Young and Successful

Consumer dollars are limited and there is a wide range of options on which to spend it. In developing a marketing strategy it is crucial to review choices in marketing strategies and select one which will give you the best returns on your dollar and marketing efforts. It is critical to develop a marketing strategy plan which offers your product or service in a way that will outsell the competition. In present competitive markets, too many almost similar products are chasing limited customer dollars. In creating marketing strategies, many factors need to be considered, some marketing strategy more important than others. Selecting a strategy that is not in sync with your market will yield little or no measurable results. You begin the conception of your marketing strategy game plan by deciding what you want the overall objective of your enterprise to be. If the market is very extensive and your business is one of the soundest in the industry you will want to apply your ingenuities to back up your offering. On the other hand, if your enterprise is one of the weaker setups in the industry, you will need to focus on strengthening the unique selling point of your offering, and use that as a stepping stone toward your marketing strategy objective. If the buyer’s market is not especially extensive and your business does not have any particular strengths or advantages over the competition, you should advertise your offer only if it supports a more profitable part of your business (for instance, if it fills out a product line range) or if it reduces some of the overhead costs of a more profitable segment. If your enterprise is one of the strongest in the industry but the market is not especially glossy, then a strategic sales and marketing approach will be enough for generating near term profits. Having picked out the most beneficial direction for the overall benefit of your enterprise, the next move would be to choose the most effective marketing strategy. Here’s a quick review of a few key marketing strategies: A Focus Strategy is usually employed when it isn’t appropriate to attempt an ‘across the board’ application of cost leadership or differentiation strategies. It is blueprinted to address a “focused” unit of the marketplace, product form or cost management process. It is a more intensive form of either the cost leadership or differentiation strategy. and may be the most refined of other nonproprietary strategies. A Cost Leadership Strategy is applied when you can produce and commercialize a good quality product or service at a lower cost than your competitors. A Differentiation Strategy means creating a product or service that is perceived as being superior throughout the industry. The emphasis can be on special features, patented technology, brand image, service, a strong reseller/distributor network or any other specific advantages you may have. After selecting the key marketing strategy and clearly defining the general objective you need to review a variety of closely linked functional marketing strategies. Copyright Daniel Jeremiah, vmsbonline. Reprints of this article in any form must include the author’s name and all links.