oriented firm the emphasis is on the product itself.
2. Production-oriented: In the production-oriented firm the dominant considerations in product design or modification are those of ease, cost-efficiency or capacity of production.

In both the above cases, market considerations are ignored or suppressed.

1. c) Market-oriented: In a market-oriented firm the decisions are based on     analysis of market needs and demands. The object is to capitalize on     the opportunities the market offers that fall within the production and    R&D capabilities.

This approach can produce all of the good effects of the other two   orientations, and avoids their drawbacks.”

“Strategic decisions in marketing have far-reaching implications for the enterprise as a whole and for the management of particular functions, such as production, product development or financial control.

 

It is no wonder, therefore, that even minor proposals may meet with strong objections from senior management of other departments. Major changes, such as dropping or adding product lines, committing substantial funds to advertising 

or product  promotion, developing new products to satisfy new market demands or  changing  overall  pricing policies, are clearly general management decisions to be taken at top levels. ”

Here the orientation of the management significantly impacts the Strategic Marketing decision making and much of the onus lies with consultant to bring Market oriented focus to the client organization, if it does not already exists.

5.5.2 Strategic Marketing – the elements & service spectrum for a consultant:

A marketing strategy consists of an internally integrated but externally focused set of choices about how the organization addresses its customers in the context of a competitive environment. A strategy has five elements: it deals with where the organization plans to be active; how it will get there; how it will succeed in the marketplace; what the speed and sequence of moves will be; and how the organization will obtain profits.

Broadly speaking, the Marketing Service spectrum addresses three key elements: a) Planning, b) Implementation & c) Evaluation.

The role played by a Marketing Consultant & the services provided by him typically include the following:

Planning	Implementation	Evaluation
a)     The development of strategic business and/or marketing plans, b)     Providing information in support of marketing decisions and thereby helping clients  make marketing policy decisions	a)      Helping clients to actually execute marketing programs b)      The actual implementation of the marketing activities ranging from product development to advertising, public relations, sales promotions, business development programs, and website development and promotion	a)      Defining Marketing Effectiveness Standards and devising systems to measure the achievements against standards. b)      Carrying out such evaluation process c)      Guiding to re-align the strategy with changing market dynamics.

The Strategic Marketing Services mentioned above usually unfolds into following sub-sets in evolving Strategic Marketing Plan:

1. Determine Target Market
2. Research The Market & Competition
3. Facilitate Product Design by critical inputs emerging from Market Research
4. Establish Marketing Goals And Objectives
5. Determine Marketing Budget & Promotion Plans
6. Establish A Schedule For Marketing Product
7. Build In Evaluation
8. Implement  Plan
9. Continually Test Results
10. Adjust Plan According To Test Results

Most of the above processes are commonly found in B-School teaching materials. Generally an educated enterprise and its internal Marketing Managers are well versed with the theoretical concepts; however, a consultant needs to pay special attention to some critical processes such as Determining the Target Market (including ‘segmentation’ and ‘positioning’), Market Research & Evaluation system.

A consultant must adopt most appropriate Market Research tools & techniques to capture consumer psychographic reflections where a consultant’s expertise & past experiences can be gainfully tapped to synergize with the Market Research findings. While designing the MR, a consultant needs to bring on table his expertise on balancing the MR objectives from the perspective of the current competition and the ones in offing, customers, the trade channel & society in general.

Similarly another area which is most often ignored is building Evaluation System. A Marketing Consultant must develop Marketing Effectiveness evaluation plan through various Marketing Audit Processes and encourage periodic fine tuning in the Marketing Strategy to dynamically respond to the market demands. A consultant plays a key role here in assessing effectiveness of various marketing initiatives deployed. This goes much beyond ascertaining simply return on media spend or specific advertisement campaign to examining the qualitative changes brought about by training & development on Marketing & Sales force, Marketing Control Systems & Mktg. MIS.

• Developing Strategic Marketing Plan to Launch Premium Quality Herbal Hair Oil

The client with diverse business interest in tobacco processing, industrial product and real estate wanted to foray into personal care products. The first in portfolio was planned to start with Hair Oil followed by other cosmetic products. ‘B-Intelligence’ was retained as Business Consultant to draw up Strategic Marketing Plan  for the product line and guide the client with blue print covering recommendations on pricing, packaging, promotion, etc.

The flagship product in the proposed portfolio was formulated with 26 precious herbal ingredients. The formulation was developed by a veteran researcher in Ayurveda. The key benefit as perceived by the client was the oil’s actual soothing effect on the scalp as it contained fine grade Til oil coupled with right herbs.

To lay the foundation for Strategic Marketing, a Market Research (MR) was planned. A two pronged MR was designed as follow;

1. Secondary Research- to understand the competition landscape with reference to their brand portfolio, market share, the overall market size of Hair Care products, pie of Herbal Hair Oil and sectoral growth in Indian market. Also the data regarding media consumption & reach in targeted region was obtained along with geographical dispersion of market potential.
2. Primary Research was designed for Trade Circle & Consumers. (i) Wholesale & Retail Trade Channel were researched to map the demands in local regions for particular brands, category (loose unbranded plain coconut hair oil, home-made preparations, branded cosmetic hair oil, branded Ayurvedic/ Herbal Hair Oil preparations) and SKU. The insight into Pricing Structure, Channel Margins and trade practices were also gained to account for while formulating strategy. (ii) Consumer Research was targeted to the SEC-B, SEC-C+ community(Mainly House wives & girls).Structured Questionnaire was designed to map the Behavioral Sequence Model, general perceptions and price sensitivity and Focused Group Study for Blind Product Testing for two weeks to map qualitative perceptions that they developed about the product.

Some important issues addressed in the study of Consumer     Preference included:

• Price range
• Type of packaging transparent or opaque (why?)
• Fragrance
• Color
• Herbal concept and its acceptability
• Frequency of buying
• Purchase intention
• Awareness level of consumer about price size etc
• Understanding and myths about the products
• Details about the media consumption of the target segment.

Following Behavioral Sequence Model for the Customer emerged out of Primary Research:

Data Input	What (Decision Stages)
	Need Arousal	Info Search	Purchase	Usage
Who (Role)	House Wife or any member using it in the family	Usually the female folks	House wife or who ever  goes to the store for shopping	Whole of the family
Where	In house	At store mainly and some times at home while making the monthly list for shopping	At the store Store and home made Home delivery	In dressing room or place where they get ready. Even in bed room when it is applied for over night use by males
How/When	Looking at the empty bottle	By reading POP, asking the retailers, asking the husband or male folks or elderly people in the family	Look for “known brand” check out the additional price advantage (for the size to be purchased)	By applying it in the hair and massaging with it.

Based on the primary research, focus group discussion and sample test of the given hair oil following are the some key inferences drawn:

• The market is diversified in terms of the product availability which includes coconut oils, herbal oils, medicated oils and oils for massaging of hair.
• The main features of these category in buying hair oil includes,
  • Basically there are two ways they use oil. One is when oil is kept in hair for a longer time; other is when the oil is put just before washing the hair.
  • Both the times different hair oil is used. If it is to be kept for a longer time, the oil is preferred to be non-sticky, with good fragrance and good color…so that it does not come on clothes. In such cases the quality might be compromised a little for better fragrance & non stickiness properties.
  • As for when it is just put before washing the oil should be of good quality and effective.
  • Being a low involvement product, purchasing decision is taken by the female member, be it mother or daughter.
  • Most of these family members use the same hair oil.
  • The choice varies from parachute hair oil- middle aged women, young girls (age group: 10- 15 years), Dabur Vatika Hair & Care and Clinic All Clear (age group 16- 30 years).
  • The buying process includes a family pack for the whole month (size: 200ml mainly). However those who live alone generally go for small pack 75ml, 150ml.
  • The smell of the hair oil liked by people is mostly mild and colour as minimal as possible.
  • The smell of fragrant flower in the hair oil is mostly liked by the SEC- C category of the people and those going for hair oil massage (male).
  • Users do not put oil every day. Mostly twice or thrice a week and most of the times before shampoo to create a conditioning effect.
  • The climate, dust, pollution and temperature make the people avoid using hair oil on a regular basis (mainly the SEC- B category).
  • The bottle shape and type (transparent or opaque) is not of much concern for most of the users, however the quality of the oil is perceived to be better if it is in premium transparent pack (reference was given for Clinic All clear and Bajaj Almond Drops)
  • Through our survey we found that the fastest moving brands include the Parachute hair oil, and Dabur Vatika. (based on the age category)
  • Also herbal inputs are desired by many of them though they are not much aware about the actual content
  • The three main concerns is choosing the oil were:

1] Hair fall

2] Dandruff

3] Maintaining the quality of hair.

• • Out of the 10, 2 used home-made oil. The emphasis of homemade oil was the use of certain products like amla, brahmi etc. Badam oil was considered the best oil but few households use them as it is perceived to be cumbersome and time consuming process.
  • Herbal oil is anytime preferred than normal oil. The main ingredient they sought in herbal oil was Amla.
  • The most used oil for the type when it is to be kept for a longer time were Jasmine Parachute, Dabur Vatika & Maha Bhrungraj.
  • The most important finding that emerged from the focus group was that the product performed excellently in arresting the hair fall beside the soothing effect on the scalp giving pleasant sleep.

In fact the hair fall arrest was prominently noticeable just within

2-3 application. Moreover, the moderation of viscosity was much appreciated, which they missed in most Ayurvedic / Herbal preparations. Consumers also expressed inclination to buy the product event at 20-30% incremental price.

The research findings enabled us to define a very unique USP in terms of product’s functional benefit (Hair fall arrest & prevention as against just soothing effect as originally perceived by the entrepreneur) observed by the user groups.

Our key recommendations included (a) Choosing the health platform as positioning strategy with Hair fall prevention as core USP & sound sleep as secondary benefit and break through the clutter of Amla based preparations popular in the mass market (b) improvise the consumer packing to ultra high quality transparent bottle with convenient dispensing cap design (c) lighten the color properties of the oil & improvise the fragrance (d) Price the product higher nearly by 25% to provide for  incremental pricing towards improvised packing and aromatic properties, achieve better margins for the co. and supply chain, promotion and more importantly to anchor the consumer  with better value perception.

• Market Feasibility Study for Hulled Sesame Seed:

Motivated by roaring success of their unique product in international market, the client wanted to venture into domestic market with premium segment branded product in convenient consumer packing.

The client approached ‘B-Intelligence’ to chalk out the launching strategies and media plan. Given the fact that product variant was quite new that was hardly present in the Indian market, it was suggested by us to first conduct a Market Perception & Feasibility Study rather than rushing to develop media plan & hurried launching.

Sesame Seeds as a product category, had (rather still has) the history of being sold in the Indian market largely as loose commodity only. There are few operators who market the products in convenient consumer packaging, but the no. of such operators were miniscule and belonged to unorganized sector. The quality of their packing hardly qualified as ‘labeled pack’ rather than branded. In a way, this scenario gives an impression of tremendous potential for an organized player to enter the market with proper branding strategy. However, the Hulled variety of Sesame seed as a value added product was new to the market in the Indian consumer market.

The typical challenge here was that no historical research on the consumption trend and consumer preferences etc. was available on secondary sources. The only demand-consumption information informally available was that during peak winter the demand for Sesame Seed increased sharply due to fitness consumption & preparation of Til Chikki during the season.

Perception mapping through Primary Research was the only recourse one could take. The Market Research was designed supported with blind transparent packing containing the product sample. Also the ‘Wet Sampling’ was adopted to gain immediate response of the product itself apart from insight to other variables such as buying frequency, quantity, price etc.

The primary research and wet sampling amongst the respondents revealed the following findings:

• The market was largely dominated by loose/unnamed sesame seeds.
• There were about 8-10 operators who sold sesame seeds in labeled pouches. Only 1 operator sold Hulled variety of Sesame Seed.
• The so packaged sesame seeds were sold at approx 25% higher price vis a vis loose sesame seeds.
• There was a very small section of consumers that appreciated the Hulled variety of sesame seed considering its use restricted for garnishing only (over Burgers, Laddus)
• Less than 25% of the respondents appreciated lightness while chewing.
• More than 55% respondents strongly opined the variety to be less crispy & crunchy which they were used to and also believed that since the variety was hulled, it would carry very little nutrition value for which they essentially consume sesame seed.
• Many traders themselves were not aware about this variety as it was never demanded by the consumer.
• Several traders believed the variety is derived after washing it through chemicals/acidic agents and hence harmful for consumption. (They were unaware about Hulling process through technology) it through have been.
• Traders shown very little interest to deal with this variety (even at a better margin) as they too were skeptical about awareness amongst the consumers and hence anticipated low sales.

In nutshell, the study revealed trade perception and consumer perception not so favorable for the product variant. Correcting the market perceptions would have required significant time, energy & financial resources towards educating the consumer and the trade channel before the client could build a ‘brand’. Investing heavily on such initiatives was likely to help other players to enter and piggy back before client could reap the returns.

The study which was initiated just before 30 days of onset of winter(a most favorable period during which client was keen to enter the market with a significant promotion budget and marketing machinery). Based on the findings of the study, the client was recommended not to launch or at least defer the launch in Indian market.The study saved them from letting their investment down the drain and the emotional trauma that potential market failure would have caused. Eventually, client too realized the futility of highly optimistic opinions which they had received from their near & dear ones as the same lacked objectivity and expert judgment.

• Market Assessment & Entry Strategy for Print Magazine ( for a highly acclaimed publisher in Europe):

The client has several publications (Print Magazines) titles to their credit. Enthused by the roaring success at home front and emerging economy of India, the client desired to explore the business potential for launching print magazine in Indian market. “B-Intelligence’ was engaged to explore the Indian market potential & suggest entry strategy.

The entire assignment was divided into 5 parts (a) Study of Macro Environment (b) Geographical Dispersion of Market Potential (c) Study of Consumers (readers) across various segments such as industry professionals, researchers, students and academicians. The key elements studied were their monthly expenditure on reading pertaining to professional pursuit, primary & alternative source of obtaining reading material, mode of purchase, frequency etc and (d) Competition Analysis w.r.t. number of titles in the category, market position, pricing(Subscription) structure, the average quantum of reading material, wightage/space allocation to various section in the magazine, frequency of publication, advertising tariff structure, advertisement revenue estimates and most importantly the circulation by titles.

The study revealed unique consumer preference pattern and spending habits which revealed a very conservative per capita expenditure on reading related to professional interest. The trend was also observed of large no. of readers relying on some or the other borrowed source such as organizational libraries, borrowing from friends etc. These factors also reflected in very moderate circulation figures of various titles. The leader in the category after nearly 3 decades of strong presence in the market with multiple titles on

varied subjects and leveraging their own advertising sources thereby could achieve little less than 15,000 copies.

The client had ambitious plan to enter the market with similar numbers from initial stage. However, with the insight into various consumer classes and their media consumption habits as well as competition scenario with their growth history & recommendations were made to the client to re-align their expectations and make appropriate entry decision and strategy.

5.6 Observations:

5.6.1 Strategic Marketing vs. Tactical Marketing:

It is widely observed that while there is now considerable clarity amongst the entrepreneurs regarding difference between Sales & Marketing, the understanding about Strategic Marketing & Tactical Marketing still remains deplorable.

Here is the difference between strategic and tactical marketing.  Strategic Marketing has to do with long term planning of Marketing aligned with over all Business Strategy, Market Research, Scanning the Business Environment, Identification of Target Market and their needs and zeroing on most appropriate Brand Communication Strategy.  Tactical Marketing on the other hand, is the execution of strategic marketing plan such as lead generation programmes, placing media, creating marketing tools, and implementing a follow up system.  In other words, it’s the medium your message is delivered in.

Many businesses have both a strategic marketing plan and a tactical marketing plan, and it is important to keep these two platforms separate. People often mistakenly assume that when you talk about marketing, you’re speaking of “tactical” marketing, which consists of placing ads, rolling out trade promotion & consumer schemes, generating leads, sending out mailers etc.

They fail to realize that the strategic side of the coin – what you say, how you say it and whom you say it is rather more important than the marketing medium.

5.6.2 Underplaying Market Research:

The purpose of market research is to draw a realistic picture of business environment & consumer preferences. With this research, one can make fair projections about the business potential. Conducting market research is often the most time-consuming step in the Strategic Marketing process. Besides time, it also calls for deployment of third party MR expertise at an additional investment. However, it’s also one of the most important steps.

Often in order to save time and financial resources, enterprises resort to informal and unstructured  inquiries at several sources including friends, relatives and own employees etc. These sources though may serve the purpose partially, tend to be unaware of the ultimate objectives, lack objectivity and necessary expertise in data collection. Sometimes even, amateur approach by an outside MR agency tend to develop Research Design, which is lop-sided-i.e. either skewed towards Competition or Customer Preferences and miss the other. Also a tendency is observed to compromise in the geographic coverage and adequacy of Sample Size. An act which thus seems to be time & cost saving, in-fact ends up defeating the very purpose of MR and the entire exercise turn up to be superfluous incapable of providing key insights.

5.6.3 Planning, Decision Making & Marketing Action

Next, businesses need to analyze the raw data collected and summarize it into meaningful findings that will be the foundation for determining which marketing strategies make the most sense and will get the best results.

Often, businesses internalize the Market Research in crude manner or alternatively as per the current trends absorb some B-School Summer Trainees to do the leg work without any internal or external expert guiding them. In many such cases, the fidelity of data, the research method, sampling plan, data analysis and interpretation often lack validation and depth required for serious business decisions. This results into poor planning and faulty decision making. Also many a times, lack of planning on enterprise’s side causes an emergency in Marketing Action. Result? Rushed in product launches and media campaign that fail to satisfy the customers. Little wonder, such launches miserably fail.

5.6.4 Evaluation & Realignment:

Very few organizations spare efforts to examine the effectiveness of their marketing initiatives. The value of a marketing plan is its effectiveness, which requires deliberate and timely implementation and monitoring and evaluation of results. It’s important to measure marketing results against the standards set in establishing goals. Marketing Audit can be deployed to review all marketing initiatives and processes that are planned to achieve the objectives.

5.6.5 Waking up to Respond; Not REACT: Tactical marketing

Businesses that take a tactical approach tend not to plan their marketing in advance. As a result, each individual marketing activity is done in isolation and therefore, lacks integration and focus. Tactical marketing decisions are usually made either on a spur of the moment simply because rivals are doing it or to trouble shoot the declining sales.

5.7 The Way Forward:

In thinking strategically about marketing many factors must be considered: the extent of product diversity and geographic coverage in the organization; the number of market segments served, marketing channels used, the role of branding, the level of marketing effort, and the role of quality. In addition, one needs to pay attention to the following Key Considerations that has significant bearing in formulation of a robust Strategic Marketing Plan and its success.

5.7.1 Key Considerations:

• Overall corporate Business Strategy
• The role of marketing in strategic planning in SBU.
• Integrating marketing planning with strategic planning.
• Organization’s/SBU’s position in terms of cost leadership, customer relations, design and product innovation, existing equity etc.
• Market and industry stakeholder needs.
• The management of marketing-led change.
• Resource allocation in strategic and tactical marketing plans.
• Human Resource needs related to marketing.
• The implementability of strategic and marketing plans.
• Marketing information systems in relation to company wide needs
• Marketing effectiveness at the operational and strategic levels.

It should be noted that while it is always tempting to be too ambitious, a good marketing plan has to be based on realistic marketing goals, strategies that stems from sound information and research about the overall business eco-system.

 

 

5.7.2 The Success Formula:

There is no single factor that succeeds for all organizations in all situations. It is a package of factors some of which are discussed above, which if carried out well will contribute to marketing success. However, based on my years of experiences and interaction with successful business owners, the following can be briefly summarized.

• Research your market, competition & customers
• Define target audience & Marketing Objectives
• Document Marketing Plan
• Implement with care
• Evaluate effectiveness and make necessary adjustments
• Allow reasonable time for changes to occur and reap the results

One of the common factors behind all successful businesses is that they use a strategic approach to their marketing rather than a tactical approach.

Often, businesses struggle or experience decline in revenue for a variety of reasons largely attributed to the fact that companies do not have strategic and tactical marketing plans in place.

By switching from a tactical approach to a strategic approach, one can significantly improve the success of marketing with very little investment.  In fact, many people see far better results and are able to cut their marketing budget by deploying strategic marketing!!

The switch from a tactical approach to a strategic one requires a shift from having a short-term focus (tactical) to having a medium or long term focus (strategic.)

In short, businesses that take a strategic approach to their marketing think ahead, plan ahead and achieve enviable marketing ROI.

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References:

1) AMA,  Marketing Definitions: A glossary of marketing terms, Chicago: AMA.1960.

2) Conolly, Jim ‘Strategic & Tactical Marketing’ 2008

3) Cooke, E. F., Rayburn, J. M. and Abercrombie, C. L) ‘The history of marketing thought as

reflected in the definitions of marketing’, Journal of Marketing – Theory and Practice, 1992,Fall, pp. 10–20.

5) Engelberts & Woyzbun Ltd, “The Marketing Services Industry” -1996.

5) Hughes, D. G.) Marketing Management: A planning approach, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1978.

6) Kotler, P. Marketing Management, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991.

7) Kotler, P. Marketing Management, Millennium edn, Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2000.

8) Kubr, Milan; Management Consulting, -Fourth editionInternational Labour Office, Geneva, 2002.

9) McNair, M. P., Brown, M. P., Leighton, D. S. R. and England, W. B. Problems in Marketing, 2nd

edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1957.

10) Revella, Adela; “Strategic Marketing: Your Untapped Source of Competitive Advantage.”

11) Star, S. H., Davis, N. J., Lovelock, C. H. and Shapiro, B.P.; Problems in Marketing, New York:             McGraw-Hill. 1977.

12) Strategic Marketing Process (e-book) ; www.MarketingMo.com