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Marketing Strategies Marketing objectives, analysing markets and marketing, selecting marketing strategies and developing and implementing marketing plans

Marketing strategies Understanding marketing strategies Marketing objectives are set to support the overall objectives of a business (corporate objectives) What will influence the choice of marketing objectives? Internal influences include Finance, HR, Operations External influences include competitor actions, technological change and market factors Planning process within marketing is corporate objectives marketing objectives market and marketing analysis (to support a marketing strategy) marketing strategies marketing plans

Marketing objectives Tonight go over your notes from AS on marketing and the competitive environment Take 3 minutes; tell me 3 things you can remember learning Marketing objectives support the overall corporate objectives, such as increasing profits by 20% over the next 4 years. Must be quantifiable. Likely to include: An objective related to market share. Could be to increase, or maintain. Examples? To target a product at either a new segment of the existing market, or a new market. Why? To develop a new product or service. Why?

Example marketing objectives Market share Common objective can be expressed in revenue growth though this is really an overall objective Market share Achieve revenue growth of 15% per year for the next four years Increase our market share in the UK by 4% by 2017 Improve the online order conversion rate from 65% to 75% by 2017 Add 1,000 new customer accounts generating at least £100,000 per account within three years Become the market leader in the UK educational sector by 2018 New products Launch at least 25 new products into the industrial channel in 2015 and 2016 Grow average first-year sales of new editions by 25% in the Higher Education sector

Example marketing objectives Beating competitors Can be about reducing costs helping achieve cost minimisation goal Meeting customer needs Achieve at least an 95% excellent customer service rating each month Increase the proportion of sales bookings from repeat business to 45% for the summer season New markets Supply a minimum of 50,000 trial downloads per month Increase the number of customer enquiries from the EU by 10,000 per month Recruit five suitable distribution agents in the four target countries within 12 months Beat competitors Reduce average distribution costs to less than 5% of gross revenue Reduce the order lead time by 15% Improve brand recognition amongst the age group

Influences on marketing objectives 1.Internal Finance. Always important Financial position. Overall financial position will determine how large the marketing budget is, though sometimes an increase in spending may be necessary even if finance is poor Return on a marketing project (investment appraisal). Funding more likely if previous projects were successful, or if expected return is high Human resources Ability to succeed depends on whether the firm has the employees with the appropriate skills. Eg new products Operations Important to consider quality of products and capacity if the objectives include an increase in output/market share

Influences on marketing objectives 2.External Competitors. What are competitors doing A business has to assess how competitors are using their marketing mix in order to respond What does Asda do if Tesco launches a promotion? What if a competitor launches an online presence Technology Developments in technology can affect: A product. Improvements in technology have meant new products and therefore possibly meaning an existing one is obsolete. Examples? How it is produced. Better production techniques How it is sold. The internet has revolutionised the place in the 4 Ps

Influences on marketing objectives The state of the market Political/legal developments The EU is responsible for many laws concerning products (packaging, features etc). Any examples? Economy UK economy has been recovering, so demand is strong – a firm may want to concentrate on the UK rather than a weak Europe Social change Interest in social issues eg fair trade, working conditions for overseas suppliers, carbon emissions may influence product and market development Technology Developments in technology can affect: A product. Improvements in technology have meant new products and therefore possibly meaning an existing one is obsolete. Examples? How it is produced. Better production techniques How it is sold. The internet has revolutionised the place in the 4 Ps