Applicability of Strategic Marketing in the Marketing Process Small business

Strategic marketing is about the action plans used by a company when allocating its resources to implement competitive strategies, it is how it competes to strengthen its position in the market. In a market-centric corporate culture, the goal is to increase competitive advantages and profitability. This implies continuous adaptation to the needs and expectations of customers. The basics include questions related to customer and competitor analysis, distribution methodologies, pricing, brand management, and marketing communications.

Marketing plan

Strategic marketing is the tactical method used to implement the goals and objectives of a formal, written marketing plan. Here, the company’s mission and vision statements relate to activities and tasks that meet the specific needs of the organization’s target market. The typical marketing plan includes a summary; situational analysis; SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; Goals; strategy; action plans; Financial forecast; and performance checks.

Strategic planning

The methodologies used to implement a marketing plan include planned and unplanned actions that anticipate and adapt to changes in internal and external business environments. Action plans can cover an assortment of cultural, economic, ethical, legal, political and technological issues that arise during the implementation of the marketing plan. Distribution issues, for example, can be a major factor in implementing marketing strategies. Marketing strategies can address issues related to physical logistics, geographic coverage, and distribution channels.

Customer analysis

Strategic marketing should ultimately achieve the business objective of improving the quality of customer service. It is primarily a customer-centric marketing framework that involves continuous assessment of customer preferences, which can be derived from both qualitative and quantitative tools such as focus groups, surveys, and sales data. By understanding a customer’s buying decision process, a marketer is able to better understand the needs of potential customers and better understand customer values.

Competition analysis

Managers need to know how competitors are both performing and meeting marketing needs. Competitive marketing strategies require careful evaluation and comparison of industry benchmarks for major competitors against internal business data to assess market position. Here, strategic planning techniques such as SWOT analysis help to elucidate forward-looking strategies. Strengths and weaknesses relate to the internal assessment of a business, while opportunities and threats relate to external factors such as competitors.