Marketing Strategies and The Marketing Mix

The Nature of Marketing Strategies: Pick the Mix

I. Introduction to Marketing Strategies

  • Connecting Customers with Producers: Marketers play a crucial role in preparing and connecting customers with producers of goods and services, enabling many purchases that would not otherwise occur.

  • The Marketer's Journey: Achieving satisfying connections requires marketers to plan their destination (goals), map their route efficiently (strategies), and then execute the necessary actions (tactics).

  • Vacation Analogy:

    • Choosing Your Destination (Goal): This is the first step, akin to deciding on a vacation spot (e.g., East Coast, Canada, Southwest, then specific locations like Virginia Beach). This process involves discussion and reaching a common objective.

    • Marketers, like families planning a trip, identify an objective they plan to fulfill.

  • Hidden Influence of Marketing: Customers often don't realize that their purchasing decisions are influenced by conditions planned far in advance by marketers. Examples include:

    • Picking up gum in a checkout aisle.

    • Trying a new sandwich due to an advertisement.

    • Buying sale items like half-price jeans.

  • Core Objectives of this Material:

    • Explain the importance of marketing strategies to businesses.

    • Explain the nature of the marketing mix.

II. Establishing a Marketing Strategy

  • The Vacation Planning Process (Continued):

    • Deciding the Route (Strategy): Once the destination is set, you decide how to get there (e.g., freeway or side roads). This is sketching out a strategy, or a plan of action, for achieving goals.

    • Creating a Checklist (Tactics): Small, specific actions necessary to make the plan work (e.g., collecting mail, watering plants, checking weather, getting gas). These are called tactics.

  • Marketers' Approach to Goals, Strategies, and Tactics: Marketers emulate this planning process, establishing goals, strategies, and tactics to meet customer needs effectively.

  • Setting Goals or Objectives:

    • First Step: Establishing achievable and measurable goals.

    • Business Destination: Marketers first determine where their business needs to be by a particular date, aligning with the company's overall plan.

    • Collaborative Process: Marketers discuss and agree upon specific, measurable objectives.

    • Example: Family-Style Restaurant: If a restaurant wants to increase sales, its marketers might set a goal to increase annual sales by 10\% over last year's sales. This goal is specific and can be evaluated for success or failure.

    • SMART Goals: The concept of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) is implicitly referenced, emphasizing the need for clarity and measurability.

  • **Developing Strategies (The