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Marketing strategy is a method that allows an organization to focus its limited resources on the most effective opportunities to boost sales and attain a lasting competitive advantage. Strategic planning is the process of analyzing of the strategic situation prior to formulation and evaluation of the competitive position that is market-oriented and helps the company achieve its goals and goals for marketing. Strategic marketing as a distinct area of study was established in the 70s and 1980s, and was based on the concept of strategic management which was first introduced. Marketing strategies highlight the importance in marketing to act as the bridge between the company and its clients. Marketing strategies leverage the combination of capabilities and resources within an organization in order to attain an advantage in competition and improves the performance of the firm (Cacciolatti and Lee, 2016,). A marketing strategy is the company's overall plan to reach potential customers and converting them into buyers of their goods or services. A marketing plan includes the business's value proposition, the branding messages, key information about the demographics of customers who are targeted as well as other elements of a high-level. A comprehensive marketing strategy covers "the four P's" of marketing: price, product location, promotion, and product.

Definitions of Marketing Strategy

"The marketing strategy sets out the market segments to be targeted along with the benefit proposition to be presented in light of an analysis of the most lucrative markets." (Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller, Marketing Management, Pearson, 14th Edition) "An overriding directional idea that lays out the plan course." (David Aaker, and Michael K. Mills, Strategic Market Management, 2001, p. 11.) "Essentially an equation for the way a company is expected to be competitive and what its objectives ought to be, and what policies will be required in order to accomplish the goals." (Michael Porter Competitive Strategy: Strategies for analyzing competitors and industries , NY, Free Press 1980) "The structure of the principal objectives, goals and goals , along with the necessary strategies and plans to achieve the goals, written in a manner that helps to establish the type of business that the business currently is or will be in. (S. Jain, Marketing Planning and Strategy 1993) "An explicit roadmap to future behaviour." (Henry Mintzberg " Crafting Strategy," Harvard Business Review, July-August 1987, (pp. 65-74) Strategies are "reserved to actions targeted directly to alter the strengths of an enterprise in relation to its competition... Strategies that are perfect are not what they are required. What matters in the end is... the performance of the strategy relative to your competitors." (Kenichi Ohmae the Mind of the Strategist, 1982 page. 37) Strategy formulation is based on "the connection between the organizational resources and abilities, and the environment's opportunities and threats it is confronted with and the goals it wants to achieve." (Dan Schendel, and Charles W. Hofer, Strategy Formulation: Analytical Concepts, South-Western, 1978, page. 11).

Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans

The strategy for marketing is said out in the marketing plan; the document describes the various kinds of marketing initiatives that a business conducts and includes dates for the execution of different marketing strategies. Marketing strategies ought to have a longer life span over individual plans for marketing due to the fact that they are a source of value propositions and other essential elements of a brand's image, which are usually stable throughout the course of time. That is to say, marketing strategies encompass big-picture messages, and marketing plans define the specific details for specific marketing campaigns.

Marketing management versus marketing strategy

It is important to distinguish that "strategic", as well as "managerial" marketing, can be made to define "two stages with distinct goals and are based on different methods of conceptualization. Strategic marketing is the selection of practices that aim to improve the competitiveness of the company and taking into account the challenges and opportunities offered by the competition. However the managerial aspect of marketing is usually focused around execution of specific goals." Marketing strategy is all about "lofty ideas that are translated into less lofty and more practical goals , while marketing management is where we get to work on our own and create plans for what we want to take place." Marketing strategy is often referred to as higher-order planning due to the fact that it lays out the general direction and provides direction and guidelines for the program of marketing.

Strategy typologies

Making a competitive strategy requires considerable judgment and relies on a thorough understanding of the present circumstances, background, and environment in which it operates. There are no heuristics yet designed to assist strategists in choosing the most effective strategy. Some researchers and scholars have attempted to categorize broad categories of strategies, which could serve as general frameworks to consider the most appropriate options.

Strategy types

in 2003 Raymond E. Miles and Charles C. Snow, after conducting a comprehensive cross-industry examination of a number of major corporations, came up with an elaborate plan using four categories:

• Prospectors: actively seek to identify and capitalize on new market opportunities

• Analyzers are extremely imaginative in their choices for products and markets. They typically follow prospective buyers into new markets and often launch new or improved designs for their products. This kind of organization operates in two types of markets that are stable and one that is subject to greater change.

• Defenders are prudent in their decisions; they seek to protect some of the markets they are able to defend against competition attacks; usually, they market the highest quality products and position themselves as a leader in quality.
• Reactors are known to fluctuate in their response to changes in the environment and generally are the least profitable of organizations.

Marketing strategy

Marketing war strategies are focused on competitors. They are strategies that draw inspiration from the discipline in military sciences. Strategies for warfare were in vogue in the 1980s; however, the popularity of this method has diminished in the current period that is known as relationship marketing. The growing awareness of differences between military and business cultural practices also raises questions regarding the degree to which this kind of analogy can be used. Despite its shortcomings, the classification of tactics used in marketing warfare can be useful in predicting and understanding responses from competitors.

The 1980s were when Kotler, along with Singh, developed a type of marketing warfare strategies:

• Frontal attack: when an aggressor is able to go in front of the identical market segments on an offer by offeror price by price basis. They are typically employed by a market competitor against a stronger player.
• Flanking attack: targeting an organization's weakest point; employed by market adversaries
• Bypass attack: bypassing market leader by targeting smaller, less vulnerable organizations to expand the aggressor's resource base

• Attack of Encirclement: attacking an opponent who is dominant across all fronts

• Guerilla warfare is sporadic and unplanned attacks employing conventional and non-conventional methods to take on a competitor, usually used in smaller groups against market leaders.

Benefits of a Marketing Strategy

The main objective of a strategy for marketing is to establish and communicate an advantage that can sustain the company's competitive edge over other companies by knowing the wants and needs of its customers. If it's a print advertisement style, mass customization or a social media strategy, marketing assets is judged on how well it communicates a company's main value message. Market research can assist in determining the effectiveness of a particular campaign and help to identify inaccessible audiences to reach objectives in the bottom line and to increase sales.

Why Does My Company Need a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing plan can help companies direct their advertising budget to areas where it can have the most impact. A study from 2019 showed that businesses with a clearly-defined marketing strategy were 33 per cent more likely to experience the success of their marketing campaigns.

What Does a Marketing Strategy Look Like?

A marketing strategy should outline the outreach, advertising and PR initiatives that will be executed by a company and the method by which the firm will evaluate the effectiveness of these campaigns. The majority of them will adhere to the "four four P's". The main functions and elements of a plan for marketing include market research that supports pricing decisions, and the development of new market entry, customized messaging targeted to certain demographics or geographic regions as well as the selection of platforms for promotion of products and services--digital radio, Internet, trade magazines and the combination of these platforms for every campaign, and metrics to determine the impact of marketing campaigns and their reporting timeframes.