The consumer is at the center. The objective is to provide value for the customers and create lucrative customer relationships. Marketing strategy is the next step, which is the marketing logic that the company hopes to increase this value for customers and create profitable relationships. The company determines the customers it will service (segmentation as well as targeting) and also how (differentiation as well as positioning).
It determines the overall market and then breaks it down into smaller segments. It then selects those segments that are most likely to succeed and concentrates on satisfying the customers of the segments. Based on a marketing strategy, the company develops an integrated marketing strategy made from the elements. That are in its control – price, product as well as location, and promotion (the four Ps). To determine the most effective mix and strategy for marketing. The company is involved in planning, analysis implementation, and monitoring. Through these actions, the company monitors and adjusts to the players and forces that are in the marketplace.
Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy
In today’s highly competitive marketplace businesses must focus on the customer. They need to win customers over rivals and keep and increase their number by providing higher value. Before it can please clients, the business must first comprehend its needs and desires. So, effective marketing demands a thorough analysis of customers.
The companies know that they are unable to effectively serve all customers within a specific market at the very least. They don’t all serve consumers in the same manner. There are many types of consumers, with numerous requirements. Many companies are in a position to cater to certain segments better than other segments. This means that every business must segment the market to select the best segments. Also, devise strategies to profitably serve the selected segments. This requires market segmentation as well as marketing targeting, differentiation, and positioning.
Market Segmentation
The market has various types of consumers as well as products and requirements. Marketers must decide what segments provide the most opportunities. Consumers can be classified and served in a variety of ways, based on geographic or demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables. The process of splitting markets into distinct groups of consumers with different preferences needs or behavior that may require distinct products or programs is referred to as market segmentation.
A market segment is made up of people who react similarly to a specific campaign of marketing. In the automotive market, for instance, those who seek the largest, most comfortable car, regardless of cost make up one segment of the market. People who are primarily concerned with operating efficiency and price constitute a separate segment. It is difficult to design an automobile model that was the top choice for customers in both of these segments. Businesses should focus effort on meeting the unique requirements of each market segment.
Market Targeting
Once a company has established its markets, it can join one or more of them. Market targeting is the process of assessing each market segment’s appeal. And then choosing the one segment or segment that should be entered. The company must target the markets where it will effectively create the most return on investment for its customers and maintain it for a long time. A business that has limited resources could choose to only serve certain segments or niche markets. They specialize in catering to customers that their major competitors do not consider or overlook. Many companies venture into the market by serving one segment and should this prove to be effective, they expand to other segments.
Market Differentiation and Positioning
Once a business has decided what market segments it will enter. It has to decide what it is going to do to distinguish its product offerings for every segment it is targeting and what areas it intends to hold within these segments. The product’s position is where it is place for its competitors’ offerings in the minds of consumers. Marketers seek to create distinctive positioning for their products. So if a product appears as being identical to others in the marketplace, buyers are not likely to purchase it.
Positioning is the process of arranging for a product to place in an obvious, distinct, and desired position about the other brands in the mind of the target buyers. Thus marketers design positions that differentiate their products from competitors and give them the biggest advantages in the markets they target.
