Having a market strategy allows a company to effectively and efficiently allocate its resources to opportunities that have the best chance at increasing sales or sustaining a competitive advantage. Market strategy is wide encompassing and includes all activities related to marketing and marketing objectives. Developing marketing strategies require a good evaluation of internal (the marketing mix) and external factors and influences (competitor analysis, target market analysis). The strategy must also align with the company’s mission statement in order to stay consistent. Once an environmental assessment has been completed, a strategy can be constructed. It must establish goals, the ideal marketing mix and detailed implementation of the plan. Finally, in order to determine if the plan is effective, a set of performance metrics must be established.
There are many types of market strategies and they depend primarily on the situation of each individual business. Common market strategies are:
Leader: this strategy involves the business being the first player in the market to make a move, like release a new product or set a new price. These companies are usually able to influence the rest of the market.
Challenger: a market challenging strategy taken on by a company involves remaining just below the market leader, but high enough in the market to still have presence (mostly, upward pressure). They can also challenge the leader on price.
Follower: marketing followers tend to imitate the leader or the challenger in order to replicate some of the same success that they have had in the market
Nicher: a marketing niche strategy is not typically concerned with the broad market, rather, they concentrate on a specific consumer group, where they are leaders.
It is important that, once a marketing strategy is chosen, the company remain in compliance with their decision. Fluctuations in decision-making around the marketing strategy can severely decrease sales, as the company is no longer focusing on a target market.
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