What Is a Marketing Strategy? Definition, Function, Purpose, and Examples

Hello, friends  , Of course, in running a business, you need a good marketing strategy to attract consumers to come or buy and even increase sales of your products. The goal is to keep your business alive and thriving.

As an illustration, you may have seen some shops, cafes, or other businesses that were once well-known and no longer heard of, or even closed due to competition from competitors who implemented better marketing strategies.

No business owner wants something like this to happen. Therefore, it is very important to learn various marketing strategies for your business.

Marketing strategy or also called marketing strategy is a company plan to introduce the widest possible brand to reach customers and sell a product.

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There are many things to consider in choosing a marketing strategy. Starting from the company values, the message to be conveyed, to the implementation that must be effective.

So basically what are the marketing strategies that can be used by a business entity? So, check out the list that Gramedia has curated for you in the article below!

What is a Marketing Strategy?

The definition of a marketing strategy is a measurable action aimed at making the company’s products known to the wider community.

A marketing strategy is a set of business steps that have been combined at the product presentation level to entice consumers to buy a product.

Not only attracting consumers to put products into the basket, the marketing strategy also ensures that buyers know the products offered, verify, and repeat product purchases.

A comprehensive marketing strategy includes the 4Ps, namely:  product, price, place and promotion. From this it can be seen that the scope of the marketing strategy starts from the product formation process to the target market, which also affects the price of the product and the products to be marketed where and from what media from there consumers will recognize our products.

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Definition of Marketing Strategy According to Experts

An explanation of the definition of marketing strategy put forward by several experts is as follows.

1. Tjiptono

The definition of marketing strategy according to Tjiptono is a basic tool that is designed or planned to achieve the goals of a company by achieving the development of sustainable competitive advantage through the market, the market in which it participates and the programs used to serve its target market.

2.Philippe Kotler

According to Philip Kotler, marketing strategy is a state of mind that will be used to achieve a company’s marketing goals, which can be in the form of specific strategies for target markets, positioning, marketing mix mix and the amount of marketing expenditures.

3. Guiltinan and Paul

According to Guiltinan and Paul, marketing strategy refers to the main statement regarding the expected impact or effect of satisfying a need on a predetermined target market.

4. Stanton

According to Stanton, marketing strategy is what includes all the systems involved in product planning and pricing, product marketing, and distribution of goods and services that can satisfy the power of actual and potential buyers.

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Marketing Strategy Function

1. As a product marketing guideline

As explained above, the ideal marketing strategy involves the process of introducing products to consumers, involving them with the product so that conversion occurs where the product is sold.

2. As a measure of success

If the marketing strategy is formulated correctly, manufacturers will be able to measure their work by comparing what they achieved with the objectives in the marketing strategy. Therefore, planning specific steps in each strategy that the company builds is very important.

3. As a means of control in supervision

In this case, a mutually agreed upon strategic plan can be used to determine whether the actions taken by the company are consistent with the marketing strategy. This work plan can then be used to redefine the steps away from the marketing strategy goals.

4. Provide directions for the course of the company or business

Of course, this will help coordinate the marketing team more effectively to achieve goals more easily.

5. Increase motivation to see the future of business

The marketing strategy requires business people to estimate the speed of the business in the future in order to indirectly provide the enthusiasm needed to manage it.

6. As a standard for evaluating the performance of Company members

With this standard of evaluation, of course, quality control and work quality will be effective and marketing strategies can function to achieve business goals or objectives in the short or long term.

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Marketing Strategy Objectives 

The purpose of defining this type of marketing strategy is to maximize profits, but in general the goal of a marketing strategy is what we see in a process.

1. Identify the right target market

The most important process in designing a market strategy is identifying different target markets. From there, the company can determine which market to target.

Thus, product specifications, product prices and the manufacturer’s target market approach will be more relevant. The accuracy of selecting the target market is very important because it affects the performance of all producers. By implementing the right marketing strategy, all forms of inefficiency can be minimized

2. Maximizing the allocation of company resources

Budget, labor and time are the main sources of business capital. Therefore, to achieve its goals, a good business will ensure that these three factors will not be reduced except to obtain a commensurate profit or profit.

Marketing strategy adapts to this urgency, and even in setting budget constraints and marketing methods, companies will benefit from knowing this prediction.

Examples of Marketing Strategies in Business

After knowing the meaning, functions and objectives of a product marketing strategy for business continuity, how do you develop a good business marketing strategy? Check out the explanation below!

1. Find out the target market

In marketing a product, the most important thing is to ensure that we have done research and know our target consumers well. This will bring us to a balance between what belongs to producers and what consumers need.

After identifying the different potential target markets, the most suitable segments are selected and from there we will study the characteristics of the consumers.

Because how to communicate women aged 20 years and over with women aged 12 years will be different. What they needed was also different, so something like this should have been widely recognized from the start.

2. Plan marketing objectives

Of course, when entering the market, a product will start completely unknown until it becomes a high selling product. So, this is where a special approach is needed, alias brand awareness, conversion, and increased revenue .

Starting from increasing  brand awareness , companies must be able to introduce new products and product brands. This introduction is certainly an important step because consumers will not feel close to a product that they are completely unfamiliar with.

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After the brand is known by consumers, the business must have the next stage in the form of  conversion . Conversion or  conversion  is generally an action when consumers buy the products offered.

However,  conversion  has broader implications, including turning consumers into followers on social media, submitting emails (and then accepting product offers), and much more.

The last thing a consumer does is make a purchase. After knowing the product well and following its social media accounts, consumers will be tempted again to check out our products.

3. Marketing Mix

As previously mentioned,  the marketing mix  consists of 4P, namely:  product, price, place and promotion. From these four things, efforts are made to maximize the company’s product marketing strategy.

Products are what we send to the market. At that time, product quality and uniqueness were two things that consumers would definitely pay attention to.

The product is also what consumers see from a brand, no matter how good the brand is, if the product from that brand does not meet consumer desires, consumers will not convert.

Always associated with the product, product price is an important factor in decision making. Prices can be determined according to the target market that we have. Because of course the ability to pay for each type of market will be different.

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4. Promotion and advertising

With regard to the types of marketing strategies, there are several ways for companies to introduce their products to the market. First, companies can promote their products organically.

This method can be achieved by creating a business blog that continuously provides useful information for consumers. While it doesn’t drive conversions directly, it can bring consumers closer to brands.

It doesn’t stop there, brands can also provide information or knowledge to consumers through mainstream social media networks. Soft selling  like this can make it able to retain old consumers to remember the brands they have interacted with.

The second way is to take advantage of paid advertising. There are many paid advertising options such as  Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Tiktok Ads . The selection of this platform is also adjusted to the desired target market. For example, if you want to target youth between the ages of 16 and 24 then  Tiktok Ads  could be considered as 41% of their users fall into that age range.

5. Increase brand awareness

Brand awareness is the extent to which consumers recognize a product from its name. For example, we think of  Nike  when we see a sign similar to a check mark, or we think of  Spotify  when we see a green square stacked on top of three. We will also imagine pandas when we hear the term World Wild Fund.

The success of these three brands in getting people to remember their names and logos is an example of a successful marketing strategy.

6. Give something for free

Consumers will buy products from brands they interact with the most. One of these interactions could be through blog posts, social media, or free product samples.

With this type of approach conversion becomes easier because of the closeness between the brand and the consumer. In addition to these reasons, consumers who have enjoyed these product features for free in a short time will feel lost when the product or trial account runs out.

7. Target mobile users

No less than 30% of consumers who use the Internet while roaming are mobile phone users. Therefore, it is important for us to target potential consumers like this. This effort can be done by creating  a mobile  friendly website  .

8. SEO or  Search Engine Optimization

This example of a marketing strategy also relates to the digital world. SEO is the process for websites to get  traffic. The traffic is generated from editorial, organic search or free search in a search engine.

This strategy will be closely related to content marketing. In fact, it can also determine whether the content is quality or not. Content that meets SEO standards can rank first in search engines.

If the content produced grows rapidly, the business will also get   high traffic . It can also increase  brand awareness . The number of consumer companies may also increase.

9. Transactional marketing

Transactional marketing is also an example of a marketing strategy. One of the main challenges a company faces is achieving sales targets for its products or services. However, this transactional marketing strategy situation is considered quite effective in overcoming this problem.

Businesses using this marketing strategy example can attract consumers with something interesting. For example discounts, vouchers, promotions, events held on a large scale.

This of course will encourage consumers to buy more of the products offered through this example marketing strategy.

10. Inbound marketing

Another example of a marketing strategy is  inbound marketing . Inbound marketing is a business strategy. The goal is to engage consumers in a variety of ways.

One example is creating valuable content. As well as experiences that will be tailored to consumers of these products. The method used in  inbound marketing  is to grow the business by building relationships.

The relationship built here is a long term relationship. Both with consumers, with potential customers and with customers. Thus, products and services will continue to support consumers in every company journey.

For this example of an  inbound marketing strategy  , the message conveyed to consumers is considered very important. Because the message has to be precise and relevant. In contrast to marketing strategies that tend to annoy consumers and upset them.

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Important Components in Building a Marketing Strategy

The important components of a marketing strategy are products, product messages, customers, promotions, and the marketing team.

1. Products

As our basis for supplying to the market, products must truly meet consumer needs. If consumers do not find the urgency to buy a product, it can be said that our product has not read the market. Therefore, in a marketing strategy, product research is very important.

2. Order the product

The way a product is narrated can be an important determinant in the consumer decision-making process. So we can’t just launch a product without delivering a message that resonates with consumers.

3. Customers

Customers from target markets buy or are loyal to our brand. When defining the target market, we know the characteristics of the target market, from which we can expect a better understanding of our customers.

4. Promotion

This media is just as important because it is a place where consumers recognize and modify the products offered. Through promotion, companies talk and offer the value of their products and then consumers can judge whether the product is attractive enough or not.

5. Marketing Team

Spearhead of the entire marketing plan that is executed is the marketing team. This team determines the position of the brand in the eyes of consumers. Therefore, it is important to pay special attention to the marketing team, because their role is quite important.

The marketing strategy for a business has been explained in terms of its meaning, goals and important elements. Running the right marketing strategy is very important for the continuity of your business. Don’t forget to learn from the success of other brands, such as Nike, Spotify, WWF and many more.