Marketing Planning an Implementation
Introduction
Different business organizations give importance to focusing on how it can successfully penetrate the market in terms of providing their consumers with their needed products or services. With the fast-changing world today due to the advancement of science, communication and technology, consumers have the access to the changes happening in the environment. In using the computers and the Internet, consumers and business organizations as well, can interact right away with one another in relation to the products and services being rendered. Furthermore, consumers are able to demand from business organizations to compensate the value of their money. This pressures business organizations to continuously improve on their products and services for the benefit of the consumers, and most especially to benefit from the trade. This is also the reason why most business organizations invest and thoroughly fund their Research and Development System for the purpose of improvement, innovation and invention.
With the increase of the demand of consumers and their ability to topple a business organization in the market today, many business organizations device and think off ways on how to maintain a good reputation and make their products and services marketable. This involves the concepts of marketing strategies, which help different business organizations to carefully evaluate, plan, construct, and implement tactics in making sure their success in the market. These strategies enable business organizations to “stay alive” and attract more or new consumers to patronize their offered products and services. With the changes happening in the Technology Age, the role of computers and the Internet is crucial and is deeply involved in constructing and implementing effective marketing strategies.
This paper discusses the two concepts in marketing, namely strategy and strategic planning. It talks about their meaning, their differences and their similarities. This paper also gives emphasis on the factors or areas essential in doing and implementing effective marketing strategies, and its significance in the objectives of business organizations to market their goods and services.
Definitions of Strategy and Strategic Planning
In a glance, the concept of strategy and strategic planning maybe just the same, however, taking a closer look and applying their definitions to a broader concept of marketing, these two words or ideas can be defined separately. They can be applied to different concepts and used in a variety of ways. For its general definition, strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, as differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand, and is now commonly used in different fields such as in business, games or entertainment, economics, military, trading, technology and marketing (2006). For being very useful, the term strategy can be heard in everyday conversations to describe and device plans of action in different situations. Strategy also refers to plans carefully thought-of in achieving goals or objectives.
In terms of marketing, the concept of strategy has a deeper meaning and application. It has been reported that a business organization must critically consider how the organization will accomplish its goals, and this is possible by using a strategy, which practically answers the question ‘how’ ( 2003). Strategies are simply a set of actions that enable an organization to achieve results, or are a way of comparing the organization’s strengths with the changing environment in order to get and idea of how best to complete or serve client needs (2006).
In addition, it has been reported that there are three different categories of strategies, namely, organizational, programmatic, and functional, where their differences lie on the focus of their strategy (2003):
Organizational strategy outlines the planned avenue for organizational development, such as collaborations, earned income, selection of businesses, mergers and others. Programmatic strategy addresses how to develop, manage and deliver programs, such as to market a prenatal care service to disadvantages expectant mothers by providing information and intake services in welfare offices. Functional strategies articulate how to manage administration and support needs that impact the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness, such as developing a financial system that provides accurate information using a cash accrual method.
Moreover, it follows the creation and affirmation of the organization’s purpose statement, environmental and program data collection and analysis, and identification of critical issues (2003). It is essential that the construction of a strategy follow the specific order, and provides the purpose statement, which is the statement of the organization’s ultimate goal, and provides the direction to which the strategies should ultimately lead (2003). The external market data and program evaluation results provide critical data to support strategy development, for without this information and insight, the organization’s strategies will not be in alignment with or effective in the marketplace (2003). The critical issues list serves as the specific focus and framework for the activities of the organization and the pattern of these activities (2003).
In addition, a good strategy helps a business focus on the target markets it can serve best (2006), and serves as a foundation or basis for an effective marketing or business plan. Its careful evaluation also determines the success or the downfall of the business organization in the market.
In relation to strategy is the concept of strategic planning. It has been reported that strategic planning is a management tool, which is used for one purpose only, that is to help an organization to do a better job of focusing its energy to ensure that members of the organization are working hard toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization’s direction in response to a changing environment (2003). To put it simply, strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future (2003), and determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it is going to get there and how it will know if it got there or not (1999). In short, strategic planning focuses on achieving long-term goals, which would bring the business organizations opportunity to grow and profit respectively.
It has been reported that entrepreneurs and business managers are often so preoccupied with immediate issues that they lose sight of their ultimate objectives, making a business review or preparation of a strategic plan a virtual necessity (2006). Devising a strategic plan cannot ensure the success of a business organization in the market in terms of sales or profit, but making one will surely help to keep track on the company’s goals or objectives. This is also to remind the employees and the owners of the reasons of putting up and working in the business, which are to serve the consumers and to profit from the trade.
- Several characteristics of a strategic plan were mentioned:
- Serve as a framework for decisions or for securing support or approval
- Provide a basis for more detailed planning
- Explain the business to others in order to inform, motivate and involve
- Assist benchmarking and performance monitoring
- Stimulate change and become building block for succeeding plans.
These characteristics will serve as guides in making a sound strategic plan for making or constructing long-term goals for the business organization. Similarly, these characteristics can help evaluate and examine existing goals to make room for improvement.
It has been reported that there are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning, where its development depends on the nature of the organization’s leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organization’s environment, size of the organizations, expertise of planners, and many more (1999). Some of the strategic planning models include goals-based, issues-based, and organic.
Goals-based planning is probably the most common model for strategic planning and starts with focus on the organization’s mission, vision or values, goals to work toward the mission, strategies to achieve the goals, and action planning ( 1999).
Issues-based strategic planning often starts by examining issues facing the organization, strategies to address those issues, and the action plans corresponding to the strategic plan (1999).
Organic strategic planning might start by articulating the organization’s vision and values and then action plans to achieve the vision while adhering to those values (1999). Plans may vary in length, ranging from a year or so into the future, and has a wide range of scope and length of report, from five to eight pages long or longer (1999).
Differences of Strategy from Strategic Planning
From the definitions of the two concept discussed above, it can be deduced that the concept of strategy is much simpler than the concept of strategic planning in relation to marketing. More often than not, strategy relates to making short-term goals, while strategic planning is involved in making long-term goals. An example of a strategic plan would be a plan of a business organization to renovate the entire structure of their building. This situation involves careful evaluation and meticulous planning on when to push through with the renovation, what materials to use, what new structure must be built, how many workers are needed, calculating the total cost of the budget, how long is the renovation, where to relocate the employees and other concerns. This matter involves strategic planning, which is necessary for the achievement of goals. In making a strategy, it involves immediate action, so planning to promote anti-abortion campaigns by giving out flyers can be an example.
Another difference is in terms of the physical construction. Constructing a strategic plan might be a tedious task involving the use of research and writing. (1999) reports, that some plans are five to eight pages long, while others can be considerably longer. This fact can give us an idea that the length of a strategic plan depends on the kind of proposal, its objectives, and the persons to be presented upon by the plan. In contrast, constructing a strategy is relatively shorter, and writing is not even necessary.
From this, it can be deduced that doing a strategic plan is more complicated than making a simple strategy. A strategy could be as simple as an immediate plan of action in response to a stimulus, while a strategic plan is careful process involving many key factors.
It has been reported that strategic planning is a process because it involves preparing the best way to respond to the circumstances of the organization’s environment, whether or not its circumstances are known in advance, for being strategic means being clear about the organization’s objectives, being aware of the organization’s resources, and incorporating both into being consciously responsive to a dynamic environment (2003). At the same time, this process is disciplined in that it calls for a certain order and pattern to keep it focused and productive (2003). These are the reasons why strategic planning is essential in business organizations. Construction of effective and efficient strategic plans obviously sets the pace of business organizations, increases its productivity, and determines its success in the market.
The focus of a strategic plan is usually on the entire organization, while the focus of a strategy is on a particular product, service or program (1999). This leads us to reiterate the idea that making a strategic plan involves long-term goals. This involves the development and the improvement of the whole business organization, giving importance on the performance of its employees and the over all profit produced from the trade. Constructing a strategy would involve making short-term goals in terms of improving a product or service. In using this, it would improve the sales of the company and lead to the success of the business organization as a whole.
Similarities of Strategy and Strategic Planning
Although the concept of strategy and strategic planning presents a number of differences, they also have similarities, in which they can be used interchangeably to give the business organization the edge in the market. Both the concept of strategy and strategic planning involves intentionally setting goals or choosing a desired future and developing an approach to achieving those goals (2003). These goals being set by a business organizations serve as the driving force to achieve success in market penetration, for without goals, there will no purpose for an organization to stay in the business.
Another similarity is that both have focus on their objectives. Without focus or concentration, it would be difficult for business organizations to perform a variety of tasks. Focus enables the organization to concentrate or prioritize more important and urgent goals. This trait gives the business organization the edge to accomplish different tasks in different periods.
Another similarity is that both raises a sequence of questions that helps planners examine experience, test assumptions, gather and incorporate information about the present, and anticipate the environment in which the organization will be working in the future (2003). Similarly, both become processes concerning fundamental decisions and actions because choices must be made in order to answer the sequence of questions mentioned (2003). Because it is impossible to do everything that needs to be done in this world, both concepts imply that some organizational decisions and actions are more important that others and much of that lies in making the tough decisions about what is most important to achieving organizational success (2003).
Similarly, both concepts when used by business organizations employ visualization of consequences or results. This is important for business organizations must anticipate the problems and crises that will come their way to become prepared in devising solutions. Visualization is also necessary in terms of competing with other business organizations. This trait enables the company to become equipped with ideas and solutions to improve their goods and services.
Both the concepts of strategy and strategic planning can be complex, challenging, and even messy (2003). However, both are very useful in achieving success, rendering service to the consumers and profiting from the trade. These entail a display of intelligence and thinking abilities from the participation of the players in the organization, and test their patience and skills in providing solutions to problems. Constructing strategies and strategic planning serve as an evaluation to the performance of the company and its employees, and the share of the responsibilities of different factors in the system. This also serve as a gauge on how the company is performing in the market, seeing how effective the company’s existing strategies, and if the company profits from the trade.
Developing an Effective Strategic Marketing Plan
In constructing an effective strategic plan, it must be kept in mind that different areas or factors must be given emphasis. It has been reported that there are five steps in making a strategic plan (2003), and these steps covers the areas that must be focused upon. These steps are only recommendations, and thoughtful and creative planners can add more details for a more elegant presentation in order to develop a strategic plan that best suits their organization (2003).
1. Getting Ready. While a number of issues must be addressed in assessing readiness, the determination essentially comes down to whether an organization’s leaders are truly committed to the effort, and whether they are able to devote the necessary attention to the “big picture”. If the organization is ready to begin strategic planning, it must perform five tasks to pave the way for an organized process, namely, to identify specific issues or choices that the planning process should address, to clarify roles, to create a planning committee, to develop an organizational profile, and to identify the information that must be collected to help make sound decisions (2003).
2. Articulating Mission and Vision. A mission statement must communicate the essence of an organization to the reader. An organization’s ability to articulate its mission indicates its focus and purposefulness. A mission statement typically describes an organization in terms of its purpose (why the organization exists, and what it seeks to accomplish), business (the main method or activity through which the organization tries to fulfill this purpose), and values (the principles or beliefs that guide an organization’s members as they pursue the organization’s purpose).
A vision statement represents an image of what success will look like. With both the mission and vision statements, an organization has taken an important step towards creating a shared, coherent idea of what is strategic planning for (2003).
3. Assessing the Situation. Part of strategic planning is thinking and management, awareness of resources and an eye to the future environment, so that an organization can successfully respond to the changes in the environment. Situation assessment means obtaining current information about the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and performance-information that will highlight the critical issues that the organization faces (2003).
This includes a variety of concerns, such as funding issues, program opportunities, changing regulations or needs in the client population. The products of this step include a database of quality information that can be used to make decisions; and a list of critical issues, which demand a response from the organization (2003).
4. Developing Strategies, Goals, and Objectives. Strategies are the broad approaches to be taken, and the goals and objectives are the general and specific results to be sought. Strategies, goals, and objectives may come from individual inspiration, group discussion, formal decision-making techniques, and many others, but the bottom line is that, in the end, the leadership agrees on how to address the critical issues (2003).
This can take considerable time and flexibility, and discussions at this stage frequently will require additional information or a reevaluation of conclusions reached during the situation assessment. It is even possible that new insights will emerge which change the thrust of the mission statement. It is important that planners are not afraid to go back to an earlier step in the process and take advantage of available information to create the best possible plan. The product of this step is an outline of the organization’s strategic directions, containing the general strategies, long-term goals, and specific objectives of its response to critical issues (2003).
5. Completing the Written Plan. This step essentially involves putting all the information down on paper. This is the time to consult with a team, or planning committee to determine whether the document can be translated into operating plans, and to ensure that the plan answers key questions about priorities and directions in sufficient detail to serve as a guide (2003). This is the time for revisions of the plan to further address the conflicts. Writing an effective strategic plan would also help inform other employees and can ask their opinions regarding new issues and conflicts.
Conclusion
The effectiveness of the two important concepts in marketing, namely, strategy and strategic planning, determine the success of business organizations in the market. Strategy is a plan of action used to achieve a particular goal or objective. This concept is commonly used in short-term goals, and is involved in immediate plan of action. On the other hand, strategic planning is a management tool, which is also a process of producing fundamental decisions and actions that are crucial to a business organization. Both the concepts have differences and similarities, but are important likewise to the function of an organization.
In developing an effective strategic plan, five steps can be used as a guide: making sure that the organization is ready for the challenge in making a strategic plan, expressing a mission and a vision statement, evaluating the situation of the organization, developing strategies, goals and objectives, and constructing the written plan. These steps only serve as guides, but still can be assessed and detailed to suit the needs and requirements of the business organization.
In conclusion, both the concepts have their own uses in a business organization. These are important to achieve the short-term or long-term goals of an organization, carefully evaluating the use of decision-making tools and marketing concepts for the benefit of the business. It is helpful in assessing and improving the existing goals that have been already implemented, and especially in making new ones. The significance of these concepts must not be taken for granted, for they can offer success to a business organization if used properly and carefully.
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