Developing Marketing Strategies and Plans

The value chain is a tool for identifying ways to create more customer value
because every firm is a synthesis of primary and support activities performed
to design, produce, market, deliver, and support its product.
Core Business Processes

Market-sensing process
New-offering realization process
Customer acquisition process
Customer relationship management process
Fulfillment management process

Characteristics of Core Competencies

A source of competitive advantage

Applications in a wide variety of markets
Difficult to imitate

Holistic Marketing
Key management questions are:
Value exploration How a company identifies new value opportunities?
Value creation How a company efficiently creates more promising new
value offerings?
Value delivery How a company uses its capabilities and infrastructure to
deliver the new value offerings more efficiently?
Holistic Marketing sees itself as integrating the value exploration, value
creation, and value delivery activities with the purpose of building long-term,
mutually satisfying relationships and co-prosperity among key stakeholders.
A marketing plan is the central instrument for directing and coordinating the
marketing effort. It operates at a strategic and tactical level.

Levels of a Marketing Plan

Strategic
Target marketing decisions
Value proposition
Analysis of marketing opportunities
Tactical
Product features
Promotion
Merchandising
Pricing
Sales channels
Service
Corporate Headquarters Planning Activities
Define the corporate mission
Establish strategic business units (SBUs)
Assign resources to each SBU
Assess growth opportunities
Good Mission Statements
Focus on a limited number of goals
Stress major policies and values
Define major competitive spheres
Take a long-term view
Short, memorable, meaningful
Major Competitive Spheres
Industry
Products
Competence
Market segment
Vertical channels
Geographic
Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Inc.

Our vision is to be the Global Market Share Leader in each of the markets
we serve. We will earn this leadership position by providing to our distributor
and end-user customers innovative, high-quality, cost-effective and
environmentally responsible products. We will add value to these products by
providing legendary customer service through our Uncompromising
Commitment to Customer Satisfaction.
Motorola
The purpose of Motorola is to honorably serve the needs of the community
by providing products and services of superior quality at a fair price to our
customers; to do this so as to earn an adequate profit which is required for the
total enterprise to grow; and by doing so, provide the opportunity for our
employees and shareholders to achieve their personal objectives.

It is a single business or collection of related businesses

It has its own set of competitors
It has a manager responsible for strategic planning and profitability

Assigning Resources to Each SBU

Several investment planning models provide ways to make investment
decisions as follows:
The GE/McKinsey Matrix classifies each SBU by the extent of its
competitive advantage and the attractiveness of its industry.
Management can decide to grow, harvest or draw cash from, or
hold on to the business.
Another model, BCGs Growth-Share Matrix, uses relative market
share and annual rate of market growth as criteria to make
investment decisions, classifying SBUs as dogs, cash cows, question
marks, and stars.

eBay
We help people trade anything on earth. We will continue to enhance the
online trading experiences of allcollectors, dealers, small businesses,
unique item seekers, bargain hunters, opportunity sellers, and browsers.
Dimensions that Define a Business
Customer groups
Customer needs
Technology
Product Orientation vs. Market Orientation

Characteristics of SBUs

Assessing Growth Opportunities: Ansoffs Product-Market Expansion

Grid
Market penetration strategy
Market development strategy
Product development strategy
Diversification strategy

Business Unit Strategic Planning

Market Opportunity Analysis (MOA)

Can the benefits involved in the opportunity be articulated

convincingly to a defined target market?
Can the target market be located and reached with cost-effective
media and trade channels?
Does the company possess or have access to the critical capabilities
and resources needed to deliver the customer benefits?
Can the company deliver the benefits better than any actual or
potential competitors?
Will the financial rate of return meet or exceed the companys
required threshold for investment?

Goal Formulation

Each business unit needs to define its specific mission within the broader
company mission. Thus, a television-studio-lighting-equipment company
might define its mission as, To target major television studios and become
their vendor of choice for lighting technologies that represent the most
advanced and reliable studio lighting arrangements.

Once the company has performed a SWOT analysis, it can proceed to goal
formulation, developing specific goals for the planning period. Goals are
objectives that are specific with respect to magnitude and time. Most
business units pursue a mix of objectives, including profitability, sales
growth, market share improvement, risk containment, innovation, and
reputation. The business unit sets these objectives and then manages by
objectives (MBO). For an MBO system to work, the units objectives must
meet four criteria:
Units objectives must be hierarchical
Objectives should be quantitative
Goals should be realistic
Objectives must be consistent

SWOT Analysis

Strategic Formulation:Porters Generic Strategies

Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

Overall cost leadership. Firms work to achieve the lowest production and
distribution costs so they can underprice competitors and win market share.
Differentiation. The business concentrates on achieving superior performance
in an important customer benefit area valued by a large part of the market.
Focus. The business focuses on one or more narrow market segments,gets to
know them intimately, and pursues either cost leadership or differentiation
within the target segment.

Business Mission

Marketing Plan Contents

Strategic Formulation :Marketing Alliances
Product or service alliances One company licenses another to produce its
product, or two companies jointly market their complementary products or a
new product.
Promotional alliances One company agrees to carry a promotion for
another companys product or service
Logistics alliances One company offers logistical services for another
companys product.
Pricing collaborations One or more companies join in a special pricing
collaboration.

Executive summary
Table of contents
Situation analysis
Marketing strategy
Financial projections
Implementation controls
Evaluating a Marketing Plan
Is the plan simple?
Is the plan specific?
Is the plan realistic?
Is the plan complete?