Marketing strategies

Marketing definition

Marketing definition

Marketing is the management process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumer demands for profit.

Marketing strategy definition

Marketing strategy is the methods used by a business to achieve their marketing objective.

What are the stages of a product life cycle?

1. R&D

2. Introduction

3. Growth

4. Maturity

5. Decline

What happens in the product development phase?

• Consists of R&D

• Market research

• Product is design and market is being researched.

• Cashflow is tight

• Product is not making any revenue.

What happens in the introduction phase?

• High costs in R&D and product has to be tested.

• Sales are low as customers may not be aware of the product

• Informative & Persuasive marketing

What happens in the growth phase?

• Rapid growth in sales.

• Customers are aware of product

• High demand

• Advertise product to take advantage of high demand

• High competition

What happens in the maturity phase?

• Intense competition

• Sales are high

• Products have to be discounted for high sales

• Market is starting to be saturated 

What happens in the decline phase?

• Limited production

• Profits and sales have fallen

• Heavily discounted sales

• Replaced with new products

What are ways to extend product life?

• Updating packaging

• Adding more or different features

• Changing target market 

• Advertising

• Price reduction

Boston Matrix definition

Boston matrix is a marketing planning tool which helps plan for a balanced product portfolio.

What does the Boston matrix help with?

• It looks at two areas: Market share and market growth, used to asses new and existing products.

• It helps marketing managers work out how much to spend on each product.

Product portfolio definition

Product portfolio is the collection of all products and services that is offered by the company.

What are star products?

• High market sharre

• High growth market

• Need to maintain their current marketing spend to keep sales high.

• Stars → Cash Cows in time

What are Cash cow products?

• High market share 

• Low market growth

• Good sellers and need no investments

• Need to be “milked” for cash

• Cash cows → Dogs

What are question mark products?

• Low market share

• High growth market

• Question mark → Stars is managed properly

• Need lots of investment in promotion/ marketing.

What are dog products?

• Low market share

• Low growth market

• No investment needed

• Decline phase of life cycle

• Replaced or Obsolete

Benefits of using the Boston Matrix

• The Boston Matrix helps businesses evaluate their product lines and allocate budgets effectively.

• It suggests using profits from cash cows to support stars and question marks, and to consider selling or discontinuing dog products.

• Over time, question marks can become either stars or dogs, while cash cows may eventually lose value and turn into dogs.

Limitations of using the Boston Matrix

• Product may be in between, not high nor low

• High market share does not always lead to high profit, high costs also involved with high market share

• Matrix may be too simple

Mass market strategies

• A mass market is one that caters for almost everyone, mass marketing is the process of selling products to all consumers the same way.

• Different medias: TV, Radio, Newspapers, Mass media

• Large quantities produced means lower average costs, high products.

Niche market strategies

• A market segment is consumers who can be grouped in different ways.

• A niche market is one that caters to a specific target consumers.

• Products are design for a s specific purpose

• Media to be used: Specialist magazines, trade fairs, websites, word of mouth, leaflets.

B2B market strategies

• B2B: Business to business marketing

• Businesses deal with other businesses rather than consumers.

• Advertising need to be informative

• Larger transactions

• Build closer relationships with customers

• Quality product and Quality service

B2C market strategies

• B2C means business to consumer.

• It involves one-time purchases and not building long-term relationships.

• Consumers want convenient options like online buying, click and collect, and delivery.

• Advertising is short and highlights benefits, creating an emotional connection with the product.

How can businesses improve customer loyalty?

• Businesses have discovered that it is much cheaper to keep a loyal customer than to gain new customers through marketing​

• The expression “plugging the leaky bucket” is used – where business owners should focus on keeping their existing customers with loyalty schemes, discounts and extras rather than continually trying to attract new customers​

• Customer loyalty is creating a product or service that ensures repeat purchases​

Ways to have effective customer service

Before purcahse:

• Customer service can be defined as; the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services​

During purchase:

• During the purchase e.g. on a car test drive, the sales person can answer questions on fuel economy, reliability and features of the car​.

After purchase:

• After the purchase e.g. repairs, warranties, guarantees and service plans

Use of loyalty cards

• They can improve customer retention e.g. a coffee shop making sure customers return by offering a stamp​

• They can also collect important data on buyer behaviour and purchase decisions e.g. Boots advantage card, Tesco Clubcard​

Use of saver schemes

• Each week consumers can carry out their shopping and pay into a saver card – ready for Christmas​

• They are rewarded by the supermarket for paying in.