Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I want to do research on which marketing strategy is better and what is good & bad in particular strategy. This may leads to some tips or guideline or a model which suggest that in a particular xyz category/sector, these things will work/not work.

So I want to evaluate marketing strategies of xyz category/sector.

Before crafting marketing strategy for a company one would understand the marketing strategies of different players in that particular category/sector.

@Jay Hamilton-Roth: may be in given constrains and resources, result of a particular player will not be that good but the marketing strategy would have crafted very well. Result may differ on the bases of its stage in a Business Life Cycle.

Siraj

You say "Before crafting marketing strategy for a company one would understand the marketing strategies of different players in that particular category/sector."

my answer to that is "no, you don't".

What you need are customers. In this the opposition is largely irrelevant. Most companies market in the traditional way - that is to say, they sell their products as if customers would flock to them. In this, their strategies are largely wasteful.

What one thing would make it a no-brainer for a customer to choose your business? That one thing is key to all your strategies.

In circumstances like this, you can let the big boys fight it out on their own pitches whilst you calmly attract good customers who've run away from the noise of the fight.

@ Moriarty:

1) If I want to differentiate my self from others I need to study what is similarity and differentiation in others. So before crafting marketing strategy I will see how competition is doing it so that I can do something different or that thing differently.

2) I don't know from where you belong to but here the world is very competitive. Your differentiation becomes point of parity within no time. You need to convince customers how you are different from others so that s/he can select out of all available option.

3) This is not like a company will target those who are left behind. Markets are over penetrated.

This is not like if I have not done it so it can't be done.

@ cookmarketing@gmail.

I agree that marketing strategies are based on your customers not competitors.

But after you draft marketing strategy for brand/s of a company, what if one would want to evaluate and compare with marketing strategy of an another player in the same category/sector. There is no way to suggest that which is better and what is good/bad about a particular strategy. Can't we find common parameters on which we can compare marketing strategy in a particular category?

And yes you need unique selling proposition, but to be unique you need to explore what is unique in each of your competitors and if you can make it point-of-parity for your product and come up with a relevant and unique selling point.

Please don't take anything personally I am here to learn from you all. I apologize if it became personal, because this topic is very dear to me as I am planning to start my venture in a category where first I want to understand how others are doing(marketing) and want to learn from them to create better/new/unique/relevant marketing strategy.

Okay, let's lay down the law here.

You are entering a tightly fought commodity market. So let's see what other businesses are doing - and why. In other words, their general marketing strategies. Because these busiesses are run by people who *think* they understand marketing.

I will add that I have a lot less experience in marketing than you have. I am also advising you. The question is why I have so little experience yet can advise with such ease. The techniques I use are well over a century old, yet marketing professionals continue to ignore them. They're also wasting enormous amounts of money - year in, year out.

And you want to join in the party! Do you want to pour your profits down the drain?

Believe me if Rosser Reeves* came back to life today, he could beat 99% marketers out there. Not because he understands anything of the internet or social media - but because he understands the fundamentals of what he's doing (did). I will add that when I came to marketing I thought it would all be sewn up.

Done and dusted.

I thought I'd have my own little puddle to dip in. What I got was Niagara falls.

In general a marketing strategy consists of selling anything to everybody. There is no distinction and little refinement. In a very real way they are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Brand A is blue, brand B is red and brand C is yellow. Does this tell the consumer anything about what's inside the box? It could be chocolate biscuits or it could be memory sticks.

Yet these boxes are "differentiated" in a tightly fought commodity market. So why choose a red box over a yellow one? Why study marketing strategies that differentiate themselves on degrees of irrelevance?

Now the rational mind needs evidence. The problem in marketing is you have to find it. That means asking questions, and if you ask the wrong questions you'll get the wrong answers. In marketing it's very easy to get muddled up. This was asked of their students by a high ranking university last month: "Is Google Adwords Effective Advertising".

It's not an easy question to answer because the question begs too many questions itself. The results you get won't make a great deal of sense. Yet the lecturer demanded evidence based studies to back the student's response (!!) Now to me this question was a complete waste of time. What's more in the paper my friend submitted, which was quite recent, there were suggestions for further study. Each and every point the paper raised raised had been studied, implemented and an online algorithm established and a website built around it. A decade ago.

To cut this long answer short: you do not need to study your competitors' strategies. If you do start analysing those strategies and you'll be chasing down rabbitholes. Believe me, when the rational mind gets into marketing, there's one thing I'll guarantee: the results are irrational.

Nonsense.

Studying what these guys think of as "unique" - that is to say their boxes are red or yellow for no good reason will NOT make your strategy unique.

Your unique and relevant marketing strategy will focus on **those people who need your services**.

Those people who will return to you and buy again and again for years to come. When your focus is so distinct that you can tell the cut of their clothes, you'll have a target audience. You'll also know how to get in touch with them.

That's when your marketing strategy is *relevant*. Meets *their* needs not yours. Believe me when I say nobody else will be doing this. Because you'll be the only person in the market who does it.

It's called your USP.



*He came up with the principle of the USP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosser_Reeves

@Moriarty:

Thank you so much.

I am sorry but I am looking for parameters on which I can evaluate and compare marketing strategies of different player in a particular segment/category.

I am not sure that it is possible or not but still I am trying and I believe someday I will find something.

You do not need "parameters on which I can evaluate and compare marketing strategies of different player in a particular segment/category"

What you need is "parameters which I can use to find more customers who like the things my business does well"

The two are not the same.

@ Moriarty

Yes, I agree. Both are not the same.

I will do research on "Evaluation and Implication of marketing strategies adopted by XYZ sector/category".

As you wish. It's your time and your money, after all.

I appreciate if somebody attempt to help me out in this.

I come across following research papers/book which can serve as a base for my research:

1. An evaluation model of new product launch strategy (https://mcdm.ntcu.edu.tw/tzeng/publication/An%20Evaluation%20Model%20of%20N...)


2. Marketing Strategies of Retail Stores: An Evaluation of Grocery Shops of Dhaka City
(https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume11/10-Marketing-stratigies-of-Retail...)

3. Global Marketing Strategies and Implications for US Based Firms
(https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&con...)

4. A Book, "Marketing Strategy" by Peter Yannopoulos (He has defined parameters to evaluate marketing strategy of a company)

want your feedback and support in same direction if possible.

Item1 ) How good is your calculus? If you haven't studied mathematics to at least university entry level this will be a difficult paper to follow. Remember that when it comes to equations of this kind, the usual professor's disclaimer is required: "These are not usually observed in practice".

When it says

"When a new product is going to be launched, managers
are always confused about finding the proper strategy. The
major reasons for the are the fuzzy environment that they
face and too many criteria that they fail to recognize and
identify. This model guides managers step-by-step in
solving these problems"

Much of this confusion and difficulty in coming to decisions is because they are missing out on one important aspect. How their customer views them. With this one crucial piece of information, most decisions aren't decisions at all, they are part of the evidence already. In the pages and pages of writing, the customer is mentioned twice, and those parenthetically.

Change the focus and most of your problems are solved at a stroke.

Item 2) The approach here is of a person with a shop who sells commodities to anybody who passes by. Do this with advertising and expect very poor returns for your money.

In their conclusion they make the comment about "how to build strong customer relationships". To me that is the starting point, not a point for further discussion. What's more the "how" isn't considered. It's the how that's important. Well, to me at least.

Put this way around and you can increase your marketing effectiveness 100x minimum.

Item 3) If you are all selling the same things, how can the customer differentiate between them?

"GMS combines the following to create the focus of this
overarching strategy: product standardization, promotion standardization, standardized
channel structure, standardized price, concentration of marketing activities, coordination of
marketing activities, global market participation, and integration of competitive moves (Zou
and Cavusgil, 2002). " [page 8]

Just how much money will it take to promote these standardized commodities to a standardized customer?

Every step you take with standardization you **reduce** your marketing efficiency 10x.

People like me can increase its effectiveness 100x. Minimum.

My final question: what's your marketing spend?

NB: I skim-read the documents with a mug of coffee.

@ Moriarty

Thanks

I am not sure about resources, time and methodology how I am going to do this. Can you suggest how should I go about?

You cannot be sure of ANYTHING. It's the essence of marketing - it is a leap into the unknown.

As previously mentioned - find out who is most likely to buy from you (be it services or products). Advertise to them using a small localized and highly targeted campaign - Google/Bing search advertising (or the display network which is usually better but needs far more insight).

Make a sale.

Work out where that sale came from and make another.

Scale upwards and outwards.

You have a business in that niche. Broaden your approach until it starts tailing off. Then do it all again for other motivations.

It's how to break into any ultra-competitive commodity market. It may take a little patience, it will be effective and make you money.

KNOWING THESE THINGS will answer your questions about methodology or resources. No more iffing and butting. You'll know if a market is worth entering, and find out for the price of a week's shopping.

If you're investing large sums, sit on them until you know your customers are buying. As I say, it takes patience. Most people want a sale straight off, and will spend a lot of money getting it - that's when they look desperate. That's when they become a commodity and they reduce their prices.