What is Strategic Marketing? – Concept, Functions, and More

What is Strategic Marketing?

Strategic marketing focuses instead on manufacturing products and services and then thinking about selling them to users. Strategic marketing first analyzes the market’s situation, the competition and the consumers and elaborates the products and services based on the detected niches.

In contrast to this concept, we have operational marketing, which focuses on the short term. And seeks to put into action the strategies that we have previously defined.

Within active marketing, we would have to prepare budgets and work at a tactical level the different marketing actions. We can fin, SEM campaigns and advertising on social networks, contests and raffles, promotions, communication of product launch,s and long etcetera within these actions.

It is essential to be clear that both variants, strategic and operational, are necessary for success. It is not advisable to launch actions without a strategy behind it, but planning also does not help us if we do not take it into action.

Concept of Strategic Marketing

• Strategic marketing is a methodology of examining and understanding the market to detect opportunities that satisfy consumers’ needs more optimally and efficiently than other competitors.
• We cannot create goods and services to try later to sell them. This vision has long since stopped working. Now we must analyze what customers need and then create products or services focused on satisfying the detected needs.
• The impartial of strategic marketing is to satisfy unmet needs that represent profitable economic opportunities for the company.
• When professional marketing works on the strategic part of marketing, they must discover new markets to target, analyze the attractiveness of those markets, and evaluate the products’ life cycle.
• They will work with, study their competitors, and find a long-lasting competitive advantage over time and challenging to imitate by the competition.

Functions of Strategic Marketing

Marketing’s strategic measurement is part of its overall strategy and is a fundamental part of any marketing plan.

Before formulating its marketing strategy, we must have a solid working base and obtain information through research and market studies.

It is clear about where we are and where we want to be thanks to establishing or reviewing the mission, vision. And the values ​​of the company and analysing our strengths and weaknesses.

It is necessary to get information and carry out an in-depth analysis of the situation to establish our strategies effectively later. And also, the main functions of strategic marketing are:

• Analyze new consumer habits and trends.
• Study the competitors.
• Observe the evolution of demand.
• Detect new customer needs. (see  Maslow’s Pyramid )
• Study market opportunities and threats.
• Create a sustainable competitive advantage.
• Study our capacities to adapt the company to the market.
• And also, Define the marketing strategy that allows achieving the objectives that the business has set.

Main Strategies of Strategic Marketing

On the other hand, below, you can observe the main marketing strategies in the strategic part of a company’s marketing.

1. Portfolio Strategy

• Tools like the  BGC matrix allow us to make strategic decisions about our product portfolio, especially those related to its potential and profitability.

2. Positioning Strategy

• The brand positioning strategy helps us work the place we occupy in the consumer’s mind for our competition.
• This strategy also works on adding value to consumers, our current positioning and our competition, or the positioning we aspire to and its viability.

3. Segmentation Strategy

• Within strategic marketing, the market segmentation strategy divides the market into groups with similar characteristics.
• And needs to offer a differentiated offer adapted to each target group. This strategy also helps us discover new markets and adjust our proposal to this target group.

4. Functional Strategy

• The practical strategy will assist us in making the necessary strategic decisions about the 4Ps of the Marketing Mix: product, price, communication and distribution.
• And also, the 4Ps will have to work consistently with each other.

5. Growth Strategy

• The Ansoff Matrix is the perfect instrument to determine the strategic direction of growth of a company.
• It will help us decide which is the best option: market penetration strategy, new product development strategy, new market development strategy or diversification strategy.

6. Customer Loyalty Strategy

• If the company has set goals for customer loyalty and development, it is necessary to work on relationship marketing and customer relationship management strategies. These will aid improve the customer experience and create more lasting and profitable relationships with our customers.
• Once we have made all the relevant strategic decisions and defined our marketing strategy (strategic marketing), we can begin to work on our marketing actions (operational marketing).
• It is necessary to know what strategic direction we will follow and what products we will work on.
• In which markets we will operate, which segments we will target, what brand strategy we are going to follow, what price scale we will define, what distribution we are going to choose, and what will be our communication tone, etc.
• After working on all these aspects, if we want our marketing to be effective and efficient, we must carry out our organisation’s marketing actions.
• Like as the launch of a particular product, the improvement of service, launching an advertising campaign or opening a new market.

Examples of Strategic Marketing

1. SWATCH

• Since WWII, Switzerland has always been a leader in the quality watch industry. But at the beginning of the 80s, one of the biggest crises in its history would come, suffering a drop in sales of quality watches.
• Two of the main factors that affected the industry were aspects related to new customer buying habits and the emergence of low-cost, good quality Asian watches (Japan and Hong Kong), becoming a commercial success.
• Swiss manufacturers worried about losing market share and analyzed what was happening in the watch market and their expectations. Thanks to strategic marketing. They created a new marketing strategy to adapt it to a unique need that they had detected.
• Asian digital watches were inexpensive but sloppy in design, all black in colour, dark, and resembling. The new marketing strategy would be to continue with the luxury and quality watch brands deeply rooted in Switzerland.
• But on the other hand, they would follow a strategy of launching new products to compete with oriental watches.
• These new Swiss watches would be affordably priced and featured innovative, attractive designs. And bright colours to compete with the sad image of Asian eyes.
• They created a new category of the differential product within a market with products that offered the same value proposition. A disruptive watch brand was born: Swatch.

2. TOYOTA

• Car manufacturers saw a segment of the population increasingly concerned about the environment. The continuous increase in the price of fuel and adapted quickly to new technological changes.
• Faced with this situation, Toyota decided to launch its Prius model, a hybrid car that uses electricity and gasoline.
• This eco-friendly vehicle reduces environmental impact by consuming less fuel and emitting fewer gases that are harmful to the environment. It also considers the economy of the user, since being a hybrid model consumes less power.
• Since its launch in 1997, the Toyota Prius has become the quintessential sustainable car. In 2005, it declared car of the year in Europe and America.
• With its hybrid Prius model, Toyota is an excellent example of how to work strategic marketing correctly.
• He knew how to detect and exploit a latent need in the market, such as having a car that considers the environment. And it is also much more economical in fuel consumption.
• As we have seen, any company, regardless of its size, needs to work on its strategic marketing to increase its business competitiveness.
• Many companies focus on short-term operational marketing without having previously defined a strategic vision through strategic marketing, which is a big mistake.
• In marketing, if we want to be effective in the short term. It is a sine qua non condition to work on our strategy.

Conclusion

Strategic marketing is a methodology for research, analysis, and knowledge of the market whose final objective is to detect opportunities. It helps the company satisfy consumers’ needs in a much more efficient and effective way.

With this type of action, we must analyze what customers need and then create products or services focused on satisfying the detected needs.