By now you have already gone through assessing the factors that affect you firm- from the general environment (PESTEL) to the market forces (5 Forces) to the firm level (SWOT, VCA, Competitive Advantage).
You have found out how your industry works, discovered what the industry is comprised of, learned of the level of competition within the market where you operate. You have also profiled your customer base- who buys your products, where are they from, when are they buying, why are they buying, and to some extent, why are they buying your competitor's products instead. More importantly, you have also identified the need that your product/service/company aims to satisfy. This is what you are trying to offer to the market. It is what you are trying to sell.
You have also dissected your firm's inner systems, and found out where you are best at and where you need to improve in order to survive.
Then you set your objectives or goals for the next 3 years. The goals are consistent with your company mission-vision and core values.
You are now ready to embark on the next chapters of your paper, in fact, the heart and soul of a marketing plan- the marketing strategy.
First, the definition: a marketing strategy is a game plan to reach target markets and the enumeration of value propositions that will be offered based on analysis of the best market opportunities (Kotler).
Here is an example of target segments and corresponding features/benefits for each segment (Kotler):
There are in fact several marketing strategies that you can employ. Your choice would be dependent on what you want to accomplish (objectives), what you are capable of doing (competitive advantage).
You may use the following frameworks to choose the most appropriate strategy.
1. The Product/Market Opportunity Mix
2. Segment-Target-Position
3. Market Positioning
For detailed discussions, read your textbook: Part 4 and Part 5.
Then proceed with specific strategies for each of the 4Ps in your marketing mix: Product, Price, Place (Channel/Distribution), and Promotion.
By now you should be ready to undertake an analysis of external and internal environments - the first step to any strategic management process.
Below is the topic outline that is due on Sunday, 26 January 2014, 12MN 11:30 p.m. or before midnight strikes. This should be prepared in a Google Doc/Google Drive document. All members of your group should have editing access to the document, including me. I will track your progress online and will give feedback as soon as I can. To better understand how Google Drive/ Google Doc works, you may view the tutorial video below, or click here for Part 1 (Introduction) and here for Part 2 (Composing Google Docs). Your group's output shall serve as your midterm examination.
Below is the topical outline and writing guide.
ANALYSIS OF EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ENVIRONMENTS
I.
Market
Situation & Analysis
External Audit or analysis
of the macro-environment.
Issues which may have
an indirect effect on your company. Some of the most significant opportunities
and threats for the business may be found through analysis of changes and
trends in the macro environment.
Tools: PEST: Political, Economic, Social & Technological; may
include other factors such as Ecological, Legal/Regulatory, Cultural depending
on the market that your company serves.
II.
Competitive
Environment & Market Analysis
Audit of the industry
and market environment.
Evaluation of the
competitive environment in order to develop and sustain competitive advantage
for the business. This section should identify where the main current
competition stems from and where it may come from in the future. In addition,
this section looks at likely actions from competitors in reaction to moves your
business may take.
Tools: Porter’s 5 Forces
III.
Situation
Analysis
Audit or analysis of
the firm’s internal environment.
Process of internal
appraisal, examining elements of the business and their effect on the
organisation. This should include appraisal of all functions of the business
and also includes the profit-making potential of the company and the facility
to exploit identified opportunities.
Tools: SWOT, Value Chain Analysis, Sources of Competitive Advantage, BCG
Send me a message on Twitter or Google+ if you have questions/ clarifications. We can also have a Google Hangout if you wish to have a live online consultation. Just let me know in advance.
Good luck!
PS. The presentation materials used in our last lecture can now be accessed in Google Drive or by clicking this link. I divided the slides into 3 parts.
Since not all sections have given me their class directory, and not all of you have added me to Google+, I decided to post here instead the link to your reference text. Please be responsible in using the link, making sure that no one will use it for a commercial purpose.
Hello! Welcome to your virtual Strategic Marketing Class. This blog
aims to provide you a summary of our class discussions, and shall serve as
additional channel for posting announcements and other class assignments. This space is also open for everyone to discuss class topics, and other related topics.
Last meeting I had the opportunity to meet all of you. We did not have the luxury of time so I dispense of the usual individual introductions. But since you very well know each one of your block mate (except for the irregulars), I don’t see any real need for introductions anymore. Your individual performance in class will help define who you are.
As for me, I presented an interactive biography that I created through Vizify. You should try making one yourself, and track your progress as you graduate from university and enter the “real world”. But first, you have to start creating your own presence in multiple social media platforms. (Apologies to the morning class, in as much as I want to, there were no way we can use the multi-media projector as there was no adopter available at that time. But you may click the link above to see the online bio).
There was also a video that I wanted to share to the class but only one section was able to see it. Again, due to tech limitations. Click play to see the video.
I wanted to show this to class as a way to start our strategic marketing study. I'd like you to remember that this world is both old and young, and the opportunities out there is vast and limitless. It is also to remind you that our world started from nothing, that from various "goldilocks conditions" came "threshold moments". Now look at your world, here we are trying to understand and respond to people's various needs and wants. From nothing, this world, the humans specifically, now want a lot of things in order to live a comfortable life. As a marketer, we must find these "goldilocks conditions" in order to create a breakthrough. We are also being reminded that our world is on a crossroad- we can either contribute to its progress or cause its demise.
In summary, what we did on our first meeting are the
following:
Preliminaries, which include the introductions,
collection of class cards, formation of groups, introducing the course (read:
syllabus), and leveling up on the requirements of the course.
Review of your Principles of Marketing course, and as I noted, you need to read
back your notes from this class and re-familiarize yourselves with the basics of marketing.
Introduce Strategic
Marketing Management.
Preliminaries
Those who were not present during our first day
of class (11 January) should have a very valid and compelling excuse for your
absence.
We already divided the class into work groups,
for classwork and for the Strategic Marketing
Plan. The Strategic Marketing Plan is tentatively set to be presented to the CBE panel on the first or
second week of February.
You have also chosen a team leader for each
group. The primary task of the team leader is to be the focal person of the
group for the Marketing Plan, and other class assignments. Your team leader may
also assign 1 or 2 members of the team as focal persons for a specific class
assignment or specific chapter of the marketing plan. In principle, the output
of the group will determine the grade of the group members. BUT- at the end of
the class, each one of you will have the chance to rate your group members’
contributions to class assignments, including the Marketing Plan. This peer
rating process aims to discourage you from being a freeloader of the group.
We will be using Marketing Management by Philip
Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller (14th edition) as main reference of
this course. Any previous edition of the book is also acceptable.
I also asked your class secretary to create a
Google Doc of the class directory. This should be completed by next meeting,
with everyone’s required information completely filled out.
To further systematize class communications, I
also required everyone to create a Gmail account. Our class will heavily rely
on web and social media technologies- because they are there, and because these
technologies should be making our lives better, right? Once we all have our
Gmail account, each class can then get connected as a circle in Google+. I know you all have your own Facebook Group. Let
us keep that your own exclusive social
network while the Google+ circle will
serve as our virtual classroom. That means I should be part of that circle. Add
me up notty79@gmail.com.
Lastly, I encourage you to create and manage
your own Twitter account. This is not required, but desirable. I already
explained why marketing students should be present in social media platforms.
You will gain more understanding of this as we go along. If you are on Twitter,
you may follow me (@notty_romero) and tag me a message using hashtag #MARK106
(+ your Strategic Marketing Class section) so I’d know which section you belong.
Review of Principles
of Marketing
In a group activity, I asked you to answer the
following questions:
What is Marketing
What is Strategic Marketing
What are the competencies of an effective
Marketer
Most of you gave satisfactory answers to these 3
questions. The first question asked you to go back to your previous class in Principles of Marketing while the second
question asked you to remind yourselves of the attributes that you should have,
as future marketers. These two questions asked you of what you think is the ideal. You
should always remember your answers to these questions.
The last question is actually a jump off to the
core topic of the semester: Strategic
Marketing Management. Many of you provided a good answer, but only a few actually
hit the mark.
Introduction to
Strategic Marketing Management
So here we are. But first, the definitions:
“Marketing is an organizational function
and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to
customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the
organization and its stakeholders. Marketing
management is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting,
keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating
superior customer value.” - Philip Kotler, Marketing Management 14E
But what makes marketing management strategic? We defined strategic
as a game plan for the future. We said that it should be both outward-oriented and introspective, looking at the external environments (market, industry, global) for trends and projections of future scenarios. Strategic also means looking at a future desired state while assessing its past performance (historical) and internal capabilities (tangible and intangible assets, internal business processes, human resources, etc).
In our next class, we will discuss the strategic planning
process (Chapter 2 of our textbook) and the outline of a strategic marketing
plan.
Class Assignments (All due next meeting - 18 January 2014)
Assignment #1- Group:
As a group, I asked you to read the case study on Google, and answer the following questions:
With a portfolio as diverse as Google’s, what are the company’s core brand values?
What’s next for Google? Is it doing the right thing taking on Microsoft with the concept of cloud computing, and Apple in the fight for smart phones?
What is Google’s corporate mission, vision and values?
Identify Google’s strengths and weaknesses (internal capabilities)
Identify threats and opportunities to Google (external forces)
Identify and describe Google’s competitors
Assignment #2- Group:
Submit the name of the company (your client)
that your group will work on in developing the company’s strategic marketing
plan. In choosing your client, you should
make sure that your group will have easy access to company information of at
least 5 years (2009-2013). Second, as much as possible, choose a Manila City-based
business.
If choosing a company becomes very
difficult, I am widening your options by allowing you to choose a subject
matter (client) based on any of the following:
Institutional Marketing – these are non-profit entities like a
museum, a school, a park (Manila Zoo), or a hospital. It could also be a
tourist attraction (Intramuros) or a business district (Ermita/
Malate/Binondo). As scholars, what best way to pay it forward than by applying what you have learned in class to your immediate community!
Social Marketing- marketing a cause, an advocacy, or a social good
Marketing for Start- ups- these are small or medium enterprises founded and operated by entrepreneurs with less than 5 years of operating experience
Assignment #3- Individual:
Each of you will have to review your notes in Principles of Marketing. Plus, start reading Chapter 1-4 of your textbook (see above).
Assignment #4- Individual:
To keep ourselves abreast with what is happening around us, we will start each class session with a roundup of Marketing News from around the world. You must pick one that interests you and tell the class of its marketing implications. As I said, everything in the world should be of interest to a marketer. That is how we can find the "goldilocks condition".
I will randomly call 2-3 students to share your news to the class. For everyone else, share that story in your social media feeds- Twitter, Facebook, what-have-you.
See you on Saturday!
Postscript: Thank you for agreeing to abide by my 2 rules: respect everyone and be responsible. Let these 2 rules guide us throughout our learning process, both online and offline. I also encourage you to call me by my first name (Arnold) or nickname (Notty). If you feel uncomfortable, Teacher will do. This article from Rappler partially explains why.
