Revisiting the Marketing Strategy: Towards Detecting the Main Factors in Developing a Marketing Strategy

Abstract

Marketing strategy has a wide variety of meanings. While some definitions of marketing strategy stress on a broader philosophical approach, the others stress on a narrower functional view. In terms of the former, marketing strategy has a broad impact on the business by instilling marketing orientation approach throughout the entire organization, and thus it becomes the business philosophy (Webster 1992). In terms of the latter, marketing strategy is simply the endeavor of marketing function in developing a competitive advantage. Therefore, the firm ought to have the appropriate and unique capabilities, core competencies and resources in order to envision, predict, and respond to the current and changing nature of customer tastes and demand better than its competitors (Wensley 2000). Marketing strategy involves selecting and analyzing target markets and creating and maintaining an appropriate marketing program to satisfy the needs of target markets (Winer 2007) mainly through building long-term successful relational exchanges (Morgan and Hunt 1994). Since marketing strategy decides the goal of the firm and how to get there, endeavors such as deciding which segments to target, understanding of customers’ needs as well as the industry environment, and analyzing the competitors are crucial for the firm. However, developing a thorough marketing strategy is challenging in today’s dynamic environment. Therefore, the purpose of this conceptual paper is to present the main factors firms need to take into consideration in developing a marketing strategy such as macro-environmental factors, organizational factors, consumer-oriented factors, competition-oriented factors (market and industry), and innovation factors.