Introduction
Companies in different industries are adopting marketing strategies that aid them achieve uniqueness and difference from their competitors. At an age where companies experience stiff intra-industry competition, it is imperative that their marketing managers be regularly involved in the development of distinct strategies that help them acquire a comparative advantage over their competitors. The whole process of adopting unique marketing strategies to attract a certain target market is called strategic marketing. According to Wilson & Galligan (2012), strategic marketing refers to all activities undertaken by a company to differentiate itself from other players in the same industry in the marketplace. Strategic marketing gives a firm a unique advantage to a firm in the market because clients identify with the organization’s products with ease.
For example, it can help a company gain a larger market share, increase the profit margin levels, or introduce a new product. With the presence of bigger and more dominant businesses in the industry such as Macy’s and Nordstrom, it is paramount that the company develops an effective marketing strategy. Such an approach will enable it to win a significant market share and propel it to the success it enjoyed when it specialized in low-end products. Shifting the marketing strategies from low end to high products will require an overhaul of the company’s previously adopted marketing strategies. The view arises from the fact that there is a significant distinction between the two types of products. Notably, high end products attract high paying customers who establish a loyal relationship with the company’s brand. Having been recruited as the marketing consultant for the company, this paper will discuss the new marketing strategies that the company will use to effect the shift in product focus.
Market-Driven Strategies for the Company
The intense competition from enterprises that produce similar goods and services prompt a company to develop market-oriented policies to enable it to not only survive the competition but also make profits. For the case of our company that seeks to shift its focus from offering low-end products to high-end products, it is imperative that the marketing department focuses on understanding the market. Determining the characteristics of the market, which intrinsically means identification of the needs and wants of the clients is an important factor in determining the success of any organizational marketing campaign (Chernev, 2014). Most organizations in the modern day focus on understanding the market and its customers so that they can gain a competitive advantage over their key competitors.
As such, this is called market-driven strategy. As opposed to the simple market driven strategies in promoting low-end products such as price discounts and advertising, luxurious goods require the development and establishment of a combination of calculated policies to help the company win the loyalty of the high-paying segment of the market. One of the most central market driven strategies in marketing luxurious goods is the unique design of the products (Chernev, 2014). In the case of this company, which expects to face stiff completion from Macy’s and Nordstrom, the company will come up with a unique design for its products such that they will be uniquely differentiated from those of the other companies.
The company will take time to design all aspects of the products ranging from the quality to the packaging so that it provides a distinct appeal to the high paying customers in the market. In doing this, the company will tempt customers who are loyal to other brands to try the organization’s product and at the same time attract new high-end clients. The attribute arise from the fact that customers act on the psychological bias and providing a unique product in the market would act as an enough strategy to swaying them to purchase the same.
Apart from this, the company will change its marketing slogans so that the new ones clearly depicts that the company offers high-end products and is committed to offering the best quality of the same to its customers. Communication of the new marketing direction, in this case, is vital in informing the existing as well as the potential customers that the company has shifted its interest from low-end to high-end products. As such, this goes a long way in encouraging potential customers to try the new line of products. In this stage, the company will communicate in all its advertising campaigns that it will be committed to following up on product sale to ensure the achievement of utmost satisfaction by the customers. Notably, high-end customers are more demanding than those who purchase relatively lowly priced commodities (Chernev, 2014). As such, communicating that the company will offer follow-up services including after sales services will provide a significant market-driven strategy that will ensure the dominant companies do not overrun the company’s new product line. At the same time, this will be essential in establishing the market territory for the business’s products.
Product Market Boundaries
Defining the market territory for a company’s products is one of the most adopted organizational approaches in developing a competitive advantage. Setting the market boundaries is critical since it guides the firm's marketing decisions including the advertising strategies, sales force activities, as well as the allocation of budgets for the overall marketing activities. As such, it is vital that the firm establishes its market boundaries so that they can concentrate on a particular market niche from which they can expand its marketing operations over time.
Since the primary target of the company is the marketing of high-end goods, the research will help in identifying the location of the high-value customers (Bettignies, 2006). Notably, high worth individuals tend to group themselves in the same location, which is also the case with, low-income earners. At this point, the firm will undertake intensive advertising to communicate to the identified target market about the problems that it wishes to address as well as how the products will enable them to solve their individual needs and wants. Apart from these external activities, the company will undertake an internal analysis aimed at the determination of internal strengths that will help in offering differentiated products in the market (Bettignies, 2006). From this, the company will determine its areas of expertise that would enable it to solve particular customer need and problems. As such, this will go a long way in helping the firm establish its market boundaries. Defining the market boundaries should be underlined as one of the essential marketing strategies that the firm should implement since it is directly related to the level of success it can achieve.
A Market Segmentation Strategy for the Firm
As such, based on the strategies discussed, the company will define its market based on the value of the customers, what they can offer as well as what their competitors have not already offered in the market. Market segmentation comes as a crucial strategy at this point since it helps the company categorize the market based on the worth of customers in the market, the geographic location of targeted consumers as well as their behaviors. In this case, the firm will use a concentration strategy in developing a market segmentation strategy to focus on offering high-end products to the market (Wilson & Gilligan, 2012). According to Bettignies (2006), a concentration segmentation process involves the identification of the location of the firms target consumers, which in this case are the high-end consumers.
The company will identify the geographic locations of these consumers and focus its marketing activities on the identified segments. Concentration strategy further involves the determination of the psychological behaviors of different consumers in the target market. It is essential that the company determine the product aspects that help the customers make a buy decision. In so doing, the company will include product elements that allude to the different market segments identified. At the same time, the concentration strategy will aid the business in producing products that satisfy the consumers’ needs based on their consumer power and particular product utility needs. Having accomplished this, the firm will focus on developing consumer relationships with the consumers in each market segment. It is paramount that the company establishes a personal touch with its consumers so that the latter can be loyal to their brand. Below are some of the strategies that the business will employ in developing long-term relationships with its new target consumers.
Customer Relationship Management Strategy
Customer relationship management (CRM) is used in the organizational sense to mean the methods developed and implemented by a company in establishing positive relationships with their clients (Chernev, 2014). It is paramount that a company can develop positive interactions with their customers to identify a change in consumer satisfaction levels or addressing any consumer issue that might arise in the marketing processes. Our business will use research as a CRM strategy, which will be aimed at the collection of user information. The information will include the consumer opinions about the brands and what their future expectations of the company.
Particularly, the company will use various methods to collect this information including direct interviews from market samples, issuing of structured questionnaires as well as opening an online communication channel for the consumers to remit their opinions (Chernev, 2014). Through this, the company will be able to distinguish the various customer needs and preferences in their products, hence developing a long lasting relationship. One of the advantages that the firm will reap from this strategy is the anticipation of the customers’ needs accompanied by the full utilization of the available market opportunities. Overall, these strategies will help the firm establish a strong marketing force and be able to compete with the existing players. As such, it is vital that the company follow the above strategies to the latter in a bid to ensure its sustainability having changed its area of market concentration.
References
Chernev, A. (2014). Strategic marketing management. Chicago, CA: Cerebellum Press.
Jean-Etienne de Bettignies. (2006, August 10). Product market competition and boundaries of the firm. Retrieved from http://web.business.queensu.ca/faculty/jdebettignies/docs/CompfirmCJEPublishedVersion.pdf
Wilson, R. M., & Gilligan, C. (2012). Strategic marketing management: Planning, implementation and control. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann.
