Strategic Marketing Plan Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Putting it all Together: The Strategic Marketing Plan

• Strategic planning is a managerial process of creating and maintaining a fit between a firm's objectives and resources, and evolving market opportunities.
• Strategic marketing management deals with two key questions: what is the firm's main activity, and how will it reach its goals?
• Marketing planning is designing activities related to marketing objectives and the changing marketing environment.
• A marketing plan is a written document that serves as a guidebook for future marketing activities.
• A strategic marketing plan is valuable because it allows for comparing actual performance to expected performance; it clearly states objectives; it allows for examination of the marketing environment in conjunction with the firm's internal workings; it provides a reference point for determining the success of future activities; it enables market entry with awareness of possibilities and problems.

Elements of a Marketing Plan

• Define the business mission: The mission statement defines what business the firm is in, and where it's going. It should be neither too narrow (marketing myopia) nor too broad.

• Strategic marketing objectives: These are broad objectives for the entire firm, not specific to brands or markets. They must be formulated.

• Conduct a situation analysis: This includes a SWOT analysis and macro-environmental scanning (social, demographic, economic, technological, political, legal, and competitive forces).

• A situation analysis also includes evaluating the competitive environment (monopoly, pure competition, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, strategic window). A strategic window is a limited time where the key requirements of a market fit with a firm's competencies. Other aspects of a situation analysis are assessing the corporate culture and the types of corporate culture responses (e.g., prospector, reactor, defender, analyser). Opportunity-utilisation strategies (market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification) are included.

• Strategic management tools: Tools for a situation analysis include the Boston Consulting Group portfolio matrix and the General Electric market attractiveness/company strength matrix. The BCG matrix categorizes businesses by market growth and market share (star, cash cow, question mark, dog). The GE matrix evaluates market attractiveness and company strength for each market. Allocating resources to SBUs based on the BCG matrix involves building, holding, harvesting, or divesting.

• Competitive advantage: This comes from superior skills or superior resources.

• Setting marketing strategy objectives: Marketing strategy is about selecting and describing target markets, and developing a marketing mix to create mutual satisfaction. Marketing objectives are statements of what's to be achieved. Criteria include being realistic, measurable, and time-specific; consistent; indicating priorities.

• Formulate the Marketing Strategy: This involves target market strategy, positioning strategy, and the marketing mix including product, distribution, marketing communication, and pricing strategies.

• Target market strategy identifies target segments to focus on, requiring a market opportunity analysis. This section outlines three strategies for selecting target markets: appealing to the entire market with one mix, concentrating on one segment, or appealing to many segments with multiple marketing mixes.

• Positioning strategy is crucial in the marketing strategy component.

• Marketing mix: This section covers product strategies, distribution strategies, marketing communication strategies, and pricing strategies.

Implementation, Evaluation & Control

• Implementation: Turning plans into action assignments.
• Evaluation: Gauging the achievement of objectives during a specified period.
• Control: Providing mechanisms for evaluating results and making corrective actions based on objectives. A key aspect of control is the marketing audit - a thorough, systematic, periodic evaluation of goals, strategies, structure, and firm performance. The marketing audit process is characterized by being comprehensive, systematic, independent, and periodic.

Writing the Marketing Plan

• The marketing plan should not be rigid, viewing it as a series of steps; the content differs for each plan; plans should be unique to the firm; plans should have a flexible format.
• Summary marketing plans can be helpful in a broader sense too.

Effective Strategic Planning

• Effective strategic planning requires continuous attention, creativity, and commitment.
• This is not a one-time exercise; it needs consistent effort.
• Sound planning depends on creativity.