A guide to strategic marketing management

Marketing is defined as a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want, through creating and exchanging products and value with others. In the same vein, marketing management is concerned with the analysis, planning, implementation and control. The analysis will focus on issues that are relevant in strategic marketing planning to achieve marketing objectives.

Establishment of marketing planning

The objectives are achieved by adopting effective marketing planning strategies. Marketing planning is concerned with the identification of resources, product design, analysis, market, demand, reaching target audience as well as promotional strategies. All these help in forming the base to effective strategic marketing management. The most important strategies consist in identifying the market and marketing concept. Marketing concept is concerned with linking of human needs and wants and their satisfaction through an exchange mechanism. The role of marketing concept is to identify the market, consumer needs, wants and demand, products, value and satisfaction, exchange, transaction, relationships and promotions.

Identification of market/buyers

Market is defined as the set of actual and potential buyers of a product/service. Market is therefore very crucial as far as marketing management is concerned. The most popular question that requires an answer in any business plan for loan application for example, is: What or who is your market? In effect, the bank does not want to give loans to any businesses or organisations that are not able to define their market or potential buyers of the products and services they intend to embark upon. Identification of needs and creation of demand is vital because consumers tend to develop new appetite on daily basis. Another basic marketing theory is the product analysis through marketing mix. The importance of focusing on product/service is that the survival of any company/organisation depends on effective demand of its products/services through exchange by producing what customers want.

Product analysis and competitiveness

Product analysis is carried out through marketing mix or popularly referred to as Four Ps that include product, price, place and promotion are designed to review how competitive the organisation is, by reviewing the four Ps. The success of any marketing management will depend on how the product performance compares with other rival products. The product must be of high quality and the price must be competitive. The place where the business is operated from must be accessible and suitable for the type of business being offered. Promotion strategy should identify the media that reaches its target audience.
Product advertisements and promotions are very crucial because these are the ways used to inform consumers about the products and offers. Marketing mix therefore allows the management to review the performance of their products.