Defining great marketing and establishing competitive advantages

1
Defining great marketing and establishing
competitive advantages

• Some comments for discussion

2
So you are getting your degree, you have some job
experience, determined to implement the marketing
models and you understand 4 Ps 7Ps, SWOT,
PESTLE, STP etc.

• Great marketing is about a lot more than clever
  promotion/advertising tactics.
• Certainly, an intelligent use of messages, media,
  channels and models is necessary to ensure
  marketing effectiveness, but it is not sufficient
  (Smith, 2004).

3
Identifying Strong Strategies

• Strong Marketing Strategies
• Target real segments.
• Make segment-specific value propositions each
  target segment is made a distinct and compelling
  offer.
• Understand that SWOT PESTLE are aligned with
  strategies. That strategy leverages with
  distinctive strengths and minimizes relative
  weaknesses.
• Understand and aware of firms positioning.
• Anticipate trends in your target audience and
  your industry.

• Weak Marketing Strategies
• Target channels, product categories or descriptor
  groups customers in these categories do not have
  the same needs.
• Weak positioning of offering and or organization.
• Dont really understand the organizations SWOT
  and PESTLE environment.
• Offerings are undifferentiated and offer the same
  thing to the same people in the same way as the
  competition.
• Fail to understand the implications of market
  trends.

4
Your action plan

• Assess the complexity and turbulence of your
  market. Decide which quadrant you are in. Look
  also at the past and future.
• Choose the hybrid marketing strategies that fits
  your market. Use that decision to guide who does
  what and how in your strategy-making.
• Look for your positioning in the context of your
  organizations aim and objectives. Carefully
  adjust things that might hinder you.
• Implement your strategy, making sure you are
  aware of your position in the market. Use all
  appropriate approaches. Make use of your
  organizations culture.
• Following the implementation, build in assessment
  systems to ensure you are on track.

5
Successful companies

• successful companies understand the need to
  tailor the strategy to suit the market Brian
  Smith (2004).
• Presentation based on Smith, B. (2004), Made to
  measure, The Marketer, Issue 3, June, pp.6-11 (a
  magazine from the Chartered Institute of
  Marketing, CIM, UK see www.cim.co.uk).

6
Marketing Strategies for Competitive Advantages

• Strategy
• to source the best quality products for our
  stores and to provide the highest quality and
  value for money services with the view of
  becoming the best retailer in our sector in
  Texas
• Approach (a) Market orientation, (b) CRM, (c)
  marketing mixes of product, price, promotion,
  place/distribution, people/participants, process,
  physical evidence.

7
Types of Competitive Advantages

• Superior product, service or brand
• Perceived advantage in the industry
• Global skills
• Low-cost operator (economies of scale and scope)
• Superior competencies in application of
  strategies tactics
• Superior assets/resources
• Attitude advantage (structure of organization and
  decision making style)
• Legal advantages
• Superior relationships with consumers, suppliers,
  joint-ventures, government agencies.

8
Examples of routes to superior advantages/benefits

• Products Services
• Better end-results Speed
• Superior design Quality
• Longer lasting, durable Flexibility
• More features Reliability
• Ease of use After-sales service
• Speed of use Personalized service
• Reliability Responsiveness

9
Strategies to employ in your communications to
position your offerings

• Top of the range
• Service
• Value for money
• Reliability
• Attractive
• Country of origin
• The Name of the offering (brand)
• Selectivity/Social class

10
A Market/shopping scene in Accra, Ghana
11
Small traders in Kumasi, Ghana