How to build a strategic marketing framework for your business

This article was originally published on ideatoasters.com

If you ask marketers what is strategic marketing? Most of them will start talking about positioning, segmentation, targeting. However, is this really strategic marketing? Or are these the steps needed to build out a complete marketing plan? There is no process to build a strategic marketing framework.

To understand strategic marketing we need to first get clarity on what is marketing? In my view marketing can be simply defined as the study of markets consisting of buyers & sellers who are exchanging goods and services.

Background

Now to have a strategic framework to marketing, we as marketers need to understand the business objectives and the type of marketing needed. This will be based on the nature of your target audience.

Earlier, marketers were focused on product-based marketing wherein profitability was directly proportional to selling as much as possible. However, now factors such as increasing buyer awareness owing to the internet revolution, technology and globalization. Marketers today are increasingly becoming focused on customer-based marketing. This type of marketing is completely focused on customer needs. Here, profitability depends on customer share also known as wallet share. It is more profitable to have loyal customers and keep on increasing the share of the wallet by delivering high-value products or services.

Strategic Framework

When it comes to customer based marketing marketers or even business heads need to understand and define the key attribute bundles for their product or service. There are 3 basic attribute bundles which help in developing a strategic framework and they include:

• Performance superiority — Features & functionalities, design, style, performance
• Operational excellence — Price, reliability, service, delivery, scalability
• Customer intimacy — Customization, personalization, user experience, need-based

Marketers or strategy heads need to define which attribute bundle is going to be their top priority. All three are necessary, but there needs to be one category from the above in which your product/service is a market leader or at least aims to be one in the long term.

The strategic framework is part of this long term game and not for the short term gains. Companies that are in the long term game, not only just survive, but deliver high value to their customers. Their objective is to develop a long term relationship with their customers and focus on the wallet share.

The objective of a strategic marketing framework should be to identify the long term goal of the product/service and assign an attribute bundle that will enable marketers to position the brand with respect to its target audience.

Value Framework: The concept of fair value

Now in order to streamline the above-mentioned objective, we must have a clear understanding of another crucial concept called fair value. Fair value is the value or the core benefit, provided by your product with respect to the market(competition, existing market value).

Following matrix is an illustration of the fair value concept

Marketers need to determine where they fall in this matrix on the fair value line for every attribute. Does the product provide premium value through its functionalities or Is the customer support (operational excellence) delivering 100% . Once it is clear where the product value lies on the fair value line, relative benefits to the customer can be derived from that conclusion. Generally, customers consider the cost incurred by them based on the benefits they would be availing for that price band. Therefore the value matrix plays an integral role in devising a strategic marketing framework.

In this framework, if your product is above parity in a certain category then the goal should be to be a market leader in that category. If it falls within the parity area then you are providing fair value as compared to the market.

The Final Step

Finally, now that you have understood the concept of fair value, it will be easier to construct a clear picture for the final strategic marketing framework and visualize it.

The following framework can be used to understand the position of your product as compared to the existing market value.

The above framework helps in placing your brand and also helps in developing a long term growth strategy for your product.

Conclusion

The entire process for developing a strategic marketing framework helps in breaking down every aspect of the product and the value of the brand. The ultimate goal of this framework is to develop a long term brand strategy and derive the positioning of your product. The positioning will further break down to messaging through various channels. Strategic marketing is a key aspect of your overall business growth and maximizes the potential of your brand.