12 Latest Strategies for Marketing a Product

Introduction – Strategies for Marketing a Product:

Marketing strategy is the most important tool while framing the overall business strategy of the organization. Heart of any business strategy is a Marketing Strategy. A Marketing Strategy is something that every single business; no matter how big or small, needs to have in place. In this article let’s see What is Marketing Strategies, Definition of Marketing Strategy & 12 Latest Strategies For Marketing a Product with example (Marketing Strategy for Coca Cola).

What is Marketing Strategies

A Marketing Strategy is a written plan that includes marketing topics like product development, promotion, distribution and pricing approach. It identifies company’s marketing goals and also explains how company can achieve those goals.
Marketing strategies help in identifying strengths and weaknesses of the company and that of its competitors. Marketing strategy helps to identify the areas on which the company has to focus its marketing tactics.
A Marketing Strategy is composed of several interrelated components called the marketing mix. The Marketing mix consists of answers to a series of product and customer related questions.

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Definition of Marketing Strategy

Marketing Strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its resources on the optimal opportunities with the goals of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage
In the definition of Marketing Strategy, the term strategy can be defined in simple words as follows: “Strategy is a broad long-term plan designed to achieve overall objectives of the firm.”

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Significance of Marketing Strategy

Strategic Planning
Establishes Effective Distribution
Streamlines Product Development
Developing Financial Goals
Preparation of marketing Plan
Understanding the customers
Assists with Marketing Communications
Selection of the Right Communication Tactics
Enhances corporate image

Strategies For Marketing a Product

Marketing Strategy can be broadly classified into three levels:

Corporate Strategy – Defining what business the company is in Setting the overall structure, systems and processes
Business Strategy – Deciding how to compete Identifying competitive advantage Selecting key success factors
Functional Strategy – Coordination of company departments to business strategy

Marketing Strategy for Products

A marketing strategy helps the company to create products and services with the best chances for making a profit. This is because marketing strategy starts with market place research, taking into Consideration Company’s optimal target customer, what your competition is doing and what trends might be on the horizon. Using this information, company can determine the benefit customers and clients want what they’re willing to pay and how company can differentiate its product or service from the competition.

12 Latest Strategies for Marketing a Product

1. Knowing the target audience:

For a truly effective marketing strategy, company must study and evaluate its business and its target audience, then create a plan of action and follow through with it. The first part of business is to evaluate the actual business the company is having. This means looking at business from a customer’s or end user’s point of view and finding what they truly get out of company. And many business owners are surprised to find that it’s not what they actually thought. Thus knowing your audience is one of the important Strategies for Marketing a Product.

2. Proper market segmentation:

To have effective marketing strategy proper market segmentation is required. Market segmentation facilitates demographic segmentation of the customers. For example a plumbing business might focus on homeowners, whereas the companies that supply video games might focus on teenagers. It can’t be said enough how important it is to know who your target audience is, and how you can best appeal to them. Thus, doing proper market segmentation is one of the important Strategies for Marketing a Product.

3. Unique selling proposition:

The next part of creating a great marketing strategy is finding out what company offers that no other company does. To set the company apart, it should advertise the thing that makes the company special – the magic that no other company has. This unique selling proposition may include offering products at the lowest prices, providing the best customer service etc. This must not only be included in marketing strategy, but it must be a part of every aspect of marketing done by the company.

4. Situation Analysis:

Marketing strategy should conduct market analysis i.e. SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and a competitive analysis. The market analysis will include a market forecast, segmentation, customer information, and market needs analysis. This analysis will make the strategy effective.

5. Objective oriented:

The strategy should be objective oriented. It should be developed by considering the organizational objectives. Strategies, which are not consistent with the objectives of the organizations, do not serve any purpose. The strategies which are consistent with the organizational objectives will be able to achieve desired objectives.

6. Identification of competitive advantage:

One important part of any strategy is a specification of how the organization will compete in each business and product-market within its domain. How can it position itself to develop and sustain a differential advantage over current and also potential competitors? To answer such questions, managers must examine the market opportunities in each business and product market and the company’s distinctive competencies or strengths relative to its competitors.

7. Simplicity:

The marketing strategy should be simple and clear to understand. It should be well defined. Clarity in terms is important while framing marketing strategy. While designing the marketing strategy ambiguity should be avoided. It should be understood by all in the organization.

8. Flexibility:

Business has to survive in the competitive and uncertain business environment. These environmental factors are not constant. To adjust with these changes, marketing strategy should be flexible. It should allow the changes in the short run. They should not be rigid. It should allow modifications whenever the situation demands.

9. Resource deployments:

Every organization has limited financial and human resources. Formulating a strategy also involves deciding how those resources are to be obtained and allocated, across businesses, product-markets, functional departments, and activities within each business or product-market.

10. Comprehensive:

The marketing strategy should be comprehensive in nature. It should cover all those areas which are relevant to the firm. A good strategy always considers the factors which are affecting the business functioning directly or indirectly.

11. Consistency:

The marketing strategy should be consistent with the strategies of the other departments of the organization. All the functional strategies should be complimentary to each other, ultimately all the functional strategies of the organization should be consistent with the overall organizational strategy. Thus, consistency is very important Strategies for Marketing a Product.

12. Periodical review:

Strategies should be periodically reviewed. Such a review allows the firm to make necessary changes in the strategy depending upon the needs of the firm. Periodic review also benefits to incorporate the fluctuations taking place in the business environmental factors.

Marketing Strategies Example:

Marketing Strategy for Coca Cola

Let’s see the Marketing Strategy for Coca Cola which made their brand a successful one.

Marketing and Branding strategy:

Healey (2008) defines a brand as a promise of satisfaction and emphasis that good branding reinforces reputation, generates loyalty and assure quality. Few companies in this world have developed a brand as strong as Coca Cola.
The company has used its marketing resources to create a brand that is widely known and has become the biggest competitive advantage for the company. Coca Cola has been successful in creating brand loyalty among its consumers.
This is a result of sustained marketing efforts starting from early 20th century. Coca Cola has adopted innovating marketing techniques right from the times of Candler and Robert Woodruff. Apart from usual advertising through bill boards and newspapers, Coca Cola focused on organizations, universities and colleges and also this increased sales while promoting the brand name.

Coca Cola’s Glocal strategy:

Coca Cola has used its organizational capability to adopt a glocal strategy Gay et.al. (2007) – using a mix of central and local marketing functions in order to achieve maximum marketing and distribution effectiveness.
Using this, Coca Cola maintains the strong global brand while introducing the local elements in the marketing to make sure that the product image is in harmony with the local culture.

New Product Introductions:

Coca Cola follows out to in approach while developing new products. Coca Cola has always preferred taking note of customer preferences and designing its products according to them, instead of taking an internal approach – the process of taking stock of internal assets and expertise and also using them to produce something that customers would buy.
Based on these, the company either introduces a new product or acquires a company producing the suitable product. This is essential to survive in the changing market and also to change the product portfolio according to customer requirements.

Conclusion on Strategies for Marketing a Product:

From the above article it is clear that the marketing strategy is the most important tool while framing the overall business strategy of the organization. While designing the marketing strategy the firm has to consider many factors like potential customers, market segmentation, unique selling proposition, situations prevailing etc. Effective marketing strategy benefits the company in not only knowing its customers but also delivering maximum customer satisfaction.
Thus, an effective marketing strategy finally results into building corporate image of the company. The functional strategy should be designed on the basis of business level strategy, whereas the business level strategy should be derived from the corporate level strategy.

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12 Latest Strategies for Marketing a Product

Introduction – Strategies for Marketing a Product:

What is Marketing Strategies