BAA 120
2. Marketing Strategies and Plans
Any company that can identify the
market’s demands and produce
products to meet these demands
can be successful. But as times
change, the needs and wants of
consumers change. So the market
demand also changes.
If the company does not respond to
these changes quickly, it will not
survive. And the competitors who
adapted to the changes will be
successful.
Another example can be the way
people used to take pictures. So, companies like Kodak and Fuji which were
making film rolls, photofinishing equipment for studios, and photo paper are now
making digital cameras and other photographic equipment.
To adapt the changes in demand over time, organizations have to have
marketing strategies and plans, which in turns are part of the marketing
management process.
1
MANAGING THE MARKETING EFFORT
Managing the “marketing process” requires the four marketing management
functions below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
Analyzing (‫)تحليل‬
Planning. (‫)تخطيط‬
Implementation. (‫التنفيذ‬.)
Control(‫)سيطرة‬
Market Analysis
Market Analysis is the complete analysis of company’s situation. The marketers
use Situation Analysis or SWOT analysis.
SWOT Analysis: an overall analysis of the company’s Strengths (S) ( ‫نقاط‬
‫)القوة‬, Weaknesses (W) (‫)نقاط الضعف‬, Opportunities (O) (‫ )الفرص‬, and Threats
(T) (‫)التهديدات‬.
Internal
capabilities
that may help a
company reach its
objectives.
Internal limitations that
may interfere with a
company’s ability to
achieve its objectives.
Current and emerging
external factors that
may challenge the
company’s
performance.
Internal (‫ )داخلي‬factors: management, offerings (product features and prices),
External factors that
the company may be
able to exploit to its
advantage.
marketing, personnel, finance, manufacturing and suppliers, research and
development, etc.
External (‫ )خارجي‬factors: consumer and society, competitors, technologies,
economy, legal issues, political issues, etc.
2
Activity 1
SWOT Analysis for COCA COLA. Identify is the following is a Strength,
Weakness, Opportunity or Threat.
1. Brand Value worth $77,839 Billion Dollars.
2. Relies on carbonated drinks (‫)يعتمد على المشروبات الغازية‬
3. Strong Marketing and advertising.
4. Reduced price of production material (‫)إنتاج المواد‬
5. Lack of Diversification (‫)قلة التنويع‬
6. Local brands in different countries
7. World’s Largest beverages (drinks) company
8. Increased bottled water demand.
3
Market planning
2.
It involves the deciding on marketing strategies that will help the company attain
(get) the overall strategic objectives.
Market Strategy
Planning for changes in future and staying ahead of competition is what
market strategy is all about.
A Marketing Strategy identifies (1) a firm’s target markets (2) a related
marketing mix – their four Ps and (3) the bases upon which the firm plans to
build a sustainable competitive advantage.1
(Target (‫ )هدف‬market consists of all actual and potential buyers of a certain
product who are selected to be target.)
A sustainable (‫ )المستدامة‬competitive advantage is “an advantage over the
competition that is not easily copied, and thus can be maintained (kept) over
a long period of time”.2 Examples of competitive advantages can be:
Customer
Excellence
Locational
Excellence
Customer Value
Operational
Excellence
Product
Excellence

Customer Excellence – retaining (keeping) loyal customers through
excellent customer service

Operational Excellence – efficient operations through supply chain and HR
management

Product Excellence – having products with high perceived (‫ )ينظر‬value,
with effective branding and positioning

Locational Excellence – Having a good physical location and Internet
presence
4
Examples of Marketing Strategies:
Growth Strategies: providing more
products, more options, more services,
or more industries. E.g. Unilver have
many different brands, including: Lipton,
Lux, Omo, Sunsilk, Dove ……more
Differentiation (‫ )التفاضل‬strategies:
providing the most unique and different
products in the market place and become the pioneer in an industry like Amazon
as the first fully online bookshop.
Cost leadership strategies: producing products and services at the minimum
cost and selling at low prices. E.g. IKEA
3.
Marketing Implementation
It is the process that turns marketing strategies
and plans into marketing actions in order to
accomplish strategic marketing objectives.
4.
Marketing Control
It is the process of measuring and evaluating (‫ )قياس وتقييم‬the results of marketing
strategies and plans, and making corrective actions to achieve those objectives.
1
2
Grewal, D., Levy, M., Marketing, second edition,. McGraw Hill- Irwin, New York ( 2007), p32
Grewal, D., Levy, M., Marketing, second edition,. McGraw Hill- Irwin, New York ( 2007), p33
5