what is marketing strategy essay

• Search Search Please fill out this field.

What Is a Marketing Strategy?

• How It Works
• Marketing Strategies vs. Plans

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

The bottom line.

• Marketing Essentials

Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Create One

Investopedia / Daniel Fishel

A marketing strategy refers to a business’s overall game plan to facilitate the buying and selling of its products or services. A marketing strategy determines how to reach prospective consumers and turn them into customers. It contains the company’s value proposition , key brand messaging, data on target customer  demographics, and other high-level elements.

A thorough marketing strategy covers the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Key Takeaways

• A marketing strategy is a business’s game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services.
• Marketing strategies should revolve around a company’s value proposition.
• The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies.

Understanding Marketing Strategies

A clear marketing strategy should revolve around the company’s value proposition, which communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves its business.

This provides marketing teams with a template that should inform their initiatives across all of the company’s products and services. For example, Walmart ( WMT ) is widely known as a discount retailer with “everyday low prices,” whose business operations and marketing efforts are rooted in that idea.

Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans

The marketing strategy is outlined in the marketing plan —a document that details the specific types of marketing activities that a company conducts and contains timetables for rolling out various marketing initiatives.

Marketing strategies should ideally have longer life spans than individual marketing plans because they contain value propositions and other key elements of a company’s brand, which generally hold constant over the long haul. In other words, marketing strategies cover big-picture messaging, while marketing plans delineate the logistical details of specific campaigns.

For example, a marketing strategy might say that a company aims to increase authority in niche circles where their clients visit. The marketing plan puts that into action by commissioning thought leadership pieces on LinkedIn.

Benefits of a Marketing Strategy

The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies by understanding the needs and wants of its consumers. Whether it’s a print ad design, mass customization , or a social media campaign, a marketing asset can be judged based on how effectively it communicates a company’s core value proposition.

Market research can help chart the efficacy of a given campaign and can help identify untapped audiences to achieve bottom-line goals and increase sales.

Creating a marketing strategy requires a few steps. Here are some of the steps you should consider when creating your marketing strategy.

• Identify your goals: While sales are the ultimate goal for every company, you should have more short-term goals such as establishing authority, increasing customer engagement, or generating leads. These smaller goals offer measurable benchmarks for the progress of your marketing plan. Think of strategy as the high-level ideology and planning as how you accomplish your goals.
• Know your clients: Every product or service has an ideal customer, and you should know who they are and where they hang out. If you sell power tools, you’ll choose marketing channels where general contractors may see your messaging. Establish who your client is and how your product will improve their lives.
• Create your message: Now that you know your goals and who you’re pitching to, it’s time to create your message. This is your opportunity to show your potential clients how your product or service will benefit them and why you’re the only company that can provide it.
• Define your budget: How you disperse your messaging may depend on how much you can afford. Will you be purchasing advertising? Hoping for a viral moment on social media organically? Sending out press releases to the media to try to gain coverage? Your budget will dictate what you can afford to do.
• Determine your channels: Even the best message needs the appropriate venue. Some companies may find more value in creating blog posts for their website. Others may find success with paid ads on social media channels. Find the most appropriate venue for your content.
• Measure your success: To target your marketing, you need to know whether it is reaching its audience. Determine your metrics and how you’ll judge the success of your marketing efforts.

Why Does a Company Need a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy helps a company direct its advertising dollars to where it will have the most impact. Compared with the data from 2018, the correlation between organization and success in marketers jumped from being almost four times more likely to almost seven times more likely in 2022.

What Do the Four Ps Mean in a Marketing Strategy?

The four Ps are product, price, promotion, and place. These are the key factors that are involved in the marketing of a good or service . The four Ps can be used when planning a new business venture, evaluating an existing offer, or trying to optimize sales with a target audience. It also can be used to test a current marketing strategy on a new audience.

What Does a Marketing Strategy Look Like?

A marketing strategy will detail the advertising, outreach, and public relations campaigns to be carried out by a firm, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives.

They will typically follow the four Ps. The functions and components of a marketing plan include market research to support pricing decisions and new market entries, tailored messaging  that targets certain demographics and geographic areas, and platform selection for product and service promotion—digital, radio, Internet, trade magazines, and the mix of those platforms for each campaign, and metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines.

Is a Marketing Strategy the Same as a Marketing Plan?

The terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” are often used interchangeably because a marketing plan is developed based on an overarching strategic framework. In some cases, the strategy and the plan may be incorporated into one document, particularly for smaller companies that may only run one or two major campaigns in a year. The plan outlines marketing activities on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, while the marketing strategy outlines the overall value proposition.

Companies need to sell their products and services to generate revenue and put them on the path of being a successful business. To sell their products or services, they have to let consumers know of them. They must also convince consumers to buy them as well as convert consumers from competitors. Having a marketing strategy that outlines this process and more is a crucial step in converting consumers into customers.

Walmart Corporate. “ About .”

CoSchedule. “ Trend Report: Marketing Strategy 2022 .”

• How to Start a Business: A Comprehensive Guide and Essential Steps 1 of 25
• How to Do Market Research, Types, and Example 2 of 25
• Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Create One 3 of 25
• Marketing in Business: Strategies and Types Explained 4 of 25
• What Is a Marketing Plan? Types and How to Write One 5 of 25
• Business Development: Definition, Strategies, Steps & Skills 6 of 25
• Business Plan: What It Is, What's Included, and How to Write One 7 of 25
• Small Business Development Center (SBDC): Meaning, Types, Impact 8 of 25
• How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan 9 of 25
• Business Startup Costs: It’s in the Details 10 of 25
• Startup Capital Definition, Types, and Risks 11 of 25
• Bootstrapping Definition, Strategies, and Pros/Cons 12 of 25
• Crowdfunding: What It Is, How It Works, and Popular Websites 13 of 25
• Starting a Business with No Money: How to Begin 14 of 25
• A Comprehensive Guide to Establishing Business Credit 15 of 25
• Equity Financing: What It Is, How It Works, Pros and Cons 16 of 25
• Best Startup Business Loans for April 2024 17 of 25
• Sole Proprietorship: What It Is, Pros and Cons, and Differences From an LLC 18 of 25
• Partnership: Definition, How It Works, Taxation, and Types 19 of 25
• What Is an LLC? Limited Liability Company Structure and Benefits Defined 20 of 25
• Corporation: What It Is and How To Form One 21 of 25
• Starting a Small Business: Your Complete How-to Guide 22 of 25
• Starting an Online Business: A Step-by-Step Guide 23 of 25
• How to Start Your Own Bookkeeping Business: Essential Tips 24 of 25
• How to Start a Successful Dropshipping Business: A Comprehensive Guide 25 of 25

• Terms of Service
• Editorial Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Your Privacy Choices

What is a Marketing Plan & How to Write One [+Examples]

Published: December 27, 2023

For a while now, you've been spearheading your organization's content marketing efforts, and your team's performance has convinced management to adopt the content marketing strategies you’ve suggested.

Now, your boss wants you to write and present a content marketing plan, but you‘ve never done something like that before. You don't even know where to start.

Fortunately, we've curated the best content marketing plans to help you write a concrete plan that's rooted in data and produces results. But first, we'll discuss what a marketing plan is and how some of the best marketing plans include strategies that serve their respective businesses.

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that businesses use to organize, execute, and track their marketing strategy over a given period. Marketing plans can include different marketing strategies for various marketing teams across the company, all working toward the same business goals.

The purpose of a marketing plan is to write down strategies in an organized manner. This will help keep you on track and measure the success of your campaigns.

Writing a marketing plan will help you think of each campaign‘s mission, buyer personas, budget, tactics, and deliverables. With all this information in one place, you’ll have an easier time staying on track with a campaign. You'll also discover what works and what doesn't. Thus, measuring the success of your strategy.

Featured Resource: Free Marketing Plan Template

Looking to develop a marketing plan for your business? Click here to download HubSpot's free Marketing Plan Template to get started .

To learn more about how to create your marketing plan, keep reading or jump to the section you’re looking for:

How to Write a Marketing Plan

Types of marketing plans, marketing plan examples, marketing plan faqs, sample marketing plan.

If you're pressed for time or resources, you might not be thinking about a marketing plan. However, a marketing plan is an important part of your business plan.

Marketing Plan vs. Business Plan

A marketing plan is a strategic document that outlines marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics.

A business plan is also a strategic document. But this plan covers all aspects of a company's operations, including finance, operations, and more. It can also help your business decide how to distribute resources and make decisions as your business grows.

I like to think of a marketing plan as a subset of a business plan; it shows how marketing strategies and objectives can support overall business goals.

Keep in mind that there's a difference between a marketing plan and a marketing strategy.

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

• Pre-Sectioned Template
• Completely Customizable
• Example Prompts
• Professionally Designed

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

A marketing strategy describes how a business will accomplish a particular goal or mission. This includes which campaigns, content, channels, and marketing software they'll use to execute that mission and track its success.

For example, while a greater plan or department might handle social media marketing, you might consider your work on Facebook as an individual marketing strategy.

A marketing plan contains one or more marketing strategies. It's the framework from which all of your marketing strategies are created and helps you connect each strategy back to a larger marketing operation and business goal.

For example, suppose your company is launching a new software product, and it wants customers to sign up. The marketing department needs to develop a marketing plan that'll help introduce this product to the industry and drive the desired signups.

The department decides to launch a blog dedicated to this industry, a new YouTube video series to establish expertise, and an account on Twitter to join the conversation around this subject. All this serves to attract an audience and convert this audience into software users.

To summarize, the business's marketing plan is dedicated to introducing a new software product to the marketplace and driving signups for that product. The business will execute that plan with three marketing strategies : a new industry blog, a YouTube video series, and a Twitter account.

Of course, the business might consider these three things as one giant marketing strategy, each with its specific content strategies. How granular you want your marketing plan to get is up to you. Nonetheless, every marketing plan goes through a particular set of steps in its creation.

Learn what they are below.

• State your business's mission.
• Determine the KPIs for this mission.
• Identify your buyer personas.
• Describe your content initiatives and strategies.
• Clearly define your plan's omissions.
• Define your marketing budget.
• Identify your competition.
• Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

1. State your business's mission.

Your first step in writing a marketing plan is to state your mission. Although this mission is specific to your marketing department, it should serve your business‘s main mission statement.

From my experience, you want to be specific, but not too specific. You have plenty of space left in this marketing plan to elaborate on how you'll acquire new customers and accomplish this mission.

Need help building your mission statement? Download this guide for examples and templates and write the ideal mission statement.

2. Determine the KPIs for this mission.

Every good marketing plan describes how the department will track its mission‘s progress. To do so, you need to decide on your key performance indicators (KPIs) .

KPIs are individual metrics that measure the various elements of a marketing campaign. These units help you establish short-term goals within your mission and communicate your progress to business leaders.

Let's take our example of a marketing mission from the above step. If part of our mission is “to attract an audience of travelers,” we might track website visits using organic page views. In this case, “organic page views” is one KPI, and we can see our number of page views grow over time.

These KPIs will come into the conversation again in step 4.

3. Identify your buyer personas.

A buyer persona is a description of who you want to attract. This can include age, sex, location, family size, and job title. Each buyer persona should directly reflect your business's current and potential customers. So, all business leaders must agree on your buyer personas.

Create your buyer personas with this free guide and set of buyer persona templates.

4. Describe your content initiatives and strategies.

Here's where you'll include the main points of your marketing and content strategy. Because there's a laundry list of content types and channels available to you today, you must choose wisely and explain how you'll use your content and channels in this section of your marketing plan.

When I write this section , I like to stipulate:

• Which types of content I'll create. These might include blog posts, YouTube videos, infographics, and ebooks.
• How much of it I'll create. I typically describe content volume in daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly intervals. It all depends on my workflow and the short-term goals for my content.
• The goals (and KPIs) I'll use to track each type. KPIs can include organic traffic, social media traffic, email traffic, and referral traffic. Your goals should also include which pages you want to drive that traffic to, such as product pages, blog pages, or landing pages.
• The channels on which I'll distribute my content. Popular channels include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.
• Any paid advertising that will take place on these channels.

Build out your marketing plan with this free template.

Fill out this form to access the template., 5. clearly define your plan's omissions..

A marketing plan explains the marketing team's focus. It also explains what the marketing team will not focus on.

If there are other aspects of your business that you aren't serving in this particular plan, include them in this section. These omissions help to justify your mission, buyer personas, KPIs, and content. You can’t please everyone in a single marketing campaign, and if your team isn't on the hook for something, you need to make it known.

In my experience, this section is particularly important for stakeholders to help them understand why certain decisions were made.

6. Define your marketing budget.

Whether it's freelance fees, sponsorships, or a new full-time marketing hire, use these costs to develop a marketing budget and outline each expense in this section of your marketing plan.

You can establish your marketing budget with this kit of 8 free marketing budget templates .

7. Identify your competition.

Part of marketing is knowing whom you're marketing against. Research the key players in your industry and consider profiling each one.

Keep in mind not every competitor will pose the same challenges to your business. For example, while one competitor might be ranking highly on search engines for keywords you want your website to rank for, another competitor might have a heavy footprint on a social network where you plan to launch an account.

Easily track and analyze your competitors with t his collection of ten free competitive analysis templates .

8. Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

With your marketing plan fully fleshed out, it's time to explain who’s doing what. I don't like to delve too deeply into my employees’ day-to-day projects, but I know which teams and team leaders are in charge of specific content types, channels, KPIs, and more.

Now that you know why you need to build an effective marketing plan, it’s time to get to work. Starting a plan from scratch can be overwhelming if you haven't done it before. That’s why there are many helpful resources that can support your first steps. We’ll share some of the best guides and templates that can help you build effective results-driven plans for your marketing strategies.

Ready to make your own marketing plan? Get started using this free template.

Depending on the company you work with, you might want to create various marketing plans. We compiled different samples to suit your needs:

1. Quarterly or Annual Marketing Plans

These plans highlight the strategies or campaigns you'll take on in a certain period.

Forbes published a marketing plan template that has amassed almost 4 million views. To help you sculpt a marketing roadmap with true vision, their template will teach you how to fill out the 15 key sections of a marketing plan, which are:

• Executive Summary
• Target Customers
• Unique Selling Proposition
• Pricing & Positioning Strategy
• Distribution Plan
• Your Offers
• Marketing Materials
• Promotions Strategy
• Online Marketing Strategy
• Conversion Strategy
• Joint Ventures & Partnerships
• Referral Strategy
• Strategy for Increasing Transaction Prices
• Retention Strategy
• Financial Projections

If you're truly lost on where to start with a marketing plan, I highly recommend using this guide to help you define your target audience, figure out how to reach them, and ensure that audience becomes loyal customers.

2. Social Media Marketing Plan

This type of plan highlights the channels, tactics, and campaigns you intend to accomplish specifically on social media. A specific subtype is a paid marketing plan, which highlights paid strategies, such as native advertising, PPC, or paid social media promotions.

Shane Snow's Marketing Plan for His Book Dream Team is a great example of a social media marketing plan:

When Shane Snow started promoting his new book, "Dream Team," he knew he had to leverage a data-driven content strategy framework. So, he chose his favorite one: the content strategy waterfall. The content strategy waterfall is defined by Economic Times as a model used to create a system with a linear and sequential approach.

Snow wrote a blog post about how the waterfall‘s content strategy helped him launch his new book successfully. After reading it, you can use his tactics to inform your own marketing plan. More specifically, you’ll learn how he:

• Applied his business objectives to decide which marketing metrics to track.
• Used his ultimate business goal of earning $200,000 in sales or 10,000 purchases to estimate the conversion rate of each stage of his funnel.
• Created buyer personas to figure out which channels his audience would prefer to consume his content.
• Used his average post view on each of his marketing channels to estimate how much content he had to create and how often he had to post on social media.
• Calculated how much earned and paid media could cut down the amount of content he had to create and post.
• Designed his process and workflow, built his team, and assigned members to tasks.
• Analyzed content performance metrics to refine his overall content strategy.

I use Snow's marketing plan to think more creatively about my content promotion and distribution plan. I like that it's linear and builds on the step before it, creating an air-tight strategy that doesn't leave any details out.

3. Content Marketing Plan

This plan could highlight different strategies, tactics, and campaigns in which you'll use content to promote your business or product.

HubSpot's Comprehensive Guide for Content Marketing Strategy is a strong example of a content marketing plan:

At HubSpot, we‘ve built our marketing team from two business school graduates working from a coffee table to a powerhouse of hundreds of employees. Along the way, we’ve learned countless lessons that shaped our current content marketing strategy. So, we decided to illustrate our insights in a blog post to teach marketers how to develop a successful content marketing strategy, regardless of their team's size.

In this comprehensive guide for modern marketers, you'll learn:

• What exactly content marketing is.
• Why your business needs a content marketing strategy.
• Who should lead your content marketing efforts?
• How to structure your content marketing team based on your company's size.
• How to hire the right people for each role on your team.
• What marketing tools and technology you'll need to succeed.
• What type of content your team should create, and which employees should be responsible for creating them.
• The importance of distributing your content through search engines, social media, email, and paid ads.
• And finally, the recommended metrics each of your teams should measure and report to optimize your content marketing program.

This is a fantastic resource for content teams of any size — whether you're a team of one or 100. It includes how to hire and structure a content marketing team, what marketing tools you'll need, what type of content you should create, and even recommends what metrics to track for analyzing campaigns. If you're aiming to establish or boost your online presence, leveraging tools like HubSpot's drag-and-drop website builder can be extremely beneficial. It helps you create a captivating digital footprint that sets the foundation for your content marketing endeavors.

4. New Product Launch Marketing Plan

This will be a roadmap for the strategies and tactics you‘ll implement to promote a new product. And if you’re searching for an example, look no further than Chief Outsiders' Go-To-Market Plan for a New Product :

After reading this plan, you'll learn how to:

• Validate a product
• Write strategic objectives
• Identify your market
• Compile a competitive landscape
• Create a value proposition for a new product
• Consider sales and service in your marketing plan

If you're looking for a marketing plan for a new product, the Chief Outsiders template is a great place to start. Marketing plans for a new product will be more specific because they target one product versus its entire marketing strategy.

5. Growth Marketing Plan

Growth marketing plans use experimentation and data to drive results, like we see in Venture Harbour’s Growth Marketing Plan Template :

Venture Harbour's growth marketing plan is a data-driven and experiment-led alternative to the more traditional marketing plan. Their template has five steps intended for refinement with every test-measure-learn cycle. The five steps are:

• Experiments

I recommend this plan if you want to experiment with different platforms and campaigns. Experimentation always feels risky and unfamiliar, but this plan creates a framework for accountability and strategy.

• Louisville Tourism
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Visit Oxnard
• Safe Haven Family Shelter
• Wright County Economic Development
• The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County
• Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Visit Billings

1. Louisville Tourism

It also divides its target market into growth and seed categories to allow for more focused strategies. For example, the plan recognizes Millennials in Chicago, Atlanta, and Nashville as the core of it's growth market, whereas people in Boston, Austin, and New York represent seed markets where potential growth opportunities exist. Then, the plan outlines objectives and tactics for reaching each market.

Why This Marketing Plan Works

• The plan starts with a letter from the President & CEO of the company, who sets the stage for the plan by providing a high-level preview of the incoming developments for Louisville's tourism industry
• The focus on Louisville as "Bourbon City" effectively leverages its unique cultural and culinary attributes to present a strong brand
• Incorporates a variety of data points from Google Analytics, Arrivalist, and visitor profiles to to define their target audience with a data-informed approach

2. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

For example, students who become prospects as freshman and sophomore will receive emails that focus on getting the most out of high school and college prep classes. Once these students become juniors and seniors — thus entering the consideration stage — the emails will focus more on the college application process and other exploratory content.

• The plan incorporates competitive analysis, evaluation surveys, and other research to determine the makeup of its target audience
• The plan lists each marketing program (e.g., direct mail, social media, email etc.) and supplements it with examples on the next page
• Each marketing program has its own objectives, tactics, and KPIs for measuring success

3. Visit Oxnard

This marketing plan by Visit Oxnard, a convention and visitors bureau, is packed with all the information one needs in a marketing plan: target markets, key performance indicators, selling points, personas, marketing tactics by channel, and much more.

It also articulates the organization’s strategic plans for the upcoming fiscal year, especially as it grapples with the aftereffects of the pandemic. Lastly, it has impeccable visual appeal, with color-coded sections and strong branding elements.

• States clear and actionable goals for the coming year
• Includes data and other research that shows how their team made their decisions
• Outlines how the team will measure the success of their plan

4. Safe Haven Family Shelter

This marketing plan by a nonprofit organization is an excellent example to follow if your plan will be presented to internal stakeholders at all levels of your organization. It includes SMART marketing goals , deadlines, action steps, long-term objectives, target audiences, core marketing messages , and metrics.

The plan is detailed, yet scannable. By the end of it, one can walk away with a strong understanding of the organization’s strategic direction for its upcoming marketing efforts.

• Confirms ongoing marketing strategies and objectives while introducing new initiatives
• Uses colors, fonts, and formatting to emphasize key parts of the plan
• Closes with long-term goals, key themes, and other overarching topics to set the stage for the future

5. Wright County Economic Development

Wright County Economic Development’s plan drew our attention because of its simplicity, making it good inspiration for those who’d like to outline their plan in broad strokes without frills or filler.

It includes key information such as marketing partners, goals, initiatives, and costs. The sections are easy to scan and contain plenty of information for those who’d like to dig into the details. Most important, it includes a detailed breakdown of projected costs per marketing initiative — which is critical information to include for upper-level managers and other stakeholders.

• Begins with a quick paragraph stating why the recommended changes are important
• Uses clear graphics and bullet points to emphasize key points
• Includes specific budget data to support decision-making

6. The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County

This marketing plan presentation by a cultural council is a great example of how to effectively use data in your plan, address audiences who are new to the industry, and offer extensive detail into specific marketing strategies.

For instance, an entire slide is dedicated to the county’s cultural tourism trends, and at the beginning of the presentation, the organization explains what an arts and culture agency is in the first place.

That’s a critical piece of information to include for those who might not know. If you’re addressing audiences outside your industry, consider defining terms at the beginning, like this organization did.

• Uses quality design and images to support the goals and priorities in the text
• Separate pages for each big idea or new strategy
• Includes sections for awards and accomplishments to show how the marketing plan supports wider business goals
• Defines strategies and tactics for each channel for easy skimming

7. Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau

Cabarrus County’s convention and visitors bureau takes a slightly different approach with its marketing plan, formatting it like a magazine for stakeholders to flip through. It offers information on the county’s target audience, channels, goals, KPIs, and public relations strategies and initiatives.

We especially love that the plan includes contact information for the bureau’s staff members, so that it’s easy for stakeholders to contact the appropriate person for a specific query.

• Uses infographics to expand on specific concepts, like how visitors benefit a community
• Highlights the team members responsible for each initiative with a photo to emphasize accountability and community
• Closes with an event calendar for transparency into key dates for events

8. Visit Billings

Visit Billing’s comprehensive marketing plan is like Cabarrus County’s in that it follows a magazine format. With sections for each planned strategy, it offers a wealth of information and depth for internal stakeholders and potential investors.

We especially love its content strategy section, where it details the organization’s prior efforts and current objectives for each content platform.

At the end, it includes strategic goals and budgets — a good move to imitate if your primary audience would not need this information highlighted at the forefront.

• Includes a section on the buyer journey, which offers clarity on the reasoning for marketing plan decisions
• Design includes call-outs for special topics that could impact the marketing audience, such as safety concerns or "staycations"
• Clear headings make it easy to scan this comprehensive report and make note of sections a reader may want to return to for more detail

What is a typical marketing plan?

In my experience, most marketing plans outline the following aspects of a business's marketing:

• Target audience

Each marketing plan should include one or more goals, the path your team will take to meet those goals, and how you plan to measure success.

For example, if I were a tech startup that's launching a new mobile app, my marketing plan would include:

• Target audience or buyer personas for the app
• Outline of how app features meet audience needs
• Competitive analysis
• Goals for conversion funnel and user acquisition
• Marketing strategies and tactics for user acquisition

Featured resource : Free Marketing Plan Template

What should a good marketing plan include?

A good marketing plan will create a clear roadmap for your unique marketing team. This means that the best marketing plan for your business will be distinct to your team and business needs.

That said, most marketing plans will include sections for one or more of the following:

• Clear analysis of the target market
• A detailed description of the product or service
• Strategic marketing mix details (such as product, price, place, promotion)
• Measurable goals with defined timelines

This can help you build the best marketing plan for your business.

A good marketing plan should also include a product or service's unique value proposition, a comprehensive marketing strategy including online and offline channels, and a defined budget.

Featured resource : Value Proposition Templates

What are the most important parts of a marketing plan?

When you‘re planning a road trip, you need a map to help define your route, step-by-step directions, and an estimate of the time it will take to get to your destination. It’s literally how you get there that matters.

Like a road map, a marketing plan is only useful if it helps you get to where you want to go. So, no one part is more than the other.

That said, you can use the list below to make sure that you've added or at least considered each of the following in your marketing plan:

• Marketing goals
• Executive summary
• Target market analysis
• Marketing strategies

What questions should I ask when making a marketing plan?

Questions are a useful tool for when you‘re stuck or want to make sure you’ve included important details.

Try using one or more of these questions as a starting point when you create your marketing plan:

• Who is my target audience?
• What are their needs, motivations, and pain points?
• How does our product or service solve their problems?
• How will I reach and engage them?
• Who are my competitors? Are they direct or indirect competitors?
• What are the unique selling points of my product or service?
• What marketing channels are best for the brand?
• What is our budget and timeline?
• How will I measure the success of marketing efforts?

How much does a marketing plan cost?

Creating a marketing plan is mostly free. But the cost of executing a marketing plan will depend on your specific plan.

Marketing plan costs vary by business, industry, and plan scope. Whether your team handles marketing in-house or hires external consultants can also make a difference. Total costs can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands. This is why most marketing plans will include a budget.

Featured resource : Free Marketing Budget Templates

What is a marketing plan template?

A marketing plan template is a pre-designed structure or framework that helps you outline your marketing plan.

It offers a starting point that you can customize for your specific business needs and goals. For example, our template includes easy-to-edit sections for:

• Business summary
• Business initiatives
• Target market
• Market strategy
• Marketing channels
• Marketing technology

Let’s create a sample plan together, step by step.

Follow along with HubSpot's free Marketing Plan Template .

1. Create an overview or primary objective.

Our business mission is to provide [service, product, solution] to help [audience] reach their [financial, educational, business related] goals without compromising their [your audience’s valuable asset: free time, mental health, budget, etc.]. We want to improve our social media presence while nurturing our relationships with collaborators and clients.

For example, if I wanted to focus on social media growth, my KPIs might look like this:

We want to achieve a minimum of [followers] with an engagement rate of [X] on [social media platform].

The goal is to achieve an increase of [Y] on recurring clients and new meaningful connections outside the platform by the end of the year.

Use the following categories to create a target audience for your campaign.

• Profession:
• Background:
• Pain points:
• Social media platforms that they use:
• Streaming platforms that they prefer:

For more useful strategies, consider creating a buyer persona in our Make My Persona tool .

Our content pillars will be: [X, Y, Z].

Content pillars should be based on topics your audience needs to know. If your ideal clients are female entrepreneurs, then your content pillars can be: marketing, being a woman in business, remote working, and productivity hacks for entrepreneurs.

Then, determine any omissions.

This marketing plan won’t be focusing on the following areas of improvement: [A, B, C].

5. Define your marketing budget.

Our marketing strategy will use a total of [Y] monthly. This will include anything from freelance collaborations to advertising.

6. Identify your competitors.

I like to work through the following questions to clearly indicate who my competitors are:

• Which platforms do they use the most?
• How does their branding differentiate?
• How do they talk to their audiences?
• What valuable assets do customers talk about? And if they are receiving any negative feedback, what is it about?

7. Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

Create responsible parties for each portion of the plan.

Marketing will manage the content plan, implementation, and community interaction to reach the KPIs.

• Social media manager: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]
• Content strategist: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]
• Community manager: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]

Sales will follow the line of the marketing work while creating and implementing an outreach strategy.

• Sales strategists: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]
• Sales executives: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]

Customer Service will nurture clients’ relationships to ensure that they have what they want. [Hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations].

Project Managers will track the progress and team communication during the project. [Hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations].

Get started on your marketing plan.

These marketing plans serve as initial resources to get your content marketing plan started. But, to truly deliver what your audience wants and needs, you'll likely need to test some different ideas out, measure their success, and then refine your goals as you go.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2019, but was updated for comprehensiveness. This article was written by a human, but our team uses AI in our editorial process. Check out our full disclosure t o learn more about how we use AI.

Don't forget to share this post!

Related articles.

9 Pivotal Marketing Trends to Watch in 2024, According to Experts

The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Strategies & How to Improve Your Digital Presence

Diving Deep Into Marketing in Construction (My Takeaways)

11 Recommendations for Marketers in 2024 [New Data]

The Top 5 B2C Marketing Trends of 2024 [New HubSpot Blog Data + Expert Insights]

5 Marketing Trends That Might Not Survive in 2024 [HubSpot Research + Expert Insights]

Everything You Need to Know About Webinar Marketing

7 Marketing Questions Teams are Asking in 2024 (+Data & Insights)

50 Small Business Marketing Ideas for 2024

How Luxury Brands Market and What You Can Learn

Marketing software that helps you drive revenue, save time and resources, and measure and optimize your investments — all on one easy-to-use platform

100+ Marketing Essay Topics

Crafting an outstanding marketing essay is a journey that often begins with selecting a compelling topic. At WriteOnDeadline, we understand the importance of this initial step. That’s why we’ve dedicated this post to sharing inspiring marketing essay topics that will not only ignite your passion but also appeal to your professors.

Table of Contents

What is a Marketing Essay?

A marketing essay is a unique academic document that delves into various facets of marketing analysis, strategies, concepts, and applications. It requires students to explore, critically analyze, and present arguments on marketing theories, market strategies, consumer behavior, product promotion, or other related themes. These essays not only test your knowledge of marketing principles but also your ability to research, analyze trends, and convey complex ideas succinctly.

Choosing the Right Marketing Essay Topic: A Mini Guide

Selecting a topic for your marketing essay should be a strategic process. Here’s a quick guide on how to do it:

Start by understanding the requirements for your assignment, as these will narrow down your scope. Then, brainstorm areas of interest within marketing, considering current trends, controversial issues, or gaps in research that intrigue you. Always opt for a topic that resonates with your passions but also challenges you—this balance will make your writing process enjoyable and academically rewarding. Validate your chosen topic by researching initial literature, ensuring there’s enough information available. Finally, seek feedback from peers or instructors before finalizing your topic, ensuring it’s compelling and feasible.

Exciting Marketing Essay Topics to Consider

Choosing a topic can be daunting, so we’ve compiled a diverse list of 30 engaging areas you could explore in your marketing essay.

Understanding Consumer Behavior

• The psychological triggers behind impulsive buying
• How cultural differences influence purchasing decisions
• The impact of social media on consumer behavior

Digital Marketing Strategies

• The effectiveness of influencer marketing
• SEO tactics that dominate current digital marketing
• Evaluating the success of email marketing

Branding and Brand Management

• The journey of building a resilient brand image
• Celebrity endorsements and their impact on brand perception
• Crisis management: Reviving a tarnished brand

Ethical Considerations in Marketing

• Exploring the effects of deceptive advertising
• Ethical marketing: Is honesty more profitable?
• The societal impact of marketing unhealthy food to children

Innovation in Marketing

• How virtual reality is reshaping marketing experiences
• The role of artificial intelligence in personalized marketing
• Sustainable marketing: Shifting towards eco-friendly practices

Global Marketing

• Overcoming cultural barriers in international marketing
• Strategies for Successful Global Brand Expansion
• Localizing products in foreign markets: Best practices

Content Marketing

• The power of storytelling in content marketing
• Strategies for Effective Content Marketing
• Measuring the impact of content marketing

Challenges in Marketing

• Combating digital ad fraud: Strategies and practices
• Navigating marketing strategies during political unrest
• The future of marketing in post-pandemic retail

Foundations of Marketing

• Evolution and transformation of marketing through the ages
• The core principles of marketing and why they matter
• A comparative analysis of the marketing mix: 4Ps vs. 7Ps

Consumer Behavior Insights

• Analyzing the role of emotions in buying decisions
• Generational marketing: How baby boomers and millennials differ in their purchase behaviors
• The increasing role of social proof in the digital age

Trends in Digital Marketing

• The rise and implications of voice search marketing
• Augmented reality: The next big thing in online marketing?
• Chatbots and their effectiveness in customer engagement

Branding Dynamics

• The science behind memorable logos and brand colors
• Merging brands: Challenges and rewards of brand consolidation after M&As
• The anatomy of a successful brand launch

Social Media Marketing

• TikTok and its revolutionary impact on digital marketing strategies
• The ongoing battle for organic reach on Facebook
• Strategies to optimize user engagement on Instagram

Ethics and Morality in Marketing

• The thin line between persuasion and manipulation in advertising
• Greenwashing: Deceptive eco-friendly marketing and its consequences
• Marketing to vulnerable populations: Ethical implications and safeguards

Marketing in the Age of Technology

• Internet of Things (IoT) and its implications for marketers
• Predictive analytics: Harnessing big data for targeted marketing campaigns
• Blockchain technology and its potential uses in marketing

Relationship Marketing

• Building brand loyalty in the era of instant gratification
• Customer relationship management (CRM) tools and their efficacy in retaining consumers
• The art and science of customer journey mapping

Integrated Marketing Communications

• The role of public relations in holistic marketing strategies
• Offline and online marketing synergy: Best practices
• Crafting compelling brand narratives through transmedia storytelling

Niche and Guerrilla Marketing

• The rise of pet influencers: Analyzing niche marketing strategies
• Effective guerrilla marketing campaigns of the last decade: A case study approach
• The balance between risk and reward in ambush marketing

Future of Marketing

• Preparing for the metaverse: Next-generation digital marketing strategies
• The role of biometrics in personalized marketing campaigns
• Adapting to the post-cookie era: New strategies for online ad targeting

Retail and E-commerce Marketing

• The resurgence of pop-up shops in the e-commerce era
• Omnichannel marketing: Bridging the gap between offline and online retail
• Consumer psychology behind free shipping and its impact on online sales

B2B Marketing

• The unique challenges and rewards of B2B influencer marketing
• Crafting compelling case studies as a B2B marketing tool
• Account-based marketing (ABM): Tailored strategies for high-value clients

Marketing and Psychology

• The power of color in influencing consumer choices
• Understanding the anchoring effect in pricing strategies
• Decoding the paradox of choice: Does more variety deter buyers?

Emerging Markets

• Strategies for introducing a product in a newly developing market
• Navigating marketing challenges in BRICS countries
• The role of cultural sensitivity in marketing to emerging economies

Marketing in Healthcare

• Ethical considerations in direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising
• Marketing strategies for telemedicine in a post-pandemic world
• The role of content marketing in healthcare: Educating and promoting

Non-Profit Marketing

• Challenges and strategies for marketing without a profit motive
• The power of storytelling in non-profit marketing campaigns
• Mobilizing social media influencers for charitable causes

Experiential Marketing

• Crafting unforgettable brand experiences for consumers
• Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of experiential marketing campaigns
• The shift from product marketing to experience marketing

Marketing Analytics

• The promise and pitfalls of marketing attribution models
• Utilizing machine learning for predictive marketing analytics
• Integrating qualitative insights into a data-driven marketing strategy

Sustainability in Marketing

• Strategies for marketing eco-friendly products to skeptical consumers
• The long-term benefits of sustainable supply chain marketing
• Authenticity in green marketing: Beyond the buzzwords

Order Essay

Are you inspired but need that extra boost or strapped for time? Here at WriteOnDeadline, our expert writers specialize in crafting customized marketing essays designed for academic acclaim. Don’t let deadlines or academic pressure hold you back. Contact us today, and let’s turn that chosen topic into a masterpiece of insight and research excellence!

Useful References

To ensure your marketing essay is grounded in credible information, consider these authoritative sources:

• American Marketing Association – Journals and insights from leading marketing experts.
• Google Scholar – Access a wide range of scholarly articles on various marketing topics.
• HBR (Harvard Business Review) – Explore articles from industry leaders and academics.
• The Journal of Consumer Research – Find in-depth studies on consumer behavior.
• AdAge – Stay updated on the latest trends and news in advertising and marketing.

Research in marketing strategy

• Review Paper
• Published: 18 August 2018
• Volume 47 , pages 4–29, ( 2019 )

Cite this article

• Neil A. Morgan 1 ,
• Kimberly A. Whitler 2 ,
• Hui Feng 3 &
• Simos Chari 4  

43k Accesses

124 Citations

32 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Marketing strategy is a construct that lies at the conceptual heart of the field of strategic marketing and is central to the practice of marketing. It is also the area within which many of the most pressing current challenges identified by marketers and CMOs arise. We develop a new conceptualization of the domain and sub-domains of marketing strategy and use this lens to assess the current state of marketing strategy research by examining the papers in the six most influential marketing journals over the period 1999 through 2017. We uncover important challenges to marketing strategy research—not least the increasingly limited number and focus of studies, and the declining use of both theory and primary research designs. However, we also uncover numerous opportunities for developing important and highly relevant new marketing strategy knowledge—the number and importance of unanswered marketing strategy questions and opportunities to impact practice has arguably never been greater. To guide such research, we develop a new research agenda that provides opportunities for researchers to develop new theory, establish clear relevance, and contribute to improving practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

The future of social media in marketing

Gil Appel, Lauren Grewal, … Andrew T. Stephen

Social media marketing strategy: definition, conceptualization, taxonomy, validation, and future agenda

Fangfang Li, Jorma Larimo & Leonidas C. Leonidou

Online influencer marketing

Fine F. Leung, Flora F. Gu & Robert W. Palmatier

We follow Varadarjan’s (2010) distinction, using “strategic marketing” as the term describing the general field of study and “marketing strategy” as the construct that is central in the field of strategic marketing—just as analogically “strategic management” is a field of study in which “corporate strategy” is a central construct.

Following the strategic management literature (e.g., Mintzberg 1994 ; Pascale 1984 ), marketing strategy has also been viewed from an “emergent” strategy perspective (e.g. Hutt et al. 1988 ; Menon et al. 1999 ). Conceptually this is captured as realized (but not pre-planned) tactics and actions in Figure 1 .

These may be at the product/brand, SBU, or firm level.

These strategic marketing but “non-strategy” coding areas are not mutually exclusive. For example, many papers in this non-strategy category cover both inputs/outputs and environment (e.g., Kumar et al. 2016 ; Lee et al. 2014 ; Palmatier et al. 2013 ; Zhou et al. 2005 ), or specific tactics, input/output, and environment (e.g., Bharadwaj et al. 2011 ; Palmatier et al. 2007 ; Rubera and Kirca 2012 ).

The relative drop in marketing strategy studies published in JM may be a function of the recent growth of interest in the shareholder perspective (Katsikeas et al. 2016 ) and studies linking marketing-related resources and capabilities directly with stock market performance indicators. Such studies typically treat marketing strategy as an unobserved intervening construct.

Since this concerns integrated marketing program design and execution, marketing mix studies contribute to knowledge of strategy implementation–content when all four major marketing program areas are either directly modeled or are controlled for in studies focusing on one or more specific marketing program components.

Alden, D. L., Steenkamp, J. B. E., & Batra, R. (1999). Brand positioning through advertising in Asia, North America, and Europe: The role of global consumer culture. Journal of Marketing, 63 (1), 75–87.

Article   Google Scholar  

Ataman, M. B., Van Heerde, H. J., & Mela, C. F. (2010). The long-term effect of marketing strategy on brand sales. Journal of Marketing Research, 47 (5), 866–882.

Atuahene-Gima, K., & Murray, J. Y. (2004). Antecedents and outcomes of marketing strategy comprehensiveness. Journal of Marketing, 68 (4), 33–46.

Balducci, B., & Marinova, D. (2018). Unstructured data in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46 (4), 557–590.

Baumgartner, H., & Pieters, R. (2003). The structural influence of marketing journals: A citation analysis of the discipline and its subareas over time. Journal of Marketing, 67 (2), 123–139.

Bharadwaj, S. G., Tuli, K. R., & Bonfrer, A. (2011). The impact of brand quality on shareholder wealth. Journal of Marketing, 75 (5), 88–104.

Bolton, R. N., Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2004). The theoretical underpinnings of customer asset management: A framework and propositions for future research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 32 (3), 271–292.

Bruce, N. I., Foutz, N. Z., & Kolsarici, C. (2012). Dynamic effectiveness of advertising and word of mouth in sequential distribution of new products. Journal of Marketing Research, 49 (4), 469–486.

Cespedes, F. V. (1991). Organizing and implementing the marketing effort: Text and cases . Boston: Addison-Wesley.

Google Scholar  

Chandy, R. K., & Tellis, G. J. (2000). The incumbent’s curse? Incumbency, size, and radical product innovation. Journal of Marketing, 64 (3), 1–17.

Choi, S. C., & Coughlan, A. T. (2006). Private label positioning: Quality versus feature differentiation from the national brand. Journal of Retailing, 82 (2), 79–93.

Dickson, P. R., Farris, P. W., & Verbeke, W. J. (2001). Dynamic strategic thinking. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 29 (3), 216–237.

Esper, T. L., Ellinger, A. E., Stank, T. P., Flint, D. J., & Moon, M. (2010). Demand and supply integration: A conceptual framework of value creation through knowledge management. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38 (1), 5–18.

Fang, E. E., Lee, J., Palmatier, R., & Han, S. (2016). If it takes a village to Foster innovation, success depends on the neighbors: The effects of global and Ego networks on new product launches. Journal of Marketing Research, 53 (3), 319–337.

Farjoun, M. (2002). Towards an organic perspective on strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 23 (7), 561–594.

Feldman, M. S., & Orlikowski, W. J. (2011). Theorizing practice and practicing theory. Organization Science, 22 (5), 1240–1253.

Frambach, R. T., Prabhu, J., & Verhallen, T. M. (2003). The influence of business strategy on new product activity: The role of market orientation. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 20 (4), 377–397.

Frankwick, G. L., Ward, J. C., Hutt, M. D., & Reingen, P. H. (1994). Evolving patterns of organizational beliefs in the formation of strategy. Journal of Marketing, 58 (2), 96–110.

Ghosh, M., & John, G. (1999). Governance value analysis and marketing strategy. Journal of Marketing, 63 (4), 131–145.

Gonzalez, G. R., Claro, D. P., & Palmatier, R. W. (2014). Synergistic effects of relationship Managers' social networks on sales performance. Journal of Marketing, 78 (1), 76–94.

Gooner, R. A., Morgan, N. A., & Perreault Jr., W. D. (2011). Is retail category management worth the effort (and does a category captain help or hinder). Journal of Marketing, 75 (5), 18–33.

Grewal, R., Chandrashekaran, M., Johnson, J. L., & Mallapragada, G. (2013). Environments, unobserved heterogeneity, and the effect of market orientation on outcomes for high-tech firms. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41 (2), 206–233.

Harmeling, C. M., Palmatier, R. W., Houston, M. B., Arnold, M. J., & Samaha, S. A. (2015). Transformational relationship events. Journal of Marketing, 79 (5), 39–62.

Hauser, J. R., & Shugan, S. M. (2008). Defensive marketing strategies. Marketing Science, 27 (1), 88–110.

Homburg, C., Workman Jr., J. P., & Jensen, O. (2000). Fundamental changes in marketing organization: The movement toward a customer-focused organizational structure. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28 (4), 459–478.

Homburg, C., Müller, M., & Klarmann, M. (2011). When should the customer really be king? On the optimum level of salesperson customer orientation in sales encounters. Journal of Marketing, 75 (2), 55–74.

Homburg, C., Artz, M., & Wieseke, J. (2012). Marketing performance measurement systems: Does comprehensiveness really improve performance? Journal of Marketing, 76 (3), 56–77.

Hutt, M. D., Reingen, P. H., & Ronchetto Jr., J. R. (1988). Tracing emergent processes in marketing strategy formation. Journal of Marketing, 52 (1), 4–19.

Katsikeas, C. S., Morgan, N. A., Leonidou, L. C., & Hult, G. T. M. (2016). Assessing performance outcomes in marketing. Journal of Marketing, 80 (2), 1–20.

Kerin, R. A., Mahajan, V., & Varadarajan, P. (1990). Contemporary perspectives on strategic market planning . Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Krush, M. T., Sohi, R. S., & Saini, A. (2015). Dispersion of marketing capabilities: Impact on marketing’s influence and business unit outcomes. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43 (1), 32–51.

Kumar, V., Dixit, A., Javalgi, R. R. G., & Dass, M. (2016). Research framework, strategies, and applications of intelligent agent technologies (IATs) in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44 (1), 24–45.

Kumar, V., Sharma, A., & Gupta, S. (2017). Accessing the influence of strategic marketing research on generating impact: Moderating roles of models, journals, and estimation approaches. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45 (2), 164–185.

Kyriakopoulos, K., & Moorman, C. (2004). Tradeoffs in marketing exploitation and exploration strategies: The overlooked role of market orientation. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21 (3), 219–240.

Lee, J. Y., Sridhar, S., Henderson, C. M., & Palmatier, R. W. (2014). Effect of customer-centric structure on long-term financial performance. Marketing Science, 34 (2), 250–268.

Lewis, M. (2004). The influence of loyalty programs and short-term promotions on customer retention. Journal of Marketing Research, 41 (3), 281–292.

Lipsey, M. W., & Wilson, D. B. (2001). Practical meta-analysis . Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Luo, X., & Homburg, C. (2008). Satisfaction, complaint, and the stock value gap. Journal of Marketing, 72 (4), 29–43.

Maltz, E., & Kohli, A. K. (2000). Reducing marketing’s conflict with other functions: The differential effects of integrating mechanisms. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28 (4), 479.

Menon, A., Bharadwaj, S. G., Adidam, P. T., & Edison, S. W. (1999). Antecedents and consequences of marketing strategy making: A model and a test. Journal of Marketing, 63 (2), 18–40.

Mintzberg, H. (1994). The fall and rise of strategic planning. Harvard Business Review, 72 (1), 107–114.

Mintzberg, H., & Lampel, J. (1999). Reflecting on the strategy process. Sloan Management Review, 40 (3), 21.

Mizik, N., & Jacobson, R. (2003). Trading off between value creation and value appropriation: The financial implications of shifts in strategic emphasis. Journal of Marketing, 67 (1), 63–76.

Montgomery, D. B., Moore, M. C., & Urbany, J. E. (2005). Reasoning about competitive reactions: Evidence from executives. Marketing Science, 24 (1), 138–149.

Moorman, C., & Miner, A. S. (1998). The convergence of planning and execution: Improvisation in new product development. Journal of Marketing, 62 (3), 1–20.

Morgan, N. A. (2012). Marketing and business performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40 (1), 102–119.

Morgan, N. A., & Rego, L. L. (2006). The value of different customer satisfaction and loyalty metrics in predicting business performance. Marketing Science, 25 (5), 426–439.

Morgan, N. A., Katsikeas, C. S., & Vorhies, D. W. (2012). Export marketing strategy implementation, export marketing capabilities, and export venture performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40 (2), 271–289.

Noble, C. H., & Mokwa, M. P. (1999). Implementing marketing strategies: Developing and testing a managerial theory. Journal of Marketing, 63 (4), 57–73.

O'Sullivan, D., & Abela, A. V. (2007). Marketing performance measurement ability and firm performance. Journal of Marketing, 71 (2), 79–93.

Palmatier, R. W., Dant, R. P., & Grewal, D. (2007). A comparative longitudinal analysis of theoretical perspectives of interorganizational relationship performance. Journal of Marketing, 71 (4), 172–194.

Palmatier, R. W., Houston, M. B., Dant, R. P., & Grewal, D. (2013). Relationship velocity: Toward a theory of relationship dynamics. Journal of Marketing, 77 (1), 13–30.

Palmatier, R. W., Houston, M. B., & Hulland, J. (2018). Review articles: Purpose, process, and structure. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46 (1), 1–5.

Pascale, R. T. (1984). Perspectives on strategy: The real story behind Honda’s success. California Management Reviews, 26 (3), 47–72.

Payne, A., & Frow, P. (2005). A strategic framework for customer relationship management. Journal of Marketing, 69 (4), 167–176.

Petersen, J. A., & Kumar, V. (2015). Perceived risk, product returns, and optimal resource allocation: Evidence from a field experiment. Journal of Marketing Research, 52 (2), 268–285.

Piercy, N. F. (1998). Marketing implementation: The implications of marketing paradigm weakness for the strategy execution process. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 26 (3), 222–236.

Rego, L. L., Billett, M. T., & Morgan, N. A. (2009). Consumer-based brand equity and firm risk. Journal of Marketing, 73 (6), 47–60.

Rego, L. L., Morgan, N. A., & Fornell, C. (2013). Reexamining the market share–customer satisfaction relationship. Journal of Marketing, 77 (5), 1–20.

Roberts, J. H., Kayande, U., & Stremersch, S. (2014). From academic research to marketing practice: Exploring the marketing science value chain. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 31 (2), 127–140.

Rubera, G., & Kirca, A. H. (2012). Firm innovativeness and its performance outcomes: A meta-analytic review and theoretical integration. Journal of Marketing, 76 (3), 130–147.

Samaha, S. A., Palmatier, R. W., & Dant, R. P. (2011). Poisoning relationships: Perceived unfairness in channels of distribution. Journal of Marketing, 75 (3), 99–117.

Samaha, S. A., Beck, J. T., & Palmatier, R. W. (2014). The role of culture in international relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 78 (5), 78–98.

Slater, S. F., & Olson, E. M. (2001). Marketing's contribution to the implementation of business strategy: An empirical analysis. Strategic Management Journal, 22 (11), 1055–1067.

Slater, S. F., Hult, G. T. M., & Olson, E. M. (2007). On the importance of matching strategic behavior and target market selection to business strategy in high-tech markets. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 35 (1), 5–17.

Slater, S. F., Hult, G. T. M., & Olson, E. M. (2010). Factors influencing the relative importance of marketing strategy creativity and marketing strategy implementation effectiveness. Industrial Marketing Management, 39 (4), 551–559.

Slotegraaf, R. J., & Atuahene-Gima, K. (2011). Product development team stability and new product advantage: The role of decision-making processes. Journal of Marketing, 75 (1), 96–108.

Song, M., Di Benedetto, C. A., & Zhao, Y. (2008). The antecedents and consequences of manufacturer–distributor cooperation: An empirical test in the US and Japan. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36 (2), 215–233.

Spyropoulou, S., Katsikeas, C. S., Skarmeas, D., & Morgan, N. A. (2018). Strategic goal accomplishment in export ventures: the role of capabilities, knowledge, and environment. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46 (1), 109–129.

Steiner, M., Eggert, A., Ulaga, W., & Backhaus, K. (2016). Do customized service packages impede value capture in industrial markets? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44 (2), 151–165.

Sun, B., & Li, S. (2011). Learning and acting on customer information: A simulation-based demonstration on service allocations with offshore centers. Journal of Marketing Research, 48 (1), 72–86.

Van de Ven, A. H. (1992). Suggestions for studying strategy process: A research note. Strategic Management Journal, 13 (5), 169–188.

Varadarajan, R. (2010). Strategic marketing and marketing strategy: Domain, definition, fundamental issues and foundational premises. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38 (2), 119–140.

Varadarajan, P. R., & Jayachandran, S. (1999). Marketing strategy: An assessment of the state of the field and outlook. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27 (2), 120–143.

Varadarajan, R., Yadav, M. S., & Shankar, V. (2008). First-mover advantage in an internet-enabled market environment: Conceptual framework and propositions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36 (3), 293–308.

Venkatesan, R., & Kumar, V. (2004). A customer lifetime value framework for customer selection and resource allocation strategy. Journal of Marketing, 68 (4), 106–125.

Vorhies, D. W., & Morgan, N. A. (2003). A configuration theory assessment of marketing organization fit with business strategy and its relationship with marketing performance. Journal of Marketing, 67 (1), 100–115.

Walker Jr., O. C., & Ruekert, R. W. (1987). Marketing's role in the implementation of business strategies: A critical review and conceptual framework. Journal of Marketing, 51 (3), 15–33.

Whitler, K. A., & Morgan, N. (2017). Why CMOs never last and what to do about it. Harvard Business Review, 95 (4), 46–54.

Whittington, R. (2006). Completing the practice turn in strategy research. Organization Studies, 27 (5), 613–634.

Yadav, M. S. (2010). The decline of conceptual articles and implications for knowledge development. Journal of Marketing, 74 (1), 1–19.

Zhou, K. Z., Yim, C. K., & Tse, D. K. (2005). The effects of strategic orientations on technology-and market-based breakthrough innovations. Journal of Marketing, 69 (2), 42–60.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, 1309 E. Tenth St., Bloomington, IN, 47405-1701, USA

Neil A. Morgan

Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, 100 Darden Boulevard, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, USA

Kimberly A. Whitler

Ivy College of Business, Iowa State University, 3337 Gerdin Business Building, Ames, IA, 50011-1350, USA

Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Booth Street West, Manchester, M15 6PB, UK

Simos Chari

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Neil A. Morgan .

Additional information

Mark Houston served as Area Editor for this article.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Morgan, N.A., Whitler, K.A., Feng, H. et al. Research in marketing strategy. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 47 , 4–29 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-018-0598-1

Download citation

Received : 14 January 2018

Accepted : 20 July 2018

Published : 18 August 2018

Issue Date : 15 January 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-018-0598-1

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Marketing strategy
• Strategic marketing
• CMO marketing challenges
• Research design
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

What Is Strategy?

• Michael E. Porter

Today’s dynamic markets and technologies have called into question the sustainability of competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity, quality, and speed, managers have embraced tools such as TQM, benchmarking, and re-engineering. Dramatic operational improvements have resulted, but rarely have these gains translated into sustainable profitability. And gradually, the tools have taken the place of strategy. In his five-part article, Michael Porter explores how that shift has led to the rise of mutually destructive competitive battles that damage the profitability of many companies. As managers push to improve on all fronts, they move further away from viable competitive positions. Porter argues that operational effectiveness, although necessary to superior performance, is not sufficient, because its techniques are easy to imitate. In contrast, the essence of strategy is choosing a unique and valuable position rooted in systems of activities that are much more difficult to match. Porter thus traces the economic basis of competitive advantage down to the level of the specific activities a company performs. Using cases such as Ikea and Vanguard, he shows how making trade-offs among activities is critical to the sustainability of a strategy. Whereas managers often focus on individual components of success such as core competencies or critical resources, Porter shows how managing fit across all of a company’s activities enhances both competitive advantage and sustainability. While stressing the role of leadership in making and enforcing clear strategic choices, Porter also offers advice on how companies can reconnect with strategies that have become blurred over time.

For starters, it’s not the same as operational effectiveness.

For almost two decades, managers have been learning to play by a new set of rules. Companies must be flexible to respond rapidly to competitive and market changes. They must benchmark continuously to achieve best practice. They must outsource aggressively to gain efficiencies. And they must nurture a few core competencies in race to stay ahead of rivals.

• Michael E. Porter is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School. He has served as an adviser to governments and campaigns around the world on the advancement of social policy and economic policy, including Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. His latest paper is  The Role of Business in Society . He is an academic adviser to the Leadership Now Project.

Partner Center

• Undergraduate
• High School
• Architecture
• American History
• Asian History
• Antique Literature
• American Literature
• Asian Literature
• Classic English Literature
• World Literature
• Creative Writing
• Linguistics
• Criminal Justice
• Legal Issues
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Political Science
• World Affairs
• African-American Studies
• East European Studies
• Latin-American Studies
• Native-American Studies
• West European Studies
• Family and Consumer Science
• Social Issues
• Women and Gender Studies
• Social Work
• Natural Sciences
• Pharmacology
• Earth science
• Agriculture
• Agricultural Studies
• Computer Science
• IT Management
• Mathematics
• Investments
• Engineering and Technology
• Engineering
• Aeronautics
• Medicine and Health
• Alternative Medicine
• Communications and Media
• Advertising
• Communication Strategies
• Public Relations
• Educational Theories
• Teacher's Career
• Chicago/Turabian
• Company Analysis
• Education Theories
• Shakespeare
• Canadian Studies
• Food Safety
• Relation of Global Warming and Extreme Weather Condition
• Movie Review
• Admission Essay
• Annotated Bibliography
• Application Essay
• Article Critique
• Article Review
• Article Writing
• Book Review
• Business Plan
• Business Proposal
• Capstone Project
• Cover Letter
• Creative Essay
• Dissertation
• Dissertation - Abstract
• Dissertation - Conclusion
• Dissertation - Discussion
• Dissertation - Hypothesis
• Dissertation - Introduction
• Dissertation - Literature
• Dissertation - Methodology
• Dissertation - Results
• GCSE Coursework
• Grant Proposal
• Marketing Plan
• Multiple Choice Quiz
• Personal Statement
• Power Point Presentation
• Power Point Presentation With Speaker Notes
• Questionnaire
• Reaction Paper

Research Paper

• Research Proposal
• SWOT analysis
• Thesis Paper
• Online Quiz
• Literature Review
• Movie Analysis
• Statistics problem
• Math Problem
• All papers examples
• How It Works
• Money Back Policy
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• We Are Hiring

Marketing Strategies, Essay Example

Pages: 2

Words: 495

Hire a Writer for Custom Essay

Use 10% Off Discount: "custom10" in 1 Click 👇

You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work.

Business firms use different marketing strategies depending on the size, time, and the types of products they deal in. Marketing strategies may focus on product (product marketing strategy) or on business itself (business marketing strategy) (Honeywell, 1999). The commonly used product marketing strategies include value pricing, penetration pricing, and price skimming.

Value pricing involves selling high value product or service at a low, value price (but the selling price is not below cost) ( Bovay , 2008). The price is what the customers would perceive to be low, and the customers’ perceptions are influenced by the attributes of the product and service, and the price comparison among related products and services. This strategy is applicable to products or services in their mature or declining life cycle stage. The reason is that, at this stage, the products and services have already built a strong brand identity. For example, the price of electricity is normally set relatively lower compared to other forms of energy because the cost of production is fairly lower, and its consumption is popular with customers.

Penetration pricing involves setting exceptionally low prices for new product (s)or service (s) with a bid to gain popularity within the market (Chantal, 2012). It is also known as “Special introductory offer” because it is only used as a strategy to gain significant market share for new products and services. Business organizations that use penetration pricing strategy normally advertise that the low price is a limited time offer to allow alert the customers about the future increment in price. This strategy suits market where many companies are offering similar products and services. Therefore, it is used in such a situation where the cost of switching to a competitor is high.

Price skimming is a strategy where a business organization raises the price above the current market price in order to earn quick profit by covering costs promptly (Copyscape, 2013). As the product becomes more extensively distributed and competition intensifies, the price is gradually lowered over time to match the market price. This is the most popular product marketing strategy, which appropriately suits product in high demands or those with few or weak competitors.

In conclusion, marketing is essential as it creates an enabling environment, where business can thrive well. It helps business organizations to eliminate threats such as competition, and as a result, it popularizes new products and services in the market. The key idea about business is to realize profit; therefore product marketing helps increase the volume of sales, thus maximizing profit.

Bovay , K. (2008, July 19). When to Use Value Pricing Or Perceived Value Pricing – 2 Pricing Strategies . Retrieved August 22, 2013, from ezinearticles.com: http://ezinearticles.com/?When-to-Use-Value-Pricing-Or-Perceived-Value-Pricing—2-Pricing-Strategies&id=1341499

Chantal. (2012, June 24). When Is Market Penetration Pricing A Good Idea? Retrieved August 22, 2013, from ordoro.com: https://www.ordoro.com/blog/2012/06/24/market-penetration/

Copyscape. (2013). Price Skimming or Market Skimming: Product Pricing Strategies Need to Fit Your Marketing Mix Plan . Retrieved August 22, 2013, from more-for-small-business.com: http://www.more-for-small-business.com/price-skimming.html

Honeywell. (1999, March 15). Marketing’s Strategic Role in The Organization. Retrieved August 22, 2013, from honeywell.com: http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CFIQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mhhe.com%2Fbusiness%2Fmarketing%2Fbearden01%2Fgraphics%2Fcommon%2Fch03.pdf&ei=ySwVUoLDNMOJtQbqk4AY&usg=AFQjCNGSkyjgLUse5-sUEPYMRMYcMgSMoA&bvm=bv.51156542,d

Stuck with your Essay?

Get in touch with one of our experts for instant help!

Strong Opinion on Traveling Abroad, Research Paper Example

Roles of Managers and Individuals, Essay Example

Time is precious

don’t waste it!

Plagiarism-free guarantee

Privacy guarantee

Secure checkout

Money back guarantee

Related Essay Samples & Examples

Voting as a civic responsibility, essay example.

Pages: 1

Words: 287

Utilitarianism and Its Applications, Essay Example

Words: 356

The Age-Related Changes of the Older Person, Essay Example

Words: 448

The Problems ESOL Teachers Face, Essay Example

Pages: 8

Words: 2293

Should English Be the Primary Language? Essay Example

Pages: 4

Words: 999

The Term “Social Construction of Reality”, Essay Example

Words: 371

BUS203: Principles of Marketing

The Marketing Plan

Read this chapter, which discusses marketing planning roles, the parts and functions of the marketing plan, forecasting, and the structure of a marketing plan audit. It also discusses PEST Analysis and other external factors that affect marketing decisions. This chapter reviews other concepts we've discussed so far. Key takeaways include the steps in the forecasting process. You will be able to identify types of forecasting methods and their advantages and disadvantages and discuss the methods used to improve the accuracy of forecasts. Lastly, you will apply marketing planning processes to ongoing business settings and identify the role of the marketing audit. Answer the discussion questions at the end of the chapter.

Functions of the Marketing Plan

In the conclusion, repeat the highlights. Summarize the target market, the offer, and the communication plan. Your conclusion should remind the reader of all the reasons why your plan is the best choice.

Of course, the written plan is itself a marketing tool. You want it to convince someone to invest in your ideas, so you want to write it down on paper in a compelling way. Figure 16.9 "Tips for Writing an Effective Marketing Plan" offers some tips for effectively doing so. Also, keep in mind that a marketing plan is created at a single point in time. The market, though, is dynamic. A good marketing plan includes how the organization should respond to various scenarios if the market changes. In addition, the plan should include "triggers" detailing what should happen under the scenarios. For example, it might specify that when a certain percentage of market share is reached, then the price of the product will be reduced (or increased). Or the plan might specify the minimum amount of the product that must be sold by a certain point in time – say, six months after the product is launched – and what should happen if the mark isn't reached. Also, it should once again be noted that the marketing plan is a communication device. For that reason, the outline of a marketing plan may look somewhat different from the order in which the tasks in the outline are actually completed.

Figure 16.9 Tips for Writing an Effective Marketing Plan

Essay on Marketing: Top 9 Essays on Marketing

Essay on‘Marketing’. Find paragraphs, long and short term papers on ‘Marketing’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Marketing

Term Paper Contents:

• Essay on the Challenges and Opportunities of Marketing

Essay # 1. Introduction to Marketing:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Marketing is everywhere. Everything from presenting yourself for a job interview to selling your products includes marketing. Main objective of any company is to gain profits which can be achieved only through marketing of the products. Marketing enables the companies to create demand and earn profits. If these two aspects are not taken care of, then the company will not survive in the market.

“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.” – (American Marketing Association)

“Marketing is a social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” – (Philip Kotler)

Thus it can be safely said that a company reaches its customer through marketing and communicates to them about the products and services offered by the company.

ADVERTISEMENTS: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Essay # 2. Evolution of Marketing :

In earlier days, an organization was mainly concerned with production of goods. It used to believe on mass production and paid less or negligible attention on quality of the product and the customer’s demand.

After some time, the focus of organization shifted from production of the product to the sale of the product. The concept of marketing emerged gradually in 1970’s after the production and sales era. It took many years for organizations to realize that a customer is the key for making profits in the long run. The marketing concept is evolved through various stages.

These stages are explained below:

1. Production Era :

The production era began with the Industrial Revolution in the 17th century and continued till 1920s. Say’s law – Supply creates its own demand – was applicable in this era. The demand for products was more than the supply in the market; thus, it was a seller’s market. In the production era, the main aim of an organization was to manufacture products faster and at low prices. In this era, customers were concerned only about the availability of products and no importance was given to features and quality of products.

2. Sales Era :

The sales era came into existence in 1920s and continued till the mid of 1950s. This era was marked by the great depression of 1923. The depression proved that manufacturing products was not everything because the sale of the products was also important for organizations to earn profit.

Thus, the need for developing promotion and distribution strategies emerged to sell products. The organizations started advertising their products to increase their sales. Many organizations created specialized market research departments to collect and analyze the prevailing market data.

3. Marketing Era :

The sales era merely focused on selling the goods and ignored the consumers’ needs and demands. The year 1970 marked the advent of marketing era. In the marketing era, organizations realized the importance of customers and started designing the products as per customers’ needs.

Therefore, the marketing era led to the development of customer-centered activities over the production and selling activities. Organizations came up with different techniques, such as customer survey, to collect and analyze data for understanding the customer’s expectations, needs, and wants.

ADVERTISEMENTS: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Essay # 3. Approaches to the Study of Marketing:

The meaning of marketing is different to different people. In common parlance, marketing is the process of selling something at a market place. To a salesman it means selling whereas to an advertising manager it means advertising. To some it means the study of individual commodities and their movement in the market place, to some others marketing means the study of institutions and persons who move their products or study of the economic contributions.

Thus, there are different approaches to the study of marketing:

1. Commodity Approach:

The commodity approach focuses a specific commodity and includes the sources and conditions of supply, nature and extent of demand, the distribution channels used and the functions, such as buying, selling, financing, advertising storage etc. various agencies perform. Prof. Paul Mazur defined as “the delivery of a standard of living to society. Prof. Malcolm McNair expanded the definition to “the creation and delivery of a standard of living”.

2. Institutional Approach:

The institutional approach focuses on the study of various middlemen and facilitating agencies.

3. Functional Approach:

The functional approach considers different kinds of functions recognized for their repetitive occurrences and necessarily performed to consummate market transactions. Converse, Huegy and Mitchell define marketing as the “business of buying and selling and as including those business activities involved in the flow of goods and services between producers and consumers.” American Marketing Association, perhaps, gives more factual or descriptive definition. It defined marketing as the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user.

4. Managerial Approach:

The managerial approach concentrates on the decision making process involved in the performance of marketing functions at the level of a firm. Howard, Phelps and Westing and Lazo and Corbin are the pioneers of the managerial approach.

5. Societal Approach:

The societal approach consider the interactions between the various environmental factors (socio-logical, cultural, political, legal) and marketing decisions and their impact on the well- being of society. Kotler, Feldman and Gist, were the main proponents of the societal approach.

6. Systems Approach:

The systems’ approach is based on Von Bartalanffy’s general systems theory. He defined system as a “set of objects together with the relationships among them and their attributes”. This approach recognizes the inter-relations and inter-connections among the components of a marketing system in which products, services, money, and equipment and information flow from marketers to consumers that largely determine the survival and growth capacities of a firm.

7. Modern Concept:

The new managerial awareness and desire reflected in the consumer orientation for all all-out commitment to the market consideration and to connect all marketing operations to the consumer needs has given birth to a new operational concept. Felton views the marketing concept as “a corporate state of mind that insists on the integration and coordination of all marketing functions that, in turn, are welded with all other corporate functions, for the basic objective of producing maximum long-range corporate profits.

According to Kotler, the marketing concept is a customer orientation backed by integrated marketing aimed at generating customer satisfaction as the key to satisfying organizational goals. According to McNamara,” marketing concept is … a philosophy of business management, based upon a company- wide acceptance of the need for customer orientation, profit orientation, and recognition of the important role of marketing in communicating the needs of the market to all major corporate departments”.

Lazo and Cobin describe marketing concept as ” the recognition on the part of management that all business decisions of a firm must be made in the light of customer needs and wants; hence, that all marketing activities must be under one supervision and that all activities of a firm must be coordinated at the top, in the light of market requirements”. King has given one of the most comprehensive descriptions of the marketing concept. He defined it as, “a managerial philosophy concerned with the mobilization, utilization and control of total corporate effort for the purpose of helping consumers solve selected problems in ways compatible with planned enhancement of the profit position of the firm”.

These definitions suggest that marketing is only concerned with the movement of goods and services from the plant to the consumer. This is thus a production-oriented definition more appropriate for a sellers’ market and dangers in case of buyers’ market. In fact, marketing is related with the sophisticated strategy of attempting to offer what the consumer may want and at a profit.

ADVERTISEMENTS: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Essay  # 4. Objectives of Marketing:

According to Peter F. Drucker, “Marketing means such a perfect understanding of the customer that the product fits him totally and sells itself. Marketing would result in a customer who is ready to buy all that, what should be needed then is to make the product available.”

Organization’s marketing strategies are designed in tune with various marketing objectives.

The objectives of marketing aim at:

1. Creating demand for the products by identifying the needs and wants of customers. The consumers get familiar with the usage of products through different promotional programs, such as advertising and personal selling. This helps in creating demand for the products by the customers.

2. Increasing the market share of the organization. The marketing efforts, such as promotion, create the product awareness in the market. The product awareness helps in capturing the reasonable share in the market by organization.

3. Building the goodwill of the organization in the market. Every organization tries to earn reputation in the market by providing quality goods to the customers. It builds its goodwill by popularizing products supported by advertising, reasonable prices, and high quality.

4. Increasing profits and achieving long-term goals through customer satisfaction. All the marketing activities revolve around the customer. These activities fulfill the organization’s long-term goal of profitability, growth, and stability by satisfying the customer’s demands. All the departments, such as production, finance, human resource, and marketing, coordinate with each other to fulfill the customer’s expectations keeping the maximization of profit as the focus.

Essay # 5. Marketing Process:

Marketing Process —– The marketing process is one that invol­ves the following chain of business activities:

1. Identification and study of the desires, needs, and requirements of the^ consumers;

2. Testing the validity of the consumers’ reaction in respect of product features, price, distribution outlets, new product concepts, and new product introduction;

3. Matching the consumers’ needs with the firm’s offerings and capa­bilities;

4. Creating effective marketing communications and programmes with emphasis on lower price, mass distribution channels and mass advertising to reach numerous market segments so that the consumers know about the product’s availability; and

5. Establishment of resource allocation procedures among the various marketing components like sales promotion, advertisement, distribution, product design, etc. 

Outline of functions in the Marketing Process : In order to place the goods in the hands of the consumers, an integrated group of activities is involved in marketing. Marketing functions cover all those activi­ties which are required for the journey of goods from the producer to the consumer. Goods require some preparations, undergo many operations and pass several hands before they reach the final consumer.

In consideration of the above factors, Clark has divided the modem marketing process into three broad categories as under:

(i) Concentration

(ii) Dispersion

(iii) Equalisation.

These are explained below.

1. Concentration – In a marketing process, concentration is that business activity in which the goods flow from many manufacturers/producers toward a central point or market. If we think of international trade, we find that the customers of a particular corporation or firm world reputation are scattered in different countries and even located thousands of miles, away, and the products are transhipped to points accessible to than. Similar scene is found even in the case of national trade. With the development of trade and commerce, the efforts in the direction of concentration acti­vity have to place more stress on the functions like collection, storage, transportation and inventory of goods in the central markets, and processing of customer’s orders. In addition, the aspects of financing and risk-bearing are also to be taken into consideration.

In India, the concentration activity is undertaken by the Governments at the Central and State levels. Food example, The Food Corporation of India undertakes this activity in case of grains, rice, sugar, etc.

2. Dispersion – In a marketing process, dispersion is that busi­ness activity in which the goods flow from the central locations to the final consumers. The wholesalers and retailers play a great role in this activity. This activity involves many other supporting activities like classification, gradation, storage and transportation of goods. The func­tional aspects of finance and risk-bearing need important considerations.

In India, the agencies like The State Trading Corporation of India, The Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India, and The Food Corpora­tion of India undertake this dispersion or distribution activity in respect of certain specified goods. Sane large scale manufacturing companies have, of late, undertaken this activity as a part of their marketing activities.

3. Equalisation – In a marketing process, equalisation refers to the adjustment of supply to demand on the basis of tint, quality, and quantity. This process helps to maintain the state of equilibrium between the forces of demand and supply. The primary responsibility of a business unit towards the consumers and customers is to make available the right products of right qualities at the right tine, in right quantity, at the right place and at the right price. The equalisation activity can serve these objectives.

Essay # 6. Integrated Marketing Communication Process:

Marketers operate is a very dynamic environment characterised by changing customer needs and wants, severe competition, changing process technology, advancements in information technology, government regulations, etc. That is why, they are adopting Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC).

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) involves integration of company’s various communication channels to deliver a clear, consistent and compelling message about the company and its products and brands. Most of the companies communicate with target customers by using promotion tools like advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing. Through each of these tools, some message is transmitted to the target customers. IMC calls for careful blending of these promotional tools to ensure effective communication.

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) requires developing a total marketing communication strategy that recognises that all of a firm’s marketing activities (not just promotion) communicate with its customers. Everything a marketer does sends a message to the target market.

The EMC approach is an improvement over the traditional approach of treating various promotional activities as totally separate. It helps to develop the most suitable and effective method to contact customers and other stakeholders.

Often different tools play different roles in attracting, informing and persuading target customers. These tools are carefully coordinated under IMC so that they provide the same clear and consistent information about the company and its products/brands.

IMC leads to a total marketing communication strategy aimed at building strong customer relationships by showing how the company and its products can help customers solve their problems. It ties together all of the company’s messages and images.

The company’s television and print advertisements have the same message, look, and feel as its e-mail and personal selling communications. And its public relations materials project the same image as its Website or social network presence.

Communication Process:

Definition of Communication:

The term ‘communication’ is derived from the Latin word ‘communis’ which means common. That means if a person communicates with another, he establishes a common group of understanding. According to Newman, Summer and Warren, “Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons”.

Communication does not mean merely sending or receiving message. It involves understanding also. It is, in fact, a bridge of meaning and understanding between two or more people. Thus, communication is a two- way process.

The salient features of communication are as follows:

(i) Communication involves at least two persons—one who sends the message and the second who receives the message.

(ii) Communication is a two-way traffic. The process of communication is not completed until the message has been understood by the receiver. Understanding is an essential part of communication, but it does not imply agreement.

(iii) The basic purpose of communication is to create an understanding in the mind of the receiver of information.

(iv) Communication may take several forms, e.g., order, instruction, report, suggestion grievance, observation, etc. The message may be conveyed through words spoken or written, or gestures.

Elements of Communication:

Communication is a process involving exchange of facts, viewpoints and ideas between persons placed in different positions in the organisation to achieve mutual understanding as shown in Fig. 11.5. The communication process starts when the sender or communicator has a message communicate to some other person known as receiver. It will be completed when the receiver gets the information and sends feedback to the communicator.  

The essential elements of communication are described below:

(i) Sender or Communicator:

The person who conveys the message is known as communicator or sender. By initiating the message, the communicator attempts to achieve understanding and change in the behaviour of the receiver. In case of marketing it is the marketer (sender) who starts the communication process.

(ii) Message:

It is the subject-matter of any communication. It may involve any fact, opinion or information. It must exist in the mind of the communicator if communication process is to be initiated. In marketing, the marketer’s message relates to product, price and place.

(iii) Encoding:

The sender of information organises his idea into a series of symbols (words, signs, etc.) which, he feels, will communicate to the intended receiver or receivers. This is called encoding of message. Communication may take place through physical gestures also.

(iv) Media or Communication Channel:

The communicator has to choose the channel for sending the information. Communication channels are the media through which the message passes. It may be either formal or informal. In marketing, media may be salespersons, advertisement and publicity.

(v) Receiver:

The person who receives the message is called receiver. The communication process is incomplete without the existence of receiver of the message. It is the receiver who receives and tries to understand the message. The receiver in case of marketing is the prospective or present customer.

(vi) Decoding:

After the appropriate channel or channels are selected, the message enters the decoding stage of the communication process. Decoding is done by the receiver. Once the message is received and examined, the stimulus is sent to the brain for interpreting, in order to assign some type of meaning to it. It is this processing stage that constitutes decoding. The receiver begins to interpret the symbols sent by the sender, translating the message to his own set of experiences in order to make the symbols meaningful.

(vii) Response:

Response refers to the set of reactions that the receiver has after being exposed to the message. In case of advertising, a response may mean developing a favourable attitude towards the product as a result of an advertising campaign. However, in many cases, measuring such responses is not easy.

(viii) Feedback:

Communication is completed when the communicator receives feedback information from the receiver. The feedback may reveal that the receiver has understood the message. It may also contain information about the action taken by the receiver on the basis of message sent by the communicator. Thus, feedback is the backbone of effective communication.

(ix) Noise:

Noise is a very common thing we observe in our day-to-day interaction with others. At times it affects adversely the effectiveness of communication. For example, if a person is talking over the phone to another and there is a noise around him, he will feel great difficulty in listening to the person at the other end of the phone. Even the noise can affect the voice of the sender of the message.

Hurdles or Difficulties in Marketing Communication:

There are four factors which might create hurdles or problems in communication between the marketer and the target customer.

These hurdles include noise, selective attention, selective distortion and selective retention as discussed below:

Noise is a sort of interfering sound in the communication process anywhere along the way from the sender to the receiver and vice versa. It can be sound of running bus, two persons talking close at hand or someone shouting around. Noise of any kind has the potential of creating disruption or barrier to effective communication. The sources of noise can be both internal and external. Noise within the office can be controlled, but it is very difficult to control the external noise.

Noise is one of the biggest obstacles in marketing communication. For example, a driver’s need to provide safety to the traffic sidetracks the role of billboards, banners, etc. during disturbed weather conditions —wind, dust storm, rain, etc. Similarly, too much advertisement exposure during the day of purchase of tyre for a car, would disturb the planned purchasing.

These constitute noise in the communication process. The level of noise may not allow a customer to receive the message as intended. The effectiveness of communication depends upon the level of congruity and compatibility between different elements of the communication.

(ii) Selective Attention:

A person may be exposed to hundreds or thousands of ads or brand communications in a day. Because a person cannot possibly attend to all of these, most stimuli will be screened out. This process is called selective attention. Because of this, the marketers have to work hard to attract consumer’s notice. Generally, people are more likely to notice stimuli that relate to a current need.

Thus, a person who is motivated to buy a car is most likely to notice car ads. The process of selective attention explains why advertisers make extra efforts to grab the audience’s attention through fear, music, or bold headlines.

(iii) Selective Distortion:

Selective distortion is the tendency to interpret information in a way that fit one’s perception. Consumers often distort information to be consistent with prior brand and product beliefs. Thus, the target audience will hear what fits into their belief systems.

As a result, receivers often add things to the message that are not there and do not notice other things that are there. The advertiser’s task is to strive for simplicity, clarity, interest and repetition to get the main points across.

(iv) Selective Retention:

People retain in their long-term memory only a small fraction of the messages that reach them. If the receiver’s initial attitude towards the brand is positive and he rehearses support arguments (that is, tells himself things such as the product is in fashion or that it is reasonably priced or that it delivers good value, etc.), the message is likely to be accepted and have high recall.

If the initial attitude towards the brand is negative and the person rehearses counter arguments (that is, tells himself that the product is highly overpriced or that the competing products offer more value to customers or that the brand is not doing well in the market, etc.) the message is likely to be rejected but to stay in long-term memory.

Thus, the advertiser’s task is two-fold here. He not only has to create an initial favourable attitude towards the brands but also through his ads communicate to the audience strong points about the brands so that the customers can rehearse the same and the brand is positively placed in the long-term memory of the customers.

Essay # 7. Role of Marketing in Economic Development :

In today’s era of globalization role of marketing is increasing to fulfill different needs and requirements of people. Due to increase in scale of production and expansions of markets, producers need support of marketing tools to distribute their goods and services to the real customer.

High competition in market and product diversification has increased the marketing activities like advertising, storage, sales promotion, salesmanship etc. Now high profits can be attained by high sales volume and good quality of products and services. Marketing has acquired an important place for the economic development of the whole country. It has also become a necessity for attaining the objective of social welfare and high quality of life.

The importance of marketing can be explained as under:

(a) Importance of Marketing to a Firm:

Marketing is considered to be the prime activity among all the business activities. Success of any business depends on success of marketing. Peter F. Drucker has rightly said that, “Marketing is the business.” Objective and goals of any organization can be achieved through efficient and effective marketing polices. The success of an enterprise depends to a large extent upon the success of its marketing activities.

The importance of marketing to the firm can be explained as under:

1. Marketing in Business Planning and Decision Making:

Marketing research is helpful in searching opportunities and potential in market. It is necessary for an organization to decide what can be sold before deciding that what can be produced. Unless and until these key decisions are taken, it is not practical to take the decisions regarding production, quality of product, type of product and quantity of production etc.

Marketing is very helpful in taking all such decisions therefore its plays an important role in business planning. Marketing provides valuable information regarding production policies, pricing policies, advertisement and sales promotion policies of competitors, so that a suitable policy may be formulated by the top management.

2. Increase in the Profits:

The main objective of every firm is to increase the profitability by successful operations of its activities. Maximization of profits can be possible only through the successful operations of its activities. Marketing department need the help of other departments as well for discharging its duties successfully, marketing department coordinate with other departments like finance, production, to fulfill the needs of customers and regular supply according to market demand.

3. Flow of Marketing Communication:

Integrated marketing communication makes it possible to flow marketing information to intermediaries, publics and customers. Marketing acts as a medium of communication between the society and the firm. Various information regarding trends, needs, attitudes, fashions, taste preferences etc., are collected by marketing department.

(b) Importance of Marketing to the Society:

1. To Uplift Standard of Living:

Ultimate objective of marketing is to produce goods and services for the society according to their needs and tastes at reasonable prices. Marketing discovers the needs and wants of the society, produces the goods and services according to their needs, creates demand for these goods and services encourages consumers to consume them and thus improves the standard of living of the society. By advertising utility and importance of products and services are communicated to the people.

2. To Decreases the Total Marketing Cost:

Next important responsibility of marketing is to control the cost of marketing. Distribution cost and production cost can be decreased by creation of high demand in market. Decrease in cost of production will have two impacts, firstly the high profitability of organization and secondly to increase in the market share of the firm.

3. Increase in the Employment Opportunities:

Marketing provides direct and indirect employment in society. Employment opportunities are directly related with the development of marketing. Successful operation of marketing activities requires the services of different enterprises and organizations such logistics, warehousing, transportation, retailing finance, etc.

4. In controlling Business Fluctuations:

Business fluctuations like recession and depression causes unemployment, and deflation. Marketing helps in protecting society against all these problems. Marketing helps in innovation and discovery of new markets for the goods, modifications and alterations in the quality of the product and development of alternative uses of the product. It reduces the cost of production and protects the business enterprise against the problem of recession.

5. Increase Per Capita Income:

Marketing operations create, maintain and increase the demand for goods and service. Marketing activities flow money from one part of economic system to other. By generation of new employment opportunities it helps to increases income of people.

(c) Importance of Marketing in Economic Development:

Marketing plays an important role in the development of a country. Most of developed countries like USA, Japan, and Germany are having strong marketing system, they are moving towards global marketing. Industrial growth and development need support of marketing, large scale of production requires new markets. In these countries, the production exceeds the demand it need marketing system to be much more effective so that the produced goods and services can be sold.

Marketing has a vital role to play in the development of an underdeveloped and developing economy. In developing economies the industrialization and urbanization is increasing at a faster rate and so the importance of marketing is also increasing as it is required for selling the produced goods and services. A rapid development of underdeveloped economy is possible only if the modern techniques of marketing are used in these countries marketing activities are increasing at a fast rate in developing countries.

Essay # 8. Importance of Marketing :

Role of Marketing in a Firm :

Efficient marketing management is a pre-requisite for the successful operation of any business enterprise. A business organisation is differentiated from other organisations by the fact that it produces and sells products.

The importance of marketing in modern business is discussed below:

Marketing is the beating heart of the business organisation. The chief executive of a business cannot plan, the production manager cannot produce, the purchase manager cannot purchase, and the financial controller cannot budget until the basic marketing decisions have been taken. Many departments in a business enterprise are essential for its growth, but marketing is still the sole revenue producing activity. Marketing function is rightly considered the most important function of management.

Marketing gives top priority to the needs of customers. Quality of goods, storage, display, advertisement, packaging, etc. are all directed towards the satisfaction of customer.

Marketing helps in the creation of place, time and possession utilities. Place utility is created by transporting the goods from the place of production to consumption centres. Time utility is created by storing the goods in warehouses until they are demanded by customers. Possession or ownership utility is created through sale of goods. The significance of marketing lies in the creation of these utilities to satisfy the needs of the customers and thereby earn profit. It a firm is able to satisfy its customers, it will have better chances of survival and growth even in the fast changing environment.

Marketing generates revenue for the business firm. Marketing is an important activity these days, particularly in the competitive economies. Marketing generates revenue for the business enterprises. No firm can survive in the long-run unless it is able to market its products. In fact, marketing has become the nerve-centre of all human activities.

Role of Marketing in the Economy :

Marketing plays a significant role in the growth and development of an economy. It acts as a catalyst in the economic development of a country by ensuring better utilisation of the scarce resources of the nation. Since a business firm generates revenues and earns profits by its marketing efforts, it will engage in better utilisation of resources of the nation to earn higher profits.

Marketing determines the needs of the customers and sets out the pattern of production of goods and services necessary to satisfy their needs. Marketing also helps to explore the export markets.

Marketing helps in improving the standards of living of people. It does so by offering a wide variety of goods and services with freedom of choice. Marketing treats the customer as the king around whom all business activities revolve. Besides product development, pricing, promotion, and physical distribution of products are carried out to satisfy the customer.

Marketing generates employment for people. A large number of people are employed by modern business houses to carry out the functions of marketing. Marketing also gives an impetus to further employment facilities. In order to ensure that the finished product reaches the customer, it passes through wholesalers and retailers and in order to perform numerous jobs, many people are employed.

On the whole, marketing leads to economic development of a nation. It increases the national income by bringing about rise in consumption, production and investment. It mobilises unknown and untapped resources and also facilitates full utilisation of production capacity and other assets. It helps in the integration of industry, agriculture and other sectors of the economy. It also contributes to the development of entrepreneurial and managerial talent in the country.

Essay # 9. Challenges and Opportunities of Marketing:

A large number of changes have taken place in the recent years which have influenced the field of marketing as discussed below:

1. Globalisation :

The term ‘globalisation’ means the process of integration of the world economy into one huge market through the removal of all trade barriers or restrictions among countries. In India, restrictions on imports and exports and inflow and outflow of capital and technology have been lifted by the Central Government so that Indian business may become globally competitive.

The broad features of globalisation are as follows:

(i) Free flow of goods and services across national frontiers through removal or reduction of trade barriers.

(ii) Free flow of capital across nations.

(iii) Free flow of technology across nations.

(iv) Free movement of human resources across nations.

(v) Global mechanism for the settlement of economic disputes.

The aim of globalisation is to look upon the world as a ‘global village’ which would allow free flow of goods, capital, technology and labour between different countries. Because of globalisation, there has been a tremendous impact on marketing strategies of business firms, particularly engaged in international marketing. They have to design product, price, promotion, place or distribution strategies to meet the challenges of global marketing.

2. Information Technology (IT) :

Information technology has enabled real-time access and sharing of digital information through digital networks, information database, and computer graphics. It has brought about many changes in the business landscape.

Electronic technology has facilitated purchase and sale of goods and services electronically. E-Commerce can be used not only to market product, but also to build better customer relationships. Thus, marketers are facing new challenges as regards booking of e-orders, e-deliveries of intangible products, receiving e-payments and Customer Relation Management (CRM).

3. Increased Leisure Time :

As a result of shorter working week, vacations, and labour-saving devices available for domestic use, most wage-earners now enjoy more leisure time. So there has grown a market for articles used for recreational purposes to enjoy the leisure time. In the developing countries also, cinema shows, holiday trips, sports and games have come into importance.

4. Changing Role of Women :

Throughout the world more and more women are taking up jobs and have gained economic independence to a large extent. They accept even challenging jobs. They also exert greater influence on buying decisions of their families. It may happen that husband buys a commodity according to the decision of the wife. This has necessitated special study of the buying motives of the working women.

5. Demand for Services :

Over the years, consumers’ demand for services is on the rise as in case of tour and travel, educational, medical, repair and maintenance services, etc. Due to growing complexity, business firms also need expert services like accounting, taxation, advertising, customer care, etc.

6. Increased Competition :

Business has become more competitive these days and this has brought about many changes in the field of marketing, e.g., product differentiation, competitive pricing, competitive advertising, customer support services, etc.

7. Social Emphasis :

Marketing is now concerned with the long-term health and happiness of consumers and well-being of society. Marketers in are getting involved in improving the quality of life of consumers and preventing or minimising the evil effects of environmental pollution on the society by practising green marketing.

Emerging Concepts in Marketing :

1. Social Marketing:

It refers to the design, implementation, and control of programs seeking to increase the acceptability of a social idea, cause, or practice among a target group. For instance, a recent publicity campaign for prohibition of smoking in Delhi explained the place where one can and can’t smoke in Delhi.

2. Relationship Marketing:

It is the process of creating, maintaining, and enhancing strong value-laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders. For example, British Airways offers special lounges with showers at many airports for frequent flyers. Thus, providing special benefits to valuable the customers to strengthen bonds will go a long way in building relationships.

To achieve relationship marketing, a marketer has to keep in touch with the regular customers, identify most loyal customers to provide additional services to them, design special recognition and reward schemes, and use them for building long-term relationships.

3. Direct Marketing:

It means marketing through various advertising media that interact directly with consumers, generally calling for the consumer to make a direct response. Direct marketing includes Catalogue Selling, Mail Order, Tele computing, Electronic Marketing, Selling, and TV Shopping.

4. Service Marketing:

It is applying the concepts, tools, and techniques, of marketing to services. Service is any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Services may be financial, insurance, transportation, banking, savings, retailing, educational or utilities.

5. Non-Business Marketing:

Marketing is applied not only to business firms but also to non-business organisations. Voluntary institutions are adopting principles and practices of marketing to promote their ideologies, schemes and programs among the target groups.

Related Articles:

• Essay on Marketing: Top 5 Essays | Marketing Management
• Essay on Sales Promotion: Top 4 Essays | Functions | Marketing Management
• Marketing Features: 4 Major Features of Marketing – Explained!
• Difference between Marketing and Selling

We use cookies

Privacy overview.

Amazon Company’s Marketing Strategies Essay

Introduction.

Since 1995, Amazon has been a dominant player in the online retail market. Among its primary products and services include the sale and distribution of books, mp3s, and electronics. The company is mainly based in Washington USA and has a significant presence in other parts of the world. Part of Amazon’s success can be attributed to its unique vision, mission and the support of its primary stakeholders.

According to Byers (2006) Amazon’s vision is “to be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online” (p. 3).

According to Amazon’s founder (Jeff Bezos), the company’s mission and vision statements have guided most of his managerial decisions and indeed, Byers (2006) agrees that part of the company’s success can be attributed to the company’s strong commitment towards realizing its visions.

Part of Amazon’s success can also been attributed to the seamless relationship between the company and its key stakeholders (some of the company’s key stakeholders include its customers, suppliers, financiers, media, community and employees) (Byers, 2006). The support from key stakeholders and the company’s commitment to its vision is responsible for Amazon’s success.

Five Forces of Competition

Amazon’s five forces of competition are mainly defined by the supplier power, buyer power, competitive rivalry, threat of substitution and the threat of new entry. Like other companies, Amazon is not immune to these forces. The supplier power affects Amazon’s activities in different ways. Advantageously, Amazon has used its influence in the retail market to maintain a good working relationship with its suppliers.

For example, the company only makes payments to its suppliers once purchase is done. Similarly, payments to suppliers are only effected about 35 days after the sale of the products (Bali, 2009). Even with such terms in effect, Amazon’s suppliers have still maintained a good working relationship with the company. This good working relationship has accounted for Amazon’s success.

Buyer Power

Buyer power also affects Amazon’s activities in different ways, but largely, the company has been able to use its low-pricing strategy to create a loyal customer pool. It is perceived that Amazon’s products are fairly priced, such that, when customers purchase their products from the company, they find it difficult to strike similar bargains from other companies.

Therefore, low prices have been Amazon’s selling point and consequently, the company has been able to make the buyer power work to its advantage (Bali, 2009).

Competitive Rivalry

Amazon has been a pioneer in its industry. Considering the fact that the company was among the first online retail stores in the market gives it a competitive advantage over its rivals. However, over the past decade, Amazon’s competitors have becomes increasingly fierce.

Now, Amazon is fighting with other retail giants like Wal-Mart and best buy for a share of the retail market. Even though these companies have their niche markets, the end to competition is yet to be realized. Nonetheless, the competitive rivalry among these retail giants has forced all these companies to price their goods fairly and improve their customer service offing (Bali, 2009, p. 135).

Threat of Substitution

Since the inception of Amazon, there has been little threat of substitution. This is because the company has been able to make a good name for itself and is now among the most trusted companies in the retail industry (Byers, 2006, p. 1).

Even though the threat of substitution is minimal, Amazon has been on the fore front in coming up with new products and services that rival others in the market so that it is not caught off-guard in future.

Threat of New Entry

Since Amazon operates in the online retail market, the threat of new entry is ever-present. Indeed, the virtual world has played host to some of the most successful corporate ventures (which started as only simple ideas).

Now, some of the biggest companies in the world such as face book and YouTube are raking in millions of dollars, purely based on simple business concepts. Therefore, the threat of new entry for Amazon is still possible. Here, there is little that the company can do except to manage such threats like competitive threats.

SWOT Analysis

This SWOT analysis seeks to analyze Amazon’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Usually, the SWOT analysis is used to analyze a company’s internal environment.

Among the greatest strengths of Amazon is its strong brand recognition. As observed in earlier sections of this paper, Amazon has been able to cut a name for itself in the online retail market. This strength has increased customer trust in most of the company’s products.

For example, the launch of the kindle digital book reader was largely successful because of the company’s strong brand name. Amazon’s online business model is also a strong strength for the company because it has been able to generate revenues, while keeping the operating costs at a minimum (DePamphilis, 2010, p. 135).

Amazon’s low-cost pricing strategy is perhaps the company’s main weakness. Even though this strategy is identified to constitute the company’s main selling point, it may act contrary to its expectations because customers can move to other companies that have a similar low-cost pricing model.

Opportunities

According to Amazon’s business model, it is crucial to highlight that immense opportunities exist in the company’s pre-ordering business model because the company can charge higher prices for products before their value depreciates (DePamphilis, 2010).

Among Amazon’s biggest threat is competition. So far, we have seen that other retail giants such as Wal-Mart and best buy are competing for the company’s market share.

However, there are other competitors in the online market such as Google and eBay who are competing for the same market share. The number of such companies is expected to increase and this trend is bound to pose a problem for the company (DePamphilis, 2010).

How Amazon can Capitalize on its Strengths and Opportunities while Minimizing its Weaknesses and Threats

Since Amazon has strong brand recognition, it is important for the company to take advantage of this strength to venture into new markets. Already, the company has a strong market presence in America and certain parts of Europe but this is not enough. It is important for the company to use its strong brand recognition to venture into new markets such as Australia, Asia and other parts of the world.

Researchers have affirmed that the best way to counter competitive pressures is to stay ahead of the competition. Through this understanding, it is important to note that the best way to stay ahead of competition is to always keep innovating and creating new products (DePamphilis, 2010). Through this strategy, Amazon can be sure to keep its competitors at bay.

To manage the threat of losing its market share from a weakness of its pricing model. Amazon can embark on a value addition process for its products. Preferably, it would be beneficial for the company to require its suppliers to engage in value-addition processes so that their products are of higher quality than their competitors.

The high level of quality should be unrivaled by the competition. Therefore, whenever customers are tempted to shift their loyalty to another company (that offers low-priced products), they will be discouraged to do so because they will also lose out on improved quality. Companies such as Apple Inc. have managed to implement such a strategy with tremendous success.

Strategies to Increase Company Competitiveness and Profitability

Already, Amazon has had a significant degree of success during its few years of operation. Indeed, the company is even among Forbes top 500 companies. However, there are still numerous ways that the company can improve its standing in the online retail field and emerge a dominant player in the coming years.

One primary basis for improving the company’s competitiveness is to counter the emerging competition in an unconventional and unexpected way.

As observed in earlier sections of this paper, recent years have been characterized by intense competition among all the players involved in the retail market. Amazon cannot limit the number of competitors that enter the market but it can improve its standing among existing competitors.

The best strategy for doing so is to merge with another dominant player in the market or buy-off smaller players in the industry to limit the severity of competitive forces existing in the industry (Coffey, 2012).

Even though the practicalities of implementing such a strategy may be difficult to conceptualize, there are a lot of benefits to be accrued from such a strategy. Amazon already has the financial power to implement such a strategy and already, the competitive space is becoming too crowded (especially with the entry of Google’s online retail store) (Coffey, 2012).

Through acquiring or merging with another company, Amazon can be able to create a controllable market situation where it calls the shots in the online retail market.

Coffey (2012) explains that there is so much power and influence derived from being a dominant player in the market and concisely, such a strategy is guaranteed to increase Amazon’s profitability. Mergers and acquisitions are important strategies that can also be used to solve some of the corporate governance issues (as explained below)

Corporate Governance Issues

This paper proposes that Amazon should expand its market from its primary sources to other continents across the globe. However, this strategy highlights one of Amazon’s main corporate governance issues.

Cultural and Ethical issues emanating from doing business in other countries and cultures defines this corporate governance issue. Amazon is not the only company that experiences this problem; other multinationals that operate in foreign borders also experience this challenge (although to varying degrees, depending on the type of business involved).

Pursuing mergers and acquisition strategies is a good strategy for Amazon to navigate the challenges of operating in a foreign market (Coffey, 2012, p. 56). These strategies will ensure that the company gets the best from the host’s retail market.

For example, if a foreign company were looking to venture into the American retail market, they would consider merging with Wal-Mart because it has a good retail outreach. Similarly, a company like Wal-Mart knows how to navigate the ethical hurdles that exists in America. If Amazon pursues such a strategy in its host markets, it would achieve a good success rate.

Bali, B. (2009). Knowledge Management Primer . London: Taylor & Francis.

Byers, A. (2006). Jeff Bezos: The Founder of Amazon.com . New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Coffey, J. (2012). Reaping the Benefits of Mergers and Acquisitions . New York: CRC Press.

DePamphilis, D. (2010). Mergers and Acquisitions Basics: All You Need To Know . London: Academic Press.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, July 20). Amazon Company's Marketing Strategies. https://ivypanda.com/essays/amazon/

"Amazon Company's Marketing Strategies." IvyPanda , 20 July 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/amazon/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Amazon Company's Marketing Strategies'. 20 July.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Amazon Company's Marketing Strategies." July 20, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/amazon/.

1. IvyPanda . "Amazon Company's Marketing Strategies." July 20, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/amazon/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Amazon Company's Marketing Strategies." July 20, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/amazon/.

• Amazon's Competition With Alibaba and Wal-Mart
• Wal-Mart and Amazon Competition
• Wal-Mart Strategic Marketing
• Wal-Mart's Extraordinary Success
• Wal-Mart Stores Processes
• Wal-Mart’s Innovative Operations & Strategies
• Wal-Mart Effect on US Economy
• How Wal-Mart Could Continue Its Extraordinary Growth?
• Wal-Mart Stores: Comprehensive Analysis
• Wal-Mart's Growth and Expansion
• Change Strategies: Critical Review and Application
• Promotional Strategy of Swisse Vitamins Pty Ltd
• Car2go Company's Distribution Management
• The Innovative Magic Box: Underlying Risks & Mitigation Strategies
• International Hotel Brand Management Strategies