Elements Components marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy encompasses several key elements and components aimed at achieving specific business goals.

1. Marketing Strategy Strategy:- the art of planning and directing overall military operations and movements in a war or battle. a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim. Marketing Strategy is a process of using the marketing mix to satisfy and attract the consumer to make a profit for the organization. A marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan designed by companies to achieve their marketing goals. This strategy outlines how the company will attract potential customers and retain existing ones by using its resources in the best possible way. It relies on a thorough market analysis and a deep understanding of the target audience. Marketing strategy refers to the overall plan or approach that an organization develops to achieve its marketing objectives and goals

2. Elements and Components of marketing Strategy A marketing strategy encompasses several key elements and components aimed at achieving specific business goals. 1. Target Audience:  Identifying and understanding the specific group of people a business aims to reach with its marketing efforts. This involves analyzing demographics, psychographics, and behaviors to tailor the marketing messages effectively. There are four main types of market segmentation: Demographic  (age, gender, income, marital status, etc.)  Geographic  (location, urbanicity, climate, culture, language) Psychographic  (values, likes, dislikes, lifestyles, opinions, etc.) Behavioural  (actions made within a website, in-app, in-store)

3. 2. Marketing Goals and Objectives:  Defining specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for the marketing strategy. A goal is  something that you want to achieve  and is a  broad, overarching statement that typically refers to the long-term.  An objective is  more specific, precise  and involves the  action or actions that will be taken in order to achieve the overall goal.  If you feel a little lost or aren’t sure where to start, the  SWOT analysis method  is a great way to dive deeper into your company (as well as the wider market environment) and identify some actionable goals and objectives.  Conducting a SWOT analysis encourages you to identify your business and/or marketing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This will give you a clear picture of where you excel, where you can improve, your potential opportunities and the challenges that you will need to tackle.  

4. A key thing to remember is to ensure that your  goals and objectives are S.M.A.R.T.: Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant/realistic  Time-bound 

5. 3. Competitive Analysis:  Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of competitors in the market. Understanding their strategies, marketing tactics, and target audiences to identify opportunities and differentiate the business.

6. Competitor analysis  is a process where you research to identify brands that are a potential threat to your business and analyse their products, sales and marketing strategies, social media presence, website, etc. By conducting a competitor analysis, you will gain knowledge and an understanding of:  The market you operate within Your target audience  Market forecasting and potential opportunities Competitor products &  product development horizons Pricing structures  Acquisition trends 

7. 4. Marketing Mix 4ps, 7 ps

8. 5. Marketing Budget:  Allocating financial resources to support the marketing activities. This includes budgeting for advertising campaigns, content creation, marketing software, and other relevant expenses

9. 6. Marketing Channels:  Selecting the appropriate channels to reach the target audience, such as social media, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and paid advertising.

10. 8. Metrics and  Key Performance Indicators  (KPIs):  Tracking and measuring the performance of the marketing strategy using relevant KPIs. This allows for data-driven decision-making and optimization of the marketing efforts

11. 9. Action Plan and Tactics:  Developing a detailed plan outlining the specific actions and tactics to be implemented. This includes timelines, responsibilities, and resources required for each activity.

12. Types of marketing Strategies Content Marketing – Creating and sharing valuable content (blogs, videos, guides) to attract and engage customers. Social Media Marketing – Using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok to promote products and interact with audiences. Email Marketing – Sending targeted emails to inform, nurture, or convert leads into customers. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Optimizing website content so it ranks higher in Google search results. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising – Paying for ads that appear in search engines or social media feeds (e.g., Google Ads, Facebook Ads).

13. 6.Influencer Marketing – Partnering with influencers to promote products to their audience. 7.Affiliate Marketing – Rewarding partners (affiliates) for driving sales or leads through their promotions. 8.Event Marketing – Promoting products through events like trade shows, webinars, or launch parties. 9.Direct Marketing – Reaching customers directly via mail, phone, or SMS with offers or promotions. 10.Guerilla Marketing – Using unconventional, creative, and low-cost tactics to grab attention. 11.Relationship Marketing – Focusing on long-term customer engagement and loyalty rather than quick sales.

14. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis is a framework to help assess and understand the internal and external forces that may create opportunities or risks for an organization. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. They are characteristics of a business that give it a relative advantage (or disadvantage, respectively) over its competition. Opportunities and threats, on the other hand, are external factors. Opportunities are elements of the external environment that management can seize upon to improve business performance (like revenue growth or improved margins).

15. A technique that enables organisations or individual to move from everyday problems and traditional strategies to a fresh prospective. SWOT analysis looks at your strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats your business faces. SWOT can help your company face its greatest challenges and find its most promising new markets.

16. In SWOT Analysis, strong and weak aspects of an organization are identified by examining the elements in its environment while environmental opportunities and threats are determined by examining the elements outside its environment. In this sense SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. It provides information that is helpful in matching the organization’s resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates

17. STRENGTH Strength is the characteristic that adds value to something and makes it more special than others.

18. Characteristics of the business or individual that give it an advantage over others in the industry. Positive tangible and intangible attributes, internal to an organization or individual. Beneficial aspects of the organization or the capabilities of an organization, process capabilities, financial resources, products and services, customer goodwill and brand loyalty. Examples - Abundant financial resources, Well-known brand name, Lower costs [raw materials or processes], Superior management talent, Better marketing skills, Good distribution skills, Committed employees. Strength- Internal | Positive

19. Characteristics that place the firm or individual at a disadvantage relative to others. Weakens the organization from its ability to attain the core goal and influence its growth. Weaknesses are the factors which do not meet the standards we feel they should meet. However, weaknesses are controllable. They must be minimized and eliminated. Examples - Limited financial resources, Very narrow product line, Limited distribution, Higher costs, Weak market image, Poor marketing skills, Limited management skills, Under-trained employees. Weakness- Internal | Negative

20. External attractive factors that represent reasons your business is likely to prosper. Chances to make greater profits in the environment - External attractive factors that represent the reason for an organization to exist & develop. Arise when an organization can take benefit of conditions in its environment to plan and execute strategies that enable it to become more profitable. Organization should be careful and recognize the opportunities and grasp them whenever they arise. Examples - Rapid market growth, Rival firms are complacent, Changing customer needs/tastes, New uses for product discovered, Economic boom, Government deregulation, Sales decline for a substitute product . Opportunity- External | Positive

21. External elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business - External factors, beyond an organization’s control. Arise when conditions in external environment jeopardize the reliability and profitability of the organization’s business. Examples - Entry of foreign competitors, Introduction of new substitute products, Product life cycle in decline, Changing customer needs/tastes, Rival firms adopt new strategies, Increased government regulation, Economic downturn Threat- External | Negative

22. To help decision makers share and compare ideas. To bring a clearer common purpose and understanding of factors for success. To organize the important factors linked to success and failure in the business world. To help individual or organization to understand their strengths and weaknesses. It promotes strategic thinking Aims & Objectives

23. Benefits of SWOT Analysis: It helps with preliminary feasibility studies and situational analysis. The technique is easy to visualize. It simplifies complex issues and large amounts of data. The technique promotes communication. The method is applicable in wide range of situations. It offers a balanced assessment. the strategy allows us to utilize different perspectives. A good SWOT analysis should promote data-driven and evidence based decision making. The technique is cheap. It can provide market insights. The strategy is not overly technical. It promotes discussion and fosters relationships within the company.

24. Limitations of SWOT Analysis: It generates lengthy list of environmental components It does not use weights to reflect priorities The same factor can be placed in two categories (E.g.- Strength may also be a weakness or an opportunity may also be a threat The opinions are not verified by data or analysis, which may reduce the reliability of the SWOT analysis. It requires only a single level of analysis. It does show any logical link to strategy implementation.

25. Porter’s Five Forces (Porter’s Five Forces Model) Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor, introduced the Five Forces model in 1979 in his article "How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy" and his book Competitive Strategy.  The framework identifies five key forces Bargaining power of suppliers, Bargaining power of buyers, Threat of new entrants, Threat of substitutes, and Rivalry among existing competitors

26. Porter identified five competitive forces that shape every single industry and market. These forces help us to analyse everything from the intensity of competition to the profitability and attractiveness of an industry. Porter five forces analysis is a framework to analyse level of competition within an industry and business strategy development.

27. Supplier Power: Here you assess how easy it is for suppliers to drive up prices. This is driven by the number of suppliers of each key input, the uniqueness of their product or service, their strength and control over you, the cost of switching from one to another, and so on. The fewer the supplier choices you have, and the more you need suppliers' help, the more powerful your suppliers are.

28. Here are a few reasons that suppliers might have power: Existing loyalty to major brands Incentives for using a particular buyer (such as frequent shopper programs) High fixed costs Scarcity of resources High costs of switching companies Government restrictions or legislation

29. Buyer Power: Again, this is driven by the number of buyers, the importance of each individual buyer to your business, the cost to them of switching from your products and services to those of someone else, and so on. If you deal with few, powerful buyers, then they are often able to dictate terms to you. Bhatbhateni as Buyer and Supplier

30. Here are a few reasons that customers might have power: There are very few suppliers of a particular product There are no substitutes Switching to another (competitive) product is very costly The product is extremely important to buyers - can \ can't do without it The supplying industry has a higher profitability than the buying industry

31. Competitive Rivalry: What is important here is the number and capability of your competitors. If you have many competitors, and they offer equally attractive products and services, then you'll most likely have little power in the situation, because suppliers and buyers will go elsewhere if they don't get a good deal from you. On the other hand, if no- one else can do what you do, then you can often have tremendous strength.

32. A highly competitive market might result from: The main issue is the similarity of substitutes. For example, if the price of coffee rises substantially, a coffee drinker may switch over to a beverage like tea. If substitutes are similar, it can be viewed in the same light as a new entrant.

33. Threat of Substitution: This is affected by the ability of your customers to find a different way of doing what you do – for example, if you supply a unique software product that automates an important process, people may substitute by doing the process manually or by outsourcing it. If substitution is easy and substitution is viable, then this weakens your power.

34. Factors that can affect the threat of substitutes: Small number of buyers Purchases large volumes Switching to another (competitive) product is simple The product is not extremely important to buyers; they can do without the product for a period of time Customers are price sensitive

35. Threat of New Entry Power is also affected by the ability of people to enter your market. (Barriers to entry) If it costs little in time or money to enter your market and compete effectively, if there are few economies of scale in place, or if you have little protection for your key technologies, then new competitors can quickly enter your market and weaken your position. If you have strong and durable barriers to entry, then you can preserve a favourable position and take fair advantage of it.

36. ‘Barriers to entry’ The existence of high start- up costs or other obstacles that prevent new competitors from easily entering an industry or area of business. Barriers to entry benefit existing companies already operating in an industry because they protect an established company's revenues and profits from being whittled away by new competitors.

37. Barriers to entry can exist as a result of government intervention (industry regulation, legislative limitations on new firms, special tax benefits to existing firms, etc.), or they can occur naturally within the business world. Some naturally occurring barriers to entry could be technological patents or patents on business processes, a strong brand identity, strong customer loyalty or high customer switching costs.