Marketing Strategy: How it fits with Business Strategy

The word Strategy comes from a Greek word: Strategos and is a military term used to
describe the general’s plan for arraying and maneuvering his forces with the goal of defeating
an enemy army. Businesses all around the world use the same concepts while competing in
the market for greater share. Competitive strategy used is about attaining competitive
advantage over rivals by being different. Which means choosing the appropriate set of
activities to deliver a unique value to the customer, which the customer cares most about and
is ready to pay for. There are many such examples like eBay and Southwest Airlines which
deliver the unique values that are most valued by the target customers.
Strategy is based on the company’s mission statement, which defines its purpose and
articulates what it aims to do for customers and other stakeholders. Goals are set on the basis
of mission and understanding of external business & market environment, and internal
capabilities of organization.
For any organization, every activity must align with the larger business strategy. Since
marketing is the link between enterprise and external world, marketers give input on SWOT,
customer needs, etc. and help developing plans & tactics at various levels, ultimately serving
company’s strategic goals. But, at the core, marketing answers the question to why customers
should prefer the company’s products/services over others. This is later used to create
marketing plan for company’s offerings. Marketing also defines the TG, Positioning, and
Branding at all levels (Corporate, SBU, Product-Line).

Every product that exists today in the market goes through a Product Life Cycle (PLC). The
PLC has four phases- Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. Each stage presents a
unique challenge to the marketer.
Introduction- This is when the product is just launched. The marketer’s job is to create
awareness about the product and educate the TG about the benefits. Financial losses are
common in this phase.
Growth- This is when the product demand shoots up and revenue grows rapidly. Marketer’s
job is to build the brand to maximize market share. Revenue grows but net income does not
grow that much.
Maturity- Product changes are incremental, not breakthrough. Money is spent on advertising
and discount. Differentiation is done on price and R&D. Brand revitalization and brand
extension is also attempted.
Decline- Marketer promotes new uses for old products and introduce products in new
markets.