The definition of an effective marketing strategy is essential for all companies. This is what establishes the objective of competitive performance for a determined time depending on means and resources, constraints, and weaknesses, both external (company) and external (market). The goal is to achieve this objective in order to meet the needs of customers and to satisfy them in order to retain them. The reason you need to establish an action plan is to allow you to establish a specific action plan that can be measured based on specific indicators.
Upstream, all the work lies in market research and the analysis of your strengths and weaknesses. This study will allow you to create a diagram of your company’s position in the market you intend to target and is known as SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).
From these factors, you can determine your marketing strategy by focusing on the following:
- The market segmentation, i.e. the segmentation of all customers into distinct categories based on criteria of age, geographical location, CSP, consumption habits, etc.
- The selection of product-market pairs is based on five market hedging strategies such as focusing on a specific product-market pair; specialization by product market and selective specialization as well as general market coverage.
- the positioningthat is, the message that your company wants to convey to customers to differentiate itself from its competitors.
Once you have identified the market segment or setup your business is in, different marketing strategies can be implemented based on current market trends.
Marketing strategies in a new growing market
Extensive business development strategies or “pull” movement strategies encompass actions that aim to attract consumers to products, in order to “pull” them. It’s about creating a desire that makes them want to come and buy the product at their own choice.
the marketing sweater essentially translates into mass media, advertising communications and promotions. It’s about grabbing the attention of consumers by having a site with an attractive design, but also filled with information, by having blogs and social networks.
Most of the time, these strategies are generally reserved for large groups or companies that already enjoy a certain notoriety.
Marketing strategies for an emerging and brand new market
On the other side, there are the strategies push or “pushes” which consist of “pushing” the article towards the buyer. Actions undertaken may be aimed directly at customers or through distributors, for example through participation in fairs and trade shows as well as through the distribution of samples, through promotional activities in distribution which include product marketing and deployment of the sales force in the field, etc.
Brands employing this strategy typically have little or no communications budget and rely heavily on their sales staff to achieve their goals.
To be effective, this strategy requires a thorough segmentation of the upstream flow in order to offer an offer adapted to the desired audience.
Marketing strategies in a mature, saturated, stagnant and non-growing market.
They are based on the idea that a company can only overcome its competition by increasing its market share. For this, there are different competition strategies:
- L’expansion of primary demand : The company is looking for new customers, new ways to use the product or seeks to increase its sales.
- Specialization : The company focuses on a restricted and very specific market, called “niche market”.
- Distinction : From top to bottom, the company provides services and products superior to those of the competition. On the other hand, at the bottom, the company provides a service or product that is cheaper than that of the competition.
- The variety: the company introduces new products or services more or less similar to its initial offer, while relying on a brand image and a solid reputation.
- Innovation : the company anticipates the needs of the future and is capable of becoming the market leader.
Marketing strategies for a stagnant or mature but unsaturated market
In this scenario, we are talking about a penetration approach. This strategy is employed by a company to establish itself in the market by a policy of low prices in order to capture market share from competitors. This strategy has several objectives:
- Penetrate a market quickly to gain a foothold in a product market quickly and create an established standard.
- Reduce unit costs through massive production and economies of scale
- discourage competition, including private label
However, this method requires large production capacities as well as large-scale distribution networks.
Once you have formulated your strategy, it is now time to identify the objectives that are relevant in this plan. To achieve these goals, you will need to create an action plan, commonly referred to as a marketing plan, that will help establish your project within the industry.