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Harish M is a marketing manager in a company that produces flour and other ingredients for several well-known breads, cakes and confectionery brands. Harish wants his company to enter the bread market, but the existing brands in this market are powerful and strong competitors.
After studying the products offered by brands in the bread and cakes industries, he found that most brands of bread in the market offered products with little or no variation and competed mainly on pricing. Harish identified various markets where customers were willing to pay a premium for a better tasting, better-packaged bread positioned as an upmarket brand.
Harish got his research team to develop a signature flour using different grains that bake better and faster and give a good mouthfeel. The brand was launched at a premium price point compared to other brands in the market, with a strong promotion campaign and retail visibility.
This is an example of a type of marketing strategy called a “B2C marketing strategy” to create a new market for his company’s products.
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What Is A Marketing Strategy?
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Main Components Of A Marketing Strategy
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Difference Between Marketing Strategy And Marketing Plan
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Main Types Of Marketing Strategies
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Types Of Marketing Strategies With Examples
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Final Thoughts
What Is A Marketing Strategy?
Any company needs to develop a competitive business advantage over other companies and ensure that it is not wasting its efforts and talking to the wrong consumer. The method of developing this advantage is called a “marketing strategy”.
Main Components Of A Marketing Strategy
There are two types of marketing strategies used by companies: a B2B marketing strategy and a B2C marketing strategy. Any type of marketing strategy, whether B2B marketing strategy or B2C marketing strategy, should cover the 4 Ps of marketing:
- Product: or the brand, core product or offering of the company that fills the perceived need of its consumers
- Price: the cost of purchasing the product or brand
- Place: the physical, online, or hybrid marketplaces where the product or brand is available for purchase
- Promotion: the channels or media used to generate awareness about the product, drive customer awareness and engagement and facilitate the purchase
Difference Between Marketing Strategy And Marketing Plan
A marketing strategy can be broken down into multiple actionable areas, which is known as “marketing plan”. The marketing plan details various types of marketing initiatives, a timeline for implementing them and expected results from the initiatives. These results could be of various kinds: increased brand or market share, increased profitability, lower costs, higher market penetration or higher brand awareness.
In large companies, the marketing strategy is distinct from a marketing plan and has a longer life span. Smaller companies may blend their marketing strategy and plan into one action document, which is reviewed and renewed at regular intervals, usually annually.
Main Types Of Marketing Strategies
A marketing strategy is required to define the business activities for most companies, whether they are a B2B or a B2C business — planning a new business venture, evaluating an existing offer or trying to optimize sales with a target audience. There are two main types of marketing strategies:
- B2B Marketing Strategy: In this type of marketing strategy, a company markets its products or services to another company or organization such as producers, resellers, governments or institutions. A B2B marketing strategy helps a company resell to other companies. A B2B marketing strategy normally focuses on a product, also called generic or white goods marketing. The focus of this type of marketing strategy is frequently on cost. An example of a B2B marketing strategy is Boeing (an aircraft company) marketing its aircraft to airlines.
- B2C Marketing Strategy: In this type of marketing strategy, a company markets its products or services to an individual consumer (called the “end consumer”). This type of marketing strategy is used by companies in “consumer-facing” industries. This is the most common and most visible type of marketing strategy. A B2C marketing strategy helps a company push up consumption of its products or services. A B2C marketing strategy focuses on a brand. It creates a brand story to differentiate it from a similar brand in the marketplace.
Types Of Marketing Strategies With Examples
Over the last few years, the explosive growth of e-commerce, digital and social media has led to a major re-think on the types of marketing strategies. Any type of marketing strategy today has to identify and leverage opportunities in both traditional marketing channels and digital/online channels.
Here are some types of marketing strategies with examples used by organizations, for B2B:
- Earned Media and PR: social media testimonials, word-of-mouth publicity or mention in print/TV/radio
- Social Media Marketing: Facebook (part of Meta), LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram
- Industry Events: company or product launches, trade shows or conventions
- Inbound Marketing: videos, blogs, pillar pages on website, e-books or newsletters
- Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and Retargeting: one-to-one accounts, one-to-few accounts or one-to-many accounts
- Referral Programs: direct referrals, email referrals, incentive-based referrals or social media referrals
- Conversational Marketing: live chats, chatbots, SMS marketing or voice assistants
All these types of marketing strategies use education, selling and insights to influence the consumer’s behavior towards a desirable/favorable outcome.
Here are some types of marketing strategies used by organizations for B2C operations:
- Paid Media Advertising
- Earned Media/PR
- Direct Selling
- Point-of-Purchase (POP) Marketing
- Social Networks and Viral Marketing
- Internet Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Co-Branding, Affinity, and Cause Marketing
These types of marketing strategies use emotion, affinity, insights and “last-mile conversion” tactics to influence buyer behavior and accomplish a sale.
Final Thoughts
The first step to developing and executing any type of marketing strategy is to understand the key steps that your company needs to take.
- Understand the needs and wants of your current or potential customers
- Understand where your company or brand fits into this needs/wants matrix—this will help you decide if your company requires a B2B marketing strategy or a B2C marketing strategy
- Set the goals of your marketing strategy
- Put together a well-planned marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion to make sure your company achieves the goals of your marketing strategy.
- Measure the success of your marketing strategy regularly using clearly defined metrics such as market share, distribution, profits or share price.
The Create New Solutions pathway, like the many other pathways on the Harappa learning platform, provides you with the essential professional skills and knowledge that you need to thrive in a business. This one, in particular, focuses on skills required for problem-solving and project planning. To know more about the marketing strategy process, visit Harappa Education’s blog and sign up for the Creating New Solutions pathway.
