Reflective Essay

Reflective Essay

The strategic marketing planning

The strategic marketing planning process flows from a mission and vision statement to the selection of target markets, and the formulation of specific marketing mix and positioning objective for each product or service the organization will offer. Leading authors like Kotler present the organization as a value creation and delivery sequence. In its first phase, choosing the value, the strategist "proceeds to segment the market, select the appropriate market target, and develop the offer's value positioning. The formula - segmentation, targeting, positioning (STP) is the essence of strategic marketing." (Proctor, 2000)

This is the process that a company will follow to reach a good decision to come to carry out marketing. The objectives of the Marketing process under established considerations are that it is a system that is aimed at markets where the supply of products or services exceeds the demand. This situation is present in all sectors of the economy and is characterized by intense competition, falling prices, margins very small and difficult to grow. Under these conditions, the Department of Marketing is currently the most important within the company. "Marketing strategy" has three basic principles: - That the nature of the demand must be known beforehand. - The product or service meets consumer expectations. - That this demand should be satisfied and yield benefits. Product Development

Under this heading, we consider the following areas: - Market research. - Research and product development. - Product design. - Packaging and product completion

Without market research it would not be possible to create the product that is required in the market. Therefore many companies spend a significant budget on this preliminary activity. Further when product is developed the companies evaluate the product life cycle of the product.The life cycle of a product may vary in a few months. For example, the fashion industry and related sectors will go through these six stages. The life cycle of the product allows marketing analysts to plan their future strategies. The products in its state of maturity provide the funds necessary for product research, design and development of new ones that replaced the former.

Segmenting, targeting and positioning

After developing the product and core competencies the company conducts the segmenting process. The company breaks down the whole industry into segments that suit the resources and capabilities of the company. After selecting the segment the company further breaks that segment into sub-segments and target one or many sub-segments of the whole segment. When segmenting and targeting is done the marketers analyze the target market demographics and position the product in a way that best suits the need of the targeted consumers. (Klein, 2007)

Marketing mix

Many people confuse sales with marketing. In reality, the commercial activities are only part of the overall function of marketing and to understand this concept we introduce the term "marketing mix". The marketing mix includes a series of interrelated activities that are considered part of the marketing process. Commonly known as the four P's: - PRODUCT (product), what kind ...