Marketing Strategy: Environment Analysis and Planning Process

Posted on Apr 5, 2025 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

Environmental Monitoring Process

  • Gather information about the external environment of the organization.
  • Analyze the gathered information.
  • Predict the effect of any trends suggested by the analysis.

Environmental Monitoring Scopes

  • Company Internal Environment
  • Microenvironment
  • Macroenvironment

External Environment Factors

Marketing Factors

  • Demography: Character, size, distribution, and population growth, including minority situations.
  • Sociocultural Factors: Environmentalism, changing gender roles, health and fitness trends.
  • Political and Legal Factors: Monetary and fiscal policies, social legislation, and regulations.
  • Technology: Can give rise to new industries and impact non-technology markets.
  • Competition: Includes brand competition, substitute products, and general competition for purchasing power.
  • Economic Conditions: Business cycles (prosperity, recession, recovery).

Marketing Management Process Stages

  • Planning a marketing process.
  • Executing the marketing process.
  • Evaluating the performance of the marketing process.

Understanding Marketing Planning

Planning involves deciding now what will be done later, specifying, among other things, how and when it will be done.

Planning Fundamentals

  • Mission: A statement indicating which customers the company serves, what needs are covered, and what types of products are offered. It defines the limits of the organization’s activities.
  • Objectives: These are the expected results for the organization, meeting the following criteria:
    • Clear and specific.
    • Formulated in writing.
    • Ambitious but realistic.
    • Consistent with each other.
    • Quantitatively measurable.
    • Achievable within a specific period.
  • Strategy: A plan of action by which an organization seeks to achieve its objectives.
  • Tactics: The means by which a strategy is executed; a specific course of action.

Strategic Marketing Planning Levels

  • Strategic Planning of the Company: Defines the company’s mission, long-term goals, and strategies.
  • Strategic Marketing Planning: Sets marketing goals and strategies for the business unit or department.
  • Annual Marketing Planning: Prepares short-term plans for the organization’s major functions.

Corporate Strategy Planning Steps

  1. Define the mission of the company.
  2. Analyze the situation: Collect and study information related to specific aspects of the company.
  3. Establish specific objectives: Ensure objectives align with the company’s mission.
  4. Select strategies to achieve objectives: These are the overall action plans.

Marketing Strategy Planning Steps

  1. Situation Analysis: Determine the current marketing situation, including customers, competitors, environment, etc.
  2. Outline Marketing Objectives: Ensure marketing objectives align with overall organizational objectives.
  3. Determine Positioning and Differential Advantage:

    Positioning: Creating an image of a product relative to the competition in the minds of target customers.

    Differential Advantage: A characteristic of the product or company that distinguishes it from the competition in the customer’s mind.

    Market: A group of individuals or organizations with needs to satisfy, money to spend, and the willingness to spend it.

    Target Market: A specific market segment the company targets with its marketing plan.

  4. Design a Strategic Marketing Mix:
    • Product
    • Price
    • Promotion
    • Place (Distribution)

Annual Marketing Planning Details

This outlines the primary activities for a specific department or product for the year.

Purpose of Annual Planning

  1. Outline marketing strategies and tactics: Serves as a guide for managers’ work.
  2. Provide information for executing and evaluating the marketing plan.
  3. Indicate who is responsible for each activity.