The document discusses key aspects of developing a strategic marketing plan, including: 1) Conducting a situation analysis to identify problems, opportunities, threats and understand internal strengths and weaknesses. 2) Setting objectives and determining marketing strategies for products, pricing, placement, promotion. 3) Evaluating alternatives and making decisions on recommendations and implementing the strategies while monitoring their effectiveness. 4) Considering factors like customer demand, competition, trends in the political, economic, socio-cultural and technological environment. The document provides an overview of the strategic marketing planning process and issues that marketers need to address at each stage to develop an effective plan.

1. Aijaz Shahid
aijazshahid@gmail.com
fb: directmarketing1
03315575501

2. Chapter-2
Direct Marketing Strategies

3. Nature of Strategic
Marketing
Strategic thinking deals with the formulation and implementation of
a set of decisions, in order to realize a sustainable competitive
advantage (manifested in long-term above average profitability).
The characteristics of successful strategies are…..
ö Clear objectives (e.g., how well does everybody in your
company know what the goals are? how consistent are these
goals across the company?)
ö Good understanding of the external environment (e.g., how
solid is your insight in what the customers want, the competition
aspires, the context may have in store for you?)

4. ö Profound appreciation of internal strengths and weaknesses
(e.g., when was the last time you made a rational analysis of your
resources vis-à-vis those of the competition?)
ö Effective implementation (e.g., once a decision has been taken,
how good is the company in making everybody walk and talk in a
coordinated direction?)
Source:
http://quizlet.com

5. Sustainable
Competitive
Edge

6. ö A long-term competitive advantage that is not easily duplicable or
surpass able by the competitors.
ö Competitive advantage is defined as the strategic advantage one
business entity has over its rival entities within its competitive industry.
ö Examples: Easy Paisa, Orient Entertainer, Volvo Car etc……….
Source: Wikipedia

7. Steps to Create a
Competitive Edge ?
Source: Youtube

8. The Strategic
marketing planning
process

9. Situation Analysis Problems, Opportunities, and
Threats
ö Extent of Demand
ö Problems
ö Nature of Demand ö Opportunities
ö Threats
ö Strategy Analysis
Objectives
ö Life Cycle Stage
Alternatives
ö Macro-Environmental Trends ö Marketing Alternatives
ö Evaluation of Alternatives
ö International Issues
Decision
ö Strengths and Weaknesses ö Recommendations
ö Implementation
ö Nature of Competition ö Monitoring

10. Extend of Demand
Size & Potential of Global Market
Size & Potential of Regional Market
Size & Potential of National/Local Markets
e.g Actual Size and Potential of;
ö Beverages Products,
öHygiene Products
öAviation Market Size etc

11. Nature of Demand
Segmentation Decision Making
ö Identification of Segments ö Who, What, Where, Why,
When make decisions ?
ö Reviewing of Segment’s
Demographics, ö Factors that buyer consider
Psychological before making decision
characteristics etc
ö Frequency of purchase
ö What key Competitors are decision made or repeated
covering the Segment and
how they have segmented ö Who Influence the decision
it
makers

12. Strategy Analysis

13. Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy is a process that allow an organization to
concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to
increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. *
Marketing strategy includes all basic and long-term activities in
the field of marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic
initial situation of a company and the formulation, evaluation and
selection of market-oriented strategies and therefore contribute to
the goals of the company and its marketing objectives. *
ö Does firm have an integrated marketing strategy ?
ö Is it made up of individual product, price, promotion and distribution
strategies ?
ö Is the role selected for each marketing mix element with the overall
program objectives
ö Are adequate resources available to carry out marketing strategy ?
ö Are resources committed to target markets according to the importance
of each ?
Source: Wikipedia *

14. Product Strategy
Product strategy is focused on determining what features to
invest in developing. Strategy is more than just a set of plans. As
a product manager, your job is to analyze the results of those
decisions on an ongoing basis to ensure your plans are on
track.*
ö Is the product mix geared to the needs of the firm seeks to address for
each product market?
ö What branding strategy to be used
ö How to position the brand against competitors
ö The firm need to evaluate the product offer and performance on regular
basis
ö If necessary, firm need to review and make decisions regarding any
addition, deletions and/or modifications according to market feed back
*Source:
brandingstretegyinside

15. Packaging Strategy
The design of your packaging determines if your product will make it
into the shopping cart or not. In every product category, perfumes
and apparel to laundry soap and toilet paper, successful packaging
design is about connecting emotionally. If the product packaging
doesn’t reach out and instantly connect with the consumer, it’s game
over.*
Functional Aspect
» Safety features such as for preservation of Milk and Juices
in Tetra Packs etc.
» Carrying (Such as handles on cooking oil bottles)
» It must be easy to remove
» Packaging should promote your product's benefits and
reinforce your brand.
Aesthetic Aspect
» The packaging "must stand out from the crowd" and be
different from your competitors.
» Design, Appearance, Outer look, Color Scheme etc *Source:
brandingstretegyinside

16. Pricing Strategy
Pricing strategies for products or services encompass three
main ways to improve profits. These are that
ö The business owner can cut costs
ö or sell more,
ö or find more profit with a better pricing strategy.
When costs are already at their lowest and sales are hard to find,
adopting a better pricing strategy is a key option to stay viable.*
ö How do the firm’s price strategy and tactics compare to those of its
competition?
ö Does price play an active or passive role in product or service positioning
?
ö The firm must understand the Buyer’s price sensitivity for a given product
?
*Source: Wikipedia

17. Distribution Strategy
It's imperative to know how you will satisfy the demand for your
product once you have created desire in the hearts of your
consumers. Planning your product distribution strategy should be
considered during the product development stage.
ö What distribution means and ways to adopt?
ö How well does each distribution alternative reach its target market ?
ö How to manage each distribution alternative?
ö What improvements needed ?
ö Costs to reach customers… is it acceptable ?
ö Time to reach customers… is customer satisfied ?
ö Handling of product during transit

18. Promotional Strategy
There are many different types of promotional strategies a company
can implement, and promotional products are just one of them. You
need to have complete campaign and strategy in place.
ö Pull Strategy
A “push” promotional strategy makes use of a company's sales force and
trade promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product.
ö Push Strategy
A “pull” selling strategy is one that requires high spending on advertising and
consumer promotion to build up consumer demand for a product.
ö What promotional tool/alternative to be used ?
ö Go for cost effective alternatives
ö How effectively DM tool (Brochure, catalogue etc) is communicating message
?

19. "Taking the product to the customer"
Examples of push tactics
öTrade show promotions to encourage retailer demand
öDirect selling to customers in showrooms or face to face
öNegotiation with retailers to stock your product
öEfficient supply chain allowing retailers an efficient supply
öPackaging design to encourage purchase
öPoint of sale displays
""Getting the customer to come to you"
Examples of pull tactics
öAdvertising and mass media promotion
öWord of mouth referrals
öCustomer relationship management
öSales promotions and discounts

20. Life Cycle stage
Make an explicit assumption about, where a product or service is in
its life cycle? Four basic stages—introduction, growth, maturity, and
decline—through which a successful product progresses.

21. This might refresh u!!!

22. Macro
Environmental
Trends

24. Socio-Cultural
Environment
The Social-cultural environment is made up of institutions and other forces that
affect society’s basic values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors. Certain
social-cultural characteristics can affect marketing decision-making.
Gender Roles
Religious Conservatism Social Taboos
Family Structure
Personal Choices
Changing Life Styles
Consuming Patterns
Changing Demographics
Source: Google

25. Demographic Environment
Demography is the study of human populations in terms of size, density,
location, age, sex, race, occupation, and other statistics.
Demographic trends are constantly changing. Some interesting ones are..
Source: Google

26. Political and Legal
Environment
The legal & political environment includes laws, government agencies, and
pressure groups that influence and limit various organizations and individuals in
a given society.
ö Governments develop public policy to guide commerce--sets of laws and
regulations limiting business for the good of society as a whole.
ö Almost every marketing activity is subject to a wide range of laws and regulations.
Some trends in the political environment include:
Source: Google

27. Technological
Environment
The technological environment includes forces that create new
technologies, creating new product and market opportunities.
ö Technology is perhaps the most dramatic force shaping our
destiny
ö New technologies create new markets and opportunities
ö The time between idea, invention, and commercialization is
decreasing
ö There seems to be almost unlimited opportunities being
developed daily. Consider the expanding fields of health care,
the space shuttle, robotics, and biogenetic industries.
ö The challenge is not only technical but also commercial--to make
practical, affordable versions of products.
ö The use of data bases is the wave of the future in direct marketing

28. Economic Environment
ö Global economic environment is undergoing a dramatic transformation
ö World wide technological change is resulting in more worker productivity
and less need of workers, causing massive social and economic
dislocations
Source: Google

29. Competitive Environment
The best performing company will be the one that is strong on what customers value
and that can sustain the differential advantage of its competencies over time.
Source: Google

30. International issues
Direct Marketers needs to be vigilant about changes in international
markets opportunities, including shifts in demand and international
competitive trends

31. What issues keep marketers awake at
night?
Source: Youtube

32. Strengths and Weaknesses
ő Marketing Skills
ő Production Skills
ő Management Skills
ő Financial Skills
ő Research and Development Skills
Nature of Competition
ő Marketers must understand how buyers evaluate alternative
products and services relative to their needs by considering
what factors in a market are critical to success and whether
the firm is strong in those areas

33. Objectives
ő Quantifiable Behavioral Objectives
Strategic objectives are invariably behavioral. They are concerned with
an immediate, quantifiable response such as an order for a product, a
request for information, or a sales call. This should be specific about
actionable results: an increase in the number of orders or the number
of units sold. With these levels set a program can be evaluated as to
whether the objectives are being met.
ő Unquantifiable Non Behavioral Objectives
Non behavioral objectives include product image enhancements or
attitudinal changes.

34. Alternatives
Alternatives are the strategic options or actions that appear
to be viable solution to the problem a firm identifies in
strategic marketing plan.
ö Marketing Alternatives
Direct Marketing alternatives should exemplify the result of making well
supported and well reasoned marketing decisions. Generally if the
situation analysis is strong; if the problems, opportunities and threats
are well defined; the objectives are well stated; and if the alternatives
are logically determined and supported , the result should be a good
(and defensible) decision.
ö Evaluation of Alternatives
The 1st test of any marketing alternative is whether or not it is
reasonable. The financial analysis of alternatives is critical aspect of
any strategy evaluation because the goal of all direct marketing
activities is financial. Each alternative should address the overall
strategy and related marketing mix and program decisions (along
with marketing objectives and target market selections) to show
that the alternative was seriously considered.

35. Decision
The last part of developing the strategic marketing plan involves
decision making based on the analysis of the firm and its products
and/or services. It has two parts 1-Recommendations and 2- issues
involves in Implementation and monitoring.
ő Recommendations
The marketeers should avoid recommending a course of action
beyond a firm’s means. No organization can possibly pursue all the
strategies that could potentially benefit it. The real test for a strategy
decision is how reasonable the strategy appears to those who
review and evaluate it. Does it appear to be based on sound
assumptions? Are the expectations for results realistic? Are the
resources needed for strategy available ? Is it the best option for
how those resources can be used ? Are the mechanisms in place to
implement and monitor the strategy ?

36. ő Implementation
The implementation section contains the marketing plan
specifics, including all elements in the marketing mix,
assigned tasks, and resource allocations. The
implementation plan shows that the decisions are both
possible and practical.
ő Monitoring
The monitoring part of the decision section should address
strategy and control issues. The aim is to identify what
monitoring and control systems to use when implementing
the strategy. Direct marketing is particularly good at strategy
and program monitoring because It allows the firm to know
who responded to an offer and under what circumstances.

37. Thank You