The Strategic Marketing Plan

The strategic marketing plan should encompass three main parts:

A. The Executive Summary;
B. The presentation of the current situation through the analysis of the marketing environment;
C. The presentation of the strategic marketing proposals/propositions defined for a clear period of
time.

A. The Executive Summary

The Executive Summary contains the essential details of the strategic marketing plan. It will include
a brief description of the identified opportunities and / or threats and their strategic proposals in order for
the organization to tackle/address them.
.

B. The presentation of the current situation through the analysis of the marketing
environment

1. Presentation of the situation

a. Who are we?
b. Where are we?
c. How did we get here?

Here, the line of the business/activity has to be described. The field of activity in which the
company activates must be precisely indicated.
If the organisation is a new one, in this stage there should be mentioned the idea and the business
field (if it is a company). In this section should be given information regarding the addressed need, the
means of addressing it, the organisation and the achievements in other fields, if it is the case. In general,
this is the place where relevant information for the organisation should be mentioned along with the
prospect of success with the new idea.
If it is an organisation with a long tradition on a specific market, the main events (both
achievements and failures) of its activity within this market should be referred to. There should also be
mentioned the situation of the organisation at the moment when it considers rethinking/reformulating its
strategies.

2. Vision, mission, values, general objectives

These dimensions are established for a long period of time. They are revised from time to time,
but with a reduced frequency, since any change in any of the components has very important
repercussions on the organisation.

The vision is the dream of the person/persons involved in that particular approach. The vision, no
matter how broad it might be, should be mentioned because it represents the impetus for the whole

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endeavour. Any action (be it social or business related) has its origins in a dream/wish which represents
the trigger that sets into motion the entire process.

The mission is the implementation of the vision, in other words the mission is the means trough
which the vision is put into practice. The mission of the company has to be formulated as clearly as
possible, it should neither be too broad nor too narrow considering that it represents the message that is
sent to all the targeted publics. Formulating the mission involves providing answers to the following
questions: Whom do we address to? What do we offer? How do we offer? Where do we offer?

The values of an organisation are its landmarks that can contribute to the implementation of the
mission. They are communicated to the target public/publics, but nonetheless they represent a very
important coordinate in conducting the business; e.g.: speed, perseverance, customer orientation.

The general objectives are the ones that are set by the owners or shareholders for the long run
(e.g.: 5 years). They arise from the mission. Usually, they can have three kinds of dimensions: financial,
production and a marketing one. The most commonly encountered general objectives are the financial
ones, e.g.: return on investment within 5 years, reaching a turnover of 1 million Euro within 5 years;
obtaining a 500,000 Euro profit in 5 years and so on. These are the goals of those who take risks and
invest.

3. Analysis of the marketing environment

a. The external environment:
i. Macroenvironment- natural environment, economic environment, technological
environment, demographic environment, social environment, political
environment, cultural environment, institutional environment, global environment
ii. Microenvironment- clients, competitors, product suppliers, services providers,
labour force suppliers, internet service providers, public authority.
iii. Porter’s Five forces model:
1. Competitors with similar products
2. Threat of new entrants
3. Bargaining power of suppliers
4. Bargaining power of clients
5. Threat of substitute products

b. The internal environment:

i. The analysis based on the functions of the organisation: production, research and
development, sales, marketing, financial, human resources
ii. Organisational chart
iii. Relations between: departments, management and operational staff

4. SWOT Analysis
a. Identifying the opportunities and threats in the environment
b. Outlining the strengths and weaknesses

5. Segmentation
a. The data is obtained through the means of customer research

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b. The segmentation criteria must be relevant to the company’s offer.
1. The main four groups for consumer market are:
i. Geographic: location, climate, urbane density
ii. Demographic: age, sex, education, income, occupation, religion, race, family size,
family life cycle, nationality, social class
iii. Psychographic: values, personality, life style
iv. Behavioural: knowledge about the product/service, attitudes, use/utilisation,
loyalty, the step in the process of buying, buying opportunities and buying
benefits

2. For business markets, the following criteria groups are addressed:

i. Demographic criteria: Market served (what kind of business market should the
company address?); Company size (how large should the targeted companies be?)
Company location (what geographical areas should be addressed?)
ii. Operational criteria: Technology (on what kind of technology used by the clients
should the company fold?); Type of user (should the company address high-
frequency users, average-frequency users, low-frequency users or nonusers?
Customer’s capacities (should customers with substantial needs be addressed or
the ones with fewer needs?)
iii. Purchasing/buying criteria: Organising the procurement/acquisition function
(should companies with a well structured procurement function be addressed?);
Power structure (what kind of company should be addressed? technical, financial,
etc); Nature of existing relations (which companies should be approached? the
ones with which the company has the tightest relations or the most attractive);
General procurement policies (which companies should be approached? the ones
that prefer the leasing? Service rendering contracts? System acquisitions? Sealed
envelope bidding?); Acquisition criteria (should companies that value quality be
approached? or the ones valuing service? Or the ones valuing the price?).
iv. Situational criteria: Emergency (which companies should be approached -
companies that request for their deliveries to be made with normal speed or
companies that opt for fast services?); Specific applications (which companies
should be approached - those that use only some components of the company’s
offer or those that use the whole offer?); Order size (which companies should be
approached - those that make small orders or large orders?)
v. Personal criteria: Seller-buyer similarities (which companies should be
approached - those that present similarities with respect to people and seller
related value?); Attitudes towards risk (which companies should be approached –
those that take risks or those that do not?); Loyalty (should companies that show
high loyalty towards the suppliers be approached?)
3. For the international markets, the following criteria groups are addressed:
i. geographic criteria- grouping the countries on areas
ii. economic criteria
iii. political and legal criteria
iv. cultural criteria

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6. Targeting
a. General approach
i. Undifferentiated- approaching the entire market in a unitary way (with a single
offer)
ii. Differentiated- different approach for each segment identified
b. Specialised approach
i. Addressing more segments (niches)
ii. Addressing one segment (niche)
iii. Addressing each component of the market

7. Positioning
a. The category that includes the offer must be unambiguously indicated. The category
should obviously descend from the business line.
b. The goal is the formulation of the competitive advantage
c. Porter’s model can be used. In this sense, one of the following strategies can be used:
i. General strategy- of approaching a consistent share of the market -if not the entire
market-, through either a low cost or differentiation strategy developed on the
characteristics of the offer and interactions between the company and the client
(communication, distribution)
ii. Specific strategy- of approaching small share of the market through a strategy
focused either on a low cost or
d. Similarity and Differentiation Points should be considered
i. Similarity Points- are those advantages that can also be found in the offers of the
competition and that can be assessed by the customers through comparison
ii. Differentiation Points- are those advantages that can only be found within the
offer of the company

C. The presentation of the strategic marketing proposals/propositions defined for a

clear period of time

8. Determining the length of time and the budget of the strategic marketing plan
a. These two dimensions represent the prerequisites for the strategic marketing plan
formulation
b. They dictate future objectives and possible alternative strategies
c. In the current economic conditions, a strategic marketing plan should not consider a
period exceeding 5 years. A strategic marketing plan should be prepared for a 3-5-year
period.

9. Marketing Objectives- medium term:

a. Have to be SMART:
i. Simple
ii. Measurable
iii. Attainable
iv. Realistic
v. Time-framed

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 b. They can be quantitative
i. Turnover
ii. Market share
iii. Awareness (Notoriety)
iv. Client base etc.

c. They can be qualitative

i. Image

10. Strategic areas of major interest to the organisation

a. Determining the general strategy based on resources and market potential:
i. Using Ansoff’s matrix:
1. Withdrawal from the market, market consolidation and market penetration
(existing products-existing markets)
2. Market development (existing products-new markets)
3. Product development (new products-existing markets)
4. Diversification (new products-new markets)
ii. Choosing the strategic alternative after performing the SWOT analysis
1. Aggressive Strategy (strengths-opportunities)
2. Diversification strategy (strengths-threats)
3. Offensive strategy (weaknesses-opportunities)
4. Defensive strategy (weaknesses-threats)

b. Determining specific strategies for the marketing mix in order to highlight the
competitive advantage, taking into consideration the following crucial areas for the
activity of any organisation:
i. The product lifecycle (introduction, growth, maturity, decline)
ii. Creating/developing/maintaining the brand
iii. Creating/developing/maintaining strong relations with the customers/clients
iv. Creating/developing/maintaining strong relations with the partners

11. Designing the strategic coordinates for each component of the marketing mix:
a. Product
i. Offer
1. The size and the structure of the product range
a. Adding new products/services or new product/service lines
b. Giving up some products/services or entire product lines or service
lines
c. Maintaining the size and structure range

2. The degree of product renewal (innovation)

a. Introducing new products/services
b. Modifying existing products
c. Maintaining the degree of novelty

3. The quality level of the products

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 a. Qualitative adaptation
b. Qualitative differentiation
c. Qualitative stability

ii. The brand

1. New brand (new brand-new product)
2. Brand expansion (existing brand-new product)
3. Product line expansion (existing brand-existing product)
4. Offensive/Defensive brand (new brand –existing product)

b. Price
i. Strategies for setting the prices
1. Strategies based on the costs of producing and selling the products
2. Price strategies for new offers
3. Strategies based on the prices of the competition

ii. Strategies for modifying the prices over time

1. Strategies that consider the product life cycle
2. Strategies that consider periodic price discounts for promotional purposes

iii. Offensive/defensive strategies towards/against the actions of the external

environment components
1. Offensive strategies towards the competition’s behaviour
2. Defensive strategies against the restrictions imposed by the public
authority

c. Promotion
i. Corporate communication strategies
1. With a sole target
2. With multiple targets
ii. Commercial communication strategies
1. With a single object
2. With multiple objects
iii. Hybrid strategies

d. Distribution
i. Distribution channel
1. The number of channels used
a. Single channel
b. Multiple channels - multimarketing or multichannel marketing

2. Channel size
a. Direct distribution
b. Distribution through short channels (a single intermediary)
c. Distribution through long channels (two or more intermediaries)

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 3. The intensity of the distribution
a. Intensive distribution- it seeks broad market coverage
b. Selective distribution- it is done through a small number of
distributors which are usually specialised in selling particular
products
c. Exclusive distribution- with a sole intermediary that has
exclusivity in selling the product

4. The company’s degree of participation in distribution

a. Through itself
b. Through intermediaries
c. Through both options

5. The degree of control related to the channel intermediaries

a. Full control (e.g. fully vertically integrated systems)
b. Inexistent control
c. High, average and low control (concerning: inventories, sales,
selling conditions etc)

6. The degree of elasticity of the distribution apparatus (technical-material

basis, commercialisation forms etc)
a. High flexibility
b. Average flexibility
c. Low flexibility

ii. Logistics
1. Warehousing
2. Inventory management
3. Transportation
4. Logistics information Management

12. Monitoring the fulfilment of the objectives and strategic plan review
a. The monitoring is done annually
b. The following are being monitored: projecting, applying and fulfilling the objectives that
were set in the tactic marketing plans framework required to be constructed based on the
strategic marketing plan
c. Environmental conditions are monitored