Strategic marketing planning is an approach that will help an organization to focus its limited resources in the most promising areas to increase sales and reach a sustainable competitive edge. This type of marketing is also referred to as an integration marketing approach. Strategic marketing is one of the most important elements of any comprehensive marketing plan. It should be included as a part of a company’s overall marketing strategy to reap maximum benefits. This type of marketing is used by many organizations, both large and small, to create a distinctive competitive edge in the marketplace and increase market share.
Strategic marketing is a long-term planning process, which is carefully planned for the long term. It is designed to generate new customer loyalty, enhance brand awareness, spread the awareness of existing customers and to build market share. It requires systematic and regular application over a period of time. Strategic marketing of an organisation begins with a clearly defined marketing objectives and a strategic marketing plan. These objectives should be in line with the company’s products and services and the competitive environment.
The strategic marketing mix strategy refers to the methods and techniques used by the company to exploit its existing competitive strengths, as well as its relative weaknesses. This helps the company to gain an edge over its rivals. Some of the methods used include: competitive analysis, market survey, competitive positioning, competitor analysis, and research and development. These methods are applied in order to find out the gaps that exist in the competitor’s business models or services, identify and eliminate these gaps, or build on the existing competitive advantages. Each of these methods has its own set of strengths and weaknesses and each must be balanced with the other in order to make sure that the final strategy delivers on its desired goals.
One of the key factors involved in the development of a strategic marketing plan is the identification of the company’s competitive weaknesses. These might be in the form of technology, customer, geographic or product-based differences. In addition to these, the organisation may also have some positive but weaker attributes. A weak aspect might mean that there are opportunities for improvement, although it is also possible that the competition will catch up with the company before it does. The key objective in the planning phase of the strategic marketing planning phase planning process is therefore to identify the weaknesses of the organisation and address them in the most effective way.
Once the company has identified the key weaknesses of its business processes, the next step is to build on these weaknesses by exploiting the existing strengths of the organisation. One example of an effective way of doing this might be to use the available technologies and resources to offer more value, or promote the expansion of existing services or products. This leads to a situation where the company can enjoy some relative competitive advantages and can then proceed to utilise these advantages to strengthen their position in the market.
The overall aim of the strategic marketing process is therefore to help the company achieve its set goals and objectives. This involves identifying the company’s short-term and long-term goals, developing a detailed marketing strategy and evaluating the effectiveness of the marketing strategy over time. Finally, the ultimate aim of the process is to help the company reach its defined future goals and stay ahead of its competitors.