Markedsføring kapittel 2

Steps in strategic planning

1. Defining the company mission 2. Setting company objectives and goals 3. Designing the business portfolio 4. Planning marketing and other functional strategies

Customer value-drive marketing strategy

- Market segmentation. The process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different needs, characteristics, or behaviours, and who might require separate products or marketing programs, is called market segmentation. A market segment consists of consumers who respond in a similar way to a given set of marketing efforts. - Market targeting. Market targeting involves evaluating each market segment's attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter. A company should target segments in which it can profitably generate the greatest customer value and sustain it over time. A company with limited resources might decide to serve only one or a few special segments or market niches. Such nichers specialize in serving customer segments that major competitors overlook or ignore. Alternatively, a company might choose to serve several related segments - perhaps those with different kinds of customers but with the same basic wants. Most companies enter a new market by serving a single segment; if this proves successful, they add more segments. - Market differentiation and positioning. Positioning is arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers. In positioning its brand, a company first identifies possible customer value differences that provide competitive advantages on which to build the position. A company can offer greater customer value by either charging lower prices than competitors or offering more benefits to justify higher prices. But if the company promises greater value, it must then deliver that greater value. Thus, effective positioning begins with differentiation - actually differentiating the company's market offering so that it gives consumers more value.

Defining a market-oriented mission

A mission statement is a statement of the organization's purpose - what it wants to accomplish in the larger environment. A clear mission statement acts as an 'invisible hand' that guides people in the organization. Mission statements should be market oriented and defined in terms of satisfying basic customer needs. Mission statements should be meaningful and specific yet motivating. They should emphasize the company's strengths and tell forcefully how it intends to win in the marketplace. Finally, the mission should focus on customers and the customer experience the company seeks to create.

Developing an integrated marketing mix

After determining its overall marketing strategy, the company is ready to begin planning the details of the marketing mix. The marketing mix is the set of tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it want in the target market. The marketing mix consists of everything the firm can do to influence the demand for its product - the four Ps. From the buyers point of view, the four Ps might be better described as the four Cs. Product - Customer solution Prices - Customer cost Place - Convenience Promotion - Communication http://www.businessmanagementib.com/uploads/1/1/7/5/11758934/8148258_orig.jpg

Marketing control

Because many surprises occur during the implementation of marketing plans, marketers must practice constant marketing control - evaluating the results of marketing strategies and plans and taking corrective action to ensure that the objectives are attained. Operating control involves checking ongoing performance against the annual plan and taking corrective action when necessary. Strategic control involves looking at whether the company's basic strategies are well matched to its opportunities.

Partnering with other company departments

Each company can be thought of as a link in the company's internal value chain. That is, each department carries out value-creating activities to design, produce, market, deliver, and support the firms products. Success depends on how well each group performs its work of adding customer value and on how the company coordinates the activities of various functions. In practice, interdepartmental relations are full of conflicts and misunderstandings. Yet marketers must find ways to get all departments to 'think consumer' and develop a smoothly functioning value chain.

Designing the business portfolio

Guided by the company's mission statement and objectives, management now must plan its business portfolio - the collection of businesses and products that make up the company. The best business portfolio is the one that best fits the company's strengths and weaknesses to opportunities in the environment. Business portfolio planning involves two steps. First, the company must analyse its current business portfolio. Second, it must shape the future portfolio.

Partnering with others in the marketing system

In its quest to create customer value, the firm needs to look beyond its own internal value chain and into the value chains of its suppliers, distributors, and, ultimately, its customers. More companies today are partnering with other members of the supply chain - suppliers, distributors, and, ultimately, customers - to improve the performance of the customer value delivery network. Competition no longer takes place only between individual competitors. Rather, it takes place between the entire value delivery network created by these competitors.

Marketing analysis

Managing the marketing function begins with a complete analysis of the company's situation. The marketer should conduct a SWOT analysis by which it evaluates the company's overall strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T). The goal is to match the company's strengths to attractive opportunities in the environment, while simultaneously eliminating or overcoming the weaknesses and minimizing the threats.

Marketing implementation

Marketing implementation is the process that turns marketing plans into marketing actions to accomplish strategic marketing objectives. Whereas marketing planning addresses the what and why of marketing activities, implementation addresses the who, where, when and how. Many managers think that 'doing things right' (implementation) is as important as, or even more important than, 'doing the right things' (strategy).

Marketing planning

Marketing planning involves choosing marketing strategies that will help the company attain its overall strategic objectives.

Measuring and managing marketing return on investment

One important marketing performance measure is marketing return on investment (or marketing ROI). Marketing ROI is the net return from a marketing investment divided by the costs of the marketing investment. It measures the profits generated by investments in marketing activities. A company can assess marketing ROI in terms of standard marketing performance measures, such as brand awareness, sales, or market share. Many companies are assembling such measures into marketing dashboards - meaningful sets of marketing performance measures in a single display used to monitor strategic marketing performance. Increasingly, however, beyond standard performance measures. Marketers are using customer-centered measures of marketing impact, such as customer acquisition, customer engagement, customer retention, customer lifetime value, and customer equity. These measures capture not only current marketing performance but also future performance resulting from stronger customer relationships (see figure). http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cMfYLOn0FzY/Ty2-yp-PsvI/AAAAAAAAAGU/iuAiVek15wo/s1600/Figure+2.8+Return+on+Marketing+Investment.JPG

Developing strategies for growth and downsizing

One useful device for identifying growth opportunities is the product/market expansion grid. First, management might consider whether the company can achieve deeper market penetration - making more sales to current customers without changing its original products. Second, the company might consider possibilities for market development - identifying and developing new markets for its current products. Third, the company could consider product development - offering modified or new products to current markets. Finally, the company might consider diversification - starting up or buying businesses beyond its current products and markets. Companies must not only develop strategies for growing their business portfolios but also strategies for downsizing them. There are many reasons a firm might want to abandon products or markets. The firm may have grown too fast or entered areas where it lacks experience. The market environment might change, making some products or markets less profitable. Finally, some products or business units simply age and die. https://image.slidesharecdn.com/02-150427073752-conversion-gate02/95/company-and-marketing-strategy-partnering-to-build-customer-relationships-13-638.jpg?cb=1430120779

Company-wide strategic planning: Defining marketing´s role

Strategic planning is the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organization´s goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities.

Marketing department organization

The company must design a marketing organization that can carry out marketing strategies and plans. To head up large marketing organizations, many companies have now created a chief marketing officer (or CMO) position. The most common form of marketing organization is the functional organization - different marketing activities are headed by a functional specialist. A company that sells across the country or internationally often uses a geographic organization - its sales and marketing people are assigned to specific countries, regions, and districts. Companies with many very different products or brand often create a product management organization. For companies that sell one product line to many different types of markets and customers who have different needs and preferences, a market or customer management organization might be best.

Setting company objectives and goals

The company needs to turn its mission into detailed supporting objectives for each level of management. Each manager should have objectives and be responsible for reaching them. Marketing strategies and programs must be developed to support these marketing objectives. Each broad marketing strategy must then be defined in greater detail. In this way, the firm's mission is translated into a set of objectives for the current period.

Analyzing the current business portfolio

The major activity in strategic planning is business portfolio analysis, whereby management evaluates the products and businesses that make up the company. Management's first step is to identify the key businesses that make up the company, called strategic business units (SBUs). The company next assesses the attractiveness of its various SBUs and decides how much support each deserves. Most standard portfolio analysis methods evaluate SBUs on two important dimensions: the attractiveness of the SBU's market or industry and the strength of the SBU's position in the market or industry. Using the now-classic Boston Consulting Group (BCG) approach, a company classifies all its SBUs according to the growth-share matrix - a portfolio-planning method that evaluates a company's SBUs in terms of market growth rate and relative market share. On the vertical axis market growth rate provides a measure of market attractiveness. On the horizontal axis, relative market share serves as a measure of company strength in the market. The growth-share matrix defines four types of SBUs: 1. Stars. Starts are high-growth, high-share businesses or products. They often need heavy investments to finance their rapid growth. Eventually their growth will slow down, and they will turn into cash cows. 2. Cash cows. Cash cows are low-growth, high-share businesses or products. These established and successful SBUs need less investment to hold their market share. 3. Question marks. Question marks are low-share business units in high-growth markets. They require a lot of cash to hold their share. 4. Dogs. Dogs are low-growth, low-share businesses and products. They may generate enough cash to maintain themselves but do not promise to be large sources of cash. Once it has classified it SBUs, the company must dermine what role each will play in the future. It can pursue one of four strategies for eacht SBU. It can invest more in the business unit to build its share. Or it can invest just enough to hold the SBUs share at the current level. It can harvest the SBU, milking its shor-term cash flow regardless of the long-term effect. Finally, it can divest the SBU by selling or phasing it out and using the resources elswhere. Problems with matirx aprroaches: they can be difficult, time consuming, and costly to implement. Management may find it difficult to define SBUs and measure market share and growth. In addition, the approaches focus on classifying current businesses but provide little advice for future planning. Increasingly, companies are placing responsibility for strategic planning in the hands of cross- functional teams of divisional managers who are close to their markets (decentralized).

Marketing strategy and marketing mix

The strategic plan defines the company's overall mission and objectives. Marketing's role is shown in the figure, which summarizes the major activities involved in managing a customer- driven marketing strategy and the marketing mix. Consumers are in the centre. Next comes marketing strategy - the marketing logic by which the company hopes to create customer value and achieve profitable customer relationships. The company decides which customers it will serve (segmentation and targeting) and how (differentiation and positioning). It identifies the total market and then divides it into smaller segments, selects the most promising segments, and focuses on serving and satisfying the customers in these segments. Guided by marketing strategy, the company designs an integrated marketing mix made up of factors under its control - product, price, place and promotion (four Ps). To find the best marketing strategy and mix, the company engages in marketing analysis, planning, implementation and control. Through these activities the company watches and adapts to the actors and forces in the marketing environment.