Table of Contents
Preface
Company profile
The black and decker corporation is an American Manufacturer majoring in the production of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products and technology-based fastening systems. The company’s headquarter is in Maryland. In an attempt to maintain the market supremacy of their products, black+ Decker is committed to producing quality and durable utility tools for their customers. The company invests heavily in cutting-edge technology to increase production time and improve their standards at all times.
Task 1
Discuss the role of strategic marketing in an organization
Strategic marketing is understood to be the steps organizations take aimed at planning, developing and implementing strategies to create and maintain a competitive edge over their competitors.
Strategic marketing is of vital importance to all business organizations. This is because it highlights and sets out a path for the organization’s goals and how to achieve them.
The success or failure of any business entity lies squarely in its ability to develop and implement its strategic marketing plan. Success in business is measured through profits; a loss is evidence of failure. At the core of any strategic marketing plan is the consumer. As such, an effective marketing strategy takes into consideration the needs of consumers and purposes to address this needs effectively.
Creating and maintaining competitive advantage demands perfection in all steps of production, packaging, and delivery of goods or services to consumers. Successful business entities are constantly improving their products to keep their consumers happy and in return get referrals from satisfied customers.
Explain the process involved in Strategic Marketing
The phases involved in developing a strategic marketing plan is threefold: Planning Phase, Implementation phase, and evaluation phase.
Planning phase
Mission Statement
The departure point of developing a strategic marketing plan involves identifying the mission of the organization. The mission statement sets the bar for any planning and evaluation of an organization. A strategic marketing plan should be designed to conform to the mission statement and help the organization fulfill its mandate as per the mission statement.
Analysis
Analysis of the prevailing business environment is at the core of the process of developing a strategic marketing strategy. It offers managers and staff of the organization insights into their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Further, analysis offers insights into changes in technology, and changes in the industry.
The analysis is done using SWOT analysis which specifically addresses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to an organization with regards to the position it holds in the market. The purpose of this analysis is to help managers devise ways of countering their competition who are their primary threats and maximize their strengths. To achieve these managers must analyze their competition, research heavily on prospective customers, and identify current trends in their specific industry.
Upon completion of the SWOT analysis, managers are better placed to develop reasonable goals for the organization and ultimately develop a marketing plan that will be used to achieve the set goals.
Developing marketing and Product goals
Marketing and production are vital in addressing consumer needs. Using the results acquired from SWOT analysis, organizations should focus on developing an edge over their competitors. This is done by developing unique products that are carefully crafted and packaged to perfection. Further, the developed or improved products should be accessible, user-friendly and durable; thereby making their products, the preferred customer choice.
Employ effective marketing strategies that are tailored to impact customers to view an organization’s products as their ideal problem solver. Once customers associate with a product to solve their problems, competition is eliminated.
Identify the needs of the consumers/ target niche: once this is done organizations can develop a product or service that specifically addresses the needs of the consumers.
We can do it today.
Marketing product and Setting Goals
Marketing products and setting goals is a process of determining where an organization should focus its resources to effectively address the needs of consumers while maintaining a competitive edge over their competitors in the industry.
Marketing the products effectively demands that the organization identify their target audience and develop a marketing strategy that their audience can relate. Identifying target audience involves dividing customers into different groups and developing marketing strategies aimed at a specific consumer cluster. This division will determine the strategy to be employed to achieve an organization’s goals. Strategies available to organizations include
Price strategy: this strategy focuses on providing consumers with the best price in the market, through discounts, flexible payment periods, and credit contracts.
Distribution strategy: focuses on the delivery of product to consumers in a timely fashion.
Promotion strategy: focuses on brand awareness through marketing, advertising and sales promotion.
Production strategy: involves carefully crafting a product and packaging it to perfection. Packaging should encompass effective branding that makes the product stand out.
Implementation
Implementation is the second step in strategic marketing. Here business organizations take reasonable steps to fulfill the set-out goals. The goals of an organization as set out in the analysis phase should have developed a preliminary budget that will fund all activities of the organization.
Using the predetermined budget forecasts set out in the analysis: an organization should embark on finding the requisite funding to help them develop and/ or improve their product.Secondly, putting in place a marketing team charged with developing effective marketing strategies that drive the organization towards its goals. Thirdly, develop a schedule for all tasks, and execute the developed marketing plan.
Evaluation Phase
Evaluation is the final stage of the strategic marketing process. It involves and demands that all personnel stay true to the set-out plans. Further, the department charged with marketing is should constantly evaluate for any deviations or significant changes in the market that threaten the fruition of the set-out goals. Once done the marketing department should advise on appropriate measures that steer the organization closer to achieving its goals. Also, the marketing department should also focus on the strengths of their plan and allocate the needed resources.
Evaluate the links between corporate strategy and strategic marketing
Corporate strategy is understood to be the direction that a company intends to take; developing a corporate strategy is the responsibility of senior management. In determining the direction that a company will take, the senior management takes into consideration the current strengths of the company, their weaknesses and threats.
Based on the foregoing definition it is clear that corporate strategy and marketing strategy often coincide. While marketing strategy focus on developing, pricing and distributing products,; corporate strategy deals with overall performance and profitability of a company.
Corporate strategy
In seveloping corporate strategy senior management focuses on developing strategies that reduce losses and increase profitability. As such, they focus on debt reduction, organizational structure of the company and evaluate ways of diversifying their product to create a unique product, they also consider mergers and buying out competition, improvement of technology to the current standards in abid to reduce cost and time of production thereby increasing profit.
Marketing strategies
As the name suggests, these strategies are developed by the marketing department and approved by senior management. Marketing strategies focus on pricing, branding and distribution of products.
Links between marketing strategy and corporate strategy
Senior management has to maintain close contact with the marketing department to ensure that the marketing strategies are in line with the corporate strategies. There is a need for unity within the two strategies that is to mean that the developed marketing strategies must drive the company closer to its corporate strategy.
Task 2
Understand the tools used to develop a strategic marketing strategy
Assess the value of models used in strategic marketing planning
Businesses are ever trying to create or maintain a competitive advantage over competitors. To achieve competitive advantage over competitors business owners have to constantly develop, improve and effectively implement strategies that keep their relevance in the market.
Models used in strategic marketing
There exist various models of strategic marketing available to business entities. Each model provides tools for evaluation and developing successful marketing strategies. Effective strategies are born by employing strategy tools that offer the much-needed insights into developing strategies.
Each strategy model couples with tools aimed at addressing a particular event within an organization. These events include: strategic environment, establishing a competitive advantage, assessing strategic direction, help in the implementation of the strategy, assessing overall strategy.
Strategic planning models that address Strategic Environment
Michael Porter’s Five Forces offers insights into the economics of each industry, helping business owners to understand worthwhile investments within the industry.
Pest analysis addresses current environmental demands and the predicted changes in the demands.
Skeptic analysis: this is a fusion of strategy consultancy and pest analysis, for better environmental planning.
The lifecycle model offers insights into the general lifecycle of a specific product trend in the market. This model gives business owners a chance to address futuristic demand trends of their product.
Strategic planning models that create competitive advantage
Generic strategies address issues that pertain to lowest cost in the market, differentiation, and focus.
Value chain strategy offers insights to managers for analysis thereby creating competitive advantage through cost and differentiation.
Value disciplines strategies: addresses issues of operational excellence, customer needs and the innovation of products to meet the demands of customers.
Customer value maps: addresses the value of a particular class of customers and the desired prices
Key success factors strategy offers insights into the strengths of a business entity and ways of building on those strengths to maintain a competitive advantage.
Strategic planning models that address strategic direction
Competitive advantage matrix addresses ways of creating sustainable competitive advantage.
Bowman’s strategy clock offers insights into new markets and customer value.
AnsoffS growth matrix offers insights into existing and new customers and existing and new products as per customer demands and needs.
SWOT analysis is an effective tool to gather the effectiveness of the different strategies.
Strategic planning models that help in implementation of strategy
McKinsey 7s framework offers insights into all issues needed for effective strategic change. The Balanced Scorecard: reviews the performance of each management systems. Using these information managers know what to focus on for improved operations.
The space matrix this is effective to use from the onset of strategy planning and at the tail end.
Links between Strategic positioning and Marketing tactics
The current position of a product is the basis of making marketing tactics aimed at informing consumers of the uniqueness of their product. Positioning is understood to be what defines the product in regards to the needs of consumers and their location.
Marketing tactics deal with identification of the target audience. Once the target audience is identified, strategic positioning comes in offering insights into the buying characteristics of the target audience through segmentation.
Marketing tactics are informed by strategic position and segmentation. The marketing information should lay out strategies that thoroughly inform them on strategic positioning and segmentation; and go onto develop a message for advertisement. This message should be clear, one that the target audience can relate to and one that is precise and clear. The marketing department should employ a media that the target audience relates to.
Analyze the merits of relationship marketing in a given strategic marketing strategy
Relationship marketing involves implementing marketing strategies aimed at creating a connection between a product and brands to the consumer. These connections are created through building the trust of a consumer with regards to a product being effective.
Advantages of Relationship Marketing
Customer referrals; contented customers, often influence their friends and peers on the products to buy. As such contented customers will refer their peers to a particular brand or product that gives them satisfaction and security.
Customer feedback offers a platform to customers to address their grievances and satisfaction from a particular product or service. This information is used to implement strategies that meet consumers at their point of need.
Customer innovation offers a platform to customers to communicate any changes and advancements in a product that make it effective and useful. This information is used to improve a product to the specific demands of a customer. Thereby making customers loyal.
Consumer offers serve as an effective motivational tool to consumers to maintain their loyalty and associate with a product. Information on offers should be communicated through effective platforms.
Task 3
Strategic Marketing Techniques for Black + Decker
Use appropriate marketing techniques to ascertain growth opportunities in the air frying market
Air fryers are a recent development in the cooking appliances industry. The concept behind air fryers is based on using rapid air technology to cook food. Air fryers cook by blowing hot air on the food. This development in the cooking appliances industry has received warm reception especially from health-conscious consumers; who prefer it as compared to the traditional mode of cooking food using cooking oil.
Owing to the increase in lifestyle diseases that come with cooking food with oil, more people are turning to air fryers as their preferred cooking appliance. As such, the demand for air fryers is surging as each day passes.
Black + Decker can reap massive profits from this demand.
Pricing strategy as a Marketing strategy for Black + Decker
Economy Pricing Strategy
Owing to the increased demand for air fryers especially for domestic use, embracing economy pricing would increase sales of the black+ decker air fryers. The demand for the air fryer is not limited to commercial users or the affluent in the society. Middle-class citizens are also convinced that the air fryer is the way to go. Lowering the price would attract this consumer segment who make up the majority of citizens living in the United States. Lower prices are a catalyst for increased sales and profit.
Production and distribution strategy: there is a need to review and improve production time of black + decker air fryers. An effective price reduction strategy will increase demand for the products. The production process should be improved to develop quality and durable products. Further, distribution of the products should be effective to the extent that it meets the market demands.
Plan how to use marketing strategy options in a market
Black + Decker faces massive competition from other companies with the biggest competitor being Philips. Competition is healthy for any business, as it provides a platform for consumers to enjoy the benefit of better products at reduced prices.
In a bid to create competitive advantage Black+ Decker ought to employ the differentiation strategy.
The differentiation strategy demands to create a product that is unique and resourceful to the consumers. One of the most efficient ways of the differentiation strategy is to increase features on the black + decker air fryer that guarantee improved performance as compared to the products offered by competitors. Further, there needs to be a massive campaign aimed at informing consumers and potential consumers of the improved product and its effectiveness. The distribution of the new product should be pitch perfect. Black + Decker can also consider increasing their retailers for the product to flood the market.
The pricing of the new and improved product needs to be competitive if not lower than that of competitors.
Create appropriate strategic marketing objectives for a market
In a bid to create a competitive market advantage over competitors, Black + decker’s primary marketing objectives should be to build brand awareness through advertising, launch new products, target new consumers (Middle Class), introduce the black + decker air fryer in the global market and focus on enhancing customer relationships.
Task 4
Respond to changes in the Marketing Environment
Impact of changes in the external environment on a marketing strategy
Technology
The air fryer industry is ever evolving, this is evidenced by technological breakthroughs that are happening as each moment passes. These advancements go into the production process and have the effect of affecting the features and/ or affecting the cost of production.
Marketing strategies focus on informing a target audience of a specific product. Technological developments can make a product unfavorable very quickly.
Environmental expectations
Political leaders and consumers alike demand better product delivery using means that are environmentally friendly. Further consumers demand societal friendly strategies. These demands inform marketing strategies to the extent that marketing information should convey the environmental benefits of using a particular product.
Conduct an internal analysis to identify current strengths and weaknesses in a marketing strategy
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| The Black + Decker management is committed to new product development with new features that address the needs of consumers. | The cost of production is quite high, thereby inhibiting the possibility of reduction in the selling price |
| The management is committed to venturing into new global markets and has the resources to do so. | Fluctuations in the dollar rate make it almost impossible to standardize the selling price of black + decker air fryers in the international market |
| Black + Decker enjoys the benefit of having competent and reliable product delivery chain. | The cost of freight, especially in the international market, fluctuates irregularly. |
Propose strategic marketing responses to key emerging themes n a marketing strategy
The marketing department of Black + Decker needs to be alive to current affairs and developments in the air fryer industry. They are under a strict obligation to maintain the competitive advantage by offering responses to any changes in the industry. These responses can either be improved products or advertisement meant to discredit any propaganda that discredits their brand.
Maintaining the trust of customers is of paramount importance in a bid to dominate the current or emerging markets. Indeed the marketing strategy should always be informed by meeting the needs of consumers.
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