MKTM028 Strategic Marketing Assignment sample

Introduction Of Strategic Marketing Assignment Sample

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Strategic marketing can be explained as processes or methods that are used by the business organization to differentiate their products and services from other competitors in the global market. In this process range of marketing strategies are used by the company to improve the promotion or marketing campaign of the company. STP is considered a strategic marketing approach that is used by the marketing department to perform marketing functions that are focused on targeted customers. All the operations and marketing methods that are used by the marketing department are focused on the specific customer base to Concept of STP will be analysed from the perspective of different authors to analyse its importance for the industrial sector. The application and implication of STP will be analysed for the particular industrial sector. Various examples will be provided in the report to reflect the importance of STP for the marketing operations of the company. Different recommendations will be provided in the report to improve the STP and strategic marketing for the automotive sector.

SEGMENTATION, TARGETING, POSITIONING

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning often called STP in strategic marketing. This is a three-step model that is used by the marketing department of the company to communicate details of products and services to the customers. Processes that are used in the STP are considered as a transformation of the marketing process from, product-focused marketing to customer-focused marketing. As per the view of Camilleri, (2018), this is highly difficult for the marketing department to perform marketing operations for the general audience. The general marketing process can reduce the effectiveness of the approach that is used by the marketing department. In the Strategic marketing process, the STP approach can be used by the marketing department to design a marketing campaign to get maximum result in sales and brand value of the organization in the target market.

Segmentation

The segmentation process can be explained as a process in which the target market is divided into distinct groups of customers by using segmentation practices. According to Kalam, (2020), dividing the customer base into small groups can help the marketing department to develop an effective marketing strategy that is focused on a particular customer base. This process can improve the conversion rate of the marketing department. Different segmentation approaches are used by the organization to divide the target market into smaller groups. Major types of segmentation processes are- Geographical Segmentation, Demographic Segmentation, Behavioural Segmentation, Behavioural Segmentation, Psychographic Segmentation. These are the main segmentation processes that are followed by the organization to divide customers into smaller distinct groups.

As per the opinion of Hansen and Juslin, (2018), Geographic segmentation is the easiest way to divide the target market into groups. In the geographic segmentation process, the target audience is divided on basis of the region they live in. For example, people of the same country, region, area, and locality are considered as the target market of the company. This process is based on a general approach but in this process, organization have to target a smaller audience and it can reduce the complexity of the marketing process.

According to Varadarajan, (2019), this is more productive to divide the target audience based on Demographic segmentation, This technique can be explained as an approach in which the target audience is segmented based on the factors like- ethnicity, gender, age, religion, income, education, and family make-up. This process helps the organization to economically perform all the marketing operations and fulfil the marketing goals of the company.

As per the view of Thrassou, Vrontis, and Bresciani, (2018), behaviour segmentation is more effective for the marketing plan of the organization. In this segmentation technique, customers in the target market are segmented on basis of their behavioural pattern in common. For example, people with a similar lifestyle, purchase behaviour, purchasing habits, and response to the approach of the organization. This type of segmentation technique is difficult as compared to the other segmentation technique because in this process this is important for the organization to focus on the behavioural changes of customers, which is highly difficult.

According to Chernev, (2018), the psychographic segmentation process can be used by the organization when they are targeting a smaller group of people for business operations. In this segmentation technique, groups of people are created to divide the target market into distinct groups. In this process, people are divided as per their social-economic, lifestyle and interests. This type of segmentation is much easier than other types of the segmentation process. This process reduces the cost of marketing and provides more opportunity for the company to perform marketing activities base on the specific audience.

Targeting

As per the view of Beirman, (2020), this is important for the organization to focus on the group of people who can generate actual revenue for the organization by purchasing their goods and services. In this process, the main goal of the organization is to focus on the people that can be specifically targeted for the marketing process to generate more sales for the company. In the targeting process, various aspects are considered by the organization to make the marketing plan efficient, for example, size, profitability, and reachability are considered by the organization for the targeting process.

In the opinion of Kumar, Sharma, and Gupta, (2017), in the targeting process range of approaches and considerations can be made by the marketing department of the company to perform marketing for the target audience. As per the need of the organization, size of the market, the profitability of the market and reachability to the customer can be considered in the targeting process to the target audience for the marketing process. This is how the marketing process can be improvised by performing targeting. The targeting process can help the organization to be more effective with the investments that are made in the marketing process.

Positioning

According to Sahaf, (2019), the positioning process is directly related to the market that is targeted by the organization. In the positioning process, competitors in the target market are considered to position the product or service of the company. In this process, information related to the competitors, their marketing approaches, performance, and acquired customer base is analysed to define the cost and quality of the product to develop a customer base in the target market. In the positioning process, three aspects are considered by the organization to set the positioning of the company product. Symbolic positioning, functional positioning, and experiencing positioning, these are the major type of positioning techniques that can be used by the organization to generate larger from the target market.

As per the view of Abratt and Bendixen, (2018), in the process of positioning, the major price of product and quality of product are considered to position the company product in the target market. These aspects can help the organization to develop a customer base in the target market and improve the level of sales on daily basis. In the positioning process, majorly price and quality of competitors is considered to define their positioning in the target market. Mainly this is based on a process to attract a larger audience.

IMPLEMENTATION OF STP

STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) can be explained as the most effective marketing strategy to differentiate the products and services of the company from the products and services offered by the competitors in the target market. In this approach, the marketing department of a company performs marketing activities based on the three-step plan that is developed to improve the profitability of the organization in the target market. For the implementation of the STP plan, an organization can follow seven different steps to effectively perform marketing activities. These steps can be followed by the business organization to improve the implementation of the STP approach in the marketing process.

Define Market

For a business organization, this is most difficult to perform marketing activity based on the available market globally. This is a highly complex process to perform all the marketing activities for a vast level audience. This also can affect the effectiveness of the marketing plan. In this stage, the entire market can be segmented into three different levels to improve the profitability of the marketing process of the company (Joshi, 2019). The entire market can be classified in a total available market, serviceable available market and serviceable obtainable market. This grouping of the target market can help the company to define its marketing activities in the target market. This process can help the organization select a specific market for the operations and marketing process of the company. This can help the organization to reduce the complexity in the targeting process. For example, wide market research can be performed by the organization to define the target market from the entire available market.

Create Audience Segment

In the previous process, the organization can sort down the target audience on the global level. In this stage, the major objective of the organization is to perform segmentation of the target audience to perform specific marketing and promotional activities. In this process, an organization can target an audience based on geographic, behavioural, demographic, and psychographic segmentation. In this process, a serviceable obtainable market is selected through the segmentation process. For example, Tesla Inc. has selected the target audience in India based on psychographic segmentation to generate sales from the target audience.

Construct Segment Profiles

This stage in the STP implementation is directly related to the development of customer personas in the segmented group of people. This is related to the development of creating imagine customer personas to develop customer journey path in the purchasing process (Sood, 2017). This process helps the organization to analyse touchpoints in the marketing plan. By following customer, personas in the marketing process effective development can be performed to improve customer experience in the purchasing process. For example, automotive sector organization uses this approach to analyse the customer journey path to offer a better experience to real customer in the business process.

Evaluate Attractiveness of All Segments

Customer research is the most important part of the marketing plan of the company. This is a challenging process for the company to select a particular segment to perform marketing activity. To analyse the attractiveness of each segment, the marketing department can perform critical research to analyse the information about the particular customer segment. This process can help the organization to evaluate the profitability of each segment. By evaluating the attractiveness of all segments, an organization can select one or more target customer segment to perform business activities accordingly. This process also can help the organization to ensure profitability from a particular sector.

Select Target Audience

This part of the marketing plan is directly related to the targeting process of marketing. This stage is related to the targeting of the audience from the select market segment. According to the information collected in the market research process (Schlegelmilch and Winer, 2020). Organization can take some time to analyse a particular group of people that can be targeted by the company to perform marketing activities. In this process, the relationship between collected data and the pattern between the relationships can be analysed to select an audience for the targeting. After this process, the organization can perform marketing activities focused on the particular targeted audience.

Develop Positioning Strategy

After the selection of the target audience, this is the main objective of the organization to develop an effective positioning strategy as per the performance, customer base, and pricing process. All these aspects related to the competitors can be analysed in the marketing process of the company to design a specific positioning strategy of the company. Different type of positioning can be used by the organization to develop an effective customer base in the target market. For example, an organization can perform category based positioning in which the organization can focus to provide an effective solution to the customers. Customer-based positioning also can be performed by the organization to provide the solution to the customer as per their behavioural parameters. Competitor based positioning also can be considered as an option to perform marketing for the company. In this process, a better marketing approach can be developed as compared to the competitors. Price based Segmentation also can be performed to set the company product on effective pricing option for the customer in the target market.

Select Marketing Mix

This is the last stage of the STP process. In this process, all the elements of the marketing mix are analysed by the organization to improve the current marketing strategy of the organization. The changes made in the marketing process of the company based on the marketing mix can help the organization to make reach a larger audience in selected and targeted customer segment. In the marketing mix, the organization can consider the product, price, promotion, and place to perform marketing activities (David, David, and David, 2017). For example, in this stage organizations in the automobile industry can focus on indirect ways of marketing to develop a positive impact on the target market.

All these stages can be followed by the organization in the target market to improve the overall marketing process of the company to improve performance and profitability in the target market.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Some different processes and methods can be used by the organization to improve the operations that are performed in the marketing process. The major element that can be targeted by the company is related to the technology. At the current time, different technologies can be used by the marketing department of the company to perform market research and collect information about the customer and target market. Information and organization knowledge is the most important element in the marketing process. Information collected in the research process can be used by the organization to develop an effective marketing plan for the company. For example, Management Information System can be considered s most effective tool to collect information from the target market. Along with MIS, the organization also can use artificial intelligence and block chain technology to collect and store customer-related data efficiently. This process can improve the information management of the company (Varadarajan, 2018). Other factors that are important for the organization is related to the development of the workforce. To improve the marketing process of the company, organizations can focus on the skill development of the employees to get better result with the internal and external marketing operations of the organization.

CONCLUSION

This report is providing a brief analysis of the STP process that can be used by the marketing department of the company to improve sales in the target market. Perspectives of different authors and market researchers have been performed in the report to develop an understanding of the STP process. Implementation of Segmentation, Targeting and positioning has been analysed for the automotive industry on a global level. Different recommendations also have been provided I the report to improve the implementation of the marketing plan and implementing STP in organizational processes.

References

Books and Journals

Abratt, R. and Bendixen, M., 2018. Strategic marketing: concepts and cases. Routledge.

Beirman, D., 2020. Restoring tourism destinations in crisis: A strategic marketing approach. Routledge.

Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning. In Travel marketing, tourism economics and the airline product (pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham.

Chernev, A., 2018. Strategic marketing management. Cerebellum Press.

David, M.E., David, F.R. and David, F.R., 2017. The quantitative strategic planning matrix: a new marketing tool. Journal of strategic Marketing. 25(4). pp.342-352.

Hansen, E. and Juslin, H., 2018. Strategic marketing in the global forest industries.

Joshi, H.G., 2019. E-Commerce Framework for Strategic Marketing of Udupi Jasmine. AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, 11(665-2019-3991), pp.17-26.

Kalam, K.K., 2020. Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Strategy Adaptation for the Global Business of Vodafone Telecommunication Company. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS). 4.

Kumar, V., Sharma, A. and Gupta, S., 2017. Accessing the influence of strategic marketing research on generating impact: moderating roles of models, journals, and estimation approaches. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 45(2). pp.164-185.

Sahaf, M.A., 2019. Strategic marketing: making decisions for strategic advantage. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..

Schlegelmilch, B.B. and Winer, R.S. eds., 2020. The Routledge Companion to Strategic Marketing. Routledge.

Sood, T. ed., 2017. Strategic marketing management and tactics in the service industry. IGI Global.

Thrassou, A., Vrontis, D. and Bresciani, S., 2018. The agile innovation pendulum: A strategic marketing multicultural model for family businesses. International Studies of Management & Organization. 48(1). pp.105-120.

Varadarajan, R., 2018. Innovation, innovation strategy, and strategic innovation. In Innovation and Strategy. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Varadarajan, R., 2019. Theoretical underpinnings of research in strategic marketing: a commentary. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 47(1). pp.30-36.