Understanding Marketing Strategies

A market strategy revolves around the 4 Ps of marketing, namely product, promotion, price and place. In order to formulate a well organised and clear market strategy for a company, one must keep them in mind. 

A strategy that a business or company applies in order to create a good reach towards their targeted consumer and make them their customer is one of the main aims of marketing strategy. Another main aim of a good marketing strategy is to create an advantage against rival companies. The value proposition of the company also plays a big role in creating marketing strategies for it.

Understanding Marketing Strategies

A good strategy of marketing should always move around the value proposition of a company. The value proposition of the company basically means the beliefs of the company and how it operates. This is one of the first things that is used to attract consumers to buy the products that a company offers. 

An example of this marketing strategy would be a beauty brand that claims its brand to be vegan, cruelty-free, organic, etc. will attract more customers. As they are offering their consumers factors that lots of people invested in beauty look for.

The 4 Ps of Marketing Strategies

• Product
• Place
• Promotion
• Pricing

Product

While making a proper marketing strategy, a person should have a good understanding of the product. This study not only includes the study of the product and all the other benefits it has to offer. This concept has different names such as the “total product concept”, the “integrated product”, or the “augmented product”. To develop a marketing strategy, it is very important to look at the utility not just as it is but also at its value being delivered to the customer. Let’s look at the examples to have a better understanding of the value of a product: 

• The physical product itself
• The name of the brand
• Convenient availability
• Warranty plans
• Presale information 
• Repair services

For example, you buy a crop top from H&M, but the product is not just about the crop top but also about its delivery within 24 hours and also its return policy. (1)

Place

The place or the marketing channel is a group of mechanisms and networks through which a company or business goes to the market. This is the way through which the businesses get through to their consumers. Different types of work include generation of demand to actual delivery of the utilities. The work that the members of the marketing channel are assigned revolves around consumers wanting good support. V. Kasturi Rangan of Harvard Business school brought forward some basic functions for a marketing channel:

•  Product information
• Assurance of product quality
• Availability of products
• Customisable products
• Lot size ( to be able to buy in less quantity) 
• After-sale service
• Assessment of the product ( length, width and breadth of the product lines) (1)

Promotion

The next part of a marketing strategy includes deciding the best ways in which companies and businesses can communicate with their consumers. It primarily focuses on creating awareness regarding the utility, giving insights about its functions, creating an interest in buying, and chances of buying the goods and repeating it. This marketing method asks for a chronological order that consists of non-personal selling methods and personal ones, such as public relations, sales promotion, and advertising.

Market, messages, money, media, measurements, and missions are the 6 Ms model in the planning communication strategy.

Pricing

The majority of times, the amalgamation of product (communication mix) promotion and channel (place) decides the target consumers take on the price of the company’s utility in a competitive environment. According to the books, the value calculated is a representation of the highest price that a customer would pay.

This is to be the main guide to setting the value of a product and pricing it. Once the company has decided on the value of the product for its customer, it has additional work as well. The company is entitled to keep some of its price/profit to itself as well. This is because the company requires to put efforts into financing itself for value creation in the future. This is one of the most eminent functions of effective pricing.

Conclusion

In order to curate a successful marketing program, it is necessary to do deep analysis in order to help make decisions on a host of issues that are related to each other. The main objective of marketing strategies is directing its ad funds towards a place where it will be most beneficial.

The intention of this article was to give information about marketing strategies. The article includes topics such as what marketing strategy means, understanding marketing strategies and what the 4 Ps of marketing strategy are. The 4 Ps are products, promotion, place and pricing.