Marketing Strategy: Functions, Examples, and How to Implement Them
A business in any field must be accompanied by a good and appropriate marketing strategy if it wants to grow. Moreover, more and more competition in the business world is increasingly competitive. If you don't prepare the right strategy from the start to market your product, then there is no definite method that can lead your business to progress.
In addition, without a good marketing strategy, it will be very difficult to develop a business. What's more, the risk of being unable to compete with competitors will be very likely to occur.
So, what is a marketing strategy? What are its functions in business? Then, what are the best marketing strategies for business? Get the answer by reading the article about marketing strategy below to the end.
What is Marketing Strategy?
what is marketing strategy? Is the whole effort of a business to reach target customers who are considered prospective, then turn them into regular customers for the services and products of a business.
Not only attracting consumers to put products into the basket, the marketing strategy also ensures that buyers know the products offered, verify, and repeat product purchases.
The basis of a comprehensive marketing strategy must include the 4Ps, namely: product, price, place and promotion. From this it can be seen that the scope of the marketing strategy starts from the product formation process to the target market, which also affects the product price (price) and the products to be marketed where and from what media from there consumers will recognize our products.
Definition of Marketing Strategy According to Experts
An explanation of the definition of marketing strategy put forward by several experts is as follows.
Philippe Kotler
According to Philip Kotler, marketing strategy is a state of mind that will be used to achieve a company's marketing objectives, which can be in the form of specific strategies for target markets, positioning, marketing mix and the amount of marketing expenditures.
Guiltinan and Paul
According to Guiltinan and Paul, marketing strategy refers to the main statement regarding the expected impact or effect of satisfying a need on a predetermined target market.
Stanton
According to Stanton, marketing strategy is what includes all the systems involved in product planning and pricing, product marketing, and distribution of goods and services that can satisfy the power of actual and potential buyers.
Marketing Strategy Function
Summarized from the Indeed page, there are four outlines that can explain the function of the marketing strategy. Here's the review:
1. Market analysis
Marketing strategy involves in-depth market analysis to understand market conditions, trends, customer needs, and competition. By conducting market analysis, companies can identify existing opportunities and challenges, and formulate appropriate strategies to enter or expand market share.
2. Determination of marketing objectives
The marketing strategy helps the company set clear and measurable marketing goals, besides that it must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and have a time limit. These goals can range from increasing sales, increasing brand awareness, to developing customer relationships.
3. Market segmentation
Marketing strategy plays an important role in dividing the market into smaller and identifiable segments. By segmenting the market, companies can identify groups of customers who have similar needs and characteristics.
This allows the company to direct marketing efforts more effectively and provide relevant offers for each segment.
4. Determination of target market
After conducting market segmentation, the marketing strategy assists the company in selecting the main target market segments. In determining the target market, the company considers factors such as growth potential, profits, and compatibility with the company's competencies.
Setting the right target market allows companies to direct resources and marketing efforts more efficiently.
5. Development of marketing mix
The marketing strategy involves developing a marketing mix consisting of product, price, promotion and distribution. Companies must select and manage these elements carefully in order to achieve the set marketing objectives.
The development of the right marketing mix helps companies produce attractive offers, communicate product value to customers, determine appropriate prices, and provide easy product access for customers.
6. Measurement and evaluation
The marketing strategy requires continuous measurement and evaluation to see how far the implemented strategy has succeeded in achieving marketing goals. By measuring performance, the company can identify the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy being implemented and make improvements if necessary.
Through these functions, marketing strategy assists companies in planning, directing and managing marketing efforts to achieve competitive advantage, sales growth and customer satisfaction.
Marketing Strategy Objectives
The aim of the marketing strategy is to achieve the desired results in the company's marketing efforts. The goals of a marketing strategy can vary between companies, but some common goals that are often sought to be achieved through a marketing strategy are as follows:
1. Increased sales
One of the main objectives of the marketing strategy is to increase sales of a company's products or services. An effective marketing strategy can help a company attract more customers, expand market share, and drive increased sales volume.
2. Increase brand awareness
The objectives of the marketing strategy also include increasing brand awareness among the target market. By increasing brand awareness, companies can expand market reach, build a positive brand image, and differentiate themselves from competitors
3. Develop and maintain relationships with customers
The marketing strategy aims to develop strong relationships with customers. This involves understanding customer needs, providing relevant added value and creating a positive customer experience.
By retaining existing customers and acquiring new customers, companies can build a loyal customer base and increase customer retention.
4. Increased profits
The marketing strategy aims to increase company profits by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing efforts. By optimally managing the marketing mix, optimizing product prices, and reducing marketing costs, companies can achieve significant increases in profits.
5. Penetrate new markets
Marketing strategy objectives may also include penetration of new markets. Companies can use marketing strategies to enter new markets with existing products or services, expand their geography, or target new market segments. New market penetration can open up significant growth opportunities for a company.
6. Product or service innovation
Marketing strategies can also be used to drive product or service innovation. The goal is to develop new products or services that are relevant to market needs, increase differentiation, and generate added value for customers.
Innovation can help companies maintain their competitiveness and create competitive advantages.
7. Increased customer loyalty
Marketing strategy can aim to increase customer loyalty. By offering positive customer experiences, providing good customer service, and providing incentives or loyalty programs, companies can build closer relationships with existing customers and increase their retention rates.
Each company may have different marketing strategy objectives depending on the situation and business needs. It is important to set specific, measurable, achievable goals
Types of Marketing Strategies for Business
Currently, there are various marketing strategies that can be used by companies.
This is of course caused by technological developments and customer interests which often experience changes.
Keep in mind that this collection of strategies may not be used by all companies.
Therefore, before choosing a strategy, make sure that it is in accordance with the needs and resources of your business.
This type of marketing strategy will run smoothly if you can create content that attracts buyers.
Especially if you can create your own brand on social media, that's a very good advantage.
Here are some types of marketing strategies that are often used:
1. Paid advertising
In paid advertising, companies pay ad space providers to be able to display their products in that space. The price is set by agreement between the marketer and the ad space provider. Paid advertising consists of several categories, including display or banner ads, pay-per-impression (PPI), and pay-per-click (PPC). This method is very effective for companies that want to get their name out to a wide audience.
2. Transactional marketing
One of the biggest challenges even the biggest companies face is meeting sales targets. However, the existence of a transactional marketing strategy turned out to be quite effective in overcoming this problem. Companies that use this strategy are able to attract consumers through shopping coupons, discounts, promotions, and big events.
3. Social media marketing
Currently, more than 2.8 billion people actively use social media. Social media marketing is also easy to use, cost-effective, and can target many targets so that this strategy can be implemented by various companies. Social media marketing focuses on using social networking sites or applications such as Facebook, Instagram, and the like. Given that the scope is so broad, companies can build a brand in a short time.
4. Interactive marketing
Interactive marketing strategy involves consumer participation in the marketing process itself. For example, a company may include a customer's name or other customization on a limited edition product. This method allows consumers to get the latest information about a product or service. That way, consumer demand for the product or service will increase.
5. Content marketing
Content marketing is a marketing strategy by producing relevant, important and consistent content, then distributing it. The goal, to attract audience and convert them into consumers.
One of the main media for running content marketing is a blog. Blogs can be useful for getting high traffic through organic search.
Marketing through content can be implemented by small or large companies. In order for the content created to be of high quality and able to attract consumer interest, companies must have competent content creators.
6. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
search engine optimization is the process of increasing specific website traffic by ensuring website pages appear among the top search results in search engines like Google. This strategy is closely related to content marketing, and even helps determine whether content can be said to be of high quality. Content that meets SEO will occupy the top position in search results. If the content rises rapidly, the company will get high traffic. This can increase brand awareness so that the number of consumers also increases.
SEO optimization is divided into three:
- on page SEO: optimization applied to published content
- Off page SEO: optimization applied to build website reputation, for example through backlinks
- Technical SEO: optimization applied to websites so that search engines can easily index website content
7. Earned media (public relations)
Earned media are publications that can be obtained in various ways that tend to be easy, such as; social media testimonials, word of mouth, talking about products on television or radio, and so on. The thing that you need to underline, earned media is media that is obtained for free or organically.
8. Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is a business strategy to attract consumers by creating valuable content and consumer-tailored experiences. The method of inbound marketing is to develop a business by building long-term relationships with consumers, potential customers and customers. Thus, a product and service will continue to be together with consumers in their every journey.
For an inbound marketing strategy, the message conveyed to consumers is very important because it must be relevant and precise. Unlike marketing strategies that tend to be boring and distract consumers.
9.Telemarketing
This type of marketing strategy may be familiar to you, even so marketing by telemarketing is still considered effective by some companies. This marketing uses the direct marketing method in which a salesperson offers products or services via telephone or web conferencing as agreed upon with potential customers.
An example of a telemarketing marketing strategy is offering credit cards to customers, or when a telecommunications company's telemarketers offer postpaid SIM card services.
10. Email Marketing
Email marketing is a procedure carried out by marketers to achieve marketing goals by sending advertising emails to several customers or audiences who are the target of the business.
Even though it is fairly effective, you have to pay attention to the right strategy in doing email marketing. The reason is, with uninteresting titles and content, and sending too often will make your email marketing not be opened, go to spam or even be immediately deleted by the target audience.
Various kinds of email marketing are commonly used in marketing strategies such as email newsletters, email press releases, and transactional emails.
11. Referral program
Maybe you have often heard of this marketing strategy or have used it. The referral program is a strategy that really needs the role of consumers and potential customers. The role of consumers here is to provide information to the people around them about certain products or services.
Many large companies have successfully implemented this marketing strategy, such as lodging rental companies, Airbnb. This startup managed to increase the number of bookings by 25% and continued to increase by 300% in application version 2.0.
12. Conversational marketing
As the name suggests, conversational marketing is a marketing strategy that relies on conversation. Conversations take place in real time through various media such as chatbots or live chat.
Conversational marketing will be very effective, especially for B2C businesses, because it will improve the quality of a business's customer service and can also keep consumers in the buying flow.