The modern economy is characterized by increased risk and uncertainty in decision-making conditions. In this state of affairs, increasing profits and market share is impossible only by optimizing distribution and saving production resources. As I. Ansoff notes, in addition to operational (resource allocation) and management problems (organizing the acquisition and distribution of resources), strategic ones have been added (selection of goods and markets and the distribution of resources among them).

Currently, the concept of “strategy” is used in various fields, including economic, marketing, financial, innovation, etc.

F. Kotler defines marketing strategy as "a rational, logical structure by which an organizational unit expects to solve its marketing problems. It includes specific strategies for target markets, marketing mix and level of marketing costs."

Global directions of marketing strategy are:

• o internationalization strategy - the development of new foreign markets, including the expansion of not only the export of goods, but also the export of capital, when enterprises, plants and factories are created abroad that produce goods locally in former importing countries, bypassing restrictive trade barriers and taking advantage of cheap labor force and wealth of local raw materials;
• o diversification strategy - mastering the production of new goods, commodity markets, as well as commodity services, including not just the differentiation of product groups, but also the spread of business activities to completely new areas not related to the main activities of the enterprise;
• o segmentation strategy - deepening the degree of saturation of all consumer groups with offered goods and services, choosing the maximum depth of market demand, including its smallest shades.

If we combine the main directions of marketing strategies proposed by marketer F. Kotler and economist M. Porter, who build their model on the basis of two concepts for planning marketing activities - choosing a target market (within its industry or individual segments) and strategic advantage (the uniqueness of the product or its price ), - the following main strategies of the enterprise can be distinguished.

Undifferentiated (mass or standardized) marketing strategy associated with advantages in production costs. In this case, the selling company ignores differences in segments and addresses the entire market at once with the same product, i.e. engages in mass production and sale of the same product to all customers at once.

A significant advantage of this strategy is the low level of costs due to mass production (minimum unit costs and low prices) and a unified marketing concept. The company strives to create a product designed for the largest market segments.

Differentiated Marketing Strategy - the enterprise produces various types of one product, differing in consumer properties, quality, design, packaging, etc. and intended for various consumer groups in the market, i.e. for many segments. The company decides to operate in many segments and develops a separate offer for each of them.

This strategy involves significant expense and targets a large market by offering many customized, differentiated products designed to satisfy multiple market segments.

Concentrated (targeted) marketing strategy - The selling company concentrates its efforts on one or more small market segments, develops marketing approaches and produces products to meet the needs of these particular groups of buyers.

According to this strategy, the product must meet the needs of the relevant group of buyers to the maximum extent possible. For each market segment, the enterprise designs a separate marketing program, although this is associated with the construction of long-term strategic goals and increased costs.

The concentrated marketing strategy is quite attractive for enterprises with limited resources, small enterprises, when, instead of concentrating efforts on a small share of a large market, the enterprise prefers to pay attention to a large share of one or more market segments.

However, such a strategy is vulnerable and risky, since it is focused on a small number of segments or one segment that may not live up to the hopes and expectations of the enterprise or may be subject to a similar policy of a competing company.

A special place in the strategic development of an enterprise is played by the implementation of the growth strategy proposed by F. Kotler. It can be developed based on analysis carried out at three levels.

On first level identify opportunities that the enterprise can take advantage of given the existing scale of activity - opportunities for intensive growth. Intensive growth is justified when a company has not fully exploited the opportunities inherent in its existing products and markets. To identify them, I. Ansoff proposed using a “product and market development grid”, indicating three main types of intensive growth opportunities:

• o deep penetration into the market - increasing sales of its existing products in existing markets through more aggressive marketing;
• o expanding market boundaries - increasing sales through the introduction of existing products into new markets (regional, national or international) or new segments;
• o product improvement - increasing sales by creating new or improved products for existing markets.

On second level opportunities for integration with other elements of the industry's marketing system are identified - opportunities for integration growth. Integration growth is justified when the enterprise can obtain additional benefits by moving within the industry. Three types of integration growth can be distinguished:

• o Regressive integration implies the ability to take ownership or place greater control of its suppliers;
• o progressive integration is the ability of an enterprise to take ownership or place greater control of the distribution system;
• o horizontal integration is the ability of an enterprise to gain ownership or put under tighter control a number of competing enterprises.

Pa third level opportunities for diversified growth are identified for the enterprise outside the industry. Diversified growth is justified when an industry does not provide the enterprise with opportunities for further growth or when growth opportunities outside the industry are significantly more attractive.

Concentric diversification strategy - a search is underway for new products that, in technological and market terms, would be “consonant” with the company’s already produced goods and would attract new customers.

Horizontal diversification strategy - a new product is a “continuation” of an already produced one, is designed for an established circle of buyers, its production is carried out without major changes to the technology adopted at the enterprise.

Conglomerate diversification strategy - a new product is being released that is not related to previously produced enterprises, therefore the development of new technologies and the development of new markets is required. This is the most labor-intensive strategy that requires significant resource costs.

There are many classifications of competitive strategies in product markets. The so-called classical classifications, based on the approach developed by M. Porter, identify five main types of competitive strategies:

• o cost leadership strategy;
• o broad differentiation strategy;
• o optimal cost strategy;
• o focused strategy based on low costs (market niche strategy);
• o a focused strategy based on product differentiation.

Cost leadership strategy based on reducing the total cost of production of a product or service and on this basis - the use of low prices.

Broad differentiation strategy is aimed at giving products specific features that distinguish them from competitors’ products, which helps attract a large number of buyers.

Optimal cost strategy enables customers to get more value for their money through a combination of low costs and broad product differentiation. The goal is to provide optimal (lowest) costs and prices relative to manufacturers of products with similar features and quality.

Focused strategy or market niche strategy, based on low costs, focused on a narrow segment of buyers, where the company is ahead of its competitors due to lower production costs.

Focused strategy based on product differentiation, its goal is to provide consumers of a selected segment with goods or services that best meet their needs.

The economic literature also distinguishes between offensive and defensive strategies of competition. In this case, the creation of competitive advantages is achieved through successful offensive strategic actions. At offensive strategy The timing to create competitive advantage depends on the nature of competition in the industry.

In the economic literature, there are six main types of offensive strategy:

• o the company’s actions are aimed at countering the strengths of the competitor;
• o actions aimed at exploiting the weaknesses of competitors;
• o simultaneous attack in several directions;
• o capturing unoccupied market segments;
• o guerrilla warfare;
• o system of pre-emptive strikes.

First type strategy involves the following actions. Market share is captured from weaker opponents and the competitive advantage of a strong opponent is eliminated. The success of action is determined by how much the benefit gap is reduced. To be successful, a company needs a sufficient amount of resources to take at least part of the market away from its competitors. An attack on a competitor’s strengths can be carried out in any direction: price reduction; implementation of a similar advertising campaign; giving the product new characteristics that can attract competitors’ buyers, etc. A classic case is when competitors are attacked by a company offering a similar product at a lower price. This can win market share if the target has good reasons not to cut prices and if the challenger can convince consumers that its product is the same as the competitor's.

Another way to increase the price challenge is to gain a cost advantage and then exploit low prices. Price reductions based on low costs are the strongest basis for a flail offensive.

Second type The offensive strategy is carried out in several options:

• o concentration on geographic areas where the competitor controls a small market share and does not make serious efforts to compete;
• o special attention is paid to customer segments that the competitor neglects or is unable to serve;
• o working with competitors’ consumers whose products are of low quality;
• o capturing segments of competitors who advertise their products little and do not have well-known brands;
• o mastering new models or modifications of products, thus capturing gaps in the parametric ranges of the main competitors’ products.

A simultaneous attack in several directions consists of lowering prices, increasing advertising, introducing new products to the market, applying discounts, etc. A large-scale offensive has a chance of success when the attacker, offering an attractive product or service, has the financial resources sufficient to outpace competitors in conquering the market.

The capture of unoccupied market segments is carried out in order to avoid open competition, i.e. aggressive price reductions, increased advertising, or costly attempts to outdo a competitor in differentiation. Instead, it is proposed to maneuver around competitors and work in an unoccupied market niche.

The strategy includes the following actions: movement into geographic territories where closest competitors do not operate; attempts to create new segments by offering products with performance characteristics that better meet the needs of consumer groups; reorientation to next generation technology.

Guerrilla warfare makes sense for smaller businesses that don't have the resources to launch a large-scale attack on industry leaders.

There are the following methods of waging guerrilla warfare:

• o occupying a segment of buyers who are not of particular interest to the main competitors;
• o attracting buyers with a weak commitment to competitor’s products;
• o development of market segments that are too broad for a competitor, and therefore have the lowest concentration of its resources;
• o carrying out small, separate, temporary attacks on competitors’ positions using one-time price reduction tactics (to win a large order or lure away a promising client);
• o an attempt to overwhelm major competitors with a single but intense burst of activity to market products in order to attract customers who might otherwise become customers of competitors.

Pre-emptive strike strategy represents measures to maintain a profitable competitive position in the market, discouraging competitors from copying the company's strategy. The following methods of this strategy are known:

• o establishing connections with the best suppliers of raw materials, concluding long-term contracts with them, carrying out vertical integration;
• o maintaining the best geographical position;
• o providing yourself with a prestigious and regular clientele;
• o creating a strong psychological image of the enterprise among the consumer, which is difficult to copy and has a strong emotional impact;
• o maintaining an exclusive or preferential right to work with the best distributors in the region.

Using defensive strategies To protect competitive advantage in a market economy, all enterprises can be targets of attack from competitors, both newcomers wishing to enter the market and existing enterprises seeking to strengthen their position in the market. The goal of a defensive strategy is to reduce the risk of attack from competitors. In turn, businesses must put constant pressure on challenging competitors to refocus them on fighting other competitors. A defensive strategy does not enhance competitive advantage, but allows you to maintain existing competitive positions.

There are several ways to protect your competitive position. Using some of them, you can try to prevent competitors from launching offensive actions and take the following actions:

• o expand the range of manufactured goods in order to fill free market gaps from potential competitors;
• o develop models and varieties of products with characteristics that competitors already have or may have;
• o offer models that are closest in their characteristics to competitors’ products, but at lower prices;
• o guarantee significant discounts to dealers and distributors;
• o offer free user training;
• o increase the volume of sales of goods on credit for dealers or buyers;
• o patent alternative technologies;
• o protect your own know-how in the development of goods, technologies, etc.;
• o purchase raw materials in larger quantities than necessary to prevent competitors from purchasing them;
• o refuse suppliers working with competitors;
• o maintain constant control over the products and actions of competitors.

A defensive strategy presupposes the ability to quickly adapt to the changing situation in the industry and, if possible, proactively block or prevent the attacking actions of competitors.

The first approach to a defensive strategy is to convey to competitors that their actions will not go unanswered and the enterprise is ready to attack based on public statements of management's commitment to maintain existing market share; advance dissemination of information about new products, technological breakthroughs, planned development of new models and product varieties; creating a cash reserve and highly liquid assets for conducting “combat” operations, as well as conducting sharp counterattacks on not very strong competitors to create the image of a well-protected enterprise.

Another approach is to counteract competitors' offensive efforts to reduce their profits. In this case, the strategic approaches of the enterprise may be as follows:

• o constant development and product updates;
• o organizational structure of the marketing service;
• o drawing up a budget and marketing plan in general;
• o marketing control.

Marketing is not the same as sales management. Its essence lies in the fact that it is implemented primarily as market-oriented management and has system-forming and integration qualities. By using marketing it is possible to reduce the entropy of exchange, and through marketing influences to influence the market and the consumer. It allows you to establish feedback connections with the market that give the control object a signal about the state of the market, the results of the enterprise and its competitors. With the help of regulators, the management apparatus makes effective marketing decisions, and the enterprise increases the speed of adaptation to changes in the external environment and accelerates capital turnover.

Depending on the specific operating conditions of the company, marketers offer various directions of strategies for entrepreneurial, production and marketing, and scientific and technical activities. Let's look at the main ones.

Strategies for expanding the market activities of firms also include the fourth dimension of market actions - the rhythm (those, speed) of these processes. Naturally, the faster one, all other things being equal, gives greater results and brings significant success.

There are different so-called vectors for expanding the business activity of an enterprise (Fig. 4.2).

Rice. 4.2.

Using deep market penetration strategies (“old market - old product”), a relative minimum of expansion of entrepreneurial activity is assumed, when a known, mastered product continues to be sold within the unchanged existing market. In this case, it is planned to increase the market share by reducing production and distribution costs, intensifying advertising campaigns, changing pricing policies, etc., as well as expanding the areas of use of the manufactured product: increasing the frequency and volume of its consumption, identifying new ways of using it, expanding the range of related sale of goods and services.

New product development strategy (“old market - new product”) involves the expansion of entrepreneurial activity mainly due to product policy within the framework of the previous, well-known sales market, i.e. by improving, modernizing the manufactured product, improving its consumer properties, expanding the range of manufactured products, creating new models and types of products, developing, mastering and releasing qualitatively new products for this market.

Market expansion strategy (“new market - old product”) provides for the intensification of business activity mainly through the development of new sales markets, the inclusion of new markets in the scope of the company’s work both in its own country and abroad, although the goods sold remain the same. There is a constant search not only for new markets in a geographical sense, but also for new market segments, i.e. The groups of consumers of this product are deepened, which also makes it possible to significantly increase the company's sales.

Active expansion strategy or diversification strategy (“new market - new product”) - the most dynamic and complex, since it requires significant efforts on the part of the company’s management and personnel, as well as significant amounts of financial resources for implementation.

It allows you to search for markets in new regions that have demand for new products, their types and models, a new range of products, and search for new segments in old markets that also have demand for new products, models, and a new range of products. To a large extent, this strategy is associated with groups of consumer innovators, complex and risky innovations.

According to M. Porter's model, the relationship between market share and profitability is “U-shaped” (Fig. 4.3).

A firm with a small market share can succeed by having a clearly focused strategy and concentrating its efforts on one specific "niche", even if its overall market share is small (this distinguishes Porter's model from the findings of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix).

A company with a large market share may be successful as a result of its overall cost advantage or differentiated strategy.

Depending on market share, three types of marketing strategy are known:

1) attacking, creative strategy, or offensive strategy, assumes an active, aggressive position of the company in the market and pursues the goal of conquering and expanding market share. It is believed that in every product market or service market there is a so-called

Rice. 4.3.

the optimal market share, providing the rate and mass of profit necessary for the effective operation and existence of the company. For example, the optimal segment is considered to be one where there are 20% of buyers in a given market who purchase approximately 80% of the goods offered by a given company.

However, if the share falls below the optimal level, the enterprise faces a dilemma: either take measures to expand it or leave the market.

A company can choose an attack strategy in several cases: if the market share is below the required minimum or has sharply decreased as a result of the actions of competitors and does not provide a sufficient level of profits; if it launches a new product on the market; if it expands production, which will pay off only with a significant increase in sales; if competing firms lose their positions and a real opportunity is created to expand market share at relatively low costs.

Practice shows that expanding market share and implementing an aggressive marketing strategy in markets with a high degree of monopolization and markets whose products are difficult to differentiate are very difficult;

2) defensive or holding strategy involves the firm maintaining its existing market share and maintaining its position in the market. Such a strategy is chosen if the firm's market position is satisfactory, or it does not have enough funds to carry out an active aggressive policy, or the firm is afraid to carry it out due to undesirable responses from strong competitors or punitive measures from the government. This policy is often pursued by large firms in markets known to them.

This type of strategy is quite dangerous and requires the closest attention on the part of the company implementing it to the development of scientific and technological progress and the actions of competing firms, etc. The company may be on the verge of collapse and will be forced to leave the market, since a scientific and technical invention of competitors that is not noticed in time will lead to a reduction in their production costs and undermine the position of the defending company;

• 3) retreat strategy, as a rule, forced, not chosen. In a number of cases, for certain products, for example, those that are technologically and structurally obsolete, the company deliberately reduces its market share. This strategy involves:
  • o gradual winding down of operations. In this case, it is important not to disrupt communications and business contacts in the business, not to strike at previous partners, and to ensure employment of the company’s employees;
  • o liquidation of business. In such a situation, you need to try to prevent leakage of information about the impending termination of the business.

The retreat strategy usually involves reducing the market share in the shortest possible time in order to sharply increase profits (their rates and weight). A firm may find itself in a position where it urgently needs significant cash (to cover debts, pay dividends) and sells part of its market share to competitors. According to French marketers at the Bordeaux Business School, offensive and defensive strategies include nine types of strategic options in the case of concentrated and dispersed market entry (Table 4.1).

When entering the market, firms prefer to go from simple to complex, working out methods of penetration and implementation in a more accessible or developed market,

Table 4.1.

and then go to the complex and hard-to-reach ones. In particular, it is first recommended to work in the domestic market, then penetrate foreign markets of a neutral nature, where there is no high competition from local producers of a given product, and only then enter markets with a high degree of competition from national firms. This rule is observed in both concentrated and dispersed market entry.

This strategic line for expanding entrepreneurial activity is called by marketers "laser beam strategy".

When searching for the optimal market segment or market niche, it is recommended to use two methods: concentrated or the “ant” method (Fig. 4.4), when marketers carry out sequential search work from one segment to another.

This method is not so fast, but does not require significant investment. One market segment is developed, then the next, etc. dispersed, or “dragonfly method (Fig. 4.5), “arrow throwing method,” which is a trial and error method.

Rice. 4.4. Concentrated method of searching for the optimal market (“ant method”)

Rice. 4.5. Dispersive method of searching for the optimal market (“dragonfly method”)

The dispersed method of searching for the optimal market involves the enterprise immediately entering the maximum possible number of market segments, in order to subsequently gradually select the most profitable, “fruitful” market segments.

When implementing concentrated offensive strategies, firms can use three types of strategies in the following sequence:

• o "accumulation of combat equipment" - preparation of an attack on foreign markets, a wait-and-see attitude and development of “trading technology” in the developed domestic market, concentrating all one’s entrepreneurial efforts on it;
• o "gaining a springboard" for subsequent market actions - the company is gradually mastering the foreign neutral market of countries where there is no competition from local, national firms (for example, to penetrate the Western European market with cars, it is preferable to start a trade attack in the neutral markets of Northern Europe, where there is no active national production of cars);
• o "attack", "assault" - violation of the boundaries of hard-to-reach markets with active competition of national firms, the use of harsh methods of market struggle; investing large amounts of money, provided that the penetration market does not adhere to a rigid defensive strategy (an example of such a strategy is the trade war between the American company "Gilet" and the French company "Big" or the actions of Japanese automobile companies in the US market).

In the case of a concentrated defense strategy in the market activities of firms, two strategic directions are possible:

• o "fortress defense" implying a small level of internationalization of domestic production and the active use of protectionist measures to protect the local market from the penetration of foreign firms with both goods and capital, which is usually typical for developing countries;
• o "holding the defense perimeter" - a certain level of international economic relations of the company with other countries and the expansion of defensive actions beyond the boundaries of the market of its own country to the borders of the so-called neutral markets of its main competitors, where the company has already consolidated its position and is actively operating, i.e. the neutral market turns into a kind of cordon sanitaire (for example, for France, these are the markets of African countries, its former colonies, where it is difficult for non-French firms to penetrate).

With a dispersed type of market penetration, the offensive strategy includes the following types:

• o "vice" - the enterprise takes attacking actions simultaneously in a large number of markets on the approach to the markets of its main competitors (but without entering them). This strategy assumes a relatively high level of internationalization of its activities;
• o "rake" - active offensive and aggressive actions of the enterprise in the markets of its main competitors. This strategy can also be called a global leadership strategy - the most common among most businesses.

With a dispersed type of market actions of a defensive strategy, the following subtypes can be distinguished:

• o "rearguard fight" those. the nearest rear areas, when a defensive trade war comes to the closest, neutral species;
• o "guerrilla warfare" involving the implementation of trading “forays” and planned “disturbance” of competitors in their own markets, i.e. in their rear, thereby giving them a kind of warning about their economic strength, so that competitors do not have the desire to attack in neutral and domestic markets, encouraging them to make agreements (compromises, coordination of trade actions, division of sales markets).

The choice of strategy also depends on the state of market demand.

Conversion Marketing Strategy is provided in case of negative, negative demand for a product on the market. Marketers must turn negative demand into positive demand by developing and implementing measures aimed at changing the consumer's negative attitude towards a given product.

Creative (developmental) marketing strategy And incentive marketing strategy are used if market demand is low and needs to be revived.

Remarketing Strategy used when demand is declining and measures should be taken to revive and restore it.

Synchromarketing strategy, or stabilizing marketing, is appropriate if demand in the market is subject to sharp fluctuations, and it is necessary to take measures aimed at stabilization.

Supportive Marketing Strategy involves maintaining the optimal level of market demand for the enterprise.

Demarketing strategy is used when demand in the market is excessive, significantly exceeding supply. The marketer’s task is to achieve its reduction, for which, in particular, they use the policy of increasing the price, reducing the level of service, etc.

Countermeasures Marketing Strategy involves the elimination of demand that is irrational from a social, health, legal or other point of view.

Thus, marketing strategy is a combination of activities to create demand with activities to suppress competing firms.

Having chosen priority activity goals for a certain period, the enterprise formulates a strategy depending on the position of the product on the market, the level of marketing costs, including their distribution among target markets, as well as a set of marketing activities to implement the strategy.

An enterprise changes its strategy if:

• o for several years it has not provided satisfactory sales volumes and profits;
• o Competing firms have dramatically changed their strategy;
• o other external factors for the enterprise’s activities have changed;
• o prospects have opened up for taking measures that can significantly increase profits;
• o customer preferences have changed or new ones have emerged, or trends towards possible changes in this area have emerged;
• o the tasks set in the strategy have already been solved and completed.

The strategy can change due to market reorientation, the creation of new products, the use of new methods of competition, etc. An enterprise can simultaneously pursue different types of marketing strategies depending on the types of goods, the market situation, the behavior of competitors or the types of markets and their segments.

The concept of "strategy" implies a method of action or plan, presented in a general form over a significant period of time. It can be developed in any direction. The main thing is that pre-thought-out actions contribute to the most efficient use of available resources and lead to the set goal.

As for the marketing strategy, it is one of the components of the company's overall strategy. At the same time, it contains a description of the methods that should be used by the company to increase sales profits in the long term. It is worth noting that the marketing strategy does not offer users any specific actions. She only describes them.

The Importance of Marketing

Any economic plan allows you to get an idea of ​​the company’s development prospects in the market, as well as the theoretical and practical aspects of its activities. And this can be done by marketing, which is the science of setting tasks and goals, achieving and solving them, as well as ways to overcome existing problems in an organization across the entire range of products over a certain time period. Why does a company need such a strategy? It allows you to achieve the maximum possible correspondence between available resources and the current economic situation. This is what will help the company conduct successful financial and production activities.

What are the features of a marketing strategy and what needs to be taken into account when choosing the most suitable one?

The essence of pre-planning

What is the main point of a marketing strategy? If we consider a specific market environment, then creating the right direction in it allows the company to develop as efficiently as possible. When forming such a strategy, an executive plan is drawn up that allows the organization to carry out its activities taking into account the chosen policy.

There is a very important element in marketing work. It is called marketing planning, thanks to which the company is able to constantly analyze the market, as well as learn about the needs of customers.

The business strategy developed by marketing makes it possible to offer products that would fully satisfy the demand of a certain group of consumers. In this regard, the main task that such a document sets for itself becomes clear. The action plans developed by the company are designed to identify both existing and potential markets for products.

When developing long-term plans in any economically successful state, it is always worth remembering that marketing products most often causes certain difficulties. Given the fierce competition in the market, the majority of enterprises prefer to produce and sell their goods themselves. They consider this method the most reliable for maintaining their leading positions.

Marketing tactics and strategies for successful businesses involve outperforming competitors, as well as strengthening their position in the future. You can only change initially created plans in situations where:

For several years, the company did not achieve good results in terms of sales of goods and revenue generation;

There has been a change in the strategies of competing companies;

Some external conditions affecting the operation of the enterprise have been transformed;

A chance has arisen to implement new reforms that would be able to increase benefits and bring profit to the organization;

The company has achieved the goals outlined by the current sales strategy.

Marketing plans can also be adjusted due to changes in the market, which has begun to focus on other indicators. This could be the emergence of fundamentally new products, as well as the use of modern methods of bypassing competitors. An example of a company's marketing strategy can make it clear that the company, in its desire to sell a product, actively uses various directions at the same time.

Marketing Strategy Goals

Why are long-term sales plans created? From the example of the company’s marketing strategy, it becomes clear that they are intended to implement external program or market goals, namely for:

Increasing the organization's market share;

Growth in the number of clients;

Increasing the level of sales, taking into account their natural and cost indicators.

The marketing strategy also presupposes the achievement of certain internal program (production) goals. They serve as a continuation of the market ones. These plans reflect everything that the enterprise needs to achieve program goals. At the same time, the strategy does not take into account organizational resources, but takes into account the issue of ensuring the required production volumes. It is worth keeping in mind that this indicator consists of the number of sales, from which existing inventories are subtracted, summing the result with planned inventories. This also includes issues of creating new workshops, introducing the latest production technologies, etc.

Marketing planning also sets organizational goals for the enterprise. It looks at the structure of the firm, as well as its management and staff. If we consider the example of a specific company, a marketing strategy may, for example, plan to increase staff salaries to the level available in the organization that occupies a leading position in the market, and also provide for the hiring of several specialists with knowledge in a particular industry. In addition, long-term plans sometimes include the introduction of a system that allows for project management, etc.

An example of an enterprise's marketing strategy allows one to judge the company's financial goals. This section of the plans indicates all the expected indicators in their cost terms. They include in their list: the amount of costs, gross and net profit, volume and profitability of sales, etc.

Types of Marketing Strategies

The company's long-term sales plans are classified according to various criteria. But the most commonly used categories are:

1. Integrated Growth. An example of developing a marketing strategy suggests that the company wants to expand its own structure, using “vertical development”, which involves the release of new services or products. If the integrated growth strategy is successfully implemented, then the company begins to exercise control over the branches of the enterprise's suppliers and dealers, trying to influence the end consumer.
2. Concentrated growth. An example of an enterprise's marketing strategy in this case indicates that within the framework of these long-term product sales plans, a change in the market is possible. In addition, such a strategy also provides for the modernization of goods. The main objective of the plans describing the concentrated growth of the company is the fight against competitors, as well as the desire to occupy positions in an expanded market share. This process is called “horizontal development”. This strategy allows you to improve the quality of existing products and find new markets for them.
3. Diversified Growth. An example of a marketing strategy in this area, as a rule, occurs in cases where a company currently does not have the opportunity to develop in a market environment with a certain type of product. The enterprise can make maximum efforts aimed at producing new products using its existing resources. At the same time, the received product sometimes has only slight differences from the old one, and sometimes it is completely different.
4. Reduction. An example of a marketing policy in this area may clearly indicate that the company is setting itself a goal aimed at increasing the efficiency of its work after a significant period of development. Here, for example, you can plan to reorganize a company by cutting down certain departments. Another option for such a strategy could be the liquidation of the company, which involves gradually reducing its activities to zero, which makes it possible to obtain maximum income.

Main directions of marketing strategy

After determining one direction or another, the company has the opportunity to focus not only on certain elements of the market environment, but also on its entire volume. At the same time, it becomes possible to implement the main strategic directions. Among them:

1. Mass (undifferentiated) marketing strategy. It is focused on the entire market environment without taking into account the differentiation of consumer demand. As a result of applying this direction, it becomes possible to reduce production costs, which gives the product serious competitive advantages.
2. Differentiated marketing strategy. Its use allows us to judge that the company is trying to take positions in more market segments. To achieve this goal, it begins to produce products with attractive designs, high quality, etc.
3. Concentrated marketing strategy. When using it, the company focuses its efforts on only one market segment. The products produced are intended for a certain category of consumers. In this case, the emphasis is on originality. This type of marketing strategy is ideal for those companies that have limited resources.

In addition to all of the above categories, product sales plans can be price and product, branded and advertising. In this case, they are classified according to the means of marketing products that are mainly used by the company.

Let's look at the most modern examples of marketing strategies.

Positional defense

As you know, in order to protect yourself from enemies, a defensive fortress must be built. However, it is always worth remembering that a static defense that does not provide for any forward movement is a sure path to defeat. And if the marketing strategy adopted by a company is purely defensive, then it can be called short-sighted.

If we consider enterprises such as Coca-Cola or Bayer, then it can be argued that even in their work it is impossible to guarantee a stable income. A successfully developed marketing strategy (using the example of the specific Coca-Cola company) clearly adheres to the line of expanding the range of its products and developing new types of production. And this despite the fact that this company produces its products in huge quantities! Coca-Cola's share of the global soft drink market is almost 50%. But the marketing strategy that the company adheres to leads to the fact that it is actively buying up companies that produce fruit drinks. And this is in addition to expanding the range and introducing the latest technologies.

Flank protection

Companies that occupy leading positions in the market need a special marketing strategy. Its main goal is to create a “border service” and concentrate “combat-ready units” on the most vulnerable borders. But flank protection is considered the most effective, which provides for the conditions for the detailed development of all operations and their phased implementation. And in this case, we can give examples of failures of marketing strategies. For example, the main mistake of General Motors and Ford was the lack of proper training. At the moment when European and Japanese manufacturers began attacking the market, these firms did not take them seriously. As a result, American automobile companies lost part of the domestic market. After all, Japanese manufacturers have offered the American consumer vehicles that are compact. Such products have attracted interest from a wide range of car enthusiasts.

Pre-emptive strikes

How to develop a marketing strategy? An example of the organization of proactive actions can be found in the history of various companies. They come down to the use of several methods.

The first of them is similar to combat reconnaissance. For example, some firms affect one competitor in their market, attack another, and pose a threat to a third. This disrupts their activities.

The next method is to attack on all fronts. An example of a project's marketing strategy using such actions is the decisive step of Seiko, which offered 2,300 models of its watches to distributors from all over the world. Texas Instruments can also be mentioned here. She successfully used price attack tactics. One of the most basic objectives of such a marketing strategy is to maintain a high competitive level of the company's products.

International Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy in banking

When developing long-term plans for the implementation of services by financial and credit institutions, their inextricable connection with IT areas is primarily taken into account. Thus, the development of a marketing strategy using the example of Cetelem Bank indicates a constant increase in the use of information technologies.

This process will require an increase in the number of sales points, as well as the number of employees. The bank's marketing strategy also assumes a significant increase in costs for equipment, telephony and telecommunications. At the same time, issues of effective use of financial investments are considered. Despite the complexity of the task, most of the most key aspects of the bank’s developed strategy are being implemented within the scheduled time frame.

In many companies, attention is paid primarily to tactical (financial) goals, while strategic ones are often forgotten.

Examples of tactical goals:

Accelerate profit growth rates;
raise ;
increase cash flow.

But the financial future of the organization is ensured by strategic goals, and their setting and achievement require a significant investment of time and resources. Examples of strategic goals:

Increase market share;
improve /services;
take care of the company's reputation;
increase the value of the company.

2. Negative goal formulation.

This very common mistake is dictated by the human tendency to respond to a problem by running away from it, rather than by eliminating the cause. But a correctly set goal should reflect movement towards the desired result, and not a desire to escape from the problem. Examples of negative goal statements:

Minimize risks in a certain area of ​​the company’s activities;
reduce the number of late arrivals to work;
reduce the number of complaints.

When setting goals in this way, a large number of prohibitions arise, which often hinders the initiative of employees. As a result, they are afraid to act, lest they incur the wrath of their leader. Positive formulations that offer as a goal a desirable prospect for the company, to which it should strive, will help to avoid negative consequences. If the above examples of goals are presented as positive, we get something like this:

Develop and apply a procedure;
allocate a vehicle for transportation of employees;
improve the quality of products.

3. Vague goal statement.

Often there are goal formulations like “increase efficiency”, “establish”, “become the best in the market”, etc. These are unattainable goals. For example, the director of the company set a goal to establish rapid exchange of information between commercial and logistics departments. After some time, their superiors reported that the goal had been achieved. When the director wanted to find out what the exchange of information was about, it turned out that people simply began to communicate more often.

The manager expected a different result, but since the goal did not meet the SMART criteria (in particular, the criterion for assessing its achievement was not defined), the subordinates did not know what exactly was expected of them. The director needed to formulate a goal, for example, this way: to establish a rapid exchange of information between the commercial department and the logistics department by providing each other with weekly reports on the work done in the following form (list what indicators each department should include in its report).

4. Partial application of the concept of management by objectives.

As the study shows, the majority of managers consider management by objectives as a tool for assessing personnel, and only 16.6% know that MBO is intended primarily to harmonize company goals at various levels.

However, ignoring any aspect of MBO leads to the fact that all efforts aimed at its implementation are useless.

The reasons for this are as follows:

Lower level goals are not clearly stated;
these goals do not reflect the needs of the company (not related to higher-level goals);
Responsible persons for each area of ​​work have not been assigned.

To eliminate these reasons, the head of the company must coordinate the goals for the departments with their leaders, and the practice of individually setting goals and communicating them to performers must be eradicated.

5. Officially stated goals do not correspond to reality.

There are often situations when a manager, having officially declared certain goals, ignores them when making management decisions. For example, a company may define the goal of its work as follows: “We must love our client,” but the head of one of its departments is not even going to respond to incoming complaints...

Market segmentation and selection of target segments

Main tasks of the stage:

Market segmentation, i.e. identifying competitive target market segments;
choosing the time and method of reaching target segments.

Segmentation (or segmentation) is the structuring of the market based on the heterogeneity of potential buyers and their consumer behavior.

Market segmentation is a prerequisite for differentiated marketing.

The market consists of buyers, and buyers differ from each other in a variety of ways. Everything can be different: needs, geographic location, resources, preferences, habits, etc. Any of these variables can have a significant impact on the needs and consumption behavior of a potential buyer. Knowing the differences between different market segments, a company can produce specialized products for individual segments, use different sales promotion programs or advertising messages. Additionally, focusing on a specific segment can be a brand positioning exercise.

Because each person's needs and wants are unique, each consumer can potentially represent a different market segment. Ideally, the seller would develop a separate marketing program for each. For example, aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing have very few customers, and the firms treat each of them as a separate market - this "one-to-one marketing" represents the extreme degree of market segmentation.

More often than not, it is not economically feasible to tailor products to meet the needs of each individual customer because this most often significantly increases costs and unit costs. Instead, large groups of consumers are distinguished, differing from each other in their requirements for the product and in their marketing responses. For example, a company may find that needs change depending on the income level of customers. On the other hand, the seller may perceive significant differences between younger buyers and older buyers. And finally, the buyer’s attitude towards a product can be influenced by both income level and age at the same time. As the market is segmented based on more parameters, the number of them increases, and the size of each segment of each decreases. There is a balance between taking into account all the important segmentation criteria (or basic segmentation variables) and the size of the resulting segments.

It is believed that the resulting segments must meet the following conditions:

Once the market has been structured into segments, it is necessary to obtain a reliable description of each selected segment. Building a complete picture of market segments and their characteristics is called profiling. The characteristics used in this case are called descriptive segmentation variables.

Approaches to market segmentation

To implement segmentation, a company needs to test segmentation options based on different variables, one or more at a time, in an attempt to find the most useful approach to looking at market structure. For this purpose, it is used that studies the influence of various factors on the result and allows you to select exactly those factors that have the maximum impact on the final result. All approaches to market segmentation can be divided into two types:

1. Disorganized selection of segmentation criteria. The selection of segmentation criteria is carried out arbitrarily. It is used in situations where constructing a hierarchy of segmentation criteria is difficult or there is not enough data to construct it.
2. Multi-stage approaches. Construction of a hierarchical system of criteria based on assessment of importance for segmentation. There are two or more levels of criteria through which segmentation is carried out. An example is the micro-macro model proposed by Wind and Cardoza (1974). At the first, macro stage, general factors are used - demographic characteristics of the population, geographic location, consumption activity, etc. The micro stage consists of defining segments within macro groups based on the characteristics of the decision makers. Another example is Bonhomme and Shapiro's (1983) nested model.

Segmentation principles

1. The principle of differentiation between segments - the main goal of segmentation is to obtain groups of consumers that differ from each other. Accordingly, each resulting segment must have a set of unique characteristics.
2. The principle of similarity of consumers in a segment - the homogeneity of potential buyers within a segment from the point of view of the goals of segmentation tasks. The resulting segments should be fairly homogeneous - the differences between consumers within a segment should be less significant than the differences between segments.
3. The principle of large segment size - target segments must have sufficient potential capacity to be of commercial interest to the company. It is necessary to find a balance between taking into account all significant factors, on the one hand, and the size and number of segments obtained, on the other.

Selecting target market segments

Market segmentation should lead to an assessment of the potential of various market segments in which the seller will act and the selection of the most promising ones (the so-called target segments).

To do this, the company must make a strategic decision:

How many segments should you cover?
How to determine the most profitable segments?

There are three options for market coverage:

Undifferentiated marketing;
differentiated marketing;
concentrated marketing.

Undifferentiated marketing is a situation when a company decides to ignore differences in segments and appeal to the entire market at once with the same offer. In this case, she concentrates her efforts not on how the needs of clients differ from each other, but on what these needs have in common. The company develops a product and marketing program that will be attractive to as many buyers as possible. The firm relies on mass distribution and mass advertising methods. She seeks to betray the image of superiority in people's minds. Moreover, undifferentiated marketing is economical. The costs of producing a product, maintaining its inventory, and transporting it are low. Advertising costs for undifferentiated marketing are also kept low. The absence of marketing research into market segments and planning broken down by these segments helps reduce the costs of marketing research and product production management.

Differentiated Marketing - In this case, the company decides to act in several market segments and breaks down a separate offer for each of them. The company expects that by strengthening its position in several market segments, it will be able to identify a company with a given product category in the consumer’s mind. Moreover, she expects an increase in repeat purchases, since it is the company’s product that meets the desires of consumers, and not vice versa.

Concentrated Marketing - Many firms see a third marketing opportunity, particularly attractive to organizations with limited resources. Instead of concentrating its efforts on a small share of a large market, the firm concentrates its efforts on a large share of one or more submarkets. Through concentrated marketing, the firm ensures a strong market position in the segments it serves because it knows the needs of those segments better than others and enjoys a certain reputation. Moreover, as a result of specialization in production, distribution and sales promotion, the firm achieves savings in many areas of its activities.

Positioning development

Preliminary economic assessment of marketing strategy and control tools:

Analysis and forecasting of the quality and resource intensity of the company's future products
Forecasting the competitiveness of the company's existing and future products
Forecasting price and sales levels for existing and future company products
Forecasting volume and profit
Determination of benchmarks and intermediate stages of control (timing and control values)

Based on the marketing strategy, a detailed marketing plan should be developed, describing the specific marketing activities that must be carried out in the short and medium term.

An important point in implementing the strategy is the “formalization” of the decisions made into a marketing plan. This document should describe specific activities that must be implemented in the short term. A marketing plan can be detailed down to several levels: for the company as a whole, for its functional divisions, and also for specific products and markets.

Sample structure of a marketing plan:

1. Analysis of the current situation
(a) Current level of performance
(b) Analysis of the current situation
(c) Opportunities and prospects
2. Marketing goals and objectives
3. Marketing Strategy Overview
(a) Target market segments
(b) Positioning
4. Marketing mix program
(a) Product
(b) Price
(c) Promotion
(d) Distribution
(e) Services
(f) Personnel
5. Action plan
6. Budget
7. Organizational prerequisites

Development of a marketing strategy

A company's marketing strategy is usually enshrined in a document with the same name or the name "marketing policy."

A marketing strategy is developed as an integral part of the company's overall development strategy.

Depending on the industry, the market situation and the prevailing characteristics of the organization’s management, a marketing strategy can be developed for a period of 1 to 25 years.

Most often in Russia, a planning horizon of 1-3 years is currently used, but now you can find enterprises developing strategies for a period of 5 and even 10 years.

Setting market goals

The development of a marketing strategy is preceded by the establishment of the company's market goals.

A goal is a specific state of individual characteristics of an organization, the achievement of which is desirable for it and towards which its activities are aimed. Market objectives determine the company's desired position in the market in the future. The timing for which market goals are set depends on the scale of the goal and the speed of changes in the company’s external environment. The requirements for setting market goals are similar to the general requirements for setting organizational goals.

Requirements for goals

Goals should be (SMART principle):

Specific - Specific;
achievable -Measurable;
agreed (with each other) - Agreeable, Accordant;
measurable - Realistic;
bound in time - Timebounded.

Goals must be consistent:

With the company's mission;
among themselves (hierarchy of goals);
with those who have to carry them out.

Classification of targets

There are various classifications of goals. The only generally accepted classification is based on the time for which goals are set. Usually there are long-term and short-term goals. Sometimes intermediate goals are set between long-term and short-term goals; they are called medium-term. However, there is no generally accepted scale for classifying goals as short-term, medium-term or long-term. In our conditions, short-term goals are usually considered to be up to 1 year, medium-term 1-3 years, long-term - from 3 years.

Depending on the specifics of the industry, the characteristics of the state of the environment, the nature and content of the mission, each organization sets its own goals. For example, the following classification of objectives by functional area can be used:

Market goals (or external program goals), for example:

Number of clients.
Market share.
in kind and in value terms.

Production goals (internal program goals) are a consequence of market goals. Includes everything needed to achieve market goals (excluding organizational resources), for example:

Ensure a certain volume of production (production volume = sales volume - existing inventories + planned inventories).
Build a workshop (volume of capital construction).
Develop a new technology (carrying out research and development work).

Organizational goals - everything related to management, structure and, for example:

Hire three marketers.
Bring the average level of employees to the salary level of the market leader.
Implement a project management system.

Financial goals - link all goals in value terms, for example:

Net sales (from "market goals").
The amount of costs (from “production” and “organizational” goals).
Gross and .
Return on sales, etc.

For existing enterprises, the establishment of market goals, as a rule, precedes the establishment of all goals of other functional areas (production, organizational, financial, etc.). Thus, market goals are the starting point for defining other functional goals.

Establishing all goals of other functional areas (production, organizational, financial, etc.). Thus, market goals are the starting point for defining other functional goals.

In some cases, setting market goals may be preceded by setting financial goals, which is usually typical for entrepreneurs at the stage of opening a new business or when preparing projects for the development of certain new areas of activity.

The limitation for developing market goals is higher-level goals. Considering that market goals are key (overriding) for the life of an organization, then a higher level for market goals are:

Mission;
vision;
the organization's credo (ideology).

Components of a marketing strategy

The company's marketing strategy must contain the following elements:

Defining the target market and target segments.
Identification of target customer groups.
Positioning.
Marketing complex.

Defining the target market and target segments

Determining the segment in which the company operates or intends to operate is the most important management decision and involves assessing and correlating the company’s capabilities and the attractiveness of the market. The choice of the target segment determines what needs the company aims to satisfy and what products or services it will present to customers.

If market segmentation is based on the study and consideration of the individual needs of each group of buyers, then the market is logically transformed into a set of consumer segments for which the corresponding goods and products can be provided. In this case, the task of identifying the target segment and identifying the target consumer group (see below) merge with each other.

If the main criterion for segmentation is the characteristics of goods, then the market is logically transformed into a set of product segments (see Example 2 below), in which further, if necessary, separate target consumer groups are determined.

The purpose of market segmentation is to divide the market into smaller groups (segments) in order to subsequently concentrate efforts on the most attractive ones.

In any case, no matter how the company segments the market, it must define for itself and write down in documents both the segments in which it operates and the target consumer groups.

Example 1. Taking into account the heterogeneous supply of sand in different areas of the city and the economic inexpediency of transporting sand over significant distances, OJSC Rudas, which is the leader in the market for construction sands in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, segments the sand market in St. Petersburg geographically, distinguishing three segments :

South of the city.
Right Bank.
North and North-West of the city.

Each of these segments is characterized by a different ratio of supply and demand for construction sands, as well as the level of competition, so the company determines market goals in each of these segments and builds a pricing policy in accordance with this.

Defining target customer groups

The 80/20 rule of thumb states that 20% of customers generate 80% of a company's profits. Addition (William Sherdon) "80/20/30": "The 20% of the most profitable customers give the company 80% of the profits, half of which is lost in serving the 30% of the least profitable customers."

Identifying target customer groups and concentrating efforts on working with them allows the company to more fully satisfy the needs of priority customers and strengthen its position in the market. At the same time, concentration allows the organization to significantly increase the efficiency of using internal and external resources.

In some cases, a company may not carry out market segmentation by product at the first stage of analysis and may not even determine the markets in which it intends to operate, linking its activities with a specific group of customers (thus, the company determines only to satisfy the needs of which group of consumers it works).

Example 2. An example of such an organization is the Petromed holding, which manages the work of more than 10 companies in various areas of activity that provide comprehensive solutions to the problems of Russian healthcare organizations. Thus, Petromed, having identified its target group of consumers (health care organizations), segments its markets according to various types of their needs.

To identify target groups, it is necessary to define segmentation criteria, i.e. factors that allow you to divide existing and/or potential customers into groups. The most common criteria for consumer segmentation include satisfied needs, geographic factors, and consumer behavior.

Unjustifiably often, the level of consumer income is used a priori as the main criterion for segmentation (especially when it comes to consumer goods). At the same time, appropriate consumer research is not conducted, as a result of which the division by income level may not correspond to different types of consumer behavior.

Example 3. Based on the conducted marketing research, it was decided to divide the clients of Rudas OJSC into the following groups according to the type of needs satisfied:

Factories - house-building factories, brick factories, factories of reinforced concrete products.
Road workers are road construction organizations.
Builders - construction organizations (civil/residential construction).
Others - other organizations engaged in general construction work.

The introduction of an additional segmentation criterion - the volume of average annual purchases - makes it possible to distinguish large and small customers in these groups.

Each of the selected groups has differences in requirements for the quality of purchased sand, delivery conditions and other conditions for working with the sand supplier; some of the selected groups are more attractive for JSC Rudas.

Regardless of what kind of decision the company makes regarding the choice of the target segment and target group of customers, this decision must be understood and recorded in the marketing strategy.

Positioning

When a company has decided which market segments it intends to operate in, it needs to make a decision regarding what “positions” it would like to occupy in these segments.

Positioning is very closely related to the company's competitive strategy in terms of highlighting competitive advantages. Often these competitive advantages are the basis for creating a brand image in the eyes of potential consumers. But you can also often find positioning options when the non-existent advantages of a product are highlighted for the consumer.

Marketing complex

The marketing mix determines how possible marketing tools and methods of influencing consumers will be used in four areas (product, price, promotion, distribution) to ensure the necessary positioning in the market.

The marketing complex includes:

Product policy (assortment, service, etc.);
policy (prices, discounts, calculations);
promotion policy (advertising, PR and point-of-sale advertising);
distribution policy (geography, location at the point of sale, maybe sales channels and transportation).

The purpose of developing a company's product policy is to determine in what range of goods the company will offer on the market, what characteristics they will have.

The purpose of developing a company's pricing policy is to determine the rules for setting and changing prices for offered goods, as well as possible price adjustments (discounts).

The promotion policy is developed in order to determine what methods the company will use to inform consumers about its activities and products, incl. for positioning purposes.

The purpose of developing a distribution policy is to determine how the delivery of a company's goods to consumers will be organized.

Marketing as a functional area

We distinguish the following types of organizational strategies:

Basic strategy is a fundamental decision for the development of an organization. That is, whether the organization will grow or reduce (curtail) activities. Or it will fix the scale of activity at the existing level. The growth or curtailment of activities is usually assessed based on the volume of product sales in physical terms (rather than in value terms).

Making a decision on the basic strategy determines the need for resources (with the basic “growth” strategy, the need for resources in most cases increases, with the “reduction” strategy it decreases), funds are saved or a surplus appears.

Competitive strategy is a choice between focusing on the entire market or part of it, as well as between the main competitive advantage (low price of the product or its distinctive features *).

Portfolio strategy is a choice associated with linking various management objects (products, business units, enterprises, technologies, resources) with each other and determining the place of each object among others. This solves the problem of obtaining a balanced portfolio.

For example, portfolio strategies are product strategy and corporate strategy.

Product strategy is a decision regarding the structure (composition and volumes) of sales of the main products produced by the enterprise. That is, decisions for each individual product - for example, to maintain sales, modify or discontinue production, start developing a new product, etc.

Corporate strategy is a decision regarding individual enterprises within a corporation. For example, increase influence on the management of the enterprise by purchasing additional shares; sell the enterprise; do not interfere with the activities of the enterprise, etc. Thus, we are talking about the formation of a “portfolio of enterprises”.

The same approach can be applied to other control objects (for example, technologies).

Functional strategy is the selection of decision rules in each functional area. Thus, any organization has several functional strategies (for example, marketing strategy, financial strategy, etc.).

If we take as an object of management the functions performed in the organization (vertical view), then accordingly we can highlight strategies for each of the functional areas.

Note 2: Any of the functional strategies shown in the diagram can be broken down into different sections. The strategy sections shown in the diagram (see the lower level of the diagram) are exemplary.

Note 3: product strategy determines what products the company will supply to the market (what business units will be in the company), product policy, which is part of the marketing mix, determines the product range.

Marketing strategy is an integral key part of an organization's overall strategy. The overall strategy of the enterprise is largely determined by the marketing strategy.

At the stage of developing a marketing strategy, possible production strategies are a constraint on the marketing strategy; subsequently, the marketing strategy, as a rule, determines all other strategies. There may be exceptions, for example, in high-tech markets, where new technologies (products) may determine the marketing strategy. In such cases, as a rule, the strategy is independent and is not an integral part of the production strategy.

Overall strategy consists of competitive strategy, product strategy and functional strategies.

Marketing as a business process

If you look at the organization from the point of view of the work performed in the organization, i.e. If we consider processes as an object of management (horizontal view), then we can determine the influence of marketing on all the main functions performed in the organization.

This view of marketing is most consistent with the idea of ​​marketing as a business philosophy. This idea of ​​marketing implies that everything that is done in an organization is aimed at achieving one goal - satisfying customer needs. The focus of the entire company on customer needs is a key point, indicating that the company has implemented a marketing ideology.

Difference and connection between marketing and sales strategy

A sales strategy (sales strategy) is a set of long-term decisions regarding ways to bring a company’s products (services) to customers through the use of internal organization and external market infrastructure.

The sales strategy defines the following parameters:

Distribution channels or part of the distribution policy (for example, general and private schemes for working across distribution channels, selection criteria and selection of distributors);
selling methods (eg, active personal selling, passive selling, electronic selling);
warehouse policy (for example, your own warehouse, rented warehouse, dealer warehouse, no warehouse);
inventory policy (average monthly product inventory in the warehouse, product inventory at the point of sale);
transport logistics (your own transport, rented transport, intermediary transport, client transport).

Communication between marketing and sales

A sales-oriented organization is an intermediate stage between a production-oriented organization and a customer-oriented organization. The most common formal signs of a sales-oriented organization in Russia are:

Relatively large sales force;
commercial director (head of sales service) - one of the most influential people in the organization, as a rule, the second Manager;
relatively large advertising costs compared to investments in and development of new products (services);
the development of new names and product packaging is carried out in-house (lack of experience working with advertising agencies);
No one in the organization except the sales staff is incentivized to help increase sales.

Sometimes sales-oriented organizations are characterized by a low level of related service and warranty service (a legacy of a production orientation).

Sales orientation is often mistaken for customer orientation, but it is not. At the same time, it does not deny the need for commercial efforts to sell products (services), but defines them only as one of the factors for the company’s success in the market.

The sales function in an organization, despite its great importance, must be subordinated to the marketing function: in general, marketing must set goals for sales. Therefore, the marketing strategy should also be decisive for the sales strategy.

To put it simply, a marketing strategy answers the question of “to whom,” “what,” and “where” an organization will sell, while a sales strategy answers the question of “how” (and “where”) to sell.

Distribution channels can be defined in both the marketing strategy and/or the sales strategy. At the same time, in the marketing strategy, in terms of answering the question “where to sell,” the geographical locations of sales must be determined, and a basic scheme for selecting sales channels can also be determined (for example, choose a scheme of working through a dealer network, or a network of your own trading houses, etc. .).

Example 4. Juice manufacturer Multon made a strategic decision to develop retail operations in the North-West directly through its trading house until official dealers began to work at the required level. The same scheme is now used by a company in Moscow. The Lebedyansky experimental canning plant, on the contrary, is gradually displacing its dealers from chain retail outlets in Moscow and working with them (retail outlets) directly.

Where the decision on which sales channels the company operates will be fixed - in marketing or sales policy - is not of fundamental importance, the main thing is that this is done. The same requirement applies to the solution for transporting goods (transport logistics).

Conflict between marketing and sales

When marketing and sales are combined within one department (service), the sales function, as a rule, pushes aside or absorbs. To effectively implement the marketing function, it is desirable that it be managed independently of the sales management itself.

Quite often you may encounter the fact that when a company’s market share is declining (or even turnover is falling), the sales service responds to the demand for an increase in sales: “more advertising - more sales”, “less advertising - less sales”. In this case, competitors who are increasing their advertising activity are often cited as an example, but specific figures are usually not given*. The result of such requirements, as a rule, is an increase in advertising budgets, up to an operating loss. This, in turn, can create serious financial problems for the organization if the market does not respond properly to increased promotional activity. In this case, perhaps the problem lies in the area of ​​inconsistency of the product (service) with existing market requirements.

Example 5. The Baltika company, having lost a significant part of the St. Petersburg market, last year tried to restore its leading position by repeatedly increasing advertising activity (promotion of brands N3, N8 and N0). As a result, it was possible to ensure that the absolute leader of previous years, beer N3, rose only to third place in popularity among city residents.

In 2012, Baltika is actively promoting a new product to the market - beer cocktails. The long-term success of this promotion will depend entirely on the demand for this product in the market, and not on the activity of the advertising campaign and the amount of funds invested in it.

Organization of marketing activities in Russian companies

As part of the concept of a customer-oriented organization, it is necessary to position the marketing service as a representative of a potential buyer in the company.

Based on our experience of working with domestic organizations, we can say that today in most Russian companies the structural unit called the marketing and advertising service is not actually such a service. As a rule, within the framework of such services, only the promotion function is performed, i.e. only one of the elements of marketing takes place. Such services mainly report to the commercial director and play a supporting role in relation to sales.

Based on the degree to which the marketing function is performed at enterprises, the following options for organizing marketing activities can be distinguished:

Marketing functions are assigned only to the top management of the company;
employees of the sales department or commercial service, in addition to their main functions, perform marketing functions;
Advertising department employees, in addition to their main functions, perform marketing functions;
in the sales department, commercial service or advertising department there is a marketing specialist who performs only marketing tasks;
a special marketing department is created in the company, reporting to the commercial director (sales director);
in the company, the marketing director is responsible for marketing functions - production and sales functions are subordinated to marketing ones;
focusing the company on horizontal connections (the main marketing processes in the company), rather than on vertical ones (the structure of divisions). Marketing functions are distributed among project teams, which include employees from various departments. Quite often, these groups may include outside experts. This form of organization is used to develop new products, attract new customers, conduct individual promotions and events, etc.

The latter form of marketing organization is not yet very widespread in Russia and can be used in a limited number of enterprises.

Example 6. The St. Petersburg cereal manufacturer Angstrem, relying in its ongoing activities on the 4th of the listed types of organization of marketing activities, actively uses the practice of creating project teams when introducing new brands to the market. As a result, at the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, the company developed and successfully launched a product under the new brand PROSTO (instant cereals in bags).

Analysis of the external environment as a key stage in developing a marketing strategy

Analysis of the external and internal environment in any organization is carried out constantly in various forms. It is the basis for making any decisions about the activities of the organization. These materials are about, which can be applied purposefully and systematically to obtain the information necessary both for strategic planning and for assessing the success of strategy implementation.

The “environment” or “environment” of an organization is the totality of all external and internal factors influencing the activities of this organization. Analysis of the external and internal environment allows us to obtain information necessary both for strategic planning and for assessing the success of strategy implementation. Based on the data from this analysis, the organization's goals and strategies, and, to a lesser extent, its mission are determined.

The purpose of the stage is to understand the situation and determine the company’s development prospects for the long term by identifying external opportunities and threats, taking into account the internal potential of the company.

Before conducting an environmental analysis, it is important to keep in mind that there is an unlimited amount of information available, not all of which is equally useful in decision making. Therefore, in order to limit the time, effort and financial resources spent on environmental analysis, it is necessary to find “filters” to determine the necessary information (relevant information). Such filters are the mission, goals and strategies of the organization. But strategic planning is precisely what serves to develop them, so we can talk about the fact that before starting an environmental analysis, it is necessary to obtain an approximate formulation of the mission and, preferably, the goals of the organization.

This is practically always what happens, only often the mission and goals of the organization are not formulated explicitly, but are only understood “on an intuitive level.” Therefore, it is highly desirable to obtain these statements in writing to avoid their ambiguous interpretation and to be able to accurately determine which information from the organization's environment is relevant and which is not.

Environmental analysis is a critical process. Based on the data from this analysis, the company's goals and strategies are determined and its mission is clarified.

External environment analysis is carried out for:

Determining the possibilities that the enterprise can count on if it successfully conducts its work;
identifying threats and complications that will await the enterprise if it fails to ward off the negative influences of the environment in a timely manner.

The external environment consists of the “near environment” and the “far environment”. The immediate environment includes clients, shareholders, suppliers and competitors of the organization, the distant environment includes all other interested groups (state, society, etc.). First of all, the immediate environment (industry) is analyzed, but in the conditions of our country, an analysis of the actions of government authorities is also a very important factor.

Analysis of the external environment helps to control factors external to the company, obtain important results (time to develop an early warning system in case of possible threats, time to forecast opportunities, time to draw up a contingency plan and time to develop strategies). To do this, you need to find out where the organization is, where it should be in the future and what management should do to achieve this.

Organization of the marketing strategy development process

The development of a company’s marketing strategy can be organized both by the company’s employees and by involving external specialists in performing individual works.

To develop a marketing strategy, you must complete the following tasks:

Conduct an analysis of the external environment and evaluate the market position and current marketing strategy of the company.
Assess the state of marketing activities within the company (organization of marketing activities, marketing information system, completeness of marketing functions).

Based on the analysis of the external and internal environment, determine the strategic goals of the company.

Determine ways to achieve your goals (marketing strategies).

In terms of practical organization of the process of developing a marketing strategy, the following recommendations can be given:

Determine and record the goal of developing the company’s marketing strategy and the “internal customer” - the manager who will control the development process and accept its results.
Determine who is responsible for developing a marketing strategy with the necessary qualifications, and determine his powers within the framework of this task.
Form a working group of key company employees who will take an active part in developing a marketing strategy.
Create a work plan for developing a marketing strategy with deadlines and responsibilities. Determine how and by whom the main stages of analysis of the internal and external environment will be carried out, taking into account the qualifications of employees and the availability of information necessary for the analysis.

Conduct an introductory meeting of the working group to discuss and accept the terminology and approaches that will be used in the strategy development process, and approve the work plan.

Allocate a budget for carrying out these works.
Further actions to develop a marketing strategy are determined based on the work plan.

In order for the developed marketing strategy not to remain “just a document”, but to become an active management tool, it is necessary to develop and apply a procedure for tracking the achievement of set goals and informing company employees about the results of marketing activities.

Marketing plan

A marketing plan is a document that defines the main activities aimed at implementing the organization's marketing strategy.

In Russian companies, two main approaches to documenting decisions made in the field of marketing strategy can be distinguished:

1. Creation of two documents: “Marketing Strategy” and “Marketing Plan”.
2. Creation of a “Marketing Plan” document, the first part of which briefly reflects the results of the environmental analysis and the adopted marketing strategy.

We believe that it is more correct to develop two documents, given that the “Marketing Strategy” usually has a more long-term nature compared to the marketing plan.

In this case, the following sections are included in the Marketing Strategy document:

Summary - a brief description of market goals and ways to achieve them.
Current Market State
- Market volume and potential.
- Level of competition.
- Price level.
- Existing market structure.
Threats and opportunities.
Goals and objectives of the company’s activities in the market and in the field of marketing.
Marketing strategy.
- Target markets and consumer groups.
- Positioning.
- Product policy.
- Pricing policy.
- Promotion policy.
- Distribution policy.

In this case, the “Marketing Plan” may consist of the following sections:

1. Summary - a brief description of the company's market goals for the planned period and what is planned to be done to achieve them.

2. Action program - detailed measures for the implementation of the marketing mix:

What events will be held?
By whom (whose forces) will they be carried out?
When will they be held (schedule).
Planned costs for holding events (marketing budget).

3. Indicators of effectiveness of marketing activities.

4. Control - how the implementation of the plan will be monitored.

In the section “Efficiency Indicators of Marketing Activities” it should be determined by what indicators the effectiveness of the company’s marketing activities will be assessed, and the control (planned) values ​​of these indicators. Examples of indicators for assessing the effectiveness of marketing activities include:

The ratio of sales of goods in value terms to the costs of marketing activities.

The ratio of the increase in product sales in value terms for the period to the increase in costs for marketing activities.

The relative market share occupied by a company's new product or the change in market share of an old product.

It is advisable to involve key employees of various services of the organization (production, financial, etc.) in the development and coordination of the marketing plan. The approved marketing plan must be brought to the attention of service managers, its implementation must be monitored, and necessary adjustments must be made in accordance with the procedure defined in the “Control” section.

Types of Marketing Strategies

Concentrated growth strategies imply the activity of an enterprise aimed at changing the product produced or even the market in which this product is sold. Product modernization, search for a new market, etc. can be applied here.

This type of strategy includes:

Strategy for strengthening market position. At the same time, “horizontal” activity occurs - the struggle with competitors for market share.
A strategy for finding new markets for an existing type of product.
Product development strategy.

Integrated growth strategies are activities to expand the structure of the enterprise. In this case, growth occurs due to “vertical” development. The enterprise may begin to produce new products or services.

This type includes:

Reverse vertical strategy - influence and control over suppliers, dealers, distributors and subsidiaries.
The strategy of forward vertical integration - the impact on the final buyers of the product.

Diversified growth strategies are used in cases where an enterprise does not have the opportunity to develop in the existing market with the product it produces.

As a result, one of the following marketing strategies may be chosen:

A typical product life cycle consists of several stages: development and implementation; height; maturity; saturation; decline

After a company has developed and created its product, it brings it to the market. Takes all possible measures to create demand for it and tries to win the trust of customers. At this stage, the company incurs high costs.

The growth stage is characterized by market perception of the product, increased demand for it, and increased sales and profits.

The maturity stage is when the company achieves maximum sales and profits due to the fact that the product is accepted by customers and there is demand for it; Competing products appear.

Saturation and decline are a sharp decline in sales and profits, a product is discontinued and (or) replaced with a more advanced one; the company's exit from the market.

It is quite difficult to determine where one stage ends and another begins, so a certain stage is usually distinguished by the clearly expressed indicators of each stage, i.e. when, for example, the volume of sales, profits, etc. increases or decreases.

The product life cycle is represented as a classic S-shaped curve. Although, to be fair, it should be noted that not all products are characterized by the above stages. Therefore, the marketing service must clearly understand the stages of the product life cycle and carefully monitor changes in the company’s key indicators in order to correctly determine the boundaries of the stages and, accordingly, make the necessary amendments to the company’s marketing program.

Bank marketing strategy

Banking competition is a continuous process of competition between credit institutions to ensure optimal operating conditions in the relevant segments of the financial services markets.

> universal banks;
> specialized banks (savings, mortgage, investment, clearing, etc.);
> non-banking (credit, pawnshops, investment funds, insurance companies, etc.).

NOTE: at the same time, specialized credit organizations, and for them, in turn, non-banking institutions, are more dangerous competitors for universal banks. This is determined by the degree of deepening specialization in the relevant market segments. Thus, in the market for short-term loans to individuals for urgent needs, a more dangerous competitor for a universal bank will be a savings bank, and for it a credit cooperative or simply a pawnshop.

OPTION 1: Aggressive competition policy.

Implementation principle: The option follows from and involves the active displacement of competitors from the selected market segment.

Advantages:

> if successfully implemented, it allows you to quickly improve the bank’s market position with subsequent financial results;
> this policy allows us to increase the overall level of the bank’s organizational and managerial culture as one of the necessary prerequisites for successful implementation.

Flaws:

> the need for significant preliminary costs to create the proper competitive potential of the bank;
> the threat of an adequate response from competitors, including in the form of combining their efforts to repel a common aggressor.

> for banks entering a highly competitive market;
> for large banks operating in highly competitive markets if they have favorable external and internal conditions.

NOTE: In none of the above cases can such a policy be implemented on a permanent basis. Immediately after achieving the set goals (entering the market or capturing an additional part of it), it is recommended to return to a more restrained and safer version of competition policy.

OPTION 2: Passive competition policy.

Implementation principle: The option follows from the reduction strategy and involves maintaining or slightly reducing the serviced market while ensuring the required level of competitiveness of the corresponding banking product.

Advantages:

> the least expensive version of competition policy;
> absence of any threats from competitors. The disadvantage is associated with the negative financial and commercial consequences of a shrinking market served.

> for any banks facing an unacceptable level of pressure from competitors;
> for banks whose mission and market behavior strategy does not imply the need to expand the served market;
> for large universal banks if their marketers identify unfavorable prospects for the conditions of the market they serve, which determine the need to withdraw part of their assets from it.

NOTE: Of the three options above, only the first is indirect evidence of the bank’s weakness and the fallacy of the strategy it previously implemented. In other cases, the competition policy he has chosen is quite adequate to the overall strategy, and therefore expedient.

OPTION 3: Offensive competition policy.

Implementation principle: The option follows from a strategy of limited growth and involves the gradual expansion of the served market without using methods of direct pressure on competitors.

The option is a strategic compromise that mitigates the disadvantages of polar options and does not fully ensure their advantages.

NOTE: the main problem associated with the implementation of this option is the choice of methods for expanding the serviced market that will not be perceived by other credit institutions as a manifestation of an aggressive policy.

Factors determining the choice of a specific competition policy option:

A). External (independent of the bank):
> current industry and regional conditions of the relevant markets (as the main factor);
> general situation in the economy;

NOTE: Thus, pursuing an aggressive competitive strategy associated with constant risks is categorically not recommended during the economic downturn. Similarly, pursuing a passive competitive strategy at the stage of economic growth would be an unsuitable option, since for the bank this is associated with large missed opportunities.

> current state.

NOTE: when choosing a competition policy option, the same factor is taken into account as the previous factor (at the stage of tightening tax and monetary policy, restrained behavior of all financial market participants is advisable).

B). Internal (determined by the conditions of a particular bank):
> financial capabilities (as the main factor);

NOTE: determining the real capabilities of the bank to create competitive potential, create special reserves and quickly maneuver assets in various market segments.

> current market positions of the bank;

NOTE: which, first of all, include the image in the eyes of clients, the actual market share served, the share of regular clientele, as well as the level of organizational and managerial culture.

> relations with competitors in the relevant market segment.

NOTE: there are four main types of such relationships - direct confrontation, fair competition, complete neutrality, hidden. Depending on the type of relationship with the majority of competitors, the appropriate version of the competition policy is selected (for example, in the absence of direct confrontation with the majority of rival banks, it should not be provoked by choosing an aggressive option).

Basic methods for implementing competition policy Methods of a financial nature:

> reduction of costs for the production of banking products, in comparison with similar costs of competitors;
> reducing costs for selling banking products.

NOTE: the specific conditions for the creation of a number of domestic banks discussed above determined their obvious competitive advantages in the area under consideration. So:

Banks holding monopoly positions in the market had the opportunity to attract funds into deposits at low interest rates;
- banks created by large corporations had the opportunity to attract funds by placing low-income funds among its other subsidiaries in the order of internal corporate redistribution of profits;
- banks supported by government authorities had the opportunity to use non-standard methods of attracting new customers, eliminating traditional advertising costs, etc.

Marketing methods:

> pricing methods (the most effective);
> assortment methods;
> advertising methods.

Organizational methods:

> introduction of a more efficient OSU model;
> development of a branch network, allowing entry into new regional markets (as the most expensive method);
> use of new organizational forms of customer service.

EXAMPLE: for individual servicing of a legal entity - a VIP client, an additional office is created, providing him with the full possible range of services. An additional attractiveness of this organizational approach is provided by locating the office directly in the client's headquarters building.

Unfair methods of competition:

> banking intelligence;
> the use of hidden support from government bodies (especially characteristic of modern domestic conditions);
> abuse of its monopoly position in the market;
> poaching the most valuable employees;
> using the media to discredit competitors in the eyes of the state or clients;
> openly criminal methods (the least common today in both domestic and foreign markets).

NOTE: Such methods are contrary to banking ethics, but are actively used today in highly competitive markets. This primarily concerns business intelligence and poaching valuable employees. Only a few of them cause a sharply negative reaction from the banking community - deliberate defamation (dissemination of deliberately false information about competitors) and outright criminal methods (physical threats against the heads of a rival bank or the use of hired hackers to damage its computer networks).

Marketing communications strategy

Marketing communications is a broader concept than advertising and includes, for example, activities such as PR (public relations) or SEO (search engine optimization of a website), which do not belong to advertising in the traditional sense. A communication strategy allows you to consider all communications in their entirety, determine the place and importance of each campaign, correctly prioritize each of them and set the optimal sequence for their implementation.

When developing a communication strategy, it is necessary to take into account that building communications with consumers is perhaps the most creative process of all marketing activities, so here it is necessary to find a fine line between the necessary coordination of communication activities and unnecessary interference in the communications themselves. It is also important to understand that greater depth of time planning allows not only to determine the basic principles and priorities, but also to determine how they will change over time.

The communication strategy includes the following main elements:

* Goals – defining the overall goals of the communication strategy.
* Audience – target audience and its characteristics.
* Products and brands - general principles for choosing objects for promotion.
* Message – policy in the field of determining the content and form of communications.
* Budget – economic restrictions and general principles of budget formation.
* Communication channels – policy in the field of selection of media carriers.
* Measurements – general principles for determining the effectiveness of communications.

Marketing Strategy Assessment

There are three stages of the strategic management process:

Stage of strategic planning (strategy development, strategic analysis and choice);
- the stage of strategic organization or setting up an organizational system in accordance with the chosen strategy (strategy implementation, strategy implementation);
- stage of strategic control and regulation (strategy assessment, monitoring and evaluation of execution).

At the strategic planning stage, the strategies of the enterprise (at the corporate level) are determined by establishing its mission, analyzing strategic positions, studying internal and external factors and actions that can lead to the achievement, retention, development and competitive advantages.

The result of strategic planning is a developed strategy, on the basis of which the strategic management of the enterprise is carried out.

At the stage of strategic organization, all resources, internal connections, goals, tasks and areas of responsibility of employees are brought into full compliance with the chosen strategy. At the same time, the necessary organizational changes are carried out at the enterprise and a policy is developed for each of its structural divisions.

Strategy can be considered as a comprehensive plan for achieving the mission (main goal) of an enterprise. In form, a strategy is one of the management documents that can be presented in the form of graphs, tables, descriptions, etc. In content, strategy is a set of actions to achieve the goals of the organization.

According to the three-level model of strategic management proposed by Peter Lorange, strategies can be classified as follows:

Corporate strategies (that is, strategies that are common to the organization). The content of the corporate strategy is the general concept of the development of the enterprise and the regulation of the interaction of the enterprise's businesses - the business portfolio. Corporate strategies are aimed at achieving global competitive advantages, manifested in low costs or distinctive quality;
- business strategy (strategy for the areas of activity of the organization). Achieving the corporate goals of an enterprise depends on what kind of business and how the enterprise will engage in and what strategy it will choose for each type of its business. At the business level, the enterprise's approach to achieving and maintaining competitive advantages in a specific area of ​​business is determined. Business strategies determine the behavior of an enterprise in the market for a specific product;
- functional strategies determine the directions of action in such functional areas as finance, marketing (marketing policy), research, etc. Their purpose is to ensure the solution of tasks set at the corporate and business levels with the highest possible efficiency. Their main difference from top-level strategies is their intra-production focus.

However, before developing a strategy on the basis of which the strategic management of an enterprise is carried out, it is necessary to assess the readiness of the enterprise for precisely this strategic approach to management.

The accumulated experience of conducting marketing audits by the consulting firm "Polimex" has made it possible to identify several signs, the degree of manifestation of which in the activities of an enterprise characterizes its readiness to use strategic management and planning, to work on a marketing strategy.

These signs appear at the enterprise to varying degrees and ultimately characterize its competitive advantages:

1) Definition of the mission. Having an idea of ​​the goals that the enterprise wants to achieve in the future, that is, having a developed mission of the enterprise, consistent with the claims of the owners and formalized in the form of a Mission Statement of the enterprise.
2) Definition of the goals and strategy of the enterprise, which must be formalized in the form of documents that consistently outline the concept of strategic management of the enterprise for a certain period.
3) Availability of a well-functioning mechanism for collecting, analyzing and processing marketing information. The managerial response to external threats should be ahead of their occurrence, based on the study of “weak signals”, i.e. signs of a possible threat, otherwise the most correct but delayed decisions become useless. The enterprise must be able to timely recognize problems and have a mechanism for solving them.
4) Work to improve the competitiveness of the enterprise. Having a clear and unified understanding of the competitive advantages and weaknesses of the enterprise. The enterprise must constantly search for new forms and types of activities to increase its competitiveness. Management's complacency regarding the competitiveness of the enterprise is an alarming symptom. A strategy, even the best one, must be constantly adjusted depending on newly received information, otherwise it may lose its effectiveness over time.
5) The adaptability of an enterprise to emerging opportunities implies the presence of resources of different composition and quality for the implementation of different market opportunities. The organization's potential must adapt to emerging opportunities in order to ensure a stable position in the market based on the development of goals and their timely adjustment.
6) The focus of current management on achieving the strategic objectives of the enterprise. Current management should be a continuation, specification of strategic management and carried out within the framework of the current strategy. In the absence of strategic management, the interests of functional units begin to prevail over the interests of the enterprise as a whole.
7) Organizational separation of strategic management tasks from operational management tasks. We are talking about the differentiation of staff and line functions, freeing senior managers from solving operational problems. The same managers should not be allowed to deal with the tasks of strategic and operational management at an enterprise.
8) Availability of headquarters units providing in-house consulting on strategic development issues. Such units do not participate in solving operational management problems, but provide advice to senior managers on strategic management issues (for example, the strategic development department).
9) Inviting third-party consultants to solve non-specific problems. External consultants have a certain independence, and therefore, with a greater degree of objectivity, they can assess the state of problematic issues of strategic management at the enterprise.
10) Constantly informing staff about the strategic goals and plans of the enterprise. Periodic reminders to employees about the mission, information about the strategic goals and plans of the enterprise contribute to motivating higher achievements in the activities of personnel.
11) High level, providing for the harmonization of the interests of the enterprise and the interests of various groups and categories of employees.
12) The presence at the enterprise of an effectively working marketing department staffed with qualified personnel. This division (service) must form a marketing strategy based on accounting and analysis of factors in the external and internal environment of the enterprise.

The degree of manifestation of the considered signs in the activities of an enterprise best characterizes the level of its readiness to implement a strategic approach to management or the “strategicness” of the enterprise.

Identification of the degree of manifestation of signs characterizing the readiness of an enterprise to use the principles and methods of strategic planning and management can be carried out expertly using the Delphi method, which is one of the most common methods of expert assessment. This method belongs to the class of group expert assessment methods and is based on identifying a consensus collective opinion during an individual questionnaire survey of experts. At the same time, the Delphi method combines procedures for obtaining expert information with effective feedback, allowing experts to correct their judgments. One of the distinctive features of the method is the anonymity of responses, introduced so that experts’ judgments are based only on their own preferences and other opinions do not influence the expert.

Enterprise managers are used as experts, which ensures confidentiality and does not require additional time and resources required to attract third-party specialists. Enterprise managers have knowledge of local conditions and specifics, but, on the other hand, they are less prepared for expert work, which requires additional clarification of the essence and methodology of conducting an expert survey, as well as taking into account the characteristics of the answers when processing expert information.

Marketing strategies in crisis management

A marketing strategy in its formation goes through 4 main stages:

1) analysis of the organization’s marketing capabilities - assessment of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, its advantages from functioning in the market in question, possible threats and risks;
2) selection of operating markets - consideration of the positive and negative aspects of the market, its consumer composition, the need for products in which the organization specializes and, of course, analysis of supply and demand;
3) development of the main provisions of the marketing program - the formation of a pricing policy, methods of introducing a product to the market and its subsequent distribution, organizing control over the sale of products, defining an advertising campaign;
4) approval and implementation of marketing programs - justification of the formed programs from the point of view of crisis management and the overall strategy of the organization.

Since it is necessary to consider marketing strategies in the field of anti-crisis management, it should be noted that they occupy a significant place in the overall anti-crisis strategy and are often decisive in the question of how the organization will overcome the crisis.

It is most convenient to classify marketing strategies according to characteristics; in view of the above, the following classification can be presented:

1. Market strategies:
- a strategy aimed at occupying a larger market share;
- strategy aimed at obtaining (capturing) competitive advantages;
- strategy related to the development of a new market.

Market strategies are focused on the organization achieving a sustainable and most advantageous position in the market. The main criterion for assessing an organization's position in the market is its share in this market.

2. Integration strategies:
- macroeconomic strategy;
- microeconomic;
- regional;
- intra-industry;
- intersectoral;
- production strategy;
- strategy of the non-production sector.
3. Anti-crisis strategies:
- strategy aimed at preventing;
- strategy for overcoming a crisis situation;
- a strategy designed to eliminate the consequences of a crisis.
4. Strategies:
- strategy of production factors;
- strategy of financial factors;
- strategy of investment factors;
- strategy of personnel factors;
- strategy of information factors.

The above strategies (integration, anti-crisis and production factor strategies) are essentially the preparation of the socio-economic and legal framework for the planned major transformations.

5. Marketing strategies:
- commodity;
- price;
- branded;
- advertising.

Of course, this is not a complete list of existing strategies – these are the main types.

You can also distinguish strategies depending on the size of the organization, market structure, etc.

Using marketing tools in crisis management

Marketing is not only a system for monitoring and analyzing the market environment, but is also a management system.

Of course, this is not a priority management structure in the organization, but it should be noted that depending on the stage of crisis management, certain marketing means are used.

In light of this, we can distinguish 3 main states: pre-crisis management, crisis and post-crisis.

1. Pre-crisis management.

At this stage, the main objectives of marketing are to prevent a crisis situation and build basic strategic plans.

The main controls are:
- strategies aimed at preventing crises;
- strategic plans of the organization, business plans, preparation of advertising campaigns;
- formation of basic marketing strategies (market and strategies through marketing);
- development of labor incentive and motivation programs;
- diagnostics of the state of the business environment and risk factors;
- development of a decision-making program.

Such methods make it possible to study the main socio-economic trends, gain experience, which in future periods provides a faster and more effective response to the emergence of various situations in the market and, with the help of various management tools, allows one to avoid negative consequences.

2. Crisis management.

The main goal is the fastest and most painless way out of the crisis.

Anti-crisis strategies and programs to overcome the crisis;
- strategies aimed at reducing the negative impact of the crisis on the state of the organization;
- plans and strategies developed for each specific situation (if the crisis is deep enough);
- programs to minimize costs;
- diagnostics of the most unstable structures.

In the field of marketing management, priority is given to situational programs, since they are more adapted to specific conditions and, therefore, are more effective.

3. Post-crisis management.

The emphasis is on rehabilitation and stabilization of the organization:

Stabilization programs;
- strategies aimed at updating problem areas;
- strategies aimed at assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, as well as searching for new market opportunities;
- innovative business structures.

In crisis management, an important place belongs to such marketing tools as information and communication structures.

Information currently occupies a leading position in management, especially in anti-crisis management, where timely and accurate assessment of the situation is so important.

Since marketing itself involves market research, it is clear that the quality of the information received comes first, since anti-crisis strategies are developed and decisions are made on the basis of the data received.

Communication is a way of moving information through which connections are established. In crisis management, communications are a means of assessing and moving information primarily for marketing services; more precisely, communication is the main means of marketing for working with information. External types of communications are mainly used - direct interaction with market structures, the media, and the population.

Of course, there are also internal communications - these are relationships between departments and divisions of the organization), but priority still belongs to external ones. When working with information, the methods of its use and processing are of great importance. The effectiveness of use depends on the organization’s equipment with technical means and the latest developments, which significantly reduce processing time and improve the quality of the data obtained.

In crisis management, the role of effective communications increases sharply, since the correctness and direction of actions depend on the reliability and timeliness of information. Speaking about marketing means in anti-crisis management, one cannot fail to mention advertising as the most common and effective means of communication. Advertising is a type of communication that operates in the market and ensures the movement of goods to the consumer by providing information about the main characteristics of the product - of course, the most positive ones. Advertising establishes a relationship between producer and consumer, thereby being a means of management that ensures the development of production and market relations.
Back | |

John Jantsch, the creator of the applied marketing system, shows in the new edition of his best-selling book Marketing Without a Degree how to develop and implement a marketing plan that will bring in new customers and increase company profits. We tell you about three rules for developing a marketing strategy.

A marketing strategy is a clear explanation of how you are going to get from point A to point B, not exactly where you are trying to get to or where point B is. The essence of an effective marketing strategy is to succinctly explain the approved plan of action to achieve goals.

Goals, objectives and mission are great. But it is important how exactly you plan to implement them. This is the strategy. Combined with a logical set of tactical actions, it will provide you with a path to success.

Perhaps the best way to become a market leader is to pick a very narrow niche and dominate it. To serve your clients with honor and dignity, the best strategy is to start with staffing. To double the number of new clients, it is more effective to create a formal network of strategic referral partners.

Each of these strategies has its own list of tactical steps. But for all plans and campaigns, your established strategy will be the filter for decision-making and planning.

Based on my experience working with thousands of small business owners, I have developed a three-step process for creating a marketing strategy. But I must warn you that the “wild card” in this process may be market conditions, the competitive environment, and new opportunities. A company implementing its marketing strategy in a mature market with experienced players is in a very different position than a company trying to introduce a new technology in a market with rules that have not yet formed.

When developing a promotion strategy, the following factors must be taken into account:

1. Determine who is important to you.

For a strategy and its corresponding set of tactical actions to work, they must be addressed to someone specific. First you need to determine the addressee (sometimes this is the main thing). Your marketing strategy should be aimed primarily at a narrow target group of ideal customers (more on this in the following chapters). Even this step may turn out to be your strategy - to become the best in a certain market niche.

Using your ideal customer persona as the basis of your promotion strategy also allows you to be more specific about how you serve people and what tactics you use to attract them. Otherwise, your marketing strategy will lack focus.

2. Be different from the rest.

Once you've defined your ideal client profile, it's time to find a way to attract them. In my experience, the only 100% way is to find or create an approach or product that clearly sets you apart from the rest of the players in the market. Consumers need criteria to compare and contrast, and if you don't provide them, people will choose based on price.

You have to look inside the situation and find a way to do it in a way that your customers will appreciate. What in your professional field irritates people and causes dissatisfaction? How can you turn the familiar into an opportunity for innovation? Sometimes you do something truly unique, but fail to communicate your marketing message effectively.

If you don't take this step seriously, the rest will be much less effective. Being different from the rest is really very important.

3. Bring it all together.

The final step is to bring together everything you have done so far and turn it into an approved strategy. When I developed the concept of applied marketing, my strategy was to create a recognizable small business marketing brand by making small business marketing a system and a product. The ideal client and specific characteristics were clearly defined there.

I was looking to fundamentally change the way small business owners perceived marketing, and my Marketing as a System strategy was the answer to how to do it. As with most things, gaps in offerings and positioning became an obvious opportunity. Your strategy, among other things, should include a thorough study of the competitive environment - in your professional field and in others not related to it. You need to satisfy an existing need with an innovative idea or differentiating feature.

I will again quote Sun Tzu’s treatise “The Art of War”: “All warriors know the form [of forces] by which we achieve victory, but no one knows the form [of forces] by which we control victory.”

So, before you decide whether Facebook or LinkedIn is better for your business (or maybe direct mail is easier), start with what matters most: strategy!

Strategy refers to a plan or method of any activity, presented in general form for a long period of time.

The strategy is developed in any direction in order to make the most efficient use of available resources to achieve the main goal.

A marketing strategy is part of a company's overall corporate strategy and aims to describe how the company should use its limited resources in order to grow in the long term. It represents an element of the company’s marketing plan and is more descriptive in nature, suggesting not the specific actions themselves, but only their direction.

Concept, objectives and application of marketing strategies

Marketing strategy should be understood as the process of planning and subsequent implementation of various activities in the field of marketing of an organization, which are aimed at achieving the goals set for the company.

Since the marketing strategy is included as an integral element in the overall strategy of the company, it helps outline the main directions of the organization’s activities in the market space in relation to consumers and competitors.

The development of a marketing strategy will be influenced by the main goals of the company, its current market position, the resource potential of the organization, an assessment of its market prospects and possible actions of competitors.

Main goals Marketing strategy usually includes:

• an increase in sales volume, which can occur in two ways: by increasing the flow of customers or the number of orders;
• company increase;
• ensuring the attractiveness of products for a particular target audience;
• winning a larger share of the market space;
• achieving leadership positions in your market segment.

The goals of the marketing strategy should not contradict the main mission of the company and the strategic goals of the business as a whole. Marketing strategies are also subject to all marketing activities of the company (advertising, public relations, sales organization, etc.).

It represents the gradual implementation of an interrelated set of operational level strategies, which include sales, advertising, pricing strategies, etc. In the modern world, companies often do not simply maintain or increase the share of the existing market, but search for new markets.

Since the market situation is always dynamic, the marketing strategy is also characterized by flexibility, mobility, and the ability to constantly be adjusted. There is no single marketing strategy that is suitable for all types of companies and products. To increase sales of a particular company or promote a certain type of product, separate development of areas of activity is required.

Kinds

The classification of marketing strategies can be based on various characteristics.

The most common is the division of known marketing strategies to the following groups of strategies:

1. Concentrated growth. It is assumed that the market for the product will change or the product itself will be improved (modernized). Most often, such strategies are aimed at fighting competitors to gain an expanded market share (“horizontal development”), searching for markets for existing products, and improving the products themselves.
2. Integrated growth. They pursue the goal of expanding the structure of the enterprise through “vertical development” - the start of production of new goods or services. As part of the implementation of this type of strategy, it is planned to monitor the company’s branches, suppliers and dealers, as well as to influence the final buyers of products.
3. Diversified growth. They are used if the enterprise does not have the opportunity to develop under current market conditions with a certain type of product. A company can focus on producing a new product, but at the expense of old, existing resources, and the product may differ slightly from those already produced or be completely new.
4. Abbreviations. Aimed at increasing the efficiency of the enterprise after a long period of its development. In this case, both the reorganization of the company (for example, the reduction of individual divisions) and its liquidation (for example, a gradual reduction of activities to zero while simultaneously obtaining the maximum possible income) can be carried out.

Also, the marketing strategy of an enterprise can be focused both on the entire market and on its individual target segments. In this case, they can be implemented three main strategic directions:

In addition, marketing strategies can be distinguished by means of marketing, which the enterprise is more focused on:

• Commodity;
• Price;
• Branded;
• Advertising.

If you have not yet registered an organization, then easiest way This can be done using online services that will help you generate all the necessary documents for free: If you already have an organization and you are thinking about how to simplify and automate accounting and reporting, then the following online services will come to the rescue and will completely replace an accountant at your enterprise and will save a lot of money and time. All reporting is generated automatically, signed electronically and sent automatically online. It is ideal for individual entrepreneurs or LLCs on the simplified tax system, UTII, PSN, TS, OSNO.
Everything happens in a few clicks, without queues and stress. Try it and you will be surprised how easy it has become!

Formation and development stages

Formation marketing strategy occurs in 4 stages:

• The stage of analyzing the organization's marketing capabilities. It is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the functioning of an enterprise, its advantages in a particular market and possible risks;
• The stage of selecting markets for operation. It involves conducting an analysis of supply and demand, considering a certain type of market, its pros and cons, consumer composition, as well as the need for the products that the enterprise produces;
• Marketing program development stage. It consists of determining the features of the pricing policy, methods of positioning a particular product on the market, conducting an advertising campaign, as well as monitoring the sales of products;
• Stage of approval and implementation of marketing programs. It assumes their reasonable analysis in the context of the provisions of the general strategy of the organization and crisis management.

Capable of forming a marketing strategy influence the following actions:

• detailed analysis of the market state, identifying its key segments;
• assessment of the current financial condition of the company;
• analysis of the enterprise’s activities in a competitive environment, as well as the actions of competitors;
• analysis of strategic alternatives and choice of marketing strategy;
• approximate economic assessment of the chosen strategy;
• determination of methods for monitoring the implementation of the marketing strategy.

Structure and content

The following structure of the marketing strategy can be distinguished:

Definition various marketing strategies:

Features of marketing strategies in various directions

Marketing Strategies in trade involve conducting a continuous systematic analysis of market needs, which will contribute to the development of those products that are needed by specific target groups. These products have special properties that distinguish them from competitors' products and provide them with an undeniable competitive advantage.

Marketing Strategies in construction involve ensuring a rational organization of production, reducing, efficient use of resources, increasing, and the ability to adapt to the market in conditions of increased competition. These strategies set the direction of the organization’s activities in the market, facilitate the coordination of the marketing components of each division of the construction organization, and allow for the effective use of available resources.

Marketing Strategies in finance provide not only the search for effective directions and methods for selling financial products, but also the identification of ways to diversify the company’s services, as well as the formation of the organization’s anti-crisis policy.

Evaluation and analysis of effectiveness

Efficiency mark marketing strategy of an enterprise allows you to understand whether its concept was chosen correctly, as well as to monitor the implementation of your goals.

For this it is necessary carry out a detailed analysis several components of a marketing strategy:

Marketing audit will give an opportunity see the degree of deviation of strategic marketing results from planned ones. If they differ significantly, it makes sense to reconsider the strategy, or completely abandon it and choose an alternative. If the design is carried out successfully, this allows the company to achieve high results in the long term and take a leading market position.

Marketing strategies in crisis management

A marketing strategy is developed, among other things, for the organization’s behavior in the market in conditions of tough opposition to negative environmental factors. It is implemented within the framework of crisis management, when the company receives a focus on achieving the best position in modern market conditions.

Implementation of the entire set of measures that make up the marketing strategy will help the organization overcome the crisis with the least administrative and financial costs. Marketing strategies, as an important part of the overall anti-crisis development strategy of an enterprise, occupy a leading place in determining various methods for overcoming the crisis. For this purpose, marketing strategies for pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis management are being developed.

For information on the rules for developing a marketing strategy, see the following video lesson.
Part 1: