Chapter 2: Developing and Implementing Marketing Strategies and Plans

Marketing and Customer Value

• The Value Delivery Process- The traditional but da ted-view of marketing is that the firm makes something and then sells it, with marketing taking place during the selling process.
  • The value creation and delivery sequence consists of three phases
    • Choosing the value- , marketers segment the market select the appropriate target, and develop the offering's value positioning.
      • The formula "segmentation, targeting, positioning (STP)" is the essence of strategic marketing.
    • Providing the value- identifying specific product features, prices, and distribution.
    • Communicating the value- by utilizing the Internet, advertising, sales force, and other communication tools to announce and promote the product.
• The formula "segmentation, targeting, positioning (STP)" is the essence of strategic marketing.

The Value Chain

• Value Chain- a tool for  identifying ways to create more  customer value
• Nine strategically relevant activities­ five primary and four support activities- create value and cost in a specific business.
  • The  primary activities are:
    1. Inbound logistics, or  bringing materials into  the  business
    2. Operations,  or converting materials into  final products
    3. Outbound logistics, or shipping out  final  products
    4. Marketing, which  includes sales
    5. Service, specialized  
  • The support activities
    1. Procurement
    2. Technology development
    3. Human resource management
    4. Firm infrastructure (including general management, planning, finance, accounting, legal, and government affairs).

Core business processes


The market -sensing process-gathering and acting upon information about the market

• The new-offering realization process- researching, developing, and launching new high­ quality offerings quickly and within  budget
• The customer acquisition process-defining target markets and prospecting for new customers
• The customer relationship  management process-building deeper understanding of, relationships with, and offerings for individual customers
• The fulfillment management process-receiving and approving orders, shipping goods on time, and collecting payment

Core Competencies

A core competency has three characteristics:

1. It is a source of competitive advantage and makes a significant contribution to perceived customer  benefits.
2. It has applications in a wide variety of markets
3. Establishing a strategy

The Central Role of Strategic Planning

• Marketers must prioritize strategic planning in three key areas:
  1. Managing  their  businesses as an investment  portfolio
  2. Assessing the market's growth rate and the company's position in that market.
  3. Establishing a strategy
• Most large companies consist of four organizational levels:
  1. Corporate
  2. Division
  3. Business unit
  4. Product
• The marketing plan is the central instrument for directing and coordinating the marketing effort, operating at both the strategic and tactical levels.
• • The strategic marketing plan  lays out the target markets and  the firm's value proposition,  based on an analysis of the best market opportunities
  • The tactical  marketing plan  specifies the marketing  tactics, including  product features, promotion, merchandising, pricing, sales channels, and service

 Contents of a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan usually contains the following sections:

• Executive summary and table of contents.
• Situation analysis. This section presents relevant background data on sales, costs, the market, competitors, and the macro-environment.
• Marketing strategy. The marketing manager defines the mission, marketing and financial objectives, and needs the market offering is intended to satisfy as well as its competitive positioning.
• Marketing tactics. The marketing manager outlines the marketing activities that will be undertaken to execute the marketing strategy, including decisions about the product or service offering, pricing, channels, and communications.
• Financial projections. Financial projections include a sales forecast (by month and product category), an expense forecast (broken down into finer categories), and a break-even analysis (how many units the fir m must sell to offset its fixed costs and average per-unit variable costs).
• Implementation controls. Management outlines the controls for monitoring activities and adjusting implementation