Strategic marketing plan is a method which will help an organization to focus its limited marketing resources on the best opportunities to improve sales and thus achieve a sustainable competitive edge. A company’s strategic marketing plan should be able to identify and exploit all potentials marketing opportunities, irrespective of the size, geography, or any other constraints faced by the organization. The ability of a company to formulate and implement a sensible and workable marketing plan is primarily dependent on the leadership, experience, supervision, guidance and support of a senior management team. A good marketing department is one which has the right skills, talent and the right expertise. It should be capable of anticipating and solving problems and developing plans, implementing them and maintaining track of the success of the plan.
Some of the areas where an organisation should focus its efforts in order to achieve strategic marketing planning are: customer marketing mix strategy (also known as the customer-growth mix strategy), direct marketing strategies, brand positioning and corporate naming. The success of any business or company largely depends on its ability to build and maintain a good customer base and keep them for a long time. The best way to attract customers is to make their life easier or at least enjoy their dealings with the company. There are various means adopted to do so, like packaging, promotions, discounts, loyalty rewards, incentives, publicity, celebrity status, and the list goes on. A good strategic marketing plan focuses on customer satisfaction, building the confidence in the customers about the quality of products and services offered, keeping up with the latest trends and offering the latest products and technology to the customers, and above all, providing genuine and transparent service.
Marketing plan is basically an evolving process. The planning process of a strategic marketing strategy does not stop with defining goals and objectives. It continues to evolve till its execution. Moreover, a company’s strategic marketing planning process also continuously probed to identify new opportunities in the market, analyze competitors’ activities, determine the appropriate timing and method of implementation, review the performance of the marketing strategy, determine the impact of the marketing strategy on internal and external environment, and determine how to mitigate risks. The objective of a company is to make its products and services available to the end users at a reasonable price, in the right quantities, and in the most efficient ways possible.