To begin with, Slater and Olson (following Day, Cravens, Varadarajan and Clark), defined marketing strategy as a set of integrated decisions and actions by which a business expects to achieve its marketing objectives and meet the value requirements of its customers. It is concerned with decisions relating to market segmentation and targeting and with positioning the product or brand in the market using the four components of marketing—product, price, distribution, and promotion.
Activities in a Marketing Campaign
The points found in the questionnaire and presented systematically for the interest of any marketing professional as components of modern marketing are as follows:
1. Market Research: The first component of a marketing campaign involves
- learning about customers systematically
- analyzing competitor objectives and actions
- collecting information about industry trends systematically
- segmentation of markets
- systematic evaluation of the markets and identification of the target markets
- focusing of marketing activities on specific market segments
- attracting new customers
- offering a broad product/service line
- offering a focused product/service line
- developing products/services that have broad market appeal
- development of innovative new products and services
- utilizing early adopters for new products, service ideas, and feedback
- decreasing the time gap between concept to introduction of the product and service
- providing products/services that have a longer operating life than competing products
- providing products/services with a low probability of failure
- focusing on regularly increasing the technical sophistication of products/services
- focusing on achieving superior product performance
- providing service with a high degree of consistency and accuracy
- responding quickly to customers' requests and problems
- clearly understanding and communicating with customers
- focusing on providing superior post-sale service quality
- developing long-term relationships with key customers
- use of premium pricing
- pricing below industry average
- using price promotions and discounts to boost sales and visibility
- selective distribution through best distributors available
- distribution through an exclusive distributor that invests in specialized selling effort or provides unique facilities
- achieving above-industry-average exposure through advertising
- generating high-quality advertising materials
- using proper media channels for advertising
- using the Internet for advertising
- using direct-mail advertising
- using integrated marketing communications programs
- using public relations effectively
- developing a highly skilled and knowledgeable sales force
- generating sales through an internal sales force
- maintaining a high salesperson-to-sales-manager ratio
- evaluation of salesperson performance based on achievement of targets or quotas
- evaluating salesperson performance based on accomplishment of prescribed behaviors
- providing support to customer contact personnel
- using "specialist" marketing personnel who direct their efforts to a well-defined set of activities